wHY DO cHRISTIANS CONTINUE TO INCLUDE THE WISEMEN (Magi) IN THE NATIVITY DISPLAYS?

[bigdummy]

I believe that most Christians are aware that the wisemen from the East did not attend the birth of Christ and yet generation after generation feel it is necessary to include them in the nativity scenes that are displayed why is this?

 

[biggandyy]

Harmless tradition.

 

[bigdummy]

Harmless tradition.

I suspose your right but on the other hand it is promoting a lie the same as displaying the navel on Adam (who was made from dirt and not born of a woman) in the painting of him reaching out to touch the finger of GOD or the Sculpture of Michelangelo's David as a young Jewish man uncircumcised.with his sling over his shoulder.(when we are told all Jewish males were circumcised on the 8th day)

 

[biggandyy]

Wish MY sling could be slung over my shoulder... ;)

 

[aspen]

The details of Christ's birth have been lost in history - and they are not important. The important part is that He was born and that even the secular world noticed and worshiped Him (Magi).

The whole Nativity story is suspect. Many believe that Jesus was born in the animal section of an inn - most dwellings had indoor sections for animals. The point of the story is that Jesus was born to humble circumstances.

 

[Foreigner]

And just because "new information" is "discovered" does not mean that that information is accurate.

The Gospel of Thomas speaks of Jesus (as a young boy) using his powers to kill children who made him angry or upset him.

Was Thomas an actual figure? Of course.

Does this "Gospel" dovetail in with what we know of Christ? Of course not.

The Quran says that Jesus was born and was speaking to Mary seconds after leaving the womb, counseling her.

Again, interesting fiction, but nothing to base your faith on.





.

 

[Buzzfruit]

Harmless tradition.

Is it harmless if its a lie?

 

[biggandyy]

Christians need to pick their fights better and not get their panties in a bind over every disagreement.

 

[Buzzfruit]

Christians need to pick their fights better and not get their panties in a bind over every disagreement.

I say Christians need to start worshiping God in spirit and in truth as Jesus said and not try to justify lies and pagan phantacsie disguised as Christian. And its only a fight if one is more into false traditions over scripture. Remember, the Pharisees were hostile to the truth of God that Jesus spoke. And God's word is truth. Is our belief grounded in truth?

 

[Rach1370]

I agree with Aspen. The "wise men" may not have been in attendance when Jesus was born, but since the Bible mentions their quest to seek Jesus out, we acknowledge them. It is not interesting that the Jews missed the most important thing in their history...the one thing all of them were longing for, and yet Gentiles saw the signs and came to find Him? I can't help but feel that this was a sign of what was to come...Jesus bringing salvation to all, not just the Jews. So do I think it's harmful to display the wise men? I say that if the Bible was happy to mention them, so should we.

 

[Buzzfruit]

I agree with Aspen. The "wise men" may not have been in attendance when Jesus was born, but since the Bible mentions their quest to seek Jesus out, we acknowledge them. It is not interesting that the Jews missed the most important thing in their history...the one thing all of them were longing for, and yet Gentiles saw the signs and came to find Him? I can't help but feel that this was a sign of what was to come...Jesus bringing salvation to all, not just the Jews. So do I think it's harmful to display the wise men? I say that if the Bible was happy to mention them, so should we.

The only problem that I see is people assume there were three just because of the three gift that they gave the baby Jesus, but the Bible did not tell us how many came.

 

[biggandyy]

I think your tutu is on toto tight...

 

[Buzzfruit]

I think your tutu is on toto tight...

If by that you mean I stick to scripture....that's ok. You can't go wrong.

 

[tomwebster]

The details of Christ's birth have been lost in history - and they are not important. The important part is that He was born and that even the secular world noticed and worshiped Him (Magi).

The whole Nativity story is suspect. Many believe that Jesus was born in the animal section of an inn - most dwellings had indoor sections for animals. The point of the story is that Jesus was born to humble circumstances.

What details do you want, as? Why do you assume the Magi were gentile?

bd, the Magi are there because the Magi were there.

 

[FHII]

The details of Christ's birth have been lost in history - and they are not important. The important part is that He was born and that even the secular world noticed and worshiped Him (Magi).

The whole Nativity story is suspect. Many believe that Jesus was born in the animal section of an inn - most dwellings had indoor sections for animals. The point of the story is that Jesus was born to humble circumstances.

I find this statement to be a bit befuddling, because the details have not been lost in history. They are in 2 of the 4 gospels, with Luke being pretty descriptive. Furthermore, I would say it is important, because it was written about.

