The Christian Vanguard

 Here is a common argument I hear against Mary's sinlessness that is plainly invalid.  1) If Mary sinned, then she would die 2) Mary died 3) Therefore, Mary sinned The idea here is that mortality is a result of the fall. If Adam and Eve had never sinned, they would have remained immortal, in a sense. And since Mary died, she must have been subject to sin.  The obvious problem with this is that it is invalid. It follows the form of Affirming the Consequent .  1) If A, then B 2) B 3) Therefore, A Is obviously an invalid inference.  But supposing it was valid, each premise requires some justification anyway. Jesus didn't sin, yet He died. And how do we know Mary died? A point against this is that there is no strong devotion to the burial site or relics of Mary, but we do have them for the Apostles. Not definitive points perhaps, but the point remains, the argument is simply invalid. 

I just watched one of the videos from the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology for their " The Bible and the Virgin Mary " series. It's good stuff all around, and they presented an argument for Mary's sinlessness and immaculate conception I hadn't heard before, but is really common sense. The argument is from Genesis 3, when God is rebuking Adam, Eve and the Serpent, and God says to the devil,  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed The seed here is Jesus Christ, who crushes and defeats Satan, and the woman is Jesus' mother, Mary. There can be enmity between Jesus and Satan because Jesus is sinless and perfect. He is not under Satan's domain. And likewise, Mary has enmity towards Satan because she too was not born under his domain. But this means Mary is likewise sinless, and this, as Saint Pope John Paul II said, necessitates her immaculate conception. 

The following is a reply to a text message that I received. My reply is too long and too thorough for it to be in a text message, so here it is on my blog, which I intend to send as a simple link. The issues are Marian virginity, sinlessness, and mediation.