World Video Bible School. To God be the glory.

For many people the Christmas season

is their most favorite time of the year. They love the music and the traveling and

being with relatives.

They love the aromas and the decorations and the singing and the Christmas dinner.

Kids love being out-of-school and opening presents, and it's a time filled

with emotion and for many people it's like the song says,

"The most wonderful time of the year." But, for other people

it's a difficult time of the year. It's a time that they feel particularly lonely.

You know, for those who have lost loved ones it's a really hard time,

because it's a time they're used to being together and they remember Christmases

from years gone by,

and it makes it particularly hard for them. But for New Testament Christians it

can be a very confusing time,

because they see signs that say, "Jesus is the reason for the season,"

but they know they can't find that in their Bibles. And they see plays talking

about the birth of Christ and they're not sure what's appropriate and what's not,

and they want to enjoy the holiday but they don't want to do anything that's not right.

And so it can be very disconcerting. Today we're going to deal with some of

these issues.

I want to talk about some misconceptions

about Christmas. We're going to discuss three of them.

First, misconceptions about the birth of Christ.

Second, misconceptions about the meaning of Christmas.

And then third misconceptions about the celebration of Christmas.

Alright, first let's talk about some misconceptions

about the birth up Jesus. Now there are actually a lot of these. Some of these

you're probably familiar with and perhaps some of these you're not.

But the story of Jesus' birth is usually told something like this:

It's about two thousand years ago on the evening of December 25th,

and Mary rides into Bethlehem on a donkey, urgently needing to deliver her baby.

But although it's an emergency all the innkeepers turn them away,

and so they deliver the baby Jesus in a stable.

Then the angel sing to the shepherds, and afterwards

three kings arrive on three camels and they worship the quiet peaceful

newborn baby. You know, the only problem with this story is

it's almost entirely wrong. You see the story of the birth of Jesus has been

told and retold so many times in plays and poetry and

books and movies that people have a very distorted view

of the true events. Of course, the only

accurate account of what happened is found in the Bible.

And so we want to examine some of the misconceptions

and see what the Bible actually has to say. And some of these

details are important, others are not so important,

but the point that I want us to get is that

all too often what people believe

is based not on what the Bible actually says

but on what they have always been told.

And so, to clarify what the Bible actually says,

what we need to do is look at the Bible. If you have a Bible and you'd like to follow along

go to Luke chapter 2. Alright here is the first misconception

about the birth of Jesus. Number one: the story says that

Mary road into Bethlehem on a donkey.

Well here's what the Bible actually says, Luke chapter 2

and verse 3. Let's read it. "So all went to be registered,

everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee,

out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem,

because he was of the house and lineage of David

to be registered with Mary his betrothed wife

who was with child." Now that's all it says.

I didn't read anything about a donkey. Now it's possible that she rode on a donkey,

but the Bible doesn't say that. It could have been a camel.

There are various possibilities of

what it could be but it's interesting what the Bible actually says

and what people think the Bible says. And sometimes,

if people would take the time to look, they'd be quite surprised.

Number two. Let's look at another.

Was Jesus born the same night that Mary arrived in Bethlehem?

Again, the Bible doesn't say that. This is part of the story that's traditionally told,

but in reality they might have arrived weeks earlier.

The Bible simply says, in Luke chapter 2 and verse 6, "So it was

that while they were there, the days were completed

for her to be delivered." That's all the Bible says,

which doesn't mesh well with the traditional story.

Here's the third one, number three. Is it really the case that a hotel

keeper, an innkeeper, told Mary and Joseph that there was no room for them

in the inn? Well the truth is the Bible doesn't even

mention an innkeeper. I know that almost all denominational Christmas plays

include one, but it's not in the Bible. In fact,

it's more likely that Mary and Joseph would have stayed with relatives, not in

some sort of hotel

or Bible times motel. Now, you might be thinking

well doesn't Luke chapter 2 and verse 7 say that there was no room for them

in the inn? Yes it does and we're going to say some more about that in a minute

in the next point. Number four, was Jesus born

in a stable? Friends, would you be surprised to learn

the Bible does not say that? You might say, "Well then where do people get that

idea?"

Here's what the Bible actually says and this is the only place in the Bible that

addresses this subject.

Luke chapter 2 and verse 7: "And she brought forth her firstborn Son,

and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him

in a manger because there was no room for them

in the inn." The Bible doesn't mention

a stable. It simply says that they laid him in a manger

because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now, the word in the original language that's translated as

inn is the word kat-al-oo-mah. The word means

a guest chamber. It can mean a a lodging place

or an inn. Many translators have chosen to translate

as inn and so we have a certain picture that is painted

in our minds. But this same Greek word appears

two other times in the Bible, once in Mark 14:14

and once in Luke 22 and verse 11.

