Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@granjon.garage.att.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Mary's Virginity & Jesus's Siblings Message-ID: Date: 24 Jul 90 08:43:01 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 31 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Yes, indeed, Catholic doctrine is that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without the stain of the original sin. She was still redeemed, though. She was just redeemed in a more perfect way, by preventing the effects of the original sin from touching her, instead of fixing things up once the effects were there. Further, she is also held to have been sinless. She never committed any sins at all. There a few basic prerogatives of hers that Marian theology is based on. Two of the basic ones are that she was immaculately conceived, and was the Mother of God (Theotokos). The Assumption was an inevitable consequence of the Immaculate Conception. Graveyards only exist because of the original sin, and since she was immaculately conceived, her body was not subject to corruption in the grave. Her dignities are the source of the great esteem that Catholics have for her. Because of her personal sinlessness, and her dignity as Mother of God, she is a greater creature than all the rest that the Most High God made. Because of the graces given her, she loves God more than all the other angels and men put together. The passages in St. Paul that say "all have sinned" deal with the universality of the original sin, not personal sin. Obviously, since the babies of his time were not guilty of any personal sin, since they had not the use of reason yet. So the only sense in which they could be said to have sinned is through Adam, via the original sin. Joe Buehler