Sunday, December 21, 2008

Do You Believe The Bible's Teachings About The Nativity?


I read an interesting article that talked about a survey that showed that most Britons do not believe in the nativity. Well, I am not sure exactly how Jesus came to be either.As a Christian,you are told that everything is about faith. But, I was raised to question all religion & historical teachings.My pops drilled the fact that you can't believe everything you read into my head. And when you go to bible study, the instructor doesn't take kindly to a person like me.An inquistive mind can really get in the way of faith. But,what really caught my attention was this part of the article from the Telegraph.co.uk:

"Simon Gathercole, a new testament scholar at Cambridge University, said people were sceptical because they were not aware the origins of Christianity were anchored in real history.

He added: "Jesus was born while Augustus was emperor of Rome just before Herod died. We're talking about events that are anchored in real history not in ancient Greek myths."

A separate study by Mothers' Union, a Christian charity, showed that more parents encourage their children to believe in Father Christmas than in the nativity.

A spokeswoman for the charity said the survey "raised concerns that the church needs to do more to support families in the spiritual nurture of their children".

She added: "The church needs to get across the fact that in times of both adversity and prosperity, it has a universal message which enables people to connect with something outside themselves."

The study of 1,000 parents found that one in five do not encourage their children to associate Christmas with the nativity. Five per cent do not encourage their children to believe in Father Christmas."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the rest here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/3868265/Most-Britons-do-not-believe-in-the-nativity-survey-shows.html

For me, Christmas is about presents,good cheer,delectable eats,& the birth of Jesus. Santa Claus is not the point of Christmas. He is more like a byproduct of it.If you don't believe in the nativity,how could you teach your kids to believe in Santa? Seems pretty inconsistent to me.

Check out this description of the real meaning of Christmas from the cartoon "Charlie Brown."

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