Has anyone seen The Nativity Story yet?

[dani_christine 0]

stina...i had to laugh when you mentioned that noah's ark movie that was on ABC several years back. at the time, my ex-husband and i were youth pastoring at our church, and so after sunday night service, we had all the kids over to our house for pizza and to watch the movie.

boy, were we embarrassed! we turned it off, right about the time Lot showed up.

i do want to go see the Nativity Story movie. We were going to go this weekend, but we were too broke! but today's payday...so maybe this week. hmm...

yeah, it's a shame that they included the magi coming to visit at the time of Christ's birth. That part of the story is confused in 99% of people's minds, however. even every nativity set and children's christmas pagent includes the three wise men. however, i still don't think that detracts from the core message--God, come to earth in the form of a baby.

[Scott & Lai 12]

stina...i had to laugh when you mentioned that noah's ark movie that was on ABC several years back. at the time, my ex-husband and i were youth pastoring at our church, and so after sunday night service, we had all the kids over to our house for pizza and to watch the movie.

boy, were we embarrassed! we turned it off, right about the time Lot showed up.

i do want to go see the Nativity Story movie. We were going to go this weekend, but we were too broke! but today's payday...so maybe this week. hmm...

yeah, it's a shame that they included the magi coming to visit at the time of Christ's birth. That part of the story is confused in 99% of people's minds, however. even every nativity set and children's christmas pagent includes the three wise men. however, i still don't think that detracts from the core message--God, come to earth in the form of a baby.

That Noah's Ark thing was a travesty..... I didn't recognize the God in that thing; he was more like Zeus than the God of the Bible.

Yes, the Magi certainly don't detract from the core message, but playing fast and loose with things like that does seem to downplay the historicity of the Biblical account. I've never understood why facts have to be altered for "dramatic license."

[mawilson 2,133]

i love cupcakes, but i hate cats

Oh no! I cats

[almaty 19]

i love cupcakes, but i hate cats

Oh no! I cats

must have multiple personality disorder....

[chri'stina 190]

stina...i had to laugh when you mentioned that noah's ark movie that was on ABC several years back. at the time, my ex-husband and i were youth pastoring at our church, and so after sunday night service, we had all the kids over to our house for pizza and to watch the movie.

boy, were we embarrassed! we turned it off, right about the time Lot showed up.

i do want to go see the Nativity Story movie. We were going to go this weekend, but we were too broke! but today's payday...so maybe this week. hmm...

yeah, it's a shame that they included the magi coming to visit at the time of Christ's birth. That part of the story is confused in 99% of people's minds, however. even every nativity set and children's christmas pagent includes the three wise men. however, i still don't think that detracts from the core message--God, come to earth in the form of a baby.

There was also a movie on a couple years ago about Jesus, I don't remember what it was called. It was on ABC or one of those channels again. After Noah's Ark we should have known what it would be like...maybe you saw this one too, where Mary had to basically force Jesus into being the messiah. And he was too busy flirting with a neighbor girl or something, and was mad that he had to leave her behind to follow his true destiny, which he reluctantly did after being always reminded by his mother. What a JOKE. It was awful. Also when he was tempted in the wilderness, it was some supermodel looking face talking to him and all trance weird stuff going on.

stina...i had to laugh when you mentioned that noah's ark movie that was on ABC several years back. at the time, my ex-husband and i were youth pastoring at our church, and so after sunday night service, we had all the kids over to our house for pizza and to watch the movie.

boy, were we embarrassed! we turned it off, right about the time Lot showed up.

i do want to go see the Nativity Story movie. We were going to go this weekend, but we were too broke! but today's payday...so maybe this week. hmm...

yeah, it's a shame that they included the magi coming to visit at the time of Christ's birth. That part of the story is confused in 99% of people's minds, however. even every nativity set and children's christmas pagent includes the three wise men. however, i still don't think that detracts from the core message--God, come to earth in the form of a baby.

That Noah's Ark thing was a travesty..... I didn't recognize the God in that thing; he was more like Zeus than the God of the Bible.

Yes, the Magi certainly don't detract from the core message, but playing fast and loose with things like that does seem to downplay the historicity of the Biblical account. I've never understood why facts have to be altered for "dramatic license."

I don't understand it either...

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Biblical scholars have demonstrated that many elements of the story of the birth of Jesus were 'added' and not historically accurate. For example, the belief that Herod ordered all first born males under a certain age slaughtered is not factual.

[Scott & Lai 12]

Biblical scholars have demonstrated that many elements of the story of the birth of Jesus were 'added' and not historically accurate. For example, the belief that Herod ordered all first born males under a certain age slaughtered is not factual.

Which scholars, and how did they demonstrate this?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Biblical scholars have demonstrated that many elements of the story of the birth of Jesus were 'added' and not historically accurate. For example, the belief that Herod ordered all first born males under a certain age slaughtered is not factual.

Which scholars, and how did they demonstrate this?

I'm trying to find some info online, but I remember reading that one thing is there is no Roman record of a census taken during that year - I'm not quite sure what all factors.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

This paper began as a comparative study between the two narratives of

the birth of Jesus in Matthew and Luke’s gospels but, along the journey to

completion, became a path to resolving the challenges of being a believer in

academic religious studies. There have been more than enough studies done

on the discrepancies between the canonical birth narratives, with most

scholars conceding that “the two cycles of nativity stories are independent of

each other and cannot be fitted together coherently.”1 Whether they are of the

opinion that there is little or no historical credibility within the birth

narratives,2 or that “the simplest explanation is that the events of this story are

factual history,”3 few scholars would argue that they are intended to be taken

as literal history.

Matthew has

the monopoly on magi, the portentous star, and King Herod’s massacre of the

innocents, while Luke mentions none of these events, chronicling instead the

birth of John the Baptist, the angelic pronunciation of the birth to the

shepherds outside Bethlehem, and the presentation of the infant to Simeon and

Anna in the temple at Jerusalem. Matthew’s entire account takes place in

Bethlehem, where it is assumed Mary and Joseph reside. Luke starts his

narrative in Nazareth; the impetus for the journey to Bethlehem is an empire-

wide census, for which we have little historical evidence to attest. In Matthew,

Jesus and his parents flee to Egypt, while Luke has them return to Nazareth

immediately following the ceremonial rites in Jerusalem. This last event is the

most difficult to harmonize in a synoptic fashion; the writer is forced to end

Luke 2:39, “When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law

of the Lord, they returned…,” followed by the entire round trip journey to

Egypt in Matthew 2:1-23 before finishing Luke 2:39 with, “to Galilee to their

own town of Nazareth.”

6

This is unfortunately only the beginning of a long

list of difficulties critics of the conservative, literal approach to the birth

narratives.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&am...+birth+of+Jesus

[perfect 39]

Remember a paper is generall a person's own take on things...not necessarily related to proof. THe reason there are no historical records of the census is well documented.

Edited December 11, 2006 by perfect

[pedroh 21]

and here we go.. facts vs fiction on the bible..

where's da popcorn?!

[Scott & Lai 12]

and here we go.. facts vs fiction on the bible..

where's da popcorn?!

There's a reason for that. Christianity is an historical faith, it has at its core claims that certain events actually happened in ordinary, concrete history. It is not based on myth or metaphor or universal "truths". Either the events happened in the same way as any other event in history (or on last night's news), or the whole thing is a lie that should be dispensed with. The Biblical authors, who were there at the time or knew people who were, are adamant that their words and writings be understood this way.