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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my favorite Christmas gift from childhood is the bicycle I received from Santa when I was 5, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living.
For many, Christmas is the best time of year. Maybe it’s the cooler weather, smell of fireplaces, snow covered landscapes, music, shopping, time with family, those sappy Hallmark movies, or something else. But there is something magical about Christmas time. Except for those of you in the southern hemisphere. I’ve talked to my Australian friends about it and I still can’t imagine what it would be like to celebrate Christmas in the summer.
I think most of us have some sort of Christmas tradition. Maybe we carry on a tradition from our parents or grandparents, or maybe we’ve started a tradition of our own. As a kid, I have vivid memories of getting out of school for Christmas break, loading up the car with luggage and presents, hopping into the backseat with my brother Nathan, and trying to patiently wait while our parents made the five hour trek from our house to our cousin’s house in Liberal, Kansas. We’d spend several days with them and other members of our family would drive up to Kansas to join us for the holiday break.
When Christmas Eve came along we’d all eat dinner and then make our way downstairs to the den. It was a large room with a bar on one side with a large brick fireplace near it. Opposite of the fireplace wall was a nook where the Christmas tree stood atop the OU rug I mentioned in a previous episode. We’d start the evening with entertainment provided by us kids. We’d sing Christmas carols and play instruments that we were learning at school.
Once that was over, we’d all take our seats around the room and someone would start handing out presents. Once all the presents were handed out, another tradition would begin. We would go around the room and open presents one person at a time. I loved this because we always started with the youngest and ended with the oldest. This meant I got to go first!
Before I could open a present, I had to hold it up and read the tag aloud to say who it was from. Then after I opened it, I had to hold the item up for all to see, let the family take pictures, and tell the person thank you. There were usually between 10-15 of us, so you can imagine that this was a very lengthy process.
Christmas morning brought about its own tradition. We’d all wake up and come back into the den for more presents. Only this time it was different. There was typically just one or two gifts for each kid and a stocking above the fireplace that was stuffed full. Each year my brother and I slept in this room between the fireplace and the Christmas tree, and I’m still amazed that never once did we get woken up by “Santa Clause.”
When it came time to start my own family, Kari and I talked about how each of our families did Christmas and we decided which traditions we’d have for us. For my side of the family, we now hold Christmas at our house, and we still open presents from youngest to oldest (which Colby quite enjoys).
But Christmas morning is reserved for just the four of us and it’s full of traditions that Kari designed. The centerpiece of the morning is the reading of the Christmas story from the Bible. Most of what we read comes from the book of Luke, but there are other passages included as well. We each take turns reading different verses until the entire story is completed. We’ve done this since the kids were little and still do it now that they are in their twenties.
You probably know at least some of the Christmas story even if it’s by watching movies or TV shows that have included portions of it. Joseph and Mary are required to travel to Bethlehem when she is very near her due date. There they find the inn is full and have to take shelter in a barn. There in the barn Jesus is born and they are visited by shepherds and wise men. You’ve also likely seen this depicted with a nativity scene somewhere.
But what if I told you that this isn’t true. That story of Jesus’ birth is not what the Bible tells us happened. What if I told you that the Bible has contradictory versions of what happened? Before we dive into what the Bible actually says happened and what some view as contradictions, let me tell you about where I grew up.
I was born in Tulsa and we lived in Skiatook, Oklahoma at the time. From there we moved to Bethany, Oklahoma. My first memories are from this house when I was three years old. When I was four or five we moved to north Oklahoma City and I lived there until the middle of first grade. After that we moved to Guthrie, Oklahoma until third grade and then we moved to Wellston, Oklahoma. I lived there until I graduated high school.
Now back to the biblical narrative of Jesus’ birth. The birth story of Jesus is found in the New Testament books of Matthew and Luke.
Matthew includes these details in his birth story account:
- Genealogy of Jesus from Joseph’s side of the family
- An angel appearing to Joseph telling him that Mary was pregnant via the Holy Spirit
- Wise men visiting Herod after Jesus was born and then visiting Jesus as a child
- Joseph fleeing with his family to Egypt to avoid Herod’s slaughtering of children
- Joseph and his family returning to Israel to the town of Nazareth after Herod’s death
Luke includes these details in his birth account story:
- Genealogy of Jesus from Joseph to Adam
- An angel appearing to Mary telling her she will become pregnant via the Holy Spirit
- Mary visiting her cousin, Elizabeth while they were each pregnant
- The census which require Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem
- Mary gave birth to Jesus and placed him in a manger since there was no room in the inn
- Shepards, directed by angels, visit the newborn Jesus while he was still in the manger
- Jesus’ circumcision when he was 8 days old
- Jesus is later presented to the Lord at the temple according to Jewish law
- Simeon encounters Jesus and his family and declares that Jesus is the Messiah
- Jesus and his family returning to Nazareth
- Jesus, as a boy, secretly staying behind in Jerusalem and later being found in the temple
As you can see, Luke includes quite a bit more detail than Matthew does, which is why Luke’s version is more commonly used than Matthew’s. You can also see that the wise men didn’t visit Jesus on the night he was born, but rather after he was a child, probably 2-3 years old. Many depictions of the Christmas story include the wise men at the manger most likely for the sake of simplicity. That doesn’t mean the Bible is incorrect, but that the depiction of the story is incorrect.
