Truth or Tradition?

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Truth or Tradition?

MP4 Video - 720p (62.54 MB)
MP3 Audio (1.75 MB)
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When was Jesus born? Why does it matter?

Transcript

 

[Steve Myers] It's the Christmas season. And with that in mind, I got a copy of a book that was written by Pope Benedict and it's called, "The Infancy Narratives: Jesus of Nazareth". It concerns itself a lot with traditional views of what Christmas was all about. And it's very interesting what the Pope had to say. In fact, it's kind of created a bit of a controversy in many circles about some of the things that he wrote. And it has to cause us to answer the question, is what we do out of truth or tradition? Why do we do the things that we do when it comes to worshipping and honoring God? What do we do? But one of the things that the Pope wrote about in regards to Christmas was pinpointing the date of Jesus' birth. And when it comes to that, most people will assume it was 0 A.D.

[Darris McNeely] Just like they assume so many other traditions of Christmas are in the Bible or are factual. To get a figure like the Pope writing a book like this is interesting because of what he brings out whether or not people will actually stop and think, "What else is not true about this particular teaching, holiday? What else do I need to know?" That'll be yet to be determined. 

[Steve Myers] Yeah, what many don't realize is that the date of Christmas is certainly suspect. Here's what the Pope writes about this idea of being, Christ being born at 0 A.D. He says, "The starting point for our reckoning time, the calculation of Jesus' date of birth, goes back to the Monk Dionysius Exiguss," which means Dennis the Small for those of us who don't speak Latin.

[Darris McNeely] Thanks for pointing that out.

[Steve Myers] Yeah, it's kind of interesting. But he says, "Who evidently miscalculated by a few years. The historical date of the birth of Jesus is therefore to be placed a few years earlier." Now, it's interesting that the Pope himself recognizes that Christ wasn't born in 0 A.D. And in fact, if you go to Catholic writings themself, the New Catholic Encyclopedia says this, "Inexplicable as though it seems, the date of Christ's birth is not known." Now they take it a step farther than the Pope and they say, "The gospels indicate neither the day nor the month." So not only 0 A.D. is a false concept, but the idea that Christ would've been born on December 25th in the winter time is a fallacy. There is no way that that's possible according to the Bible.

[Darris McNeely] Again, it just points to the fact that many of the traditions normally associated with Christmas are not found in the Bible and in fact don't always match up with the historical reality, which brings us  back to what is the proper way to worship God, to honor Jesus Christ, and to understand Him? No better verse probably than John 4:23 where Jesus Christ Himself said, "The hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. And examples like this and many, many others that can be brought out regarding Christmas traditions, even other traditions such as Easter point to the fact that most are not worshipping God according to truth. The fact that a religious figure like Pope Benedict XVI points it out should give us all pause to think and to search into it to find out what else is wrong, and what do we really need to know, and what is the truth?

[Steve Myers] There's a few other things to think about when it comes to Christmas traditions and we'll talk about that in a couple of future BT Dailies. So, we'll look for you the next time.

[Darris McNeely] That's BT Daily. Join us next time.