Not only that but when Christians speak of Jesus they speak of him as sinless, “without fault and error.” Christians believe that Jesus himself is immaculate when it come to the stain or blemish of sin, for he is God. Many are surprised to learn that the term Immaculate Conception, particularly within the teaching of Roman Catholic doctrine, does not refer to Jesus. It refers to Mary’s conception, not Jesus.’
Pope Pius IX defined the Immaculate Conception for the faithful to understand completely in 1854, and it was declared again in 1962 at Vatican II. It is a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, the teaching is that the “Blessed Virgin Mary” was “from the first instant of her conception, by a “singular” grace and privilege of Almighty God, and in view of the merits of Christ Jesus the Savior of Mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin.” The decree and belief is recorded in Lumen Gentium Chapter 8. They believe that Mary was “redeemed in a more exalted fashion, than any other person, by reason of the merits of her Son."
Vatican writings often refer to Mary, as “The Virgin.” They say she was "ever-Virgin" too, meaning she never had sexual relations with any man, not even Joseph her husband. She is also called, the “Mother of God” and the “Queen of Heaven.” and believed to have lived her earthly life in a state of perfection, (by a special working of what they define as God’s Grace, that preserved her from “the stain of original sin.” Mary is known for her perfection and her subsequent assumption into heaven where, (they teach,) she makes intercession for us sinners “now and at the hour of our death.”
Catholic teaching is that everyone needs a savior, even Mary, but that God did some sort of work to specially preserve Mary from original sin from her conception onward. (They do this reasoning that a holy God could not take up residence in sinful man and she had to be made a holy place for him to dwell upon the earth.) So, when the angel announced to her that “she was full of Grace,” it was not a result of the angel’s visit. Grace was not something bestowed upon her at that point in time. It was her being, something she already possessed that the angel was making reference to. From her conception she was in a “state of sanctifying grace,” from the first moment of her existence, by a special intervention of God undertaken at the instant she was conceived, she was preserved from the stain of original sin and its consequences. Thus, she was perfect, sinless, like God and at her conception, she was Mary, "full of grace." Such teaching though, do not come from the Bible.
Romans 3:23 that says, “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.”
“All” would include Mary, would it not?
Most Catholics would say "yes, it does." After all, they read the Book of Romans and Luke 1:47 too. They believe it. They just put it all into a different perspective. They believe God redeemed Mary before Jesus was conceived and before he died and rose again even before Pentecost and the commission of the twelve men by God’s Holy Spirit. They (meaning those in authority over what lay catholics believe) also believe an apocryphal writing not found in either the Catholic or Protestant Bible, called the Protoevangelium of James, and this is something they use to substantiate these "Marian" beliefs, but it's different than simply the protoevanelium... for the word, "Proto-Evangelium means 'first Gospel' coming from the word proto or protos meaning first (from where we get the English word prototype etc) and evangelium referring to the Gospel or Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ. Traditionally it refers to the verse in Genesis 3:15:
"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" The first time God revealed his plan for the salvation of the world. Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, would crush the head of the serpent, Satan; the devil. The wound to Jesus 'heel' would not be fatal, but satan would be powerless as God provided a remedy to mankind for sin through this promised one, the Messiah.
As we know from the scripture, Mary, the mother of our Lord was bethroed to Joseph, but in this catholic mindset, this was not done so that he would have her as his wife, he had other wives... with whom he probably had children. To Mary, he was only appointed to be the guardian of her virginity.
The Protoevangelium story also tells an account of the birth of Jesus, but be warned, it is not your usual Bible story. The birth of Jesus depicted here is not like a natural, normal human birth at all. In it, we learn how Mary and Joseph were on their way to fulfill their obligation to the government census when Mary insisted they stop because that which was within her was about to come forth.
Joseph, concerned that she needed a place to cover her disgrace, found a cave and left his two sons from his other wives with her while he went to fetch a midwife. The text then briefly becomes a first person account, that of Joseph telling what happened. He makes the claim that Mary, raised in the temple, is betrothed to him as a wife, but not his wife for she has ‘conceived of the Holy Spirit.”
Having fetched a midwife who agrees to go with Joseph to see Mary, they arrive, and discover that a luminous cloud had overshadowed the cave. The story records that the midwife exclaims, “My soul has been magnified this day, because my eyes have seen strange things— because salvation has been brought forth to Israel.”
Immediately, we are told, the cloud disappeared and a great light shone in the cave, then that light gradually decreased, until “the infant appeared, and went and took the breast from His mother Mary.” Then the midwife “cried out, and said: This is a great day to me, because I have seen this strange sight.”
The midwife runs and tells the event to a woman named Salome who is then a sort of doubting Thomas, The midwife cries, “Salome, Salome, I have a strange sight to relate to you: a virgin has brought forth— a thing which her nature admits not of." Then Salome says: "As the Lord my God lives, unless I thrust in my finger, and search the parts, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth.”
I warned you it is weird. But like a Ronco commercial, wait... there's more:
According to the tale, they then go into the cave and the midwife tells Mary, “Show yourself; for no small controversy has arisen about you." The text says, "And Salome put in her finger, and cried out, and said: Woe is me for mine iniquity and mine unbelief, because I have tempted the living God; and, behold, my hand is dropping off as if burned with fire.” Salome then repented of her evil disbelief, that of not believing in the virginity of Mary.
This, according to the apocryphal writing, was the birth of the Christ child and the proof that Mary was ever-virgin. (http://www.newadvent.org/ 2006)
It is curious that Joseph would deny to the midwife his relationship to Mary for in the Bible, Joseph is told by an angel sent to him by God, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife."
Additionally, the 1995 New American Standard Bible translation indicates it was a pretty normal type of delivery. It reads, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. There is curiously no mention in the apocryphal account about the difficulty the couple has procuring a room at the inn because they just went into a cave, somewhere along the road along the way.
Consider also that it seems as if the baby wasn’t really born, he simply appeared after the bright light and the cloud. He must have been pretty strong too, and bold, for “the infant appeared, and went and took the breast from His mother Mary.” The way it is written, you would think he walked right over and demanded it or something. It makes him seem to have never been a baby, and more like the Catholic pictorial renditions of Jesus looking like a small adult. IT is almost as if they do not believe Jesus Christ had flesh and blood, and yet Hebrews chapter 2 says, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.”
Jesus didn’t take on the nature of angels when he was born, he had flesh and blood. He was conceived, not by the will of a man, but the will and power of God, fulfilling the promise of God he gave his children, the promise for a redeemer. He is, as spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, “God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14) Jesus was born like a man is born, he died like a man, and unlike any other man can do, after being crucified, and he rose from death to life. Jesus had a physical body, just like ours. Scripture says that he was found in the likeness of a man, yet, he was God.
Immaculate conception?
Who does it refer to and what does it mean, that is the question...
No comments:
Post a Comment