Transcript The Myth’s Of Christmas

The Myths Of Christmas
The Virgin Birth
One Of The Greatest Challenges
• Perhaps the most attacked account in the
Bible is the story of the virgin birth of Jesus.
• Liberal critics attack this story vehemently
because it demands supernatural intervention
from God.
• Can we adequately defend the virgin birth
narrative?
Critic Attack #1
• It is scientifically impossible for a virgin
birth to take place:
• NOT TRUE! Modern science has proven since
1978 that with proper intervention a woman
can become pregnant without having intimate
relations with a man.
• The Holy Spirit WAS THAT INTERVENTION
Holy Spirit Intervention
• Matthew 1:18-20 -- This is how the birth of Jesus
Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged
to be married to Joseph, but before they came
together, she was found to be with child through
the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband
was a righteous man and did not want to expose
her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce
her quietly. 20But after he had considered this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid
to take Mary home as your wife, because what is
conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit Intervention
• Luke 1:30ff-- 30But the angel said to her, "Do
not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with
God. 31You will be with child and give birth to
a son…34"How will this be," Mary asked the
angel, "since I am a virgin?"
• 35The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most
High will overshadow you. So the holy one to
be born will be called the Son of God.
Defending Miracles
• Can we with a good conscience defend
miracles?
• As miracles go, the conception of Jesus
would be a “small” one for God – the
author of life.
• Should we be “enlightened” enough to no
longer believe in miracles?
Challenge From Liberal Critics
• Think carefully about the miracles recorded in
the Bible:
• They were usually seen by large numbers of
people, often those who were actually
hostile toward Jesus.
• They were usually irrefutable: men born
blind suddenly able to see. Men born lame
suddenly able to walk.
Science Versus Faith
• Can there be a clear winner?
• Science depends on theories and evidence
to support or refute those theories. Science
is notably weak in proving or disproving
miracles.
• Faith depends upon belief in eyewitness
testimony and the inspiration of the word
of God. We believe the eyewitnesses were
accurate and truthful. Only fools believe in
“BLIND FAITH”.
Critic Attack #2
• The whole “virgin” story is the result of a
translation error.
• Completely untrue. Let’s look at the evidence.
• Verse in question is Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore
the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin
will be with child and will give birth to a son,
and will call him Immanuel.”
Virgin? Or Young Woman?
• The Hebrew: ALMAH
• Critics claim: ALMAH should be translated as
“young woman” and not VIRGIN. Word for
virgin is BETHULAH.
• Critics claim: LXX wrongly translated ALMAH
as VIRGIN and Matthew then borrowed that
verse to try and give added credibility to the
“Son of God” aspect of Jesus.
What is the LXX?
• A group of Hebrew scholars 300 years before
Christ translated the Hebrew scriptures into
Greek.
• They were the reportedly the brightest
scholars of their day, during a time when
Hebrew was still a spoken language.
• Oh – and there were 70 of them (hence the
LXX designation).
Answering the Critics
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Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew lexicon:
-- virgin, young woman of marriageable age
maid or newly married .
There is no instance where it can be proved that
this word designates a young woman who is not a
virgin.
• Used seven times in Old Testament and each time
can indicate a young woman who is also a virgin.
The Bible’s Use of Almah
• Genesis 24:43 – most certainly “virgin” because
Abraham’s servant was getting a wife for Isaac.
• Exodus 2:8 – most certainly “virgin” since it is the
baby Moses’ sister, a young girl.
• Psalm 68:25 – uncertain: “maidens playing
tambourines”
• Proverbs 30:19 – most likely “virgin” discussing the
amazement of a man with a virgin
• Song of Solomon 1:3 -- probably virgin, as those
who secretly love Solomon
• Song of Solomon 6:8 – most certainly “virgins” as
contrasted with “queens” and “concubines”
• Isaiah 7:14 – uncertain: either “young woman” or “virgin”.
Interesting construct has the article “the” – so that it is
“the virgin will conceive” and not “a young woman”.
• With none of these verses can it be assumed that a virgin
is not being considered.
• Unfounded assumptions and their easy answers:
– Matthew was mislead by the translational error
and while searching for prophesies he could
plug into his gospel fell for this one.
