Coming to Grips with the Christmas God

There’s a lot of things we got wrong about the Christmas story, but do we care or are we content to invent our own beliefs based on what sounds good?  For instance, there weren’t necessarily 3 wise men.  There were probably more.  John MacArthur’s research says they traveled on Persian steeds and with a sizable cavalry.  There were 3 gifts, but it never said how many wise men there were, or what color their skin was.  Here’s a few more:

The wise men didn’t show up when Jesus was at the stable on the night of his birth.  Based on the time the star first appeared and the wise-men began their journey, the account says King Herod had every child 2years and younger in Bethlehem killed.  That indicates the wise men didn’t arrive until Jesus was possibly two years old, and sure enough, the account says they arrived at a “house” not a stable.

The angels didn’t sing to the shepherds. They shouted and spoke, but no mention of singing.

Mary didn’t ride a donkey.  Well, I guess it’s possible, but it doesn’t say she did.  I’m guessing she walked.  I’ve been around pregnant women at that time of the pregnancy, and by that time, they’ll do anything to get the labor started…

Jesus wasn’t born on December 25.  Of course, no one knows exactly when Jesus was born so they just picked a date to celebrate it.  It was put on December 25 because after Christianity became an official religion in the Roman empire, some leader wanted to discourage the pagan celebrations on the winter solstice and turn it into a Christian celebration.   And so presto… now it’s a Christian holiday!  Some of the pagan traditions continued as well, but they quickly lost their pagan meaning for most people.

Jesus wasn’t born in a barn like we’d picture it, and a manger wasn’t usually made of wood.  A manger was typically a hollowed out place in a rock that was used as a feed trough for the animals.  So their may have been animals around although it doesn’t mention any, but it was probably more like a small cave or structure made of rock, but not a wooden barn.

Our wrong beliefs sound good, and look good in a Nativity scene, but simply aren’t what the Bible actually said.  So does it matter?

Maybe it’s just interesting trivia to bring up every year, but I do think it points out our tendency to create a story about God, or create our own religious beliefs, out of things that sound good to us, without regard to what actually may be true.  Likewise, the rejection of Christianity by atheism has a component these days that rejects God because He doesn’t seem like a good God, but instead appears violent, vindictive, judgmental.  In other words, belief that God exists is rejected because it doesn’t sound good to us.

And I’m not proving anyone right or wrong with this small argument, I’m just pointing out one thing:

Whether something sounds good to us, is irrelevant.  The question is whether it’s true.  Truth is not dependent on me “liking” or “disliking” it.

If it’s true and I don’t like it, I have to come to grips with it.  I have to deal with it.  If the truth is I made a D on a test… I have to deal with that.  I can’t simply invent my own beliefs that I made an A on the test.  It is what it is.

So if my religion or doctrine sounds good to me, it doesn’t make it true.  That goes for any religion out there.  Reincarnation may sound good, a space ship hiding behind the moon or Saturn may sound cool, and Jesus being born in a wooden barn with 3 wise men present along with 3 shepherds and a bunch of singing angels on December 25, may sound beautiful… but it doesn’t make it true.

Likewise, believing that the God of the Bible is mean and vindictive, doesn’t mean He isn’t real.  If I had invented the universe I wouldn’t have included black holes.  It’s somewhat disconcerting to think about black holes swallowing galaxies and someday, maybe swallowing everything.  I would have left black holes out because a safe universe sounds better.  Makes me feel better.

But feelings are irrelevant to truth.  If God is real, and I believe He is, then whether He sounds good to us or not, then the issue is coming to grips with Him.

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