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I know that in Catholicism, Mary didn't have the original sin. If God had the power to do this, why didn't he do this with other people?

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    He does when we are baptized.
    – Grasper
    Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 15:24
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    This goes much deeper than that. This is one of the primary skeptic's questions. "If we need forgiveness for sins, why didn't God just forgive us, instead of requiring the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus?" There's a few Christians that get around this by rejecting substitutionary atonement altogether, but the rest still have the question before them. So, is it safe to say this is essentially your question, and you are requesting the Catholic response?
    – user3961
    Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 19:03
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    Have you ever read the bible? If so, how much of it? The reason I ask is that it took the Catholic Church a long time to arrive at the dogma of the immaculate conception. The papal bull establishing that dogma is dated 1854. There's a whole lot of Christianity, and a whole lot of Catholicism, between Mary giving birth as a virgin to that dogmatic utterance.
    – KorvinStarmast
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 19:17
  • Possible duplicate of What does it mean that baptism "erases original sin"?
    – Grasper
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 19:35

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I know that in Catholicism, Mary didn't have the original sin. If God had the power to do this, why didn't he do this with other people?

The crux of this question lies in Man's purpose "to know and to love God, to do good according to [H]is will, and to go someday to heaven" (CCC 1-3, 358)

In Baptism, we "become members of the Body of Christ, sisters and brothers of our Redeemer, and children of God. We are freed from sin, snatched from death and destined from then on for a life in the joy of the redeemed" (CCC 1262-1274, 1279-1280)

However, to receive the benefits of Baptism, one typically must receive it Sacramentally, (cf. YouCat 199, Baptism of Blood and Baptism of Desire are beyond the scope of this discussion), and in a sense approach God, or open oneself to His presence. Now, if Original Sin was forgiven unilaterally, what need would there be to approach God, and to come to know and love Him?

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  • Welcome to Christianity.SE. For a quick overview, please take the Site Tour. Thanks for posting here. However, this is a Q&A site rather than a discussion site. Answers must focus on the specific question asked, from the perspective asked for--in this case, Catholicism. See: What makes a good supported answer? and: How we are different than other sites.
    – Lee Woofenden
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 16:33
  • If I understand Catholic doctrine correctly, the effect of baptism is to unilaterally forgive original sin. But this is something that is normally done to a baby, not by the baby's will, so how can it be said that the baby is approaching God and coming to know and love him? And how is that different from God simply forgiving original sin unilaterally, without baptism? I strongly suspect that there is a better answer from the perspective of Catholicism than this.
    – Nathaniel is protesting
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 11:51

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