In Catholic Austria, and I am certain
also in many other countries, this happening is celebrated on the 8th
day of December.
What exactly is it, the believers are
celebrating ?
A surprising number of people will tell
you that it is the day when the Holy Ghost impregnated the Virgin
Mary, causing this “Immaculate Conception”, resulting in the
birth of Jesus Christ.
Even the mathematically handicapped
should be able to count almost on their fingers that this would have
given Mary a pregnancy period of 17 days.
So, this one is out. It cannot be it
and, of course, it is not the cause of this celebration.
This day is celebrated because,
allegedly, Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, were told that they
could expect the birth of a baby. (There is no reference made to
Joachim and/or Anna in the Bible so somebody must have dreamed up these names.)
Since, 9 month later, on the 8th
September, Mary was borne without Original Sin, her mother, so it is
claimed by some, also must have been borne without this
infliction.... and her mother... and her mother... until back to Eve
?
Throughout the Middle Ages, the
arguments raged back and forth about this issue:
Was Mary, conceived in the normal
physical way by her parents and was she freed from O.S. by God's
intervention even prior to her birth, or was it this or was it
that... or was it an altogether other thing ?
In any event, it was not until 1854
that Pope Pius IX issued the Papal Proclamation (Bull) declaring the
Immaculate Conception of Mary a fact revealed by God and therefore
beyond doubt or question.
It became Dogma.
It is really wonderful, how the
Catholic Church can decide upon something 1854 years after the fact, something about which there is no
mention in their “book of books” and claim that all of it has
been revealed by God himself and therefore must be the absolute
truth.
Very convenient, isn't it?
Bertstravels
just shakes his head.
No comments:
Post a Comment