My 101 Reasons for Leaving the Catholic Church:

Assumption
 

What is it ?

Catholicism teaches that Mary, the mother of Jesus, because of her sinlessness and purity, at the end of her life on earth was carried up (assumed) to heaven. It is claimed that she did not experience bodily corruption (decomposition). The dogma of the Catholic Church does not confirm whether or not Mary died prior to her assumption. The "feast day" of the assumption of Mary is celebrated August 15, and is a HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION. The Assumption was made official doctrine of the Church in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. At the Second Vatican Council the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium declares that "the IMMACULATE Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as QUEEN over all things." Just as Eve was the mother of all the living on earth (Gen. 3:16), so Mary (the "second Eve") is the mother of all in heaven. According to Pope John Paul II, as the Mother of life Mary "contributes effectively to our spiritual birth and to the development of the life of grace within us."

The date of Mary's translation to heaven has been postulated to have occurred between three and fifteen years after the death of Christ. There are two cities that claim the site of Mary's final residence: Jerusalem and Ephesus

.How did it come about ?

There are instances in the Bible where someone was translated into heaven. It is written in Gen. 5:24 regarding Enoch that "he was no more, because God took him." And Elijah in 2Kgs. 2:11 "went up by a whirlwind into heaven." If these men could be translated to heaven, could not Mary also escape the consequence of sin? Because of her IMMACULATE CONCEPTION she did not inherit original sin, and thus did not have a sin nature. Without a sin nature, it was impossible for her to sin. There is no biblical account of Mary’s death or assumption into heaven. The Catholic Encyclopedia confirms that nothing certain is known about Mary's day, year, or manner of death. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes the development of the doctrine:

The belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary is founded on the apocryphal treatise De Obitu S. Dominae, bearing the name of St. John, which belongs however to the fourth or fifth century. It is also found in the book De Transitu Virginis, falsely ascribed to St. Melito of Sardis, and in a spurious letter attributed to St. Denis the Areopagite...St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheris, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.

The Church claims that this teaching was handed down by apostolic TRADITION. By the twelfth century, Pope Alexander III taught that Mary, since she was not subject to the consequences of the fall (Gen. 3:16), did not experience pain in giving birth to Jesus, and departed to heaven without corruption of the flesh. Over the years, it was questioned whether Mary even died, since this would seem to conflict with the notion of her sinlessness (Rom. 6:23). Given the uncertainty over her fate, in the wisdom Pope Pius XII the doctrine was stated in such a way that the teaching concerning her final moments on earth would be perfectly ambiguous.