There is an Aramaic word, "Gebirah", which means "Queen Mother".  Traditionally, next to the throne of the King was a second throne.  Many would assume that the second throne belonged to the wife of the King, but in Israel it belonged to the mother of the king.  The Gebirah was an official position, one with which everyone (Jesus and His disciples included) was entirely familiar.  Her role was as an advocate of the people; anyone who had a petition or sought an audience with the King did so through her.  She was an intercessor, presenting the wishes and concerns of the people to the King.  This does not imply that the King was unapproachable, or that people were afraid or unable to speak to him.  It merely means that the King honored his mother and took her requests into special consideration.  On the part of the people, they felt close to her, as if they too were her children.

This role is mentioned in: 1 Kings 15:13 " He also deposed his Maacah from her position as queen mother"

2 Kings 10:13  " "We are kinsmen of Ahaziah," they replied. "We are going down to visit the princes and the family of the queen mother.""

Jeremiah 13:18 " Say to the king and to the queen mother: come down from your throne"

Her specific place of honor and intercession is dramatically illustrated in the following passage from 1 Kings 2: 13-21:

" Adonijah, son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. "Do you come as a friend?" she asked. "Yes," he answered, and added, "I have something to say to you." She replied, "Say it." So he said: "...There is one favor I would ask of you. Do not refuse me." And she said, "Speak on." He said, "Please ask King Solomon, who will not refuse you, to give me Abishag the Shunamite for my wife." "Very well," replied Bathsheba, "I will speak to the king for you." Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king's mother, who sat at his right. "There is one small favor I would ask of you," she said. "Do not refuse me." "Ask it, my mother," the king said to her, "for I will not refuse you." So she said, "Let Abishag the Shunamite be given to your brother Adonijah for his wife.""

Of particular import are the following observations:

1.Adonijah assumed that the queen mother would approach the King on his behalf; he trusted her. 

2. The reaction of the King is noteworthy: he stood up to meet her and paid her homage.

3. A throne was provided for her, and she sat at his right. 

4. Her power as intercessor is stressed by the repetition of the idea that the king "will not refuse her".

We do the same with Mary today.  We assume that she will approach the King on our behalf.  Now, many Protestants will say "We don't need to go through anyone; we can speak to God directly." Well, of course we can, and we should.  But I doubt that that same person NEVER asked a friend to say a prayer for or with him.  We ask our friends to pray for and with us, not because we feel that we can't approach God directly, but because we are a family in Christ, and the more the merrier.  We care about each other, and approach God on behalf of those we love all the time.  Why limit that care and assistance to those living on this earth now?  Saint Paul tells us that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses-- do we think that these witnesses care nothing for us?  Revelations tells us that the prayers of the saints rise like insence before God.  Who do you suppose they are praying for?  In Tobit we read: "And so, when you and your daughter-in-law Sarah prayed, I {Raphael} brought a reminder of your prayer before the Holy One." [Tobit 12:12; RSV]

If we ask those we know here to pray for us, how should we refrain from asking those who are in the presence of  God?  And if we ask those who are in the presence of God to pray for us, how should we refrain from asking the very mother of the King?

Tradition (the same Tradition, remember, which gave us the Bible) tells us that when Jesus was dying on the Cross, His words to the beloved disciple are applied to each of us, and those words are: "Behold your mother."

This point direcctly addresses the issue of Mary's immaculate conception, but I will address that topic (and the objections to it) more fully later on as well.

The Ark of the Old Covenant was the holding place for the Ten Commandments, which was the word of God. In the Bible, St. John calls Jesus the word of God as well, and Mary, by carrying Him in her womb, became the Ark of the New Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant is a holy and pure thing.   If Mary had original sin, she would not have been pure, and therefore could not have been the Ark of the New Covenant. This idea is presented in the Bible when we compare the Old Testament to the New Testament. Notice these similarities:

Old Covenant: This is when the ark of the covenant was brought before King David.
     "David feared the LORD that day and said, 'How can the ark of the LORD come to me?'." 2 Samuel 6:9
New Covenant: This is when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist.
     "And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord  should come to me?" Luke 1:43

