rvl2213 said:
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God”
RVL,
Please excuse if any of the answers are a bit curt. We are used to being attacked on this front, so sometimes we don’t recognize honest and sincere questions.
That said, you have to ask what is being talked about in this verse and if it really says what you think it does. This verse is talking about “personal sin”, which is to say not Original Sin. This verse says that everyone commits sins, but make sure you also know who “everyone” is. Has a baby committed sin? Can a severely mentally impaired person commit sin? The answer to both is no, which disproves the verse you’ve quoted as a universal maxim. What is it saying, then? It’s saying that for everybody
you know who is past the age of accountability (including you), we have committed sin. Even the righteous man stumbles seven times a day. But, again, what you have quoted is not a universal maxim. Before the fall, neither Adam nor Eve sinned at all. They were in a state of Original Justice, and did not “sin seven times a day”, so to speak. What we believe is that, by merit of her son’s infinite grace and dignity, and because it was fitting and proper (read:
not because it was
necessary), Mary was also created in a state of Original Justice (i.e., without Original Sin). Like Eve before her, Mary committed no sin until the Angel of the Lord (in Eve’s case, Satan) came to her and offered her a choice. The choice was the same for both of them - would you do the will of the Father? Eve answered no, and brought death to us. Mary answered yes, and brought life to us. Understand that it was neither Eve nor Mary alone who brought death or life, but rather it was Adam and Jesus (the New Adam) who completed the action in the full sense.
Does that make more sense?
God bless,
RyanL