I am also unaware that most dwellings had an indoor section for animals. Never heard this before and I don't recall any part of the Bible describing an indoor section for animals.

 

[bigdummy]

I agree with Aspen. The "wise men" may not have been in attendance when Jesus was born, but since the Bible mentions their quest to seek Jesus out, we acknowledge them. It is not interesting that the Jews missed the most important thing in their history...the one thing all of them were longing for, and yet Gentiles saw the signs and came to find Him? I can't help but feel that this was a sign of what was to come...Jesus bringing salvation to all, not just the Jews. So do I think it's harmful to display the wise men? I say that if the Bible was happy to mention them, so should we.

I am not saying it is in anyway harmful to mention them but I do think it is harmful to promote a LIE,and pass it on to future generations, read the Gospel of Mathew (The whole of chapter 2) and you will find that "The Young Child" is mentioned 9 times and a babe is not refered to as a "Young Child" neither is a stable refered to as a "House" which mentioned where Jesus was staying when the Magi worshiped Him..

 

[aspen]

Actully, the Magi were probably Zorasterian since they came from the East....which is significant because even leaders in other religions came to worship Christ.

FHII is truth confined to the literal translation of the Bible?

 

[Rach1370]

I am not saying it is in anyway harmful to mention them but I do think it is harmful to promote a LIE,and pass it on to future generations, read the Gospel of Mathew (The whole of chapter 2) and you will find that "The Young Child" is mentioned 9 times and a babe is not refered to as a "Young Child" neither is a stable refered to as a "House" which mentioned where Jesus was staying when the Magi worshiped Him..

No one is saying it's okay to promote a lie! I think that in the nativity scenes, we are trying to portray all the meaningful parts of Christ's birth. The wise men were not present at Jesus' birth, but His birth was the sign that they had been watching for and seen. It was the star of His birth that prompted the wise men to make their journey to come and worship Him. So, I believe it's not a lie to link these magi to one of the most important events in our history.
I do understand the need to be careful about what Christians accept. To often I think that we allow society values to slip into our celebrations. A pastor that I like to listen to says this about the world we live in...we can do three things: reject it, accept it or redeem it. Some things are fine for Christians to join in with; they don't compromise our faith or our values. Some just need to be rejected outright...there is nothing about it that can be good for us or for God's glory. But there are so very many things in this world that can be redeemed by us. The internet is used by some for very worldly causes, but it can also be used by us to spread the gospel! When it comes to Christmas, I don't think that it hurts for us to give gifts to others, to appreciate that it's family time. It helps remind us of the best gift of all...Jesus. It helps us remember that we're all a part of God's family through Christ. But if we ever loose sight of the true meaning of Christmas, then we've lost it. Does it matter what day the Lord was actually born on? Given that we can't really know, I don't think so. But setting aside a day every year, and remembering the wondrous event of His birth, that's a special day, and I can't imagine celebrating it in a better way then giving to others and spending time with my family...biological one and the spiritual one too!

 

[Rach1370]

Actully, the Magi were probably Zorasterian since they came from the East....which is significant because even leaders in other religions came to worship Christ.

FHII is truth confined to the literal translation of the Bible?

Hey Aspen! Just wanted to jump in on the whole "literal" interpretation thing. All of the Bible must be interpreted literally, I think, but there is two types of literal. Plain literal and figurative literal. We need to see the Bible as literal, because it's all God's word to us and all true. If we start differentiating we open the door to thinking that not all of it is true, or to be seen in a true light.
However, in saying that, we do have those two different 'literals'. There are many things in scripture that clearly means exactly what it says. Jesus says "repent", He means repent. He says "love me", He means love me!
But there are other parts of scripture that very obviously are not to be taken like that...still very true, but not like that. When the Bible says that God is like a mother hen, wanting to gather us all under His wings, we do not then believe that when we die, we will stand before a giant chicken! When the Bible says that Jesus is the 'lamb of God', obviously we don't see Him as an actual lamb! But even being figurative, the image of Jesus being a sacrificial lamb is so very important! So yes, we take it literally, He was sacrificed, like a lamb, for us.
Hope all that makes sense! What do you think about it, you didn't really say here!

 

[FHII]

FHII is truth confined to the literal translation of the Bible?

You said that the details have been lost in history and aren't important. However, the details are in Matthew and Luke, so they haven't been lost and they are important. So If they are lost in history other than the Bible, then I'd have to answer yes. Do you have another written reliable account? If so, why did you say they were lost?