Old Covenant: This is when the prophet David danced for joy because he was in the presence of the ark, which held the word of God.
     "Saul's daughter Michal looked down through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD." 2 Samuel 6:16
New Covenant: This is when the prophet John the Baptist leaped for joy while in his mother Elizabeth's womb. He did this when he heard the voice of Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, who is also called the Word of God.
     "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit." Luke 1:41

Old Covenant: The Israelites were filled with great joy because they were so close to the ark that held the word of God.
     "As he and all the Israelites were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts of joy and to the sound of the horn." 2 Samuel 6:15
New Covenant: This shows how filled with joy Elizabeth and John the Baptist were to be in the presence of Mary, who held the Word of God.
     "Elizabeth cried out in a loud voice and said, 'Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!'." Luke 1:42
     "For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy." Luke 1:44

If this is true, that Mary is the Ark of the New Covenant, then she must have been pure, and could not have any sin on her soul.  The fact that Mary was born without original sin has been a clear teaching of not only the Catholic Church, but of the founders of Protestantism as well.  Only recently have some Protestant denominations gone away from this traditional Christian teaching.

"It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary's soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God's gifts, receiving a pure soul infused by God; thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin." [Martin Luther; "Sermon On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God", 1527]

There is one other "type" which I would like to discuss before moving on to Mary in the NT, and that is the type of Mary as the "gate".  The best explanation I have seen of this was posted on a mailing list, but I don't remember which one, and I don't remember the author.  I am going to paste it below, with only minor editing on my part, and I apologize for not giving credit to the author:

When Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He rode on a donkey [colt] which had not been ridden by anyone else (Mark 11:2-10).  He was also buried in a grave which no one else had used (John 19:41.)  These things were not necessary, but it was only fitting that the donkey and the grave used by Christ were used by no one else, as it indicated how special Jesus was.

In the Old Testament there are types that prefigure people, or events, in the New Testament.  The NT person or event which is being prefigured is called the archetype.  The archetype in the New Testament is always greater.  Adam for example is a type of Christ.  Cf Rom 5:14.

In Ezekiel there is a reference to a gate which is a type of Mary.

Ezekiel 44:1-3 1 "Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, facing the east; but it was closed.
2 He said to me: This gate is to remain closed; it is not to be opened for anyone to enter by it; since the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it, it shall remain closed.
3 Only the prince may sit down in it to eat his meal in the presence of the LORD. He must enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and leave by the same way."   NAB

Ezekiel 46:8-12 "The prince shall always enter and depart by the vestibule of the gate....
12 When the prince ..., the eastern gate shall be opened for him, ... then he shall leave, and the gate shall be closed after his departure."   NAB

The prince is a type of Christ.  And the gate prefigures Mary, since it was through her womb that Jesus came into the world.  It was fitting that the gate be reserved for prince, and therefore it is only proper that Mary's womb be reserved for only Jesus.  As in the case of the colt, and the new tomb [above], it was only proper and appropriate that God's grace moved Mary to accept a life of consecrated virginity, as her Perpetual Virginity is sign pointing to the specialness of Jesus Christ. 

While all  Christians have the power to intercede for each other, the purity and holiness of the intercessor increases the power of the petition.  The Bible is replete with examples of the Lord "hearing" the prayers of the righteous.  Here are just a few:

[Proverbs 15: 8] "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. "

[Proverbs 15: 29] "The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. "

[James 5: 16-18] " The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.  Elijah was a human being like us; yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain upon the land.  Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the earth produced its fruit."

[Proverbs 28: 9] "If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. "

[1 Peter 3:12] " For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears turned to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against evildoers."

[Psalm 32: 6] "Therefore let every one who is godly offer prayer to thee, at the time of distress..."

[Daniel 9: 21-23] "While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.  He came and he said to me, "O Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly beloved..."

[2 Chronicles 6: 29-30] "whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by any man or by all thy people Israel, each knowing his own affliction, and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house; then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each whose heart thou knowest, according to all his ways (for thou, thou only, knowest the hearts of the children of men)..."

Now, since the Bible makes it clear that those who are just or righteous are heard by God, and since we know that those in heaven have no impurity or unrighteousness in them (otherwise they would not be able to withstand the presence of God), then we say that the prayers of the saints have a power and efficacy which may not always be the case with those of us who are still steeped in imperfection.

In line with this way of thinking, we see that Mary's intercessory prayers, (becuase she is the Mother of God and therefore as pure as any human being could be) have a special power to them.

