LOL! You would be hard-pressed to find anyone in all Christendom more anti-Calvinist than I am. You should have read more of my posts before making your comment. I believe the two most harmful theological systems in Christianity are Romanism and Calvinism. It would be difficult for me to say which was worse.
I'm starting to wonder if Celtic1 and Consular are influenced by the negative doctrine of Calvin?LOL! How could you think that? What gives you that idea? Either Calvinist or a methody! For Celtic at least, he's not an Anglican as I understand the word! They said about James II, that he received his mistresses from his confessors, I wonder?
God bless you, too, highchurchman. BTW, when I was attending a Baptist church and participating on a Baptist forum a ling time ago, they told me there that I was not Baptist but Anglican, and you say I'm not Anglican and have called me several things. Maybe I'm a Baptist Anglican or Anglican Baptist! And speaking of that, I just found this blog: http://anabaptistanglican.blogspot.com/
As I was reading about Jesus being at the temple and Mary and Joseph not noticing he wasn't with them I had a thought. This is circumstancial I know but fun neverless to imagine! Surely if Jesus was their only son it was rather careless for them not to notice they'd left him behind? However imagine all the commotion leaving the temple, especially if Mary had maybe one or two - maybe three young children, causing commotion doing what little children do best. Does it not seem more plausible that they didn't notice Jesus' absence amidst such circumstances? Just a hypothesis
At no time as far as I understand has the Lady Mary, or indeed S. Joseph, been accused or referred to as having other Children? This by the Church! Normally,it has been suggested that the Children are, or were, members of S.Joseph from a previous or extended,`family! The Church , in some 1700 yrs suggested that S. Mary was preserved in her Innocence, by God's help, through the Holy Ghost, as All Holy and Immaculate!
From my under From my understanding, the theory of the children being from a former wife is possible due to Joseph's comparative age to Mary, but the concept of her perpetual virginity was derived from questionable apocryphal books that were rejected from the canon. This debate is similar to one that went around 20 years ago about John The Baptist being "saved" in his mother's womb. Neither have any bearing on salvation or Christian living, but rather are fodder and job security for seminary professors! Jeff