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Written by Bob Stanley, December 3, 1997
Updated March 13, 2004
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Page...The Immaculate Conception:
The Blessed Virgin Mary is
the "New Ark of the
Covenant".
GOD was very meticulous as to how the Hebrews were to
construct the wooden 'Ark of the Covenant' in Exodus 25. The Ark was destined to
be the most sacred object on earth by GOD because it contained GOD'S "Word",
written on the stone tablets handed down by Him to Moses. It was so sacred that
Uzzah, who had good intentions, died instantly just by just touching it as it
was about to tip over in 2Sam 6:2-8. Since the wooden Ark of the Old Testament
was but a "type" of the "New
Ark" of the New Testament, and therefore inferior to it, then how much more for
merely a man not to touch the "New Ark of the Covenant"? What is reserved for
GOD only, is GOD's only.
GOD and sin are mutually
exclusive (Rev 21:27). Does not it stand to reason that when GOD created the
"New Ark of the Covenant", the vessel that contained "His Word" (Jesus Christ,
John 1:1) that He would be equally or more meticulous in creating it? Can GOD
co-exist with original sin in the same vessel, the womb of Mary? That 'vessel',
Mary, had to be worthy of the 'Treasure' she carried, Jesus The Christ, the Word
Incarnate.
What is the purpose of Baptism? It is to remove the stain of
original sin. When we are baptized, sin goes out and GOD comes in. Baptism to
remove sin and allow GOD to come in was not instituted until after Jesus had
started His ministry (John 3:22-23, 4:2).
So The Blessed Virgin had to have a
stainless sin-free body and soul in order for GOD incarnate to dwell within her.
GOD imputes the stain of original sin into the soul of each person He creates.
However, He did not do so for His only Son. What makes you think He could not do
so for His Son's mother as well?
Who was the first person to call Mary
"Blessed"?
It was GOD Himself through the Angel Gabriel in Luke 1:28. If GOD
said "Hail, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee", in the same verse, could Mary
have been 'full of grace' or 'blessed' or have the 'Lord with her', had she been
stained by original sin? If you say 'yes' to that one, then please explain your
answer to me?
By being "full of Grace", and being told "the Lord is with
thee", is she not higher than Eve who was never told these things? If so, was
Eve created with original sin? No? Then why do you think Mary, who is higher
than Eve, was born with original sin? Wouldn't having original sin make Mary
lower than Eve? Eve is a "type"
of Mary, who is the "antitype". "Types" are always inferior to "antitypes" and
always point to a much greater reality, and never to a symbol.
GOD will not
join Himself with anything defiled, Wis 1:4-5, Isa 59:1-4,
Rom 1:18-32, Rev
21:27.
For these reasons, Mary had to be immaculately conceived: Gen
3:15,
Ex 25:8-40, Psa *4:4,18:23,51:10, Psa 132:8, *Song 4:7, *Wis 1:4, Isa
59:2,
*Ez 44:1-3, Lk 1:28,42, *John 1:1 and 1:14 together, Eph 5:27, Tit
3:7.
Theotokos is Greek and it's meaning is 'GOD Bearer'. And who
is the 'GOD Bearer'? Mary, the Mother of GOD. Who else bore GOD? This is shown
in John 1:1, "...and the Word was GOD", and in John 1:14, "And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us." So the Word, who was GOD, was made flesh. Where did
the substance of the flesh come from? It came from the substance of Mary. Could
the substance of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ come from a person stained
by original sin?
Mothers give birth to persons, not natures. The person of
Jesus Christ is divine, not human. Mary gave birth to a divine person. That
makes her the 'Theotokos', the 'GOD Bearer', the 'Mother of GOD'.
In Luke
1:41-43, '...Elizabeth, being filled with the Holy
Spirit, cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Blessed art thou among
women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb! And how have I deserved that the
MOTHER OF MY LORD should come to me?'"
Elizabeth,
filled with the Holy Spirit, called Mary the 'Mother
of my Lord'. Since being 'filled with the Holy Spirit' means the same throughout
the Bible, then it was the Holy Spirit who gave her
the words to say, isn't that true?
"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in
foreign tongues, even as the Holy Spirit prompted them to speak," Acts 2:4.
Who is 'my Lord', is
it not GOD? Did she then not call Mary, the 'MOTHER OF GOD'? If that is what she said, then the Holy Spirit called Mary the 'Mother of
GOD' did He not? If you say 'no' to these
questions in this paragraph, then please explain your reason(s) why to me.
If
the third person of the Holy Trinity called Mary the 'Mother
of GOD', would any one of us dare to deny
it?
Can the 'Mother of GOD' have original sin on her soul?
The
doctrine of Mary, the 'Mother of GOD' was first proclaimed by the Church at the
Council of Ephesus in 431.
I will ask you, 'Will GOD join Himself to anything
defiled'?
Isaiah 64:8, "And now, O Lord, Thou art Our Father, and
we are clay; and Thou art our maker, and we all are the
works of Thy hands."
Jeremiah 18:4-6, "And the
vessel was broke which he was making of clay with his hands; and turning he made
another vessel, as it seemed good in his eyes to make it. Then the Word of the
Lord came to me saying: 'Cannot I do with you as this
potter, O house of Israel, said the Lord? Behold as clay is in the hand of the
potter, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel."
So GOD is the Potter, and we are the clay to mold as He sees
fit.
Romans 9:21, "OR IS NOT THE POTTER MASTER
OF HIS CLAY, TO MAKE FROM THE SAME MASS ONE VESSEL FOR HONORABLE, ANOTHER FOR
IGNOBLE USE?"
The Potter and the Clay, and Romans 9:21 give Biblical justification to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
The decree of the bull reads:
"Accordingly, by the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity,
for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of GOD, for the exaltation of
the Catholic faith and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the
authority of Jesus Christ Our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and
our own, we declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that
the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her Conception, by a
singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty GOD, in view of the merits of
Jesus Christ the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of
original sin, is a doctrine revealed by GOD and therefore to believed firmly and
constantly by all the faithful."
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