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Close Topic OptionsArchbishop Of Canterbury Dismisses Nativity Scene
- Christmas - Posted: 20th Dec, 2007 - 3:51pm
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As Nothing but 'Legend'
Archbishop Of Canterbury Dismisses Nativity Scene
If someone reads the Bible, they will encounter that what this guy is saying is quite accurate. Most of the time people assume things based on "legend" or "tradition" but is far from what the Scriptures tell us.
| QUOTE |
| The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, dismissed the Christmas story of the Three Wise Men yesterday as nothing but "legend." 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. 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. 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." 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." But in spite of his scepticism about aspects of the Christmas story, as told in infant nativity plays up and down the land, he denied that believing in God was equivalent to believing in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy. "The thing is, belief in Santa does not generate a moral code, it does not generate art, it does not generate imagination. Belief in God is a bit bigger than that," the Archbishop said. Williams was speaking live on BBC Radio Five to the presenter Simon Mayo when Ricky Gervais, star of The Office and a fellow guest, challenged him about the intellectual credibility of the Christian faith. He said he was committed to belief in the Virgin Birth "as part of what I have inherited." But belief in the Virgin Birth should not be a "hurdle" over which new Christians had to jump before they were accepted... |
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Post Date: 20th Dec, 2007 - 3:51pm / Post ID: #
Scene Nativity Dismisses Canterbury Archbishop
I listened to Rowan Williams before on other topics and he is a very deep thinker as far as I can tell. He's right to say what he does regarding Christmas; it was introduced to match with pagan festivals of another time and I've always had issues with the story from an evidential point of view. For example, doesn't Luke get his facts wrong? He claims Quirinius was Govenor during Jesus' birth but that could not possibly be true because we know that Quirinius was not governor of the region where Jesus was born whilst Herod lived: and Herod was alive at the time of his birth.
I'm sure such concerns do no effect the faithful however and if you're going to celebrate the Birth of Christ you've got to do it sometime, after all 
I think Dr Williams was right to say this though. He shows there can be reasoned thought and opinion in a religious context at a time when very often all people hear are the rantings of extremists. 
Edited: Dougiep on 20th Dec, 2007 - 3:52pm
TOPIC: Archbishop Of Canterbury Dismisses Nativity Scene