1885 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

life and rights of Adam Rom. 5:17-19; 1 Tim. 2:6) proves the same;because the first Adam was perfect until he sinned; hence one whocould give a corresponding price must have been likewise perfect,without sin, and free from its condemnation. The same thought islogically deduced from the statement that Jesus kept, fulfilled allthe requirements of the Law; for we know that it was the measureof a perfect man's ability. Hence the conclusion is irresistible thathe must have been a perfect man when able to do what no imperfectman had done or could do. (Psa. 49:7; Heb. 1:3; 4:15; 9:28; 10:5-10; Isa. 53:10-12; John 1:29.)But notwithstanding the mass of Bible testimony as to his humanperfection, many inquire, Can the possibility of this be scientificallyshown? Others assert that it is an impossibility, and that the laws ofnature are in direct opposition. They give unbounded weight totheir imperfect understanding of nature's laws, and lightly cast asidethe weight of Bible testimony.The question, however, is well worthy of an examination from ascientific as well as from a scriptural standpoint: and Science andScripture will be found to agree when properly understood. There isno law against our seeking evidence from every good source, butonly egotism, or blindness, or both, will exalt human reasoningsabove the divine testimony.We raise the query then: How came it that Jesus was perfect whilehis mother was imperfect? Who can bring a clean thing out of anunclean? Seeking to answer this query, the Church of Romepromulgated the doctrine of the "Immaculate Conception": Not thedoctrine that Jesus was miraculously conceived by the holy powerof God, as recorded by the Evangelists; but that Mary, the motherof Jesus, had a miraculous conception, and hence that she was pure,holy, and free from Adamic sin and imperfection. But theoriginators of this doctrine could not have been far-seeing, or theywould have known that by the same reasoning it must be provedthat Mary's mother had an immaculate conception, and so all theway back; when they would meet the same objection in Eve, "themother of all living." She certainly was not sinless, for hertransgression is recorded. 1 Tim. 2:14.However, this subject is perfectly clear and plain now, from ascientific as well as from a Bible standpoint; but because of itsintricacy and delicacy, special attention must be given in order tograsp its force.For this reason we have not heretofore presented this subject, butrecent inquiries seem to indicate the necessity for its presentation inorder to confirm the faith of some.The Scriptures hold out the thought that all EXISTENCE, LIVINGENERGY; or BEING, comes from the father and not from themother. The mother receives and nourishes that germ of being untilit is able to maintain an independent existence; i.e., until it is able toappropriate to its maintenance the life-sustaining elements which