DOCTRINAL QUIZ SHOW!
(clap, clap, clap)
Okay, folks, this one might seem simple on the surface, but it's *almost* a trick question (and that's all I'm going to say about that).
Remember, the rules are that you cannot research it, google it, or ask your catechist husband the answer. Just answer to the best of your ability, off the top of your head. No cheating! Because cheating is a sin.
Don't worry, I will not publicly mock your answer unless I feel like it. I also reserve the right to give out incredibly witty awards like last time, so beware.
Here is your question (soft drum roll):
According to the Catholic Church, why did God create Mary to be without sin from the first moment of her conception?
Have at it, kiddos!
You said the next question was going to have to do with purgatory, not Mary! I quit! hahahaha LMBO
ReplyDeleteMan, I know I know this question.
I would say because she was the 2nd Eve and so sinless had to make up for sin. ;) In my 3rd grade mind that is my final answer. ;) Now I'm going to google it! ;)
DANG IT!!!!! I KNEW THAT!!!! I should have gone with my first thought!!!!!!!!! I'm SO TICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteArk of the new covenant?
ReplyDeleteConfession time. I didn't realize those were the rules last time and grabbed my Theology and Sanity off the shelf for a quote... It was right there!!! Can I claim that it leapt off the shelf and into my hands, falling open to the page I happened to be wondering about, whereby my eyes, while resting from the computer, fell upon the exact sentence that I needed and it stayed in my mind as a perfect quote? Because I'm SURE that's what happened.
ReplyDeleteLet me complain about the question while I put off actually answering it. Did you have to ask WHY? Not how or did, but why? That's a lot harder!! I mean, can we really know the why's of the Lord God Almighty? :)
Well while I procrastinate a little longer I can tell you why NOT. He did NOT HAVE to create her without sin to create a perfect place for Jesus who was without sin. Because that then have to be true for Anne's conception of Mary- and on and on.
I think He did it as a gift- to show her honor. Though Mary had free will and could have said "no" or chosen to sin, as Eve did, God in the eternal NOW knew that Mary would not sin and that she would become the mother of God. Therefore He preserved her from original sin. Jesus, in the eternal NOW and outside the limits of time, saved His mother from original sin before the cross happened in our timeline. And He can do that. Because He's God! Therefore Gabriel could say, "Hail Mary, FULL of Grace".
Guess I won't win the Frank Sheed reference prize this time... Sigh...
Ooooh... uh, okay:
ReplyDelete1. She was the "New Eve" - a foreshadowing of God's restoration of and reconciliation with post-Fall humanity.
2. She needed to be in a state of grace to be a fitting "tabernacle" to carry her holy Son.
I wanna cheat.... So....I'm going with "because he wanted to!" Ha!! And all that new Eve stuff too!! ;)
ReplyDeletemy layman's answer would be so that she would be the perfect person for Jesus to be born to and raised by. without sin she would always act appropriately in guiding him as his mother. With God as his father he already had the perfect Dad, just needed the perfect mom. also, she had to be completely able to accept God's will and while she did it during her life, she would still have original sin left over from being born and she needed a clean slate, like Jesus had.
ReplyDeletei'm sure there's a more theologically correct/concise answer but that's the first thing that came to my head!
Ignore this! I just forgot to check the follow up comment box, so I need to redo! Oops!
ReplyDeleteMan, that's a tough one Leila! You are so good.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the New Eve theory. I also heard once that Mary had to be completely sinless, like a tabernacle, to carry God within her. So I guess I would say because she had to be! That's silly, I know. But I still want an award!
I am tired, crazy busy with work, and have no time to google (but yes, I know that commenting takes time too...but nonetheless here is my off the cuff answer (yes, tongue planted firmly in cheek)...Answer: because it was easier doing it then than having to backtrack later. As the old adage goes "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." (Boy, am I sure glad he did it though!) God Bless!
ReplyDeleteMy first thought is that He created Mary without sin so that she could be the mother of our Lord and if she was to carry our Lord within her she needed to be without sin! A clean vessel to carry the sinless Jesus!
ReplyDeleteThat's all I got now!
I'm going with the others that said he wanted to create a woman without sin to be worthy of being the mother of Jesus.
ReplyDeleteMaybe?
An trickier question still. Where do you find in the Bible that she was sinless? Sorry, couldn't resist :) I am not Catholic, can't you tell? Hope, you will not find this offensive. But, seriously, where in the Bible does it say that she was without sin?
ReplyDeleteOlya, welcome! Your question presupposes a belief in sola scriptura. Catholics don't subscribe to that pillar of the Reformation, so your very premise is different from ours.
