Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
I don't think that's in question, but, only, if Mary was a sinner or not at the time she was chosen or impregnated by the Holy Spirit, or before that even, by which Holy Spirit is where Christ's divinity comes from...Mary was a woman, not divine. The Holy Spirit is divine and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Trying to give credit to mankind for what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit did for us is against everything Jesus and the Apostles taught. If Mary was the reason we are saved then we aren't Christians. It's about Christ. If it was about Mary I'm pretty sure she would have been an equally taught subject in the NT, but she's not. Mary was chosen, just as Saul was chosen, Peter, John the Baptist, etc. They didn't save us, only Christ.
Indeed, this is one of tbe problems we have with the Catholic dogma, it takes away Mary's virtue.That was God's original plan. Had He made us robots there would never have been so many problems.
But "all have sinned " only means that all are subject to original sin. Mary was spared from original sin by God, not herself. The popular analogy is God let us fall in the mud puddle, and cleaned us up afterward through baptism. In Mary's case, God did not let her enter the mud puddle.Okay, so, Mary is not in the category of the last three, but the first one, so?
Mary is an exception, not a contrast. I listed scriptural exceptions to the word "all". It's not an absolute.Well, the verse says "fallen short of the glory of God" so Jesus is in the verse. I take it you would agree that Jesus is the express image of God, the Word made flesh; so, He is the "glory of God" that "all" are being contrasted with as having "fallen short". So Mary is still in there.
I don't believe that and I never said it.Only if Mary is the express image of God, the glory of God. But if you believe that then we've got a much bigger proposition than "sinless"
You're putting a lot of doctrinal assumptions into the word "all".Okay now you're putting a lot of doctrinal assumptions into your passages. I'm not sure I would agree with what you're interpreting and claiming in that statement.
Do I need to to repost the same verses that clearly show that "all" does not always mean "every single one?I would propose that "all" does mean "many" but "many" doesn't necessarily mean "all"; so, no contradiction and no exceptions.
You are ignoring what I said.That doesn't seem at all what is being said: Paul cites it:
<sigh>9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Of course. Mary was not sinless by the law, she was conceived sinless by God's direct intervention. That has nothing to do with the law. I'm still waiting for someone to explain WHEN she was Full of Grace. Did the angel, delivering God's eternal word, say, POOF! you are now full of grace? Did Mary go to the Temple and recite the sinners prayer? Are God's eternal words purely linear with a fixed starting point in time? How about you be the first to explain WHEN "Full of Grace" occurred, since no one else has.Okay that's begging the question.
I think the biggest problem is such as:
Heb 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
Ro 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
So the question would be, by what means would Mary be "perfect" if not by the law (through which perfection is impossible):
Mary, the holiest woman in all human history, the mother of Jesus Himself, was not called to the priesthood.Heb 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
This is Calvinist theology and nothing to do with Mary.so it seems it could only by by the grace of God to not impute any sin to her. But, in this case, Mary's perfection is of the same as any believer who is made "righteous" and "perfect" by virtue of belief:
Mary's sinlessness is by virtue of the merits of the cross retroactively, I don't know why you guys have such a problem with that. David was forgiven of his sin on the same principle, but not at conception. Unless you want to argue that David was not forgiven because Jesus hadn't died yet. God can operate retroactively because He is God.Ro 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
And we do see Mary fully believing the message. So if Mary was "sinless" it seems to me she was like everyone under grace: a sinner made perfect by faith, allowing no imputation of sin:
Ro 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Other than that, I don't see any possible justification of sinless Mary (except through doctrines of tradition, naturally - but I don't know that the OP was looking for tradition? If so, easily enough proven by tradition)
This is a huge misunderstanding.Mary was a woman, not divine. The Holy Spirit is divine and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Trying to give credit to mankind for what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit did for us is against everything Jesus and the Apostles taught. If Mary was the reason we are saved then we aren't Christians. It's about Christ. If it was about Mary I'm pretty sure she would have been an equally taught subject in the NT, but she's not. Mary was chosen, just as Saul was chosen, Peter, John the Baptist, etc. They didn't save us, only Christ.
This is a huge misunderstanding.Mary was a woman, not divine. The Holy Spirit is divine and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Trying to give credit to mankind for what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit did for us is against everything Jesus and the Apostles taught. If Mary was the reason we are saved then we aren't Christians. It's about Christ. If it was about Mary I'm pretty sure she would have been an equally taught subject in the NT, but she's not. Mary was chosen, just as Saul was chosen, Peter, John the Baptist, etc. They didn't save us, only Christ.
