What is the immaculate conception?

Question

I've always thought that it was the conception of Jesus, I've 3 different stories, I'm not sure which is correct? I've also heard that Mary had children at the time of Jesus' birth.

Answer 1

I think, and believe, that the immaculate conception refers to Mary's birth, untarnished by original sin. That way she was a suitable receptacle for God's nut butter.

Answer 2

It doesn't refer to the conception of Jesus in Mary's womb. That's referred to as the Incarnation.

It refers to the conception of Mary in her mother's womb.

Mary did not have children at the time of Jesus' birth, since the Bible clearly identifies Jesus as her "firstborn."

Mary did not have children after Jesus' birth either. There are Christians who believe that she did, but unfortunately, that's due to an oversimplified reading of verses describing Jesus' "brothers" and "sisters."

It's clear from Luke 1, and Mary's response to the angel Gabriel, that she had taken a lifelong vow of virginity.

Otherwise, she would not have had to ask Gabriel how she was to conceive a child -- as an engaged woman, she would have assumed that the conception would have happened in the natural way.

Also, "brothers" and "sisters" have very wide meanings in the Bible. On many occasions in the Bible, those words are used to refer to people who were clearly not siblings.

Answer 3

This is a tenet of the Catholic Church. It is the idea that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was conceived free of sin. The bible claims that Jesus was Mary's first-born son, and implies that there were no earlier children. Like anything else in the bible, the tale should be approached with skepticism.

Answer 4

Although many of the organized religions of the world have traditionally assumed the birth of Jesus refers to a physical and literal birth as we know it in the material world, that is far from the truth.

The "Virgin Daughter of Israel," that is, the group of people "who had not known man" (who had not known man's interpretation of truth), eventually began to write the Word of God, as they received it from God, in a permanent, recorded form so it could be distributed throughout the world of flesh (the material world).

The Word of God was written with pen and ink upon material objects, and the Word was then "made flesh" or made "material." This "flesh" was not allowed to be corrupted, that is, the meaning and the spirit of the Words were not allowed to be corrupted in its written form in the world. This does not mean that copyists' typographical, historical, and grammatical errors, etc., cannot occur in the printed Word, but means only that the Truth contained in the Word of God cannot be corrupted by the word of man. This is the reason, though the Bible has been copied again and again, even by men who did not understand what they copied, the text's basic meaning remains the same. This refers only to translations of the Bible, not to paraphrases of the Bible.

Answer 5

SORRY FOLKS....but THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION IS THE CONCEPTION OF JESUS IN MARY'S BODY WITHOUT SEX!
IMMACULATE ( meaning pure)
Mary was a riteous woman and found favor in the eyes of God she was chosen to be the vessel which would carry the Messiah into the world. THRU IMMACULATE CONCEPTION!

Answer 6

it is the conception of Mary who was saved from original sin before her conception in her mother's womb

Answer 7

immaculate means "free from sin", so the immaculate conception refers to the conception of jesus through the virgin (aka sexually sinless) mary

Answer 8

Julia has the correct answer, as well as the first two answers.