[UA] Immaculate Concept

[Stacy Forsythe]

At 07:36 PM 3/2/2004, you wrote:
>Last night over dinner some friends and I were discussing the Immaculate Conception.  I don't know why either.  But someone mentioned that it is in fact scientifically possible, though highly unlikely, to have a immaculate conception.  It requires three very specific genetic coincidences, which in turn require something like 50 to be in order, including a particular kind of hermaphroditism, but again, it is possible.  So unlikely, however, that one would expect it could happen perhaps once in the course of human history.


Neato.

However, what you're talking about is the Virgin Birth, or the conception that preceded it.

The Immaculate Conception is the conception of Mary herself, which was special (in Catholic doctrine) because she was preserved in advance from original sin, "in view of the merits of her Son." Biologically, it was nothing unusual; we may presume Sts. Joachim and Anne participated in the standard fashion.



S.