Anglicans and Catholics Find Common Ground on Mary

A recent flurry of news articles (click here for one from Belief Net) report on the recent agreement between the Anglicans and the Catholics on the Catholic church's teachings related to Mary, the mother of Jesus. This is a major step for a protestant denomination, albeit one with close ties to the Catholic church.

This agreement affirms two Catholic teachings in regards to Mary, namely the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption.

A lot of people have a misunderstanding of the Immaculate Conception, thinking that this refers to the virgin birth of Jesus. In fact, it deals with the sinlessness of Mary. Here is the official definitition of Immaculate Conception from a Catholic site (click here). Basically, this teaching states that Mary was born without sin and without the stain of original sin. Based on my understanding of the scriptures, this teaching is without biblical foundation and is false.

The concept of the "Assumption" of Mary teaches that when Mary died, she was immediately bodily resurrected. This teaching is, of course, extra-biblical since the death of Mary is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible. We know from the Bible that Jesus placed Mary under the Apostle John's guardianship when He was on the cross. Church tradition holds that Mary went with John to Ephesus where she died and is buried. Sites on the internet report that Mary's grave is still present in Ephesus.

While God did translate people directly to heaven without them having to die (i.e. Elijah and Enoch), there is no evidence of anyone being resurrected other than Jesus. Note that a resurrection is not the same as being raised from the dead. Jesus raised many people from the dead, most notably Lazarus. But, the difference being that a person raised from the dead does not receive a resurrected immortal body but dies again. Christ is described in the writings of Paul as being the first of those to be resurrected -- the "first-fruits." Christ was resurrected by the power of God and given a transformed body. Lazarus was not. And, assuming this teaching from the Bible is consistent, Mary was not either.