“God’s not smart enough to have contigency plans, ...”
It’s not about contingencies. It’s about free will. Eve chose to say yes to Satan thereby closing the gates of heaven.
The only way to cancel out Eve’s mistake and simultaneously preserve mankind’s free will was for Mary to choose with her free will to say yes to God.
Mary’s yes is the perfect parallel to Eve’s no. Any contingency would wipe out our free will. God preserves our free will at all costs, even if we freely choose hell.
That’s why we love the Blessed Mother. If she had said no the gates of heaven would remain closed.
>> “ If she had said no the gates of heaven would remain closed.” <<
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Scripture please!
You picked that absurd idea out of thin air. The scriptures do not indicate that Mary said yes, nor that she had any say whatsoever. Gabriel presented to her what was definitely going to happen, and she doubted and resisted (both sins, BTW) and made excuses, but Gabriel pressed onward, not even acknowledging her opinion.
Let's not forget a salient point here, stonehouse, Catholicism teaches Mary was "Immaculately Conceived", meaning she was born without sin AND that she never sinned after she was born her entire life, that's what you believe, right? So, if Mary had "free will" and she could have said no, why was she made "sinless"? Would it have been retroactive? Now, I fully believe that we have free will to choose or reject the grace of God, but I seriously don't believe God didn't know the outcome of this.
If Mary HAD said no, if she could have said no, would not God have another picked out and maybe we would have never even heard of Mary instead we would call, say, Hannah, blessed? So, I don't really see how one can give all the glory to Mary - who you said, "if she had said no the gates of heaven would remain closed" - if God either already had her picked out, or could have just as easily chosen another virgin more willing. Do you agree? I mean, God's will WILL be done will it not?