Mary was a woman, not divine. The Holy Spirit is divine and she conceived of the Holy Spirit. Trying to give credit to mankind for what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit did for us is against everything Jesus and the Apostles taught. If Mary was the reason we are saved then we aren't Christians. It's about Christ. If it was about Mary I'm pretty sure she would have been an equally taught subject in the NT, but she's not. Mary was chosen, just as Saul was chosen, Peter, John the Baptist, etc. They didn't save us, only Christ.
* Even if Adam & Eve were the first humans, they obviously weren't created in perfection.
* When Jesus forgave and said "Go and sin no more", he put an end to the theory that sin is something that happens to us. It's a deliberate and knowing choice.
* We were born into an "environment" that was effected by rebellion. We were born into a bad neighborhood. It would be a very different world had the administration stayed loyal to the Fathers will.
At different points in his life, Luther seems to have believed either one of those options, that she was either conceived without sin, or she became holy at the Annunciation, so that Jesus had a purified human nature free from the corruption of original sin. At the time, it was not a settled matter of Catholic dogma, so Luther's views are not really that unusual for a Catholic.
Either way, you have a quite different view from many modern Protestants.
I dont understand the term, The HOLY SPIRIT's "seed"?Jesus is fully man, and fully God.
I believe it is true that: the Holy Spirit's seed and Mary's seed produced Jesus?
For Jesus to be sinless, would Mary need to be either:
a) Saved and or Filled with the Holy Spirit
b) Sinless
I can't see, God in the flesh could be conceived if Mary was a sinner.
I dont understand the term, The HOLY SPIRIT's "seed"?
I don't think that's in question, but, only, if Mary was a sinner or not at the time she was chosen or impregnated by the Holy Spirit, or before that even, by which Holy Spirit is where Christ's divinity comes from...
Whether or not God, or the Holy Spirit wanted to, or needed to choose a "pure" vessel for his seed...
God Bless!
Jesus was around sinful people all the time, calling them to repentance. You are putting quite unscriptural limits on what God can and can't do.God is HOLY and cannot be around sin
I'm not sure how you think the ceremonial laws intdicate a perfect Mary. Obviously I don't know anything about Holy Spirit makes literal virgin births; doesn't seem to be in scripture. But scripture is seemingly, stating that, everyone is guilty, and no one is perfect except God. I also read verses that seem to clearly state that the law could not make anything perfect, and was profitless for any form of causing a state of being sinless. It is said of Mary "full of grace" and grace does indeed seem to make it possible for one to be "perfect" and "sinless" by the non-imputation of sin by grace. So maybe this is something of it? But it seems to me that Mary would require the atonement of Christ in some way, in order to be called "perfect" so maybe a kind of, retroactive application of the atonement of Christ? I don't know it's a weird situation for sure; and I admit to knowing little to nothing about literal occurrences of such an unprecedented possibility of category.
Jack,I do not read the Genesis myth as a fall from an original state of perfection into sin and death. The first couple were completely innocent and naïve creatures. They were certainly capable of making a mistake but, without knowing good from evil, they lacked even the ability to sin. That ability came only with them eating of the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil". To me the story is a "coming of age story". Our mythical first couple graduated from animal status into to fully self aware human beings capable of making moral judgements. This is not an Original Sin story but rather an Original Blessing story that should be celebrated. We are not a people fallen from an original state of perfection into sin and death. What we are is a people that is still evolving. We are no longer "just animals" but something more.
Why the expulsion from Eden? In the mythology, I believe it to be symbolic that mankind was no longer a naïve creature living in moral ignorance but had become real men and women living in a world where there was real good and evil.
In the words of John Spong: "Every living thing, plant and animal is programmed to survive. What is true of all these living things is also true of human life. The only difference is that we human beings are self-conscious, while plants and animals are not. If survival is our highest goal, self-centeredness is inevitable and thus this quality becomes a constant part of the human experience. Traditionally, the church has called this "original sin" and has explained it with the myth of the fall. That was simply wrong. Survival is a quality found in life itself. There was no fall. Self-centered, survival driven, self-conscious creatures is simply who we are. There is thus no such thing as "original sin" from which we need to be rescued by a divine invader. So much of traditional Christianity assumes this false premise."
ok .you lost me at stating genesis is a myth.At a very early date the Christian church developed the theory / dogma of Original Sin based largely on the mythology of the creation as found in Genesis. Not realizing any better, they accepted the story as literal history. We all know, or should know, that the theory of Original Sin is based on the notion that we are a fallen race, unworthy of God because of the sin of our primeval parents Adam and Eve. St Augustine further developed the theory by stating that the stain of the Original Sin was passed on to the children through the seed of the father.
