Mary Questions
First, I'd like to say thanks you, especially to Bro. Ignatious for answering all my previous questions, sorry if I seem to be dominating the discussion boards. I really appreciate your help, and you will be in my prayers.
I recently had a discussion with one of my Protestant friends regarding Mary's ever virginity, her Assumption, Immaculate Conception, all that good stuff. She was very open minded and simply wanted to know the reasoning behind it all.
For one, I explained the meaning of sacred. How something sacred cannot go to a non-sacred use, it's where God touches the material world. Well, she asked about Catholic Communion, how we believe God is physically touching us as we recieve. Would we become sacred once God touches our lips, and why is acceptable for our lips to be used for a non-sacred purposes, such as eating food?
In addition, she asked about the Assumption of Mary. I had to admit it's not in the Bible, and explained the flaws of sola scriptura, but is there any evidence of Mary's Assumption?
She also asked why couldn't Jesus have healed Mary the moment he was concieved and cleansed her of Original Sin? She didn't understand why she had to be Immaculately Concieved, and sadly I failed to explain it.
I explained the need for her to be free of Original Sin was so God could live inside her, because light and darkness can't co-exist. But, she said that Jesus lived in a world of darkness and was around sinners all the time, and even went to hell.
Finally, she claimed that Mary didn't have to be free of sin her entire because God was inside her, because Paul states in 1 Corinthians 3:17 that the Holy Spirit lives in us all and we are all "sacred", although my version says "holy."
My faith is far from shattered, and it's in no danger. This has just made me realize how much more I have to learn about my faith. So, any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
-Damien
QUESTION from Damien on December 5, 2003
Unfortunately I found myself stumbling and not able to answer all her questions. I believe in the Assumption, etc. yet, I too would like to know the answers to these questions.
ANSWER by Staff on December 7, 2003
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Dear Damien: Most of these issues were discussed in a previous post: Click here On some of her specific responses to your explanations: 1) Something that is sacred is not just where God touches the material world, but is something SET ASIDE for God. That is what "sacred" means -- "to set aside". Us touching a sacred object does not make us sacred. Sacredness is intrinsic to the person or object itself as it or he is set aside for God special purposes.
3) As to why Jesus couldn't have healed Mary the moment he was conceived and cleansed her of Original Sin? Well the point is that the Ark of the Covenant cannot be contaminated in the First Place. One cannot take a contaminated vessel and cleanse it for God to bring His special presence. It must be pure and unblemished to begin with. The sacrifices of the lamb in the Old Testament had to be pure and unblemished to begin with, not cleaned up later. And, I would ask this question of her, "why couldn't Jesus have preserved Mary from original sin at the moment of her conception." And that is the point. Mary was not "cleansed" of original sin, but PRESERVED from the stain of original sin. 4) AS for Jesus living in a world of darkness, so did Mary. But there was NO darkness IN Jesus; and there was no darkness IN Mary, nor could their be if she was to be the Ark of the Covenant. BTW, light and darkness do co-exist. God is everywhere. There is no place God is not at, even hell. God is in us even though we are not perfect. Mary, however, had to be perfect and sinless or she could not have been the Ark of the Covenant. 5) On her claimed that Mary didn't have to be free of sin because God was inside her misses the point. God is in us, but we are not sacred (set apart) to be the Ark of the Covenant. Mary has a particular and singularly unique role to play. We do not play that role. For God Himself to reside literally in Mary's womb is NOT the same thing as the Holy Spirit indwelling in us. As the Old Testament teaches us, this particular point deals with a total lack of blemish, a total purity. If Mary had sin, then she could not have been the Ark... JUST AS if Jesus had sin he could not have been the Lamb of God. The Ark and the Lamb both had to be totally pure and unblemished. There is NO question of this teaching in the Old Testament and no credible theologian of any stripe would disagree with this. The basic problem is that so many people are ignorant of the Old Testament. One cannot understand much of anything without understanding the Old Testament, and one cannot understand the Old Testament except in light of the New. I hope this helps, but keep in mind what Jesus said: "there are none so blind and those who will not see."
God Bless, |