This comment is directed towards Revelife, and not the actually writer of the post.  I'm assuming that Revelife chose the title...for the record the 'immaculate conception' refers to the fact/teaching that Mary was without sin, not to the virgin birth.  It would help if you knew what you were talking about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception

Just read the first paragraph.

Immaculate conception isn't necessarily virgin birth.  Just sos ya know.

@hubbaduh@xanga - Does revlife pick the title, or does the subby?

no... its revelife... a friend of mine who posts constantly says that as she submits a post and it gets featured... they change up the post and maybe even the title to make it fit the audience... or something... either way, it's not the same entry as the original poster... it's definitely revelife's doing...

but as far as commenting on the post...

THE VIRGIN BIRTH and anything else that people struggle with as far as the inconcievable ideals mentioned in Scripture just makes God all the more glorious... which makes Him worth of worship...

but there are also explanations as to why God did the things He does... out of His grandness... so...

@hubbaduh@xanga - @no_more_grace@xanga - @Sir_Bissel@xanga - hey there! We're sorry for the mistake. This is actually the original title the writer wrote so we totally dropped the ball and missed that immaculate conception is different from virginal conception. Thanks for keeping us on our toes!

@sirnickdon - "born without inheriting sin then Mary would have to be born without sin as well, for the same reason."

Wouldn't that mean that Mary's parents would also need to be sinless?

Regarding the virgin birth, it really isn't anything new to Christianity-- various other religions have had various people be born of a virgin-- the Egyptians had Ra, Hindus have Krishna, the Assyrians/Babylonians had Tammuz, the Greeks had Attis (mmm, pomegranates), the Buddhists have Gautama Buddha, to name a few... I think it'd be difficult to find a religion that doesn't reference a virgin birth at some point.

@hubbaduh@xanga - It's not really a no-brainer... Immaculate Conception as a concept isn't necessarily taught world-round. And it's easy mistake to make. The word immaculate itself simply means spotless, or morally pure. This could easily be thought of within Christian circles as being equivalent to virgin if you're not familiar with the history and whatnot. Putting these two words together by definition combined with a non-catholic background can easily result in immaculate conception equaling virgin birth.

That doesn't mean it's right, but it's understandable. It was probably just an honest mistake.

Anyway I appreciate the honesty in this post. Many Christians aren't honest enough to question their faith. Kudos .

I don't have an answer but I know what you mean. I believe that there are some things beyond what I can understand or what I can understand right now and I just try to leave it at that.

@sirnickdon - Right, but I'm just questioning that if Jesus couldn't be born without sin without having a sinless mother (or parent? Would both need to be sinless?) that it should follow that Mary's parents would also need to be sinless, otherwise Mary should have sin, or Jesus should have been able to be born sinlessly to begin with, you follow?

@LifeMeansChange@xanga - I guess that whether or not it's a 'no brainer' is partly dependent on your level of education and learning.  I still think that it should be a 'no brainer' though for Revelife, since they say that they are this Christian community...shouldn't a Christian community have knowledge about something so basic?  I think so.  I don't necessarily expect everyond and their grandmother to know or understand the what the immaculate conception is, but I expect that if Revelife is going to label themselves as a sort of 'Christian Xanga' that they would know.  I do understand what you're saying though, but to me Revelife should have a higher standard, if that makes sense.

@Sir_Bissel@xanga - It seems to me (meaning this is what I think; I am not speaking on behalf of the Church, but I can look into this whole thing for you if you want the official teachings) that Original Sin is something we inherit from Adam and Eve; basically, it is part of our human nature now. In the Fall, our very nature as human beings was altered, and now all human beings inherit it, which means that contrary to how we were originally created to be, we have a tendency to turn away from God.

However, the Original Sin was a sin against God specifically, so it seems to me that it is God that would hold the sin against the sinners, since he was the one who was wronged. Because human nature fell in the sin also, that sin echoes on down through the ages in all the children of Adam and Eve, so though it was only they who sinned against God, their choice becomes our choice. Thank God for Baptism, that we might be freed from it (though our nature remains fallen and tends to sin quite a bit, so thank God for Christ)!

However, there came a moment when God's plan for salvation was reaching an important step, and in order for that to take place he needed a sinless woman. So an ancient tradition holds that an elderly couple name Joachim and Anne were praying and praying for a child of their own, since they had none and they were getting on in years. They were good and holy people, and God heard their prayer. He allowed for them to conceive (like he graciously did for Abraham and Sarah, Zechariah and Elizabeth, etc.) but did something very special, too. He allowed for the child to be conceived without original sin; the child would be perfect, unfallen, as Eve was before the fall. This daughter would be the mother of Jesus Christ, who would also be born without sin though born as a man in the normal way, for his Father is God (who certainly isn't a sinner!) and his mother was spared the sin of Adam (and since her nature was perfect and not fallen, she would not be prone to sin like we are). Hence, with two perfect and holy parents, Jesus would be perfect and sinless.

I hope that helps a little! Again, these are just my thoughts.

@Ancient_Scribe@xanga - Although even with that it just seems slightly redundant if God can just kinda say "Y'know what, no sin here" that Jesus ... Although, I guess if God were to procreate with someone, it would probably need to be someone sinless.

The Hebrew word for virgin also means a young woman. Could have been mistranslated. It's also possible a man might have ejaculated onto something and she touched and then touched herself. I think the other biblical stories are more difficult to believe.