To: what's up
Well, very briefly, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception states that Mary was conceived without sin, as you say. It was quite an early belief in the Church.
It is not beyond God's ability to do something like that. He gave Abraham and Sarah a son when they were much to old for childbearing or even sexual relations. Eve, too, was originally created sinless, and then fell.
For the other, I don't think you mean the Annunciation (the Archangel Gabriel's appearance to Mary when she consented to bear Jesus) but the Assumption. The Assumption was declared a dogma quite recently (Vatican I), but it was also a very early belief in the Church. I remember reading in the annals of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries to Germany in the early middle ages that one of the monks visited the Holy Land and was told about it there. As further evidence, there are no accounts of places where Mary's tomb might be, but there are accounts of Jesus's tomb and the tombs of many early Christians. That absence isn't proof but it's an interesting indication.
At any rate, the Assumption declares that Mary was assumed bodily into Heaven. The same things seems to be said in Genesis about Enoch, and there is a long tradition to that effect. Again, it doesn't say that Mary is divine. Only that God made a special exception in her case and raised her before the General Resurrection at the end of days.
195 posted on
02/21/2004 7:51:02 PM PST by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
To: Cicero
Good post, but remember that Abraham did have a child by Keturah in his mid-80s. His name was Ishmael.
197 posted on
02/21/2004 7:53:48 PM PST by
Leonine
To: Cicero
Yes, you are right...I meant the Assumption. Seems strange to make a doctrine out of a legend (something extra Biblical).
Yes, we all know God can do anything. He performs many miracles. It is obvious that both Adam and Eve were sinless before the Fall...but after the every human was marred by sin, including Mary.
Again, seems to me silly to declare Mary sinless because someone believes it should be so. No one can be sinless after the Fall and not be God. I know there is a lot of sentimental feeling out there to want a human woman to be perfect, but only God is perfect.
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