"God's Son by the will and power of God, {was} truly born of a Virgin."
[St.Ignatius of Antioch; "Letter to the Magnesians" ca. 110 A. D.]

"And again, how Isaias expressly foretold that He was to be born of a virgin. He stated the following: 'Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son; and for his name they shall say God-with-us'... The phrase 'Behold, a virgin shall receive' means certainly, that the virgin shall conceive without intercourse. For if she had intercourse with anybody at all, she would not be a virgin. But the power of God, coming upon the Virgin, overshadowed her, and caused her, while yet a Virgin, to conceive." [St. Justin The Martyr; "First Apology" 148-155 A. D.]

"Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying: 'Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word'. Eve,  however, was disobedient; and when yet a virgin, she did not obey. Just as she, who was still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband... having become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race... Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith."
[St. Irenaeus; "Against Heresies" 180-199 A. D.]

"The Virgin Mary, being obedient to his word, received from an angel the glad tidings that she would bear God"
(Irenaeus of Lyons, "Against Heresies", 5:19:1 [A.D. 189]).

"Though still a virgin she carried a child in her womb, and the handmaid and work of his wisdom became the Mother of God"
(Ephraim the Syrian, "Songs of Praise" 1:20 [A.D. 351]).

"The Word begotten of the Father from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably, incomprehensibly, and eternally, is he that is born in time here below of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God"
(Athanasius, "The Incarnation of the Word of God" 8 [A.D. 365]).

"If anyone does not agree that Holy Mary is the Mother of God, he is at odds with the Godhead. If anyone asserts that Christ passed through the Virgin as thought a channel, and was not shaped in her both divinely and humanly, divinely because without man and humanly because in accord with the law of gestation, he is likewise godless."
[St. Gregory of Nazianz "Letter to Cledonius the Priest" 382 A D]

"It helps us to understand the terms `first-born' and `only-begotten' when the Evangelist tells that Mary remained a virgin `until she brought forth her first- born son' [Matt. 1:25]; for neither did Mary, who is to be honored and praised above all others, marry anyone else, nor did she ever become the Mother of anyone else, but even after childbirth she remained always and forever an immaculate virgin"
(Didymas, "The Trinity"  3:4 [A.D. 386]).

"That one woman is both mother and virgin, not in spirit only but even in body. In spirit she is mother, not of our head, who is our Savior himself--of whom, even herself, all are rightly called children of the bridegroom--but plainly she is the mother of us who are his members, because by love she has cooperated so that the faithful, who are the members of that head, might be born in the Church. In body, indeed, she is the mother of that very head"
(Augustine, "Holy Virginity" 6:6 [A.D. 401]).

"When, therefore, they ask, `Is Mary mother of man or Mother of God?' we answer, `Both!' The one by the very nature of what was done and the other by relation. Mother of man because it was a man who was in the womb of Mary and who came forth from there, and the Mother of God because God was in the man who was born"
(Theodore of Mopsuestia, "The Incarnation" 15 [A.D. 405]).

"Now, you heretic, you say (whoever you are who deny that God was born of the Virgin), that Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, cannot be called the Mother of God, but the Mother only of Christ and not of God, for no one, you say, gives birth to one older than herself. And concerning this utterly stupid argument . . . let us prove by divine testimonies both that Christ is God and that Mary is the Mother of God"
(John Cassian, "On the Incarnation of Christ Against Nestorius" 2:2[A.D.429]).

"[T]he Word himself, coming into the Blessed Virgin herself, assumed for himself his own temple from the substance of the Virgin and came forth from her a man in all that could be externally discerned, while interiorly he was true God. Therefore he kept his Mother a virgin even after her child-bearing"
(Cyril of Alexandria, "Against Those Who Do Not Wish to Confess That the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God"  4 [A.D. 430]).

