Errors in Christmas

Rev Lalrosiem Songate

That angels were singing. After the birth of Jesus was announced to the shepherds in the field by an angel, a host of angels appeared praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest...” Many preachers preaching during Christmas often referred to this event as angels singing. Nowhere is in the Scripture that says the angels are singing .

That there were three wise men. How many are these wise men? There is also a song in English “We three kings of Orient…” There is nowhere in the Bible where it says that the wise men were three in number. It has been assumed that since the gifts are of three different kinds, the persons giving the gifts must be three in number. This is a blind assumption. They could be more or less, though we can be certain that they are not just one.

The idea of shepherds and wise men coming together to the manger where Jesus was born.  You would often see pictures of shepherds and wise men worshipping baby Jesus in a manger. This is also another wrong assumption. The shepherds were watching their flock in the outskirt of Bethlehem and there is no problem for them to come to the manger in the night the baby Jesus was born. But for the wise men who are from the eastern countries (some have even believed them to be Indian astrologers) coming all the way from their country to Bethlehem the same night Jesus was born is completely untenable.

The idea that Mary and Joseph had to flee for the baby’s life the night he was born. Since the arrival of the wise men would be much at a later date the flight to Egypt could also be quite sometime after he was born.

That Jesus was born on Dec 25. The celebration of Dec 25 as Christmas actually began as early
as the fourth century AD. There is no evident that Jesus was born on Dec 25, though the whole world celebrates this day as the birth day of Jesus Christ. Various dates such as March 28, Nov. 18 and Sept. 11 have been proposed by different historians. The celebration of Dec 25 as Christmas day actually was a pagan origin.

When Christianity became a state religion in the Roman Empire after Emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity, their pagan festival Saturnalia that used to be celebrated during Dec 17-25 had to stop.  To appease the angry pagans it was Christianized and celebrated as Christmas day.  It was because of this reason early Puritans refused to celebrate Christmas day. In fact, the celebration of Dec 25 as Christmas was banned by the Governor of Massachusetts during 1659-1681.

Hope we all enjoyed our Christmas, after all it’s the heart in which we celebrate that matters more than the date. Wishing you all a blessed Happy New Year 2010!