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Archbishop says nativity 'a legend'
Telegraph.co.uk ^ | 12/20/07 | Sophie Borland

Posted on 12/20/2007 5:43:47 AM PST by Oshkalaboomboom

The Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday that the Christmas story of the Three Wise Men was nothing but a 'legend'.

Dr Rowan Williams has claimed there was little evidence that the Magi even existed and there was certainly nothing to prove there were three of them or that they were kings.

Dr Williams argued that the traditional Christmas story was nothing but a 'legend'

He said the only reference to the wise men from the East was in Matthew's gospel and the details were very vague.

Dr Williams said: "Matthew's gospel says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that's all we're really told. It works quite well as legend."

The Archbishop went on to dispel other details of the Christmas story, adding that there were probably no asses or oxen in the stable.

He argued that Christmas cards which showed the Virgin Mary cradling the baby Jesus, flanked by shepherds and wise men, were misleading. As for the scenes that depicted snow falling in Bethlehem, the Archbishop said the chance of this was "very unlikely".

In a final blow to the traditional nativity story, Dr Williams concluded that Jesus was probably not born in December at all. He said: "Christmas was when it was because it fitted well with the winter festival."

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: anglican; apostacy; archbishop; europeanchristians; fauxchristian; nativity; revisionism; rowanwilliams; uk
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So here you have a high ranking official in a so-called Christian religion calling Christmas a myth and then you wonder why Church attendance in England is in a freefall. Truly boggles the mind.
1 posted on 12/20/2007 5:43:49 AM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
Video evidence to the contrary here
2 posted on 12/20/2007 5:48:11 AM PST by Hegemony Cricket (Although most dead people vote democrat, aborted babies, if given the choice, would vote Republican.)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

Take it whence it comes. This man is a heretic, the ArchDruid, presiding over a group of limpwristed fairies prancing around in dresses and women in pantsuits with dog collars.


3 posted on 12/20/2007 5:48:29 AM PST by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
“Archbishop of Canterbury”

Has made a comfortable life with this “legend”.

I actually wonder what his end game is. What is the object of this exercise?

4 posted on 12/20/2007 5:49:36 AM PST by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

So the Archbishop of Canterberry doesn’t believe the bible? Time to toss him out on his ear.


5 posted on 12/20/2007 5:52:49 AM PST by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

You do you reckon will be the first Muslim Archbishop of Canterbury, and when will he take office?


6 posted on 12/20/2007 5:53:40 AM PST by chesley (Where's the omelet? -- Orwell)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

Does that mean Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey didn’t really carry Mary to Bethlehem either?

My entire belief system is falling apart.


7 posted on 12/20/2007 5:53:44 AM PST by Slapshot68
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

The headline written by some Liberal POS is misleading.

I’ve heard that the three “wise men” may have not come until weeks after the birth of Christ, which means the “manger” scene may have not included them. Not a big deal, and the Christmas Nativity scene is symbolic of their patronage.

What is going on in this world?????


8 posted on 12/20/2007 5:53:50 AM PST by rightinthemiddle (Guess what? I'm voting for the Conservative.)
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To: edcoil
I actually wonder what his end game is. What is the object of this exercise?

Sounds like he's trying avoid spending eternity in heaven.

9 posted on 12/20/2007 5:54:34 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (The broken wall, the burning roof and tower. And Agamemnon dead.)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

The olny “myth” here is that of the World Wide Anglican Communion..


10 posted on 12/20/2007 5:55:24 AM PST by ken5050
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To: MEGoody

well, he is right about december. jesus wasnt born then, church officials way back when just took over a pagan holiday.


11 posted on 12/20/2007 5:55:43 AM PST by abstracTT
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
Cardinal Rowan is obviously much smarter than Matthew or the other gospel writers. Jesus Christ would be so pleased with Church stewardship devoted to debunking Gospel “myth” and seeding doubt among the faithful.

I wonder when Cardinal Rowan DOES propose that Christians celebrate the birth of Christ, if not at the annual celestial turning point from darkness into light? Or perhaps we will soon hear that he considers Christ, too, to be an allegorical figure. Is Jesus Christ’s name even mentioned anymore in Anglican church services, or have they become “inclusive”?

12 posted on 12/20/2007 5:55:50 AM PST by silverleaf (Fasten your seat belts- it's going to be a BUMPY ride.)
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To: abstracTT

cant support the rest of that nonsense tho.


13 posted on 12/20/2007 5:56:23 AM PST by abstracTT
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
The conception was on our December 25 and the birth would have been our late September/early October. Now it really is toooo sad this Archbishop does not know his Bible or history any better else he would have known what is legend and what is instruction.
14 posted on 12/20/2007 5:56:49 AM PST by Just mythoughts
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

If you go to the website and read the comments, there is a good one, something like: “If the Archibishop had been there, there would have been at least one ass in the stable.”


15 posted on 12/20/2007 5:56:49 AM PST by bigcat00
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

just another drop in the erosion and attempted eradication of Christmas.


16 posted on 12/20/2007 5:57:00 AM PST by ripley
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To: Oshkalaboomboom
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.

He hinted that decades ago he was not "too fussed" with the literal truth of the doctrine of the Virgin Birth. But as time went on, he developed a "deeper sense" of what the Virgin Birth was all about.

This guy is a Bishop? This guy is NUTZ!


17 posted on 12/20/2007 5:58:54 AM PST by frogjerk
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To: abstracTT

http://cranach.worldmagblog.com/cranach/archives/2005/12/why_december_25.html

I can not verify it’s claims, but it is interesting...


18 posted on 12/20/2007 6:00:45 AM PST by dpa5923 (Small minds talk about people, normal minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas.)
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To: Oshkalaboomboom

The Gospel accoding to Matthew is not a lightweight source.

I guess the ArchBs would dismiss Jeb Stuart’s ride around the Union Army because (of the early sources) it was mentioned in Lee’ Lieutenants by Freeman but not in the earlier source of the Rise and Fall of the Confederate States of America by Davis. It has been longer since said War than the time between Christ’s life and the completion of all four Gospels.


19 posted on 12/20/2007 6:00:59 AM PST by Monterrosa-24 (...even more American than a French bikini and a Russian AK-47.)
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To: Kolokotronis

...’limpwristed fairies prancing around in dresses and women in pantsuits with dog collars’...???


20 posted on 12/20/2007 6:01:35 AM PST by stuartcr (Everything happens as God wants it to.....otherwise, things would be different.)
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