"As sailors are guided by a star to the port, so are Christians guided to Heaven by Mary."
- St. Thomas Aquinas

Even the "reformers" were staunch defenders of Mary:

"I firmly believe that Mary, according to the words of the gospel as a pure Virgin brought forth for us the Son of God and in childbirth and after childbirth forever remained a pure, intact Virgin."
[Ulrich Zwingli; quoted in "Corpus Reformatorum" v. 1, p. 424]

"He, Christ, our Savior, was the real and natural fruit of Mary's virginal womb . . . This was without the cooperation of a man, and she remained a virgin after that.
[Matin Luther; "Sermons on John", chapters 1-4, 1537-39]

"{Mary is the} highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ... She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough."
[Martin Luther; sermon given on Christmas, 1531]

"It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary's soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God's gifts, receiving a pure soul infused by God? thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin."
[Martin Luther; "Sermon On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God", 1527]

"There have been certain folk who have wished to suggest from this passage [Matt 1:25] that the Virgin Mary had other children than the Son of God, and that Joseph had then dwelt with her later; but what folly this is! For the gospel writer did not wish to record what happened afterwards; he simply wished to make clear Joseph's obedience and to show also that Joseph had been well and truly assured that it was God who had sent His angle to Mary.  He had therefore never dwelt with her nor had he shared her company... And besides this Our Lord Jesus Christ is called the first born. This is not because there was a second or a third, but because the gospel writer is paying regard to precedence. Scripture speaks thus of naming the first-born whether or not there was any question of the second."
[John Calvin; "Sermon on Matthew", published 1562]

"It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of His Son, granted her the highest honor... Elizabeth calls Mary Mother of the Lord, because the unity of the person in the two natures of Christ was such that she could have said that the mortal man engendered in the womb of Mary was at the same time the eternal God."
[John Calvin; quoted in "Corpus Reformatorum", v. 45, p. 348]

All Christians believe that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. "But Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?'. And the angel said to her in reply, 'The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." Luke 1:34-35

When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, he was engaged to her, but they were not living together.  He wanted to break the engagement, because he knew it was not his child:

"Such was Joseph's intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord  appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.'." Matthew 1:20

All of this was foretold in the Old Testament, and was made to happen to fulfill the prophesies God gave the Jewish people:

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

The Bible's teaching on this subject is so clear, that all Christian denominations agree on what it means.

Catholics believe that Mary stayed a virgin and did not have any other children.  Some denominations claim that Mary did have other children. They say this because the Bible sometimes refers to "brethren of the Lord". But in Biblical times all close family members, including cousins, were considered "brethren".   And so we see that in the Bible the term "brethren" is sometimes used when the people concerned are not bretheren in the way that we understand the word.

Some biblical examples of this are:
[Gen 14:14] "And when Abram heard that his BROTHER was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan."

The "brother" in question here is Lot. Now, was Lot the brother of Abram? No. He was the son of Aran, Abram's deceased brother (Gen 11:26-28). This makes Lot Abram's NEPHEW.

[Gen 29:15] "And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my BROTHER, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?"

Was Laban the brother of Jacob? No, he is his UNCLE.

The explanation for this is simple: there is no Hebrew or Aramaic word for "cousin". The writers either had to use "brother" or "sister" or write "the son of the sister of my father" every time. Needless to say, they used "brother".

You see, in biblical terms, "brother", "sister", and "brethren" can mean close relatives, kinsmen, or even close friends such as:
[I Kings 9:13] "And he said, What cities are these which thou  hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day."

and

[II Sam 1:26] "I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women."

It can also just mean an ally!:

[Amos 1:9] "Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of  Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant"

Some also sight the words that "Mary had no relations with Joseph until the birth of Jesus" to mean that she did have relations afterwards.  In the Bible, however, the concept of until simply means "up to the time of"-- it doesn't have the connotation that we have in English of meaning "after it was different".  The Bible mentions a man who produced no offspring "until the time of his death".  I think it is safe to assume that he didn't produce any after it either. ;-)

A careful look at the New Testament will show us what a stretch it really is to say that Mary had other children:

When Jesus is found in the temple at age 12, (Luke 2:41-51) no mention is made of other children, although the entire family made the journey together. The people of Nazareth refer to Him as "the son of Mary" (Mark 6:3), not as "a son of Mary".  The Greek expression implies that He is her only son.  In fact, others in the Gospels are never referred to as Mary's sons, even when they are called Jesus' "brethren".

There is another point which requires an understanding of ancient Eastern cultures.  In such cultures, the term "brethren" was used to refer to elders-- older relatives whose role is to give advice to younger ones.  In John 7:3-4, we find the "brethren" of Jesus telling Him to leave Galilee and go to Judea so His disciples could see His works.  If "brethren" is understood in the way it was used in this culture, they would have to have been older than Jesus, which eliminates them as His actual brothers, since we know that Jesus ws Mary's "first-born".