– Answer: Luke also includes the virgin birth and
said that he “carefully investigated everything
from the beginning” before recording what he
wrote (Luke 1:3).
– Answer: We believe in the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit with all Bible writers. Matthew
recorded what the Holy Spirit told him to record
and nothing else. The same is true of Luke.
Critic Attack #3
• The idea of virgin birth was borrowed from
pagan myths
• A brief overview of some of these myths:
– Zagreus a.k.a. Dionysus a.k.a. Bacchus – one
version of many states that Zeus gave his heart,
torn to bits, to the mortal Semele to drink.
When she drank she became pregnant and gave
birth to Dionysus. A more prevalent myth is that
Semele was killed by lightning bolts from Zeus
• While pregnant with Dionysus. Zeus saved the baby
by gestating him in his thigh. He then gives the baby
to some nymphs to be raised.
• Danae – the daughter of Acrisius was shut up by her
father in a bronze room to keep her from becoming
pregnant. Zeus desired her and came to her through
the roof in the form of a shower of gold that fell into
her lap and made her pregnant. She gave birth to
Perseus.
• Adonis – there is much confusion in early mythology
over his parentage, but among the more prevalent
are that he is the son of Myrrha (Smyrna) who
deceitfully committed incest with her father Theias,
king of Assyria. He tried to kill her when he
discovered her deception, but the gods turned her
into a Myrrh tree. Theias struck the tree with an
arrow and the tree opened up and gave birth to
Adonis. Another version has Aphrodite involved in
the incest plot, and later in changing Myrrha into a
tree. Another version has a wild boar open the tree
and later a wild boar killing Adonis.
How Many Of These Myths?
• Wikipedia (as reliable as a cell phone service) lists
20 of these virgin birth myths.
• Most are equally as bizarre and convoluted.
• Compare the simple, unadorned, unchanged
version of the virgin conception of Mary and ask:
Did this account originate in any of the convoluted
myths of that era?
• Additionally we must remember Christianity
began with the Jews and only later spread to the
Greeks.
• The Jews would NOT have adopted a mythological
story from the Greeks they hated to give credence
to their expected Messiah. Not even the Jewish
apostles would do something like that.
• Such is an outrageous claim concerning Jewish
men and women of that age.
Critic Attack #4
• No one except two late date synoptic gospel
writers who borrowed from one another even
mention the virgin birth.
• Not so fast, there. Possible other indications of
virgin birth:
– It is possible Jesus alluded to his own virgin
birth (though cryptically) in two interesting
passages.
• John 2:4 – And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what
does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet
come." (Not “dear woman” as the NIV)
• John 19:26 -- When Jesus then saw His mother,
and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby,
He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your
son!"
• Why, on the occasion of his first miracle and at his
crucifixion, does Jesus refer to his mother as
“woman”. Unless is a reference to Genesis 3:15, “I
will put enmity between you and the woman…”.
• Possible references to the virgin birth from Paul:
– Galatians 4:4 -- But when the fullness of the
time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a
woman, born under the Law….
• The word for “born” is “γίνομαι” which literally
means “to be made” (as the KJV has it).
• The usual Greek form for being born is not used
here. Paul seems to be saying here that God
“made Jesus of a woman” – speaking of the virgin
conception. He does the same thing in Romans
1:3.
So What?
• What if Matthew and Luke ARE the only two
sources of the story?
• Peter, Paul, John, Mark, James and Jude were all
contemporaries, any one of which could have
refuted the story if it was in error, yet no one did.
• In fact, all early documents seem to simply accept
the story as true.
• Arguing from silence is a double-edged sword. Just
because no one else mentions it does not mean
they didn’t believe it.
Early Christian Records
Defend the Virgin Birth
• Apostles Creed – written fourth century – “I
believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of
heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only
Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy
Ghost, born of the virgin Mary….
• Nicene Creed – written 325 A.D. – “…Who, for us
men and for our salvation, came down from
heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of
the virgin Mary, and was made man; …”
• Concluding thoughts:
– Bible critics abound
– They use pea shooters to intimidate the
biblically illiterate
– We must be ready with good Bible answers to
challenge their attacks
– The Bible can be defended against ANY attack.
– Christianity will survive ANY criticism.
– Let’s always be ready to give an answer for the
hope that is within us.