Mary’s Immaculate Conception ?  -  What Does God Need ?

The position of the Catholic Church is sometime misrepresented as follows:

Catholics (sic) claim that because Jesus was perfect and without sin then His mother Mary must also, by necessity, be without sin because a sinless being could not be within the womb of another person who did have sin.   Therefore, it is argued by Protestants that by extension, then Mary’s mother must also have been without sin. And her mother, and her mother … all the way back to our first parents in the Garden of Eden.

And so, Protestants focus on the question, “What does an Omnipotent God need?  In an absolute sense, He needs nothing.   “Does Jesus, a pure, spotless and sinless being need an Immaculate Mother ?”  

Does the question,  “What does God need?” 
correctly reveal what God chooses to do?

Some will use the question, and its obvious answer in the absolute sense, to dismiss the Pope, the Church, the Sacraments and all things Catholic.  Protestants will say, “God  (and by extension “I”) doesn’t need any of those things.

Taking this question (and its implied answer) to its extreme and logical conclusion some will even say God doesn’t need the Bible.  He can send his messenger to speak directly to me. Consider Mohammad who claimed additional visions and teaching of the Koran as well as Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, Ellen G. White, etc.

Someone might also ask, “Does God need my faith, my love, my prayers, my devotion?”

Now we see the problem with the question.  The question of what does God need in an absolute sense does not answer the question of what does Jesus do.

Better questions to ask are  
“What does God deserve?

Does He deserve my whole hearted love, devotion and faith?”

And, “What kind of mother, does the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Son of God Almighty deserve?”

Catholics believe the Jesus has an Immaculate Mother not because He needed it by necessity, but because He deserves it and that is what is appropriate.

Consider that Jesus rode a colt into Jerusalem that no one else had ridden.  (Mark 11:2, Luke 19:30)  Why?  Because it is appropriate.  Jesus deserves it.  Mary’s Immaculate conception is God’s work.  It helps us see how important Jesus is.  It gives glory to God.

Theological Objection

One Protestant pastor, who now has since converted to Catholicism, said that he – before his conversion -  absolutely could not accept Mary’s Immaculate Conception because he thought it took away from the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.   So much of his Protestant theology had so focused on Jesus alone being the spotless victim who paid the price for our sins, that he idea of Mary being Immaculate in his eyes threatened the uniqueness of Jesus.  However, the quality that really sets Jesus apart is that He is the God Man. 

See

http://www.defendingthebride.com/je/divine.html#reason

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