Posted on 12/06/2004 1:45:03 AM PST by kattracks
Just in time for Christmas, America's two largest news magazines devote this week's cover stories to debunking the story of Jesus' birth.Among the conclusions in Time and Newsweek: Jesus was born in Nazareth, not Bethlehem; there is little evidence of three kings following a star, and the story of the virgin birth may have been borrowed.
"The Nativity saga is neither fully fanciful nor fully factual but a layered narrative of early tradition and enduring theology," Newsweek writes in examining the Sunday-school version of the birth of Christ.
This may be unwelcome "news" to most Americans. A Newsweek poll found that 55% of Americans believe every word in the Bible is literally true, 67% believe the entire Christmas story is literally true and 79% believe Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary with no human father.
"In the debates over the literal truth of the Gospels, just about everyone acknowledges that major conclusions about Jesus' life are not based on forensic clues," Time notes. "There is no specific physical evidence for the key points of the story."
Quoting esteemed religious scholars, the mags poke holes in New Testament scribes Matthew and Luke's divergent explanations of how Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem, with Time asserting that most scholars now place his birth in Nazareth.
Both mags point out that the star in the East might be a literary embellishment by Matthew, perhaps inspired by accounts of Halley's comet appearing 12 years before Christ's birth.
Even the Virgin Mary's conception, a cornerstone of Christian theology, is fodder for skeptics, who say the story was a possible blend of Jewish theology with Greek and Roman myths.
Originally published on December 6, 2004
Their hostility is despicable! Haven't seen any cover stories about the seamier side of Mohammed! Of course they just might value the integrity of their throats.
"Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Hebrews 1:11
If I subscribed to either of them, I'd send them back with the suggestion they use them to line their colon.
THE CHRISTMAS LINKS PAGE
http://www.truthusa.com/CHRISTmas.html
I couldn't agree more.
This story is utter nonsense because there really isn't enough of a historical record to prove or disprove much of anything contained in the gospels.
Newsweek did this same hatchet job on the crucifixion story when Mel Gibson's movie came out. This is absolutely typical for Newsweek.
Newsweek? Time? Aren't they made of paper?
They probably believe the "Jesus was gay!" line the Left likes now, in spite of the non-existence of anything to support that conclusion at all.
And burn at so many degrees Fahrenheit?
FAITH is the answer they're lacking. It's really hard to believe that all of the editors of these magazines are without faith. Either that's true, which means that they don't know what they're talking about, or they do have faith, but are denying it in order to sell magazines.
Pretty disgusting either way.
Romans 1:22
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.
You're being to kind to these editors. Also CNN is going to be running a show on "The Two Marys". They're going to tell you that Mary Magdalene was actually Jesus' wife. Just another attempt to prove Jesus was not the Son of God.
If there was, were would the personal choice be, in becoming a Christian?
Since the MSM have been outfoxed by the Christian Right. These kind of articles are just their last dying gasp. They know that it all over for them, yet they just can't resist throwing one more blow.
Just another reason not to watch CNN.
Blue county rags.
Either Jesus was born of a virgin or the scriptures are a lie.
If they are a lie, we are yet in our sins, redemption is not made complete and the fall of the race into damnation is without solution.
If science hacks can birth a lamb from a cloned cell without the benefit of an earthly sheep for a father...
then Father God can birth the lamb of God, from a single human cell to redeem mankind from our fallenness.
after all, HE was the one who designed and created the 'human' cell to begin with... and the one for lambs, too.
I think I will continue to believe the Biblical record on such things. What was once impossible, virgin birth, is NOW KNOWN to be a medical possibility, given a little technology here and there. I am willing to bet that God's technology was a lot farther advanced two millenia ago than ours is... or will be in another two millenia... big time.
I can't wait til next Ramadan when they debunk Islam!
I wouldn't hold my breath for that.
When did the NY Daily News become anything more than a 2-bit porno rag...sure have been posted here a lot. What a load of drivel.
"We walk by faith, not by sight." It makes all the difference.
It will be interesting to read what letters to the editor they post in their next edition.
These stories have been rehashed so many times. How can a "news" magazine run something so "old"? All of these stories have been debunked years ago.
""There is no specific physical evidence for the key points of the story.""
Nor is there any evidence to support their debunking theories.
It's called Faith. No amount of reading or research or forensics can damage it. Faith lives in the hearts and minds and souls of those who believe.
It's amazing how these magazines don't get it. At heart, they are so disturbed that most Americans have faith, that they actually feel it necessary to disprove the articles of faith. Meanwhile, their own institutions are crashing down around their ears.
Interesting that they'd do this at all. Any other general interest magazine would fear the loss of their readership by publishing such a front-page article. It goes to prove my point that the people who subscribe to these magazines aren't the ones who read them. They're just fodder for doctors' offices.
I Don't buy them, don't read them.
I suspect numerous others will quit soon enough as well.
The decline of the MSM continues.
Nowhere does Scripture indicate the Wise Men were kings. Many scholars believe they were Zoroastrian astrologers from Persia. Nowhere is their number given, only that they presented three gifts.
They're not even trying to debunk the correct story!
