[Oldcath-l] Immaculate Conception (not mine) :)

[Sibyl Smirl]

Tony wrote:
> Does the dogma of the Immaculate Conception issued by Pope Pius IX in 1854
> state only that Mary was born without sin or that she was born without sin
> and never sinned?

I'll do some hunting for the specific document, but for one thing, it 
wasn't "born" without sin, it was _conceived_ without sin.  That's 
important, because of Original Sin, that you get at conception.  It 
meant that when she said "yes" to Gabriel, God had to go back in time to 
her conception, nine months or so before her birth, and fix that, to 
make her a fit vessel to contain God for nine months, because sin is 
what separates you from God, and you can't be God's mother if you're 
already separated from Him: the embryo wouldn't implant.



-- 
Love in Christ,

Sibyl Smirl
mailto:polycarpa3 at ckt.net