The Assumption of Mary into Heaven

The Assumption of Mary into Heaven
By David Cox

See my tracts on Catholicism here

• cat02 Should we worship the Virgin Mary? No.
• cat01 Is the Pope the Vicar of Christ?
• cat05 Why we don’t use images in worship

Introduction

This Catholic doctrine is of very recent devise, but it basically reads that Mary never really died like most other people, but ascended directly into heaven at some point similar to Enoch and Elikah, without having died.

“When the course of our Lady’s life on earth was ended she was taken up body and soul into heaven” (Mary—Doctrine for Everyman, p. 34).

As in our other studies on Mary, the Scriptures are totally silent on Mary, Jesus’ mother, after her assembly with her other children in the upper room waiting for the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14).

The Dilemma of the Catholics

The problem that the Catholics created for themselves came to the head in this century when people began thinking a little bit about the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. If Mary’s life was entirely free of sin from her conception through until her death, then what happened to her? According to Romans 6:23, physical death is a consequence of sin, and if Mary never sinned, then she could not die either. She would be in a category like Adam and Eve before the fall, and she could not ever physically die, because they affirm she has never sinned.

All of this gets more and more complex. Moreover, it hasn’t stopped yet, because through a person’s parents come sin (according to the Catholic thinking). Therefore Mary could not be sinless unless her two parents were also sinless, and what happened to them?