Christmas Story Fallacies, Part 3

Sorry it has taken so long to get to part 3 - it has been a busy few weeks - that business can be the source of another post.

So since it is Christmas Eve, this is the last one I will get to, so let's make it a doozy.

Fallacy #3: The modern day nativity scene

Where to begin.

Our modern day nativity's usually look something like this: A stable scene with baby Jesus in a wooden trough filled with hay. The star is above the barn, and the shepherds are present along with the wise men and their gifts. And of course Mary and Joseph are there next to Jesus.

Now we have already dealt with the wise men situation - they are not present when Jesus is a baby. They were added due to flannelgraph and marketing conspiracies (okay, I'm just kidding but who really knows).

This is what the Bible text says, "And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7 (NASB)

As I researched some information about Christ's birth, where He was born, and what the manger looked like, the only thing I think I know for sure is that our present nativity scenes are not accurate. What is accurate - it is hard to say for sure.

Let's make these observations:

• Mangers during this time were probably not made of wood, but carved out of stone.
• The Bible never mentions a barn/stable.
• The Bible never mentions an innkeeper - I have heard before that this innkeeper had a stable out back for the animals of the people staying in the inn, and so he put up Mary and Joseph there.

Some Biblical scholars say that the word "inn" actually is referring to a guest room in a house. So with this thinking, Mary would have had the baby in a home in the main gathering area because there was no room in the guest room for them. And since there were mangers in these main gathering rooms (because the livestock stayed in the house at night), she placed the baby in a manger.

That thinking basically takes our little "Western minded nativity" (like the picture I included) and throws it right out the barn window.

Others I have read would say that this manger would have been in a tower in the city. This tower would be used by shepherds to watch their flock. In the bottom level of the tower was a place where sheep would give birth. When these sheep gave birth, the priestly shepherds would wrap them in swaddling cloths and lie them in a manger. The reason for this was to keep them from having defect since these sheep born in Bethlehem were used for the sacrifice in the temple in Jerusalem about 5 miles away. So when the angels told the shepherds where to find the baby, they knew right where to go.

I am not positive about either of these examples, but I am pretty confident our modern nativities are Biblically inaccurate in a few ways. Now, my purpose in these fallacies is not to be the religious Christmas grinch, but rather to remind us to examine the Biblical text and understand that an undertanding of the culture and lifestyle of the time will give us a different view than trying to impose our culture and lifestyle on the Bible.

These fallacies do not take away from this most important truth: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, humbled Himself and took on human flesh. He became a human and was born as a baby. He did this so that He could pay the price for sin that no other human could pay. He grew to be a man and died on the cross to pay for our (mine and your) sin because He loved us. He rose from the grave on the 3rd day, defeating death. He made it possible through His death and resurrection for every human being to be reconciled to God through faith in His finished work. He was the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved..." Acts 16:31 (NASB).