This concept further confirmed the notion in the early church that sex was inherently evil and to be discouraged except for procreation. What is interesting as well is that Genesis is a Jewish scripture and the Jews never developed the theory of Original Sin. Moreover, the rather earthy Jewish attitude toward sex lacks entirely the Christian distaste for it.
The notion that Original Sin was passed on through the father's seed, somewhat like a spiritual HIV virus, turns out to have been inherently flawed. We must realize, that at that point in history, it was believed that the father, and the father only, contributed what we would today call the genetic make up of the child. What they called the male seed was regarded as containing an entire nascent human being. As a consequence, they regarded any wastage of the seed as tatamount to murder. This explains why masturbation, coitus interuptus and even wet dreams were considered to be serious sins. The role of the woman was solely that of providing the warm nurturing environment for the developing child. She had no genetic contribution to make. Since she contributed nothing to the make up of the child, she could, of course, not be the agency through which Original Sin was passed on. Of course the mother herself was cursed with Original Sin but this flaw in her was not felt to have any bearing on the state of the child.
Now when we link these notions to the Nativity story we get further complications. Mary was believed to have become pregnant through the agency of God. God of course contributed the seed (genetic material) and Mary's role for the next nine months was as a nurturing womb. Jesus was born sinless because of course God was sinless. The stain of the Original Sin did not afflict him. It did not matter that Mary was afflicted with the sin.
This entire theory fell apart about 200 years ago when it was discovered by microscopic studies that the mother did indeed contribute genetically to the child. She of course supplied the egg cell to be fertilized by the male sperm.
This realization seems to have provided a good deal of the impetus for the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. If Mary through her egg contributed to the genetic make up of Jesus then she too could pass on Original Sin. The Immaculate Conception solved this problem quite neatly by stating that Mary herself must have been concieved immaculately (without sin) through the agency of the grace of Jesus somehow applied retroactively.
Jesus was around sinful people all the time, calling them to repentance. You are putting quite unscriptural limits on what God can and can't do.
Please expound Romans 1:3 through Romans 1:4At a very early date the Christian church developed the theory / dogma of Original Sin based largely on the mythology of the creation as found in Genesis. Not realizing any better, they accepted the story as literal history. We all know, or should know, that the theory of Original Sin is based on the notion that we are a fallen race, unworthy of God because of the sin of our primeval parents Adam and Eve. St Augustine further developed the theory by stating that the stain of the Original Sin was passed on to the children through the seed of the father.
This concept further confirmed the notion in the early church that sex was inherently evil and to be discouraged except for procreation. What is interesting as well is that Genesis is a Jewish scripture and the Jews never developed the theory of Original Sin. Moreover, the rather earthy Jewish attitude toward sex lacks entirely the Christian distaste for it.
The notion that Original Sin was passed on through the father's seed, somewhat like a spiritual HIV virus, turns out to have been inherently flawed. We must realize, that at that point in history, it was believed that the father, and the father only, contributed what we would today call the genetic make up of the child. What they called the male seed was regarded as containing an entire nascent human being. As a consequence, they regarded any wastage of the seed as tatamount to murder. This explains why masturbation, coitus interuptus and even wet dreams were considered to be serious sins. The role of the woman was solely that of providing the warm nurturing environment for the developing child. She had no genetic contribution to make. Since she contributed nothing to the make up of the child, she could, of course, not be the agency through which Original Sin was passed on. Of course the mother herself was cursed with Original Sin but this flaw in her was not felt to have any bearing on the state of the child.
Now when we link these notions to the Nativity story we get further complications. Mary was believed to have become pregnant through the agency of God. God of course contributed the seed (genetic material) and Mary's role for the next nine months was as a nurturing womb. Jesus was born sinless because of course God was sinless. The stain of the Original Sin did not afflict him. It did not matter that Mary was afflicted with the sin.
This entire theory fell apart about 200 years ago when it was discovered by microscopic studies that the mother did indeed contribute genetically to the child. She of course supplied the egg cell to be fertilized by the male sperm.
This realization seems to have provided a good deal of the impetus for the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. If Mary through her egg contributed to the genetic make up of Jesus then she too could pass on Original Sin. The Immaculate Conception solved this problem quite neatly by stating that Mary herself must have been concieved immaculately (without sin) through the agency of the grace of Jesus somehow applied retroactively.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?