Preserved From Sin
HB: I agree with almost everything Catholics believe in. I could even go along with the Real Presence in the Eucharist. But I can't get over the Mary stuff.
Me: You know Catholics don't worship Mary. What is the problem with her again?
HB: Her sinlessness. If she is perfect, she wouldn't need Christ.
Me: Of course she needed Christ; Christ isn't bound by time; the merits of His sacrifice can be viewed as retroactive.
It was unconvincing, mostly because we could not understand or even contemplate how someone could go without sin - not just acts of commission but of omission - every minute of every day of life. Imagine saying 'yes' to the HS and stopping to help every time you see a motorist on the side of the road. What would a sinless life look like on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute level? Since we are serial sinners, it is hard to conceive of. "You believe it because you have to - because the Church teaches it," he said, which is true as far as it goes but although it is something I have trouble imagining, it's not something I have difficulty with as a spiritual concept. Eve was conceived without sin too. And was sinless for awhile - if sinless for a certain stretch of time, why not a whole life?
I don't see how it takes away from Jesus that Mary was preserved from sin - as if His sacrifice were less. If that were so, wouldn't our sinning today and tomorrow reflect God's greater glory because we need Jesus that "much more"? That would be crazy; sin doesn't reflect God's glory.
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