Not me.
You said there were “no exceptions”, did you not?
Yes!!
How do you know this? I believe that as she matured she had clear signs of the calling God put on her. Just like each us do.
Not a chance. See above.
David,
Didn’t see your response. If you want to believe that Mary didn’t sin then obviously that’s your choice. With regard to exceptions don’t twist my words. Let’s just be very clear.
The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus never sinned. Paul tells us that he is the only person who walked the earth and not sin, no exceptions. No exceptions meaning no one else besides Jesus. Believing that Mary didn’t sin has nothing to do with getting to heaven. I think we just need to be careful about what we teach when there clearly is no documentation to support it. Somebody writing outside of the Bible doesn’t count for me. As I’ve said in previous posts, where the Bible is silent we need to be silent, where the Bible speaks we speak. And sometimes that can be hard becasue we know that there are some things in the Bible that just don’t make sense.
Here’s what I find most interesting about Mary. As great as she was, which I do believe by the way let’s take a look at what Jesus has to say about her. Jesus is given a perfect opportunity in Luke to praise Mary and instead look at what he says:
Luke 11:27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Why didn’t Jesus praise Mary right then and there to let people know how special she was. In other parts of the Gospels we get the inclination that Mary and Jesus brothers and sisters really didn’t understand what he was there to do.
Mark 3:20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
Mark 3:31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers [2] are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Why did he say this? We don’t really know but we could speculate that maybe his family including Mary just didn’t get it yet.
David I will just say this. As a former Catholic please don’t believe something because the church teaches it to you. If you read scripture and come to your own conclusion that she couldn’t have ever sinned then great. You may be right. I believe she did. I also believed she had more children because scripture suggests it.
Matthew 1:24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
Whenever the Bible mentions a man knowing his wife it’s usually associated with sexual contact.
Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten [1] a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel.
I’ve become a student of the Bible and believe whole-heartedly that it is the Revelation of God. How else do you explain how it has survived? God meant for us to have a book so we could learn about Him and Jesus. The church should reinforce that and not add to it like the Catholic church does. God tells us in the Bible not to add or take away from it.
Peace.