Try the Shroud of Turin as just one example of the historicity of Christ. Other miracles associated with Christ and his Church still observable today:
Eucharistic Miracle of Lanciano
The Tilma of Guadalupe
Incorrupt bodies of the saints
Fatima
Sudarium of Oviedo
With so many miracles associated with Christ still observable today, why should we be skeptical of the Biblical account of Christ's birth, attested to by Christ's Church?
I missed the stories where the mags give similar critical scrutiny to Islam.
My kids have brought up this point. The elites work overtime constantly to attack Christianity. Why?
Are they afraid it is true?
Since Christ is Truth itself, opposition to Him has to be irrational by nature. It's hard to account for irrationality, except to say that people tend to rationalize their sins. If you know that Christ condemned your sins, you can either repent of your sins or cling to them and repudiate Christ.
While there is very little in the historical record to verify Jesus other than the Gospels, there is abundant historical proof which corroborates the other parts of the Gospels, such as places, people, events, etc. No archeological find in the middle east has produced evidence conflicting with the Gospels and many discoveries serve to confirm them. For years people said the lack of any historical evidence that a Roman named Pontius Pilate was in the middle east proved the Gospels were inaccurate. Then, a coin with the name and picture of Pilate was found in that area. I will stick with the Gospels and leave the "Jesus Seminar" to others.
Good point. Can these writers distinguish tradition, e.g., Santa Claus, from Scripture? I doubt it.
This is the most Anti-Christ-mas Christmas season in America, in my lifetime. Everywhere I turn, a new blasphemy, a new insult, a new derisive bigot blathering away. Can't you just feel the hate?
There isn't much in the traditional Christmas story that is Biblically accurate.
Jesus wasn't born in December; there is no mention of three anything, Magi or "Wise Men"; and when they did arrive, they didn't find a newborne baby, they found a child because they weren't there moments after the birth, but later.
Jeez, what an amazing coincidence.
I wonder when they'll run a piece criticizing the holey Koran?
I also missed the probing investigative stories on allegations of how the ACLU is trying to hijack Christmas.
I must have missed their Ramadan declaration that Mohammed was a child molestor who rewrote the Judeo-Christian Bible to suit his power madness by creating an evil death cult.
No. Too many fatwas would be called against Time-Life-CNN for that one.
Among the conclusions in Time and Newsweek: Jesus was born in Nazareth, not Bethlehem; there is little evidence of three kings following a star, and the story of the virgin birth may have been borrowed."The Nativity saga is neither fully fanciful nor fully factual but a layered narrative of early tradition and enduring theology," Newsweek writes in examining the Sunday-school version of the birth of Christ.
As "Bad Santa" said last year at the movies of the Advent Calendar he tore up: "It was a lousy story anyway."
Okay, is it perfectly clear to people now that these useful idiots are openly antiChristian and engaging in a culture war?
Mohammed was antiChristian as well. He denied the divinity of Jesus and disavowed the crucifixtion and resurection as well.
Comrades in arms with the Islamofascists. No wonder they do not support the war on terror.
Just how did those lamps stay lit that the Jews celebrate at Chanukah?
Only Christians are questioned and ridiculed by the mainstream media. It is politically correct to do so.
More of the anti America/Christian attacks from the GIMs, Gay Infected Mediots!
I stopped subscribing to these left wing anti American weekly Not News Mags during the 1980s after their outrageous attacks on Ronald Reagan during his first election.
Newsweak and Slime are totally worthless.
Any conservative who subscribes to them or buys them is only a conservative in his/her shallow mind.
We've got a ways to go considering that many "journalism" or even "current affairs" classes in high school and college REQUIRE reading of such mainstays as Time, Newsweek, and The New York Times.
I have some leftovers that have been in my fridge a long time, but you don't see me pushing them down the throats of anyone.
Moral Absolutes Ping.
A veritable onslaught of attacks on Christ-Mass. Two magazines at once, and a newspaper. Remember in the "old days" around Christmas time newspapers and magazines would have uplifting, inspirational Christmas stories? Now they reserve special villification for the season honoring Jesus' birth.
They're transparently hateful. They want to avoid Jesus' message of love for and surrender to God the way a vampire wants to avoid a stake, a silver cross, sunlight, and garlic.
Let me know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.
Note: Notice how they get really picky (whiney nasty voice): "He likely wasn't born in Bethlehem, he was probably born in Nazareth, and the wise men (if there were any) came when he was older."
Anything to avoid his message of truth. Seriously, if Jesus were born in Nazareth instead of Bethlehem, his message would still be true. Instead out of their envy, they want to chip away at peoples' faith in God any way they can.
I hope the circulation of those two disgusting "news"magazines drop like heavy chunks of cement and they have to fold up shop.
This is why I gave up anything that Time or Newsweek post on Christianity...after seeing them falling in love with the bad scholarship of the Jesus seminar, how could you take anything they say seriously? They see their role as reiterating the beliefs of those secularists and anti-Christians - and their bias is truly transparent.
It's not only transparent, but reaches out and grabs your throat.
There's a moment in the 1960s documentary where a reporter from Time Magazine is trying to ask Bob Dylan a question and he tells the reporter that he really has no need to read that magazine.
The MSM has been in denial a long time.
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