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From: susan@vaxwaller.UUCP (Susan Finkelman)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Religious question
Message-ID: <339@vaxwaller.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 20-Sep-85 15:18:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: vaxwalle.339
Posted: Fri Sep 20 15:18:24 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 29-Sep-85 05:56:52 EDT
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Organization: Varian, Walnut Creek, CA
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> 
> Incidentally, I find the doctrine of Immaculate Conception to be
> utterly unnecessary.  Mary, through her entire life, was a practicing,
> sacrificing Jew, and her observance of the Covenant and concommitant
> trust in the efficacy of the sacrifices held at the Temple would have
> been sufficient to keep her ritually pure for the necessary period.
> 
What evidence is there for the above?  I really don't think that ritual
purity was the issue addressed by the Immaculate Conception anyway.  
I would be interested in hearing more about that concept if it is truely
the origin of the doctrine.

> Part of the problem comes in the connection between "sin" and the
> concept of ritual purity.  Apparently it was sufficient in the eyes
> of G-d that one be ritually pure, to "handle" Holy things.
> (Please correct me if I am mistaken in the following analysis.)
> One could become ritually unclean by breaking the Law, or by touching
> the wrong things.  As far as I can tell, Mary did neither thing, until
> she gave birth; I seem to recall that there is a brief interval of ritual
> impurity after giving birth because of the blood involved.  In any
> case, it is not a sin to give birth or to be born, so the ritual impurity
> would be alleviated in the usual fashion.
> 
She became unclean every time she had a period both before and after the
birth of her kid.  I doubt if she stopped handling him because of that.

> Hutch

  Susan Finkelman
	{zehntel,amd,fortune,resonex,rtech}!varian!susan