tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8005339752957379026.post2926158995029083228..comments2023-10-29T07:15:21.919-04:00Comments on Intelligent Falling: Pascal Lectures: How to Arrive at the Conclusion You WantJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15115112001151182281noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8005339752957379026.post-80520232744437163382015-03-21T13:44:37.593-04:002015-03-21T13:44:37.593-04:00(Got here from Jeff Shallit's blog)
Nitpick: ...(Got here from Jeff Shallit's blog)<br /><br />Nitpick: Did you possibly mis-hear Lennox re "the immaculate conception of John the Baptist"? Was he referring to the virgin birth of Jesus? Because those are two different things, about two different people (though both stories appear in Luke 1).<br /><br />The gory details, if you care (ie. according to the Biblical account and general Christian belief):<br />1) The birth of John the Baptist is supposed to be special because his mother was elderly, but AFAIK he was conceived in the normal way.<br />2) Mary was a virgin and Jesus' conception and birth was a miracle. However.....<br />3) ....the Virgin Birth is *not* the same as the Immaculate Conception, which is a specifically Catholic dogma about Mary (not Jesus, and still less John the Baptist). According to this dogma, God miraculously prevented Mary from being tainted by Original Sin (which is a heritable characteristic, by mechanisms unspecified) at the time she was conceived. Only thus could she be a worthy vessel to subsequently carry the Incarnate God.<br /><br />Yes, it's all bullshit, but if we're going to use the terms we should at least try to keep them straight. Otherwise Conrad Black might say something pompously dismissive about us ;-).Steve Watsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06022832831084750602noreply@blogger.com