>>Why do you think your scripture interpretations are above over 2000 years of all of the Saints?<<
I don’t. All interpretations I have ever read (that can be taken seriously) agree with the kernel of what I am saying. It is nothing new. Further, the bible is written so that any that believe it and ask God for wisdom can understand it’s meaning.
It is really pretty clear. You have to make some pretty wild inferences to believe otherwise.
Mary was blessed BECAUSE God chose her to bear His son, not the other way around.
All interpretations I have ever read (that can be taken seriously) agree with the kernel of what I am saying. It is nothing new. Further, the bible is written so that any that believe it and ask God for wisdom can understand it’s meaning.
It is really pretty clear. You have to make some pretty wild inferences to believe otherwise.
Mary was blessed BECAUSE God chose her to bear His son, not the other way around
= = =
I thoroughly agree.
Let me help with what the early Christians believed regarding Our Blessed Mother
Mary’s Immaculate Conception
“This Virgin Mother of the Only-begotten of God, is called Mary, worthy of God, immaculate of the immaculate, one of the one.” Origen, Homily 1(A.D. 244).
“Let woman praise Her, the pure Mary.” Ephraim, Hymns on the Nativity, 15:23 (A.D. 370).
“Thou alone and thy Mother are in all things fair, there is no flaw in thee and no stain in thy Mother.” Ephraem, Nisibene Hymns, 27:8 (A.D. 370).
“O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness. For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word? To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all O Covenant, clothed with purity instead of gold! You are the Ark in which is found the golden vessel containing the true manna, that is, the flesh in which divinity resides.” Athanasius, Homily of the Papyrus of Turin, 71:216 (ante AD 373).
“Mary, a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin.” Ambrose, Sermon 22:30 (A.D. 388).
“We must except the Holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin.” Augustine, Nature and Grace,4 2[36] (A.D.415).
This is was belived by even Martin Luther
“It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary's soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God's gifts, receiving a pure soul infused by God; thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin.”
Martin Luther, (Sermon: “On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God,” 1527).
The heretical belief that Mary sinned did not gain much ground until after the reformation,over 1500 years later.It really started to gain ground in the 1800’s
This is why the Church declared it Dogma in order to stop the gaining heretical belief from effecting its members.
This is often the case regarding Dogma's,it is NOT that the majority of Christians historically never believed certain things overwhelmingly,it is to make them concrete
Take for example the Dogma of Christ's Divinity
When did the Church declare that Jesus was God as dogma? At the council of Nicea in 325 AD. Nearly 300 years after Christ's death, correct? Does that mean that the Church DID NOT already believe this? Of course it did! Jesus was worshiped during the liturgy. People prayed to Him during their daily prayers and through their actions. The Church already KNEW that Jesus was God , the Church DEFINES that He was God infallibly based on the guidance of the Spirit already at work in the Church.
The Church also needed to act to put an end to the Arian heresies that denied the Divinity of Christ,much like it did in declaring the Immaculate Conception with the protestant heresies