You need a principled distinction between a mystery that cannot be fully grasped by the human mind, and the proper use of reason in the doing of theology. You originally claimed that reasoning concerning Mary's lack of sin was a case of human reason limiting God. But then you just showed that you want to limit reason only when it comes to theological mysteries; otherwise, you would make all of theology a mystery, and wholly unintelligible. So, in order to justify your claim that theological reasoning regarding Mary's status viz-a-viz sin is human reasoning limiting God, you need to show why you think the case of Mary's status viz-a-viz sin is a mystery, rather than something that can be reasoned about in order to arrive at theological conclusions. Otherwise, your claim that theological reasoning regarding Mary's status viz-a-viz sin is human reasoning limiting God is arbitrary and unprincipled.
-A8
What are you talking about? Some things can be explained. Some things require faith.
If you want to use reason in regard to Mary, here's my proof that Mary was with sin. First Scripture, then the Nicene Creed, and then reason.
Scripture
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Self explanatory.
Nicene Creed
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
First conceived by the Holy Ghost. Then born of the Virgin Mary.
Reason
First a few thoughts...
- Jesus was conceived without sin because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
- Jesus was born of a virgin to fulfil the Old Testament prophesy.
- Jesus lived a sinless life in a sinful world
And now for the question...
If a sinful world could not corrupt Jesus, what differences does a sinful womb make?
And by the way, Development of Christian Doctrine was a waste of time. Secret teaching and an ever expanding understanding of God's Word. So either the early church hid theology from the masses (and continues to do so), or the early church had an incomplete understanding of the meaning of Scripture and tradition? No thanks.