The Science Behind the Immaculate Conception

It often becomes awkward when people discover that I teach science.

First, when someone discovers I teach secondary school, they assume, because I’m a writer, that I teach English. Next, when the discover that I’m a science teacher, they tilt their head and say something like, “How can you teach science and be religious?” — as if one excludes they other.

They do not.

Recently, while preparing to teach my AP Biology class, I read a paper on Fetal microchimerism. It’s a phenomenon involving fetal development that has lead to more questions than answers, but it is still fascinating.

Here’s my layperson interpretation: Though we know that blood cells of the mother and the fetus do not cross the placenta, stem cells of the fetus do. These stem cells can last, circulating in the mother’s system, for almost four decades.

Even more interesting, these stem cells can cross back across the placenta into a future child. So, simply put, unless you are the first born in your family, you have stem cells of your older siblings inside of you.

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Wow! Being the youngest Dobkowski, I have my siblings cells inside of me. That’s cool and creepy, at the same time.

Then, suddenly it hit me: That means Jesus’ stem cells crossed over into his mother, Mary.

As a Catholic Christian, I am familiar with some of the Marian traditions passed down through the centuries, such as: The Immaculate Conception, The Assumption of Mary/ Dormition of the Mother of God, Mary’s Perpetual Virginity….

Though many mistakenly believe an immaculate conception is when a virgin conceives a child with a deity minus the act intercourse, well … it’s not. In truth, the Immaculate Conception is a person, the Virgin Mary, who was conceived naturally — just like everybody else — except she was conceived minus the stain of mortal sin.

Many of my non-Catholic Christians have a problem with this Church Teaching.

However, the recent scientific discovery of fetal microchimerism not only scientifically supports the doctrine of this teaching, but it supports the ideology of the Dormition and Mary’s Perpetual Virginity, as well.

If your a Christian, you’ve might’ve heard the phrase, “God cannot be in the presence of sin.” Well, there are many Biblical examples as to why this phrase is technically untrue. However, this saying becomes clearer when shared in the light of Isaiah 59:2.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God….

How could the Mother of God be separate from God who she is carrying God in her womb, if the woman and her womb were not a fitting vessel — meaning “without sin”?

Before the 1990’s, anyone could argue against the Immaculate Conception with a strong scientific defense since Embryology soundly shows that a fetus’s blood and the blood of the mother don’t ever mix, thereby  making her womb a fitting vessel regardless of Mary’s sinful nature; and they would’ve be right — before the 1990’s.

But since the 1990’s, we know, scientifically speaking, that infant stem cells cross the placenta and enter into body of his/her mother. That would mean that Jesus’ cells, which were genetically Christ and wholly God, would have entered into His Mother.

That could not occur if her iniquities have separated her from God.

So, therefore, the Virgin Mary’s entire nature had to be sinless — or as we Catholic Christians say “Immaculate” or “Full of Grace.”

The scientific discovery of Fetal microchimerism also confirms, for me, the need for Mary’s Heavenly Assumption.

Think about THAT while reading this…

According to a report in Molecular Human Reproduction, researchers who performed autopsies on 26 women who died while pregnant or within 1 month after delivery of a son, found Y-chromosome cells in every tissue cells of the host mother.

Every cell!

That means that Mary’s body was literally embedded with Christ’s cells!  Mary’s body was biologically consubstantial with Our Lord, which gives clear scientific support as to why she was rightfully taken up to Heaven in her Assumption.

Fetal microchimerism also further confirms the Church teaching of Mary’s perpetual virginity.  I know this is a hot-bed of contention because the Bible clearly states the James from Jesus’ brother and our Lord had siblings. Or does it.

Regarding the common argument from Matthew 1.24-25 that Christ had siblings, the famous Reformer, John Calvin thought “that no just and well-grounded inference can be drawn from these words of the Evangelist, as to what took place after the birth of Christ”

Calvin was not alone among the Protestant Reformers in defending the perpetual virginity of our Blessed Mother.

Martin Luther wrote:

“When Matthew says that Joseph did not know Mary carnally until she had brought forth her son, it does not follow that he knew her subsequently; on the contrary, it means that he never did know her . . . This babble . . . is without justification . . . he has neither noticed nor paid any attention to either Scripture or the common idiom.” (That Jesus was Born a Jew)

“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. […] Christ . . . was the only Son of Mary, and the Virgin Mary bore no children besides Him . . . I am inclined to agree with those who declare that ‘brothers’ really mean ‘cousins’ here, for Holy Writ and the Jews always call cousins brothers.” (Sermons on John)

Huldrych Zwingli wrote:

“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.” (Zwingli Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Berlin, 1905, v. 1, p. 424)

Even John Wesley, in 1749, wrote:

“I believe that He [Jesus] was made man, joining the human nature with the divine in one person; being conceived by the singular operation of the Holy Ghost, and born of the blessed Virgin Mary, who, as well after as before she brought Him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin.” (Letter to a Roman Catholic)

If Jesus was not an only child, he, a devout Jew, not only broke Jewish Law by handing his mother over to John while they looked up at Him from the foot of the Cross.  However, He also would’ve natural law was broken, as well.  Let me explain — using science.

As stated above, these fetal stem cells don’t just cross over and dwell inside of Mom as the nourished baby develops and grows, but they also return to the womb and nest inside future siblings.

And since God cannot be in the presence of sin, Jesus’ stem cell could not have dwelt in His brothers and sisters, who had not yet been saved by Christ’s Death and Resurrection.

Remember, the Resurrection has not yet occurred, and the Holy Spirit — which dwells in us — was not yet given until Pentecost.

Now, if you’re Catholic, I know what you’re thinking: What about Holy Communion? Doesn’t Christ enter our body when we receive his Body and Blood.

Theologically, no!

When we go partake in Holy Communion, we enter into the Body of Christ which is why we are not suppose to receive Eucharist with the knowledge of committing the mortal sin. That’s what St. Paul meant when he wrote, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11-27).

This was discussed, in detail, in The Theology of Jesus’s Blood.

Yes, God is omnipresent. And yes, He has been in the presence of Satan (see the Book of Job). And yes again, upon His death, Jesus descended into Hell (though many argue He descended only to Abraham’s Bosom or Paradise, as He called it on the Cross,  and NOT into the bowels of Hell (Gehenna).)

But God could never be encapsulated in a vessel of sin and become co-joined with darkness as He would’ve occurred when he dwelt inside His mother’s womb at the time of the Incarnation if Mary was not Immaculate.   For God separates Himself from sin, and the Light of the World can never dwell in Darkness.

The science is clear, and because it’s clear, my Faith is sealed.

But let’s go beyond the science for a moment.  The answers to all our questions about Mary can be found in the Heart of Christ.

If you were God and you could create your own mother, how would you do it?

My guess your answer would be “Perfect — just like the first woman I created, who was designed to dwell with me forever and without sin.”

James Henry is also the author of Corporation YOU: A Business Plan for the Soul, ‘Twas, Hail Mary series, and two children’s books: The Second Prince and Klaus: The Gift-giver to ALL!  For six years, James taught At-Risk kids in Los Angeles. Today, he lives in New York where he continues to write — and teach. To contact James or book an interview, please contact Mark of Goldman & McCormick PR at (516) 639-0988 or Mark@goldmanmccormick.com.

FIGURE SOURCE:

Boddy, A. M., Fortunato, A., Wilson Sayres, M. and Aktipis, A. (2015), Fetal microchimerism and maternal health: A review and evolutionary analysis of cooperation and conflict beyond the womb. BioEssays, 37: 1106–1118. doi:10.1002/bies.201500059

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bies.201500059/full

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