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Immaculate Conception Ping!

Why do Catholics believe in the Immaculate Conception?

Isn't this realy the most ignorant question that ever existed? Faith has no "why" and I'm not even Catholic. You might as well ask why an apple tree sways with the summer breeze.

But doesn't the Bible say in Romans 3:23 that, "…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

At first glance this "all have sinned" may appear to contradict a Catholic's belief in Mary's Immaculate Conception. However, on further examination, it is not an impossible verse to overcome. For Catholics, Mary is seen as an exception to this passage, as are children under the age of reason, and mentally disabled people. With both of these examples, these groups are unable to sin because of their lack of reasoning. For example, a child who does not understand what sin is cannot sin, because the child is unaware of what is right and wrong. Now granted, a child who does not understand sin is not entirely like Mary, but it does show that there are exceptions to the "all have sinned" rule.

But even Catholics believe that ALL are under sin because of Adam - you call it "original sin" - and you even baptize babies before they have awareness of sin, right? So, it isn't that children and the mentally handicapped don't sin, they just do not have the awareness of sin and their need for a savior. Romans 3:23 does say "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and Romans 3:10 says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one". Because Mary was a human being, she falls under the same category we all do. When those who have not reached the "age of accountability" die, they are saved because of the grace of God - he does not hold their sin against them. That's the exception really. It's not that they don't sin, but that they do not have the capacity to understand sin.

Sin is "missing the mark" of God's perfection and we all are not as perfect as God and never could be without the righteousness of Christ imputed to us through faith.