Serafin:
The newer dogmas of Assumption and Immaculate Conception seem to have no firm Scriptural foundation.
It was GOD Himself through the Angel Gabriel in Luke 1:28, who was teh first to call Mary “blessed”. If GOD said “Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee”, in the same verse, could Mary have been ‘full of grace’ or ‘blessed’ or have the ‘Lord with her’, had she been stained by original sin? No. By being “full of Grace”, and being told “the Lord is with thee”, she is made higher than even Eve who was never told these things. Was Eve created with original sin? No. Then why do you think Mary, who is higher than Eve, was born with original sin?
When something happens in the Old Testament is is fulfilled with something in the New Testament. So the Ark of the covenent → Blessed Virgin Mary. Hebrews 9:3-4 tells us that inside the Ark of The Covenet was contained the word of God (10 commandment tablets). If Jesus is the “Word Incarnate” then Mary is the New testament fulfillment of that ARK, she is the container for the most holy and precious thing to come on to this Earth.
Notice the similarities between Luke 1:43 & 2 Samuel 6:9
Elizabeth says “Who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
David says “Who am I that the Ark of my Lord should come to me?”
Rev 11:19
“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant.”
the ark/MARY was in GOD’S TEMPLE
was anybody else said to be blessed with this honor?
Exod 25:11 God tells how to prepare the ark
“Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it.”
Gold. the very best available.
references to consider include Rom 15:14; 1 Cor 15:22
Also if you would take a look at Isaiah 52:11
“Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
you who carry the vessels of the LORD.”
If Mary is to be a vessel that carries the Lord, she is to be made with this in mind.
GOD will not join Himself with anything defiled, Wis 1:4-5, Isa 59:1-4, Rom 1:18-32, Rev 21:27.
Jesus is the only person who ever created His own mother (John 1:1-3) If you had the opportunity to do the same, would you create yours tainted with sin and destined for eternal death?
If you said that Mary needed redemption, I agree . But this was done by applying the merits of Jesus’ death and ressurection in advance to prepare a spotless vessel in which God would dwell
Jesus could have appeared on this earth as a full grown 30 year old man. But he came through Mary. Jesus gave her to us at the very foot of the cross. some of the last words he spoke.
John 19:25-27
When Jesus saw his mother there [near the cross], and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
If you are to be a disciple of Christ, you must accept Mary as your own mother. She is my mother and yours, and I for one respect this particular doctrine of her immaculate conception, and lacking of sin that early christians also believed.
Even the first Protestant had this to say:
“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”
Please brothers and sisters, how did our beliefs stray so far from each others? It is not easy to understand things sometimes, but God asks that we believe whole heartedly. I ask that you consider these without having your mind already set that Mary couldn’t have been without sin since she was just human.
