Posted by
Christopher on Thursday, December 20, 2007 12:46:17 PM
I get annoyed at “Happy Holidays”, “Holiday sales”, “Seasons Greetings”, etc. These are manifestations of fear, pure and simple. Good intentioned or not, Christian or not, there is no reason whatsoever not to say “Merry Christmas” early and often. Be not afraid!
I despise “X-mas” in any form. I have heard the bogus claims that the “X” represents Christ, that it’s just a way of shortening a word, etc. Bull. It is meant as an insult to Christians to “x-out” the Lord. I don’t care who uses it, in what medium or for what purpose, it is disgusting.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system…the big-wig of the Church of England has this to say recently, and I will comment:
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, dismissed the Christmas story of the Three Wise Men yesterday as nothing but "legend."
We shall see…
There was scant evidence for the Magi, and none at all that there were three of them, or that they were kings, he said. All the evidence that existed was in Matthew’s Gospel. The Archbishop said: "Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t tell us there were three of them, doesn’t tell us they were kings, doesn’t tell us where they came from. It says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that’s all we’re really told." Anything else was legend. "It works quite well as legend," the Archbishop said.
The “wise men” (Greek “magos”, Hebrew “rab-mag”) appear in Matthew 2. True, there is no specific mention that there were 3 of them, but that belief was extrapolated from verse 11 where they presented 3 gifts upon seeing Jesus. There was more than one of them, perhaps more than 3, but 3 is a decent guess. Whether they were “kings” is a matter of linguistics. The word means “chief soothsayer” (see Jeremiah), it is rendered “sorcerer” in the book of Acts. In Jeremiah, “Rab-Mag” came from Babylon. There is no reason to believe these “Magi” didn’t come from Babylon also. They were “kings” of their profession.
Further, there was no evidence that there were any oxen or asses in the stable. The chances of any snow falling around the stable in Bethlehem were "very unlikely." And as for the star rising and then standing still: the Archbishop pointed out that stars just don’t behave like that.
True, there is no mention of any Oxen or Asses in the manger, but that is what a manger is for, to feed the livestock. Let’s say it was “closed for the night” for the animals. There is no mention of snow anywhere in the Bible. And as he said, it is highly unlikely, being these events took place is late September. Of course stars don’t behave like that. Frankly, the Bible never says it is a literal star that the Wise Men see (compare to Luke 2:9). Why would Herod ask how long the star was there if it was so obvious??
Although he believed in it himself, he advised that new Christians need not fear that they had to leap over the "hurdle" of belief in the Virgin Birth before they could be "signed up." For good measure, he added, Jesus was probably not born in December at all. “Christmas was when it was because it fitted well with the winter festival.”
Skipping the Virgin Birth issue for another day…He is correct that the real Christmas Day wasn’t in December at all. It was moved there by Pope Julius I in 350AD to coincide with the Winter Solstice celebrations of the Pagans. The time of late September is clear from Luke 1 (follow the “course of Abia”).
He said the Christmas cards that show the Virgin Mary cradling baby Jesus, with the shepherds on one side and the Three Wise Men on the other, were guilty of "conflation."
I would say a mother would hold her newborn son at some point. The Shepherds were there (Luke 2), and the Magi were there (Matthew 2). We just don’t know if they were there at the same time or not. They could have been, it’s just not said. The Shepherds saw Jesus, Mary and Joseph upon their arrival, and the Magi saw Jesus and Mary upon their arrival. Does that mean Joseph was out taking a leak when the Magi arrived?? Since they were all there at some point in a very small time, it is perfectly acceptable to “conflate” the scene.
One of the few things that almost everyone agreed on was that Jesus’s mother’s name was Mary. That is in all the four Gospels. It was also pretty clear that Jesus’s father was called Joseph.
BUZZ! Step-father, please. J
“And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph”
Williams’s views are strictly in line with orthodox Christian teaching. The Archbishop is sticking to what the Bible actually says.
Sort of…