ReplyDeleteAnd the question of why Protestants do believe in sola scriptura and Catholics (and Orthodox, and others) don't, is for another post. :) Email me at allthemillers@cox.net if you want great resources to understand why the Church has always taught that Mary was sinless.
Olya, PS: Just to clarify, we Catholics believe that Scripture does not contradict the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (Mary's sinlessness) in any way, even if it is not *explicit* in the text.
ReplyDeleteOH my gosh, Leila, I have no idea! I'll just copy everyone else's answers. :)
ReplyDeleteLeila, thank you! I have been hoping you'd respond. It was one thing that I could not figure out being raised (faith wise) on Sola Scriptura. Now, if Catholic church doesn't believe in that, all those things make more sence. Again, thank you.
ReplyDeleteOlya, I am so happy that you commented and that I was able to help things make more sense. If we all understood each other better, we would have a much happier world. :) You made my day.
ReplyDeleteI do know for sure that God did NOT have to make her sinless, he chose to. I remember learning that. And I guess He chose to so that she could be the most perfect vessel to bring forth His only son.
ReplyDeleteI think it was Scott hahn who explained in his Mary book that it *is* in fact in scripture - Gabriel said "hail FULL OF GRACE" in other words, she was full of grace.. ie no room for sin or anything else. For a free fabbo Mary and the scriptures cd Google Bible Christian society. I got many of their cds and was flat out riveted.
ReplyDelete(sorry for the typing... on my phone.)
:)
Cathy-I dictionary looked up full of grace and the meaning of it.
ReplyDeleteFull of: maximum capacity
Grace (in relgion): the condition of being in God's favor OR the elect one.
So I'm thinking Full of grace would translate in Sew's terms to: To be the elect one to maximum capacity.
And to be that way you would only make sense you are without sin.
Obviously that has not theological bases.
So maybe I'm breaking the rules but this has been up all day and I'm so ready for the explanation! ;) hahahaha This is not part of my answer because I did use the dictionary. ;)
Sew, you have unpacked the Greek! Wow!
ReplyDeleteI promise that an answer will come by tomorrow.... I wasn't prepared to write the follow-up post today (and I must carefully consider the awards...).
Sew,
ReplyDeleteHere's an excellent site on the original Greek term from Luke 1:28 and how it was mistranslated by nearly everyone EXCEPT by St. Jerome, who was, ahem, an expert in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagetiq.html
Hope that makes sense.
:)
In other words, you can't just look up what something in the Bible translates to in English. Find the word in the original Greek, or Hebrew as the case may be - but Luke was written in Greek - and go from there.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Leila, didn't mean to derail this very interesting quiz!
:)
Cathy, I love it! Not derailing it at all....It's just what I have hoped for. Interactive discussion that leaves us all better off and more knowledgeable! Thank you!!
ReplyDelete(I think your link is wrong, though, because it led to a site on flag etiquette, which is really good, but I hope you can also give us the site you intended!)
Cathy was the Greek translation somehow relevant to flag etiquette? That's interesting. Learn things new every day! LMBO. ;)
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh!! It is so hard to run through the comments and not read them!!! I managed to do so, so here is my answer.
ReplyDeleteMary was created without sin because she is the new Eve. Eve opened the door to original sin and Our Blessed Mother, Mary, was chosen to bear God's son who would redeem us from our sins!
What a great thread!! I too learned that "Hail, full of grace" indicated lack of original sin. Also, a lack of recorded tomb (in an ancient culture that would have kept track of these things, esp given her celebrity status :)) is another indication that Mary was blessed with a special state. Some mistaken this concept as saying she was "equal" to God, but...
ReplyDeleteAs St. Therese once pointed out: Whether God pulls a person out of a pit or prevents them from falling into the pit - either way they had to be saved.
Good thing I don't mind looking like an idiot in public! Here goes...because God always had a plan for her to carry our savior and only someone without sin could have such a great honor. I mean, to carry him would mean they would share bodily fluid right (blood? boy, I am showing my ignorance here on more things than one!) And when dirty water touches clean, the clean becomes contaminated. Mary would have to be perfect to carry Jesus, because it is a testament to His perfection.
ReplyDelete(there is a reason I never taught religious ed beyond 4th grade-that was probably higher than I should have gone...gotta get my butt back to a bible study!)
D'OH!
ReplyDeleteI posted something on Flag Etiquette on Flag Day (Facebook) and I guess that link somehow found its way here!
Ha!
(I'm all for respecting and loving the flag but not on a Theotokos level, heh!)
AAANYWAY.
Here's the link:
http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/a116.htm
She was the ark of the NEW Covenant (Jesus). When God's inside you, you can't really be sinning!
ReplyDeletei cheated and read the responses first... but my first thought was so that Jesus needed a perfect womb to grow in... free from sin
ReplyDeletelook at you changing your blog background--you little techie!