What some skeptics do consider to be a contradiction is the differences in where the family lived and traveled after Jesus was born. Luke says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the family went to Egypt, and then they went to Nazareth. Matthew, however, says Jesus was born in Bethlehem, was then presented at the temple in Jerusalem, and that the family lived in Nazareth.
So which is it? Did Jesus’ family flee to Egypt after he was born, or was he taken to the temple? Luke says nothing of the killing of children by Herod, which is what Matthew says led to the family fleeing to Egypt. So skeptics would say these telling of events are contradictory and doubt the validity of them.
Here’s what I learned.
As I prepared for this episode I sent a message to my brother. I said, “I need your perspective on something for a SILY I’m writing this week. Where did we live growing up? Be as concise or as detailed as you want.”
Nate gave it some thought and sent me his response a few days later. I had already written down my version that I gave you earlier so that neither of us would be influenced by the other. My version of our childhood was wrapped up in 85 words. My brother’s version was 376 words. In all of his 376 words, he never once mentioned Skiatook, Bethany, Oklahoma City, or Guthrie.
Instead, he only mentioned Wellston. He painted a picture of what the commerce and demographics of the town were. He wrapped it up by talking about how the town has dwindled since he lived there and he didn’t enjoy growing up there.
So does this mean that Nate or I never lived in any of those places I mentioned? Does a detail need to be included in both of our accounts in order for it to be true? Of course not. Saying something didn’t happen because it’s not mentioned in all accounts is not how we deem other biographical accounts to be true and it shouldn’t be the case for the nativity accounts either. This is one type of an argument from silence, and that type of argument is not a valid argument.
What I mean is, to say something is false because some accounts of it don’t mention the same detail, does not by itself render that detail false. Simply put, silence of an event does not equal denial of an event.
Can these accounts be reconciled? Yes. Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem and Jesus was born while they were there and they were visited by shepherds. Forty days later, the family traveled to Jerusalem and take Jesus to the temple to fulfill the law. They then return to Bethlehem. When Jesus was a child, the wise men visit. Afterward, Joseph is warned in a dream and the family flees to Egypt. After Herod dies, they begin their journey back to their home country where they settle in Nazareth.
There are four books of the Bible that tell us about Jesus’ life. Those books are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and as a group they are called the Gospels. Each of them are told from the perspective of a different person who is writing to a specific audience, and has a specific purpose and point of view.
Just like my childhood account differs from my brother’s, the differences don’t equal contradictions. When a police detective is interviewing suspects of a crime, they expect the accounts of each person to be different. If the version of the events is the exact same, that’s a sign that the suspects have gotten together to figure out what they are going to say ahead of time. Or said differently, it’s a sign that the group got their lie figured out so they could cover up for each other.
The nuances and inclusion of different details here actually add credibility and validity to the accounts. Each of us should approach the Bible with an open mind and with honest intent. If we approach it with the intent to prove it false or toss it aside when we encounter passages that seem difficult, contradictory, or even immoral, we fall short of true understanding. Instead, I want you to dig in deeper when you encounter those passages to seek for the truth of what is being communicated.
We’ll continue to look at more of the hard passages and “contradictions” in future episodes, and I hope this navigation through the nativity story has given you a fresh perspective on the reason we celebrate this Christmas season.
warned in another dream, they go to Nazareth instead.
I’m Darrell Darnell, and this has been Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
I want you to be a part of the next Monday Mailbag on December 30th! Monday Mailbag is your opportunity to Share what YOU’VE learned, so that other listeners and I can learn from YOU. It can be a message as short as 30 seconds or several minutes long. It really doesn’t matter just as long as it’s something that will benefit others. You can send in questions or responses to my SILY episodes, and I’ll respond to them via Monday Mailbag episodes. You can participate in Monday Mailbags by visiting the Golden Spiral Media listener feedback page.