Finally, consider what happened at the foot of the Cross (John 19: 26-27).  If James, Joseph, Simon and Jude were indeed His "brothers", why would Jesus have overlooked such a close family relation and entrusted His Mother to His disciple John? The Gospel tells us that "from that hour, the disciple took her into his own home".  Why would she go to the home of a disciple if she had four or more other children?

The fact that Mary is the mother of God is simple logic:

        A woman who gives birth to a child is that child's mother
        + Mary gave birth to Jesus
      __________________________________
        = Mary is the mother of Jesus

        Mary is the mother of Jesus
        + Jesus is God
      __________________________
         =Mary is the mother of God

Or, we can just look at the Bible:

[Luke 1:42-43] "And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, 'Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'"

Again, some more logic:

        Mary is "the mother of my Lord"
        + Lord is God
      ____________________________
        =Mary is "the mother of my God"

To say otherwise is to either say Jesus is not God, or to say Mary did not give birth to Jesus.

Some denominations shy away from calling Mary the Mother of God, because they feel that it puts her on level with God.  They prefer instead to say that she was the mother of "the man Christ Jesus".  This, however,  betrays a real and, for Protestant theology, predictable dualism.  Christ Jesus is ONE person-- not two.  He is ONE person with two natures-- fully human and fully divine.  The two natures, however, are united in one Person.  Do we say of our mothers that they are the mothers of our "nature"?  No, we simply say that they are our mothers-- of us, as people.  I am not asserting that Mary generated or gave life to the divine nature of Jesus Christ.  I AM saying that that divine nature is intimately linked to the human nature of our Lord, because He is one Person and not two. The second Person of the Holy Trinity "took on flesh"-- that is what "incarnation" (from Latin caro "flesh")  means.  Where did He get that flesh from?  If Jesus is God, and Mary is His mother, how is it logically possible to say that Mary is not the mother of God?

Let's start with the objections.  The Protestant position may be summed up as follows:

There is no scripture whatsoever to support any such thing about Mary. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that "There is none righteous, no, not one:  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Also, if Mary was born without sin, she wouldn't need a Saviour, she'd be one.

OK, first of all, there is Scriptural evidence of Mary's unique purity (immaculate conception)-- the entire comparison between the Ark of the Covenant which held the 10 Commandments, and Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant and as the gate (see Part 2).

The most common objection, however, is the use of Paul's words "all have sinned".  The word  used for "all" in the original Greek version, which is the language in which Paul wrote, is "pas". "Pas" does not always mean every single one, but the rather a vast majority, most, or a great amount. We can see other times in the Bible where "all" is used, but clearly does not mean every single one:

"I myself am convinced about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another." [Romans 15:14]

In this part, "all" certainly does not mean every single one. If it did, the Romans, who had all knowledge, would have had the knowledge of God!

As far as the last objection, it is not true that if Mary were born without original sin she wouldn't need a Savior.  All redemption comes from the Cross of Christ, including Mary's.  She wasn't born without sin by her own merit, but by an act of mercy on the part of God. If we believe that Jesus saves us from sin and death even after we have committed our own personal sins, why should we balk at the idea that He saved the woman He chose to be His Mother from sin and death even before she was born?  Her immaculate conception was brought about by the grace flowing from the Cross, not from anything she did on her own.  Mary is in NO WAY a Savior.  She IS, however, the Mother of the Savior, and as such needed to be as pure as possible.

Our Faith is filled with examples of God working in mysterious and miraculous ways, from feeding His people in the desert, to granting children to those thought to be barren, to curing the sick, raising from the dead, taking on flesh and becoming man--in the light of all of this, why should it be difficult for us to believe that God mystically applied the merits and graces won on Calvary to His Mother, so that she would be as worthy as possible to be the Ark of the New Covenant, the Mother of God?  We know that, since He is God, He is able to do this if He so wished.  The only remaining question, then, is: "How probable is it that God wished for the woman chosen to bring Jesus Christ into the world to be as pure and worthy as any human being could be?"  Or maybe it sounds even more clear when stated negatively: "How probable is it that God would allow Jesus Christ to take His flesh from, be nourished for nine months in the womb of, be born of, be nursed from, and be raised by a woman tainted by original sin?"