The mythology regarding Mother Mary is a
theological issue born out of necessity. The Roman Church Fathers put
themselves in a corner with this original sin idea. There is no
choice but to rid Mary of all sin.
jt: Why is there no choice? We are kidding ourselves if we think we
totally understand how a virgin birth actually works. I doubt that Johns Hopkins
could explain it to you either. Either Jesus was born of natural
generation or he wasn't. It is possible to say that he was born of a woman
(because he grew in her womb) as in a natural birth but why do we have to carry
it over into what we know about natural births when nothing about him other than
his body was like other naturally generated men. There was something added
and other things missing.
I believe that I can defend the idea that Adam was not different from his offspring. He was created flesh and blood, fully capable of sin and sinning, and mortal (were it not for the tree of life). When Paul writes Ro 5:12 and says that "by one man sin entered the world and death by sin so that death passed upon all men because all have sinned" he was this similarity.
jt: Death passed to all
men through Adam because he was the one who sinned. God gave him a choice
and God tested his heart as he does with all of his creation. Adam flunked
the test.
I believe the entire Old Testament account has as a primary purpose, the task of showing us that man will fail to be saved without an utterly divine solution, i.e. the God in Christ on the Cross. Man's salvation is not secure(d) under law, even God's law, under prophetical leader, under kings, under bondage and not even when everything is perfect -- ala, the Garden of Eden.
I believe the entire Old Testament account has as a primary purpose, the task of showing us that man will fail to be saved without an utterly divine solution, i.e. the God in Christ on the Cross. Man's salvation is not secure(d) under law, even God's law, under prophetical leader, under kings, under bondage and not even when everything is perfect -- ala, the Garden of Eden.
jt: There was no law in
the Garden of Eden, non was needed. They just had one commandment in their Bible
and didn't need salvation because so far there had been no judgment. (we
are saved from God's wrath); neither was God's Law given to save. The
purpose of God's Law is to show us what sin is as compared to His righteousness
and holiness. A lesson that I'm afraid has been lost to the present
generation.
