I respect your opinions, Dallas. I believe you are a Christian. There are many things I don't agree with in the Catholic churches (RC is just one - I am Orthodox more than I am Catholic), but my personal beliefs are Orthodox Catholic.

Orthodox Catholic's don't have the same view on sin as Roman Catholics and Protesetants. We believe that mortality is the consequence of original sin. Therefore, we believe humans are born only with the consequences of original sin, not original sin actually in their bodies.

We believe Orignal sin separated us from God - deprived us of sanctifying Grace. To be put right with God, we needed a saviour. This was Jesus. Jesus was fully human and fully God. He interited humanity/mortality from Mary, but he had a divine spirit/nature. Because Mary was mother of the saviour, God blessed her at conception with sanctifying Grace i.e. she was always right with him. She was "blessed." But God could not have done this without Jesus's sacrifice. Mary needed a saviour, and Jesus was her saviour as much as ours. She was a human being like the rest of us, a sinner, but she was "blessed" in that she was given sanctifying Grace.

No one has to believe the Orthodox positon, but this is what we believe. Everyone needs to find their own way. I used to be Protestant but it wasn't for me. If it's someone elses way to God, great! We're all one family in the end <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />