The Virgin Mary Was a Sinner

The Roman Catholic Church has made it Christian doctrine that the Virgin Mary was conceived without sin and lived without sin all her life.   

The apostle Paul wrote that all have sinned and that there is nobody that hasn’t.  The Catholic Church argues that this doesn’t prove Mary had to have been a sinner because Paul didn’t believe that babies were guilty of sins and that Jesus was a sinner.  So they say he said "all" thinking we had the sense to know that he didn’t mean everybody literally – he meant everybody barring the obvious exceptions.  But to make an exception of Mary we would need to be sure that the whole early Church knew she was sinless but there is no such evidence.  In fact the Immaculate Conception idea appeared centuries later after the Church had apostatised.  There is no evidence that those who first said that Mary was conceived sinless did so because of good reasons or because of evidence.  

The angel called Mary full of grace which is supposed to indicate that she was immaculate.  But the Bible speaks of sinners being full of the Holy Spirit and they were not sinless!  Full of grace can mean you are sinful but cleansed by grace.  There is actual grace in Catholic theology where God helps you to do his will.  Sanctifying grace means God dwells in your soul as your friend.  [He makes you reach your potential as his image.] Full of grace in relation to Mary seems to mean the latter.  The angel told her the Lord was with her.  So we don't know if she was so full of actual grace that she would not sin. 

Why is the Immaculate Conception doctrine important?  It’s not important at all.