But in both those times it is translated as

guest room and according to Bible archaeology experts

Jesus was probably born in the house of relatives

but probably somewhere outside the normal living quarters outside the house

in guest chambers. The Bible in basic

English says there was no room for them in the house.

Young's Literal Translation says there was not

"for them a place in the guest chamber."

And so what tradition has told us simply does not match what the Bible actually says.

Well, here's number five and again this is not a big deal but it goes to show

how people perpetuate myths about the Bible.

The song "Away in a Manger". The song says, "The Baby awakes

but little Lord Jesus no crying

He makes." Now I don't know what to say about that except

the Bible does not say it. It's a pretty song but

the baby might have been screaming at the top of his lungs. We simply don't

know. It's just something that we've inserted into the story.

Here's number six: Did three kings

riding camels actually come to

the birthplace of Jesus? Well, in actuality

the Bible doesn't say that any kings or camels

came to visit the baby Jesus at the time of His birth.

It does say that wise man came, but first it doesn't say

that there were three of them (we don't know how many). And secondly, the word for

wise men in the original languages is plural, so

we know that there were at least two but that's all that we know.

There's even tradition that gives the names of the wise men

but that's totally without biblical evidence. Well here we are

number seven: was Jesus born

on December 25th or was He born in the month of December at all?

You know, although it's not impossible it's is highly unlikely.

First the Bible doesn't tell us when Jesus was born.

Luke chapter 2 in verse 11 says, "For unto you is born this day in the city of

David a Savior,

which is Christ the Lord." But the Bible doesn't give a specific date.

In fact the biblical evidence seems to point to a time

other than December or January. The fact that the shepherds were in the field

would indicate that

it was probably not December. You know, December is

is cold in Judea. It's rainy and it would have been unlikely that the shepherds

would have been in the fields.

Also Jesus' parents were going to Bethlehem for the Roman census and

this is not the time of the year where they would normally take a census

because it was difficult to travel

the winter weather would cause icy roads and difficult conditions and

and it wasn't practical, and it would have been self-defeating.

So the question is: When was Jesus born?

Can we speculate about the time?

I think we have a clue in Luke chapter 1. Jesus was

6 months younger than His cousin John the Baptist

and so if we can determine when John was born then,

we can get an idea about the birth of Jesus.

Luke chapter 1 verse 5 says, "There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea,

a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia:

and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was

Elizabeth." Now, make note of that. Zachariah

is in the 8th course, the course of Abia

and so because the feast day he would serve on the 9th

week. So if you start with the first month

the Hebrew month of Nissan, which corresponds to our month of March almost exactly,

then he would serve right about May, maybe early May,

and he would serve for one week. Now verse 23:

"And it came to pass", and watch this carefully, "that, as soon as the days of

his ministration were accomplished,

he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth

conceived..." Now follow this, the course of the priest begins in the month March

the 8th course which would be the 9th week puts Zacharias serving

in May. As soon as he leaves from his serving, he goes home

and his wife conceives and she's carrying John the Baptist.

Jesus was conceived six months later from that,

which would put his conception in about November.

And then, Mary his mother carries the Christ child for

nine months. Now that would put his birth sometime around the month

of August and would explain, by the way,

why the shepherds were out in the field caring for

their sheep. It was still warm weather. In fact, I read in one source that

it said a probable time for travel, the more commonly accepted time for travel,

would be late September, the time of the

annual Feast of Tabernacles. And so the indicators would say that

it's more likely that Jesus was born in

September or maybe August not December

or January. And so, there's a lot of misconceptions surrounding

the birth of Jesus and tradition is very different from

what the Bible actually says. Alright secondly,

I want to discuss some misconceptions about the meaning

of Christmas. Of course, one of the greatest misconceptions about Christmas

is that it is a holy day. And for some people

it's one of two days in the year when they will actually set foot in a church building.

But the Bible doesn't attach any religious significance whatsoever to Christmas.

I saw a sign on a denominational church building near my house that said

"Joseph and Mary received the first Christmas present."

But you know, the fact is, Joseph and Mary had never heard of Christmas.

The word Christmas doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible.

and the concept did not arise until a long time after the Bible had been completed.

If you look back at history, what you find is that before Jesus came to this Earth,

there were people who were practicing mid-winter festivals.

And the Mesopotamians, for example, had a 12-day celebration

in which they gave gifts to one another and they had feasting and

friends would get together, and it had a connection to their pagan gods.

And these feasts and celebrations would honor these

pagan gods. Compton's Encyclopedia goes on to say that

other nationalities also did this. The Romans did it, the

Egyptians did it, the Chinese did it. And this was before the birth of Christ.

So what happens then is in 325 AD,