[quote:hy619k1g]We do need to believe it, because God did it that way. Even though He could have done it another way.

If we simply speculated on all the different ways that God could have brought about salvation to mankind there could be countless ways that He may have done it, but the fact remains there was only one way He did do it. As Catholics we are bound to believe that through a singular act of His mercy to all mankind, God did what He did for our Lady in order to have a perfect and pure means of accomplishing His goal of offering salvation to mankind. All the other possible means of how he could have done it are moot, because He did not use those means.[/quote:hy619k1g]

[color=darkred:hy619k1g]There is no doubt in my mind that it is something Catholics must believe. This isn’t an attempt to explore all the possibilities or even to cast any doubt on anyone’s mind, but rather to see if the one possibility (Mary’s IC) was necessary. I was heading in the direction of pointing out that God is not limited to things “necessary” in regards to doctrine/dogma.

In the East (Eastern Orthodox), they have something they call “pious belief” to which we have an equivalent of in the West, but it differs. Good examples of these are their Mariological beliefs, which are all universally held but which have never been dogmatized. The Orthodox Church has [i:hy619k1g][b:hy619k1g]absolutely no [/b:hy619k1g][/i:hy619k1g]Marian dogmas. So it is their belief that only things “necessary” should be dogmatized. There is even a sort of freedom in which a EO can doubt and disbelieve in certain Marian realities and still be in good standing. This isn’t something we share with them. We are still bound to believe certain things, even if they aren’t dogma.

I found that very interesting and came here to get everyone’s thoughts. ” title=”Smile” /> [/color:hy619k1g]