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As a
Christian, I have every respect for Mary, the mother of the
Lord. When I write against the doctrine of "the immaculate
conception", I am not writing against Mary. On the contrary, I
seek to present the truth about her.
The image of
Mary crushing the serpent's head is taken from a incorrect
translation of Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmities between thee
and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy
head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel" (Douay-Rheims
Bible). Modern Catholic Bibles correct the mistake: "I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you
strike at his heel" (New American Bible).
The Bible
teaches that the woman's seed, JESUS, crushed the serpent's
head. Why is then that Catholics continue to portray Mary as
if she crushed Satan's head? Jesus came to the world to give
us victory over our enemy. "For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil"
(1 John 3:8). Let us therefore trust in Him alone to give us
victory over the devil, sin and death.
The modern Catholic Church teaches that Mary was
conceived without sin.
Through the
centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary,
'full of grace' through God (Luke 1:28) was redeemed from
the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the
Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed
in 1854: The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first
moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege
of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ,
Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of
original sin. [Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (1854)] (Catechism
of the Catholic Church, paragraph 491).
The doctrine
of the Immaculate Conception was not taught in the first
centuries of the Christian church. While there were some
fathers who believed that Mary led a sinless life, there was a
unanimous agreement that all natural descendants of Adam were
conceived in sin. Augustine writes: "He [Christ], therefore,
alone having become man, but still continuing to be God, never
had any sin, nor did he assume a flesh of sin, though born of
a maternal flesh of sin" (De Peccatorum Meritis).
"The first
real advocacy of the dogma comes in the twelfth century in the
writing of a British monk Eadmer. But ranged against him in
their denial of the dogma are names which are revered in the
Church of Rome - Bernard Clairvaux, Peter Lombard, Bonaventura
and Thomas Aquinas, to name a few. It was not until the
fourteenth century that Duns Scotus elaborated the theory
which was ultimately to win the day for the Franciscan
advocates of the dogma in their debate with the Dominicans who
had fiercely opposed it" (H.M. Carson, Roman Catholicism
Today).
Catholic
scholars admit that this doctrine is not explicitly revealed
in Scripture. The Catechism refers to Luke 1:28 for scriptural
evidence. But "full of grace" could not possibly mean
conceived without sin for the very same word is used in
Ephesians 1:6 where it refers to ALL believers. Certainly no
one would argue that all Christians were conceived without
sin!
Contrary to
the Roman Catholic teaching, the Scripture plainly teaches
that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God" (Romans 3:23). All Adam's descendents share his sinful
nature: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). Therefore all need to
be saved. Mary herself calls God "my savior" (Luke 1:47).
Evidently she did not know the Roman Catholic doctrine of the
Immaculate Conception!
Of Christ
alone it is ever expressly stated that He was "without sin"
(Hebrews 4:15). Christ alone is immaculate from conception,
and therefore qualified to die in the place of sinners.
Christ, who knew no sin, "bare our sins in his own body on the
tree" (1 Peter 2:24).
The
implications of this dogma are very serious. The Pope
warns:
Hence, if
anyone shall dare -- which God forbid! -- to think otherwise
than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand
that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has
suffered shipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from
the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own
action he incurs the penalties established by law if he
should express in words or writing or by any other outward
means the errors he thinks in his heart (Pius IX,
Ineffabilis Deus).
The Roman
Catholic magisterium would have us believe a doctrine that is
neither taught in the Scriptures nor in the writings of the
early church fathers - as if this doctrine is essential to the
Christian faith. But we are convinced that the Scriptures are
able to make us wise unto salvation by faith in Christ Jesus
(1 Timothy 3:15). We don't need any extra-biblical doctrines
for our salvation. In fact, it is the Roman Church that
suffered "shipwreck in the faith" by embracing a doctrine that
is contrary to the Bible; and "separated from the unity of the
Church" which for centuries knew nothing of the theological
inventions of Rome.
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