NO...I have not abandoned my blog! I had gotten so bogged down with everything that I've been doing for the last 4 months that I pretty much crashed...not a joy filled experience. So I've taken the last couple of weeks to bite off on piece at a time in an effort to get back on track. The blog is one of the last pieces! And because I like to finish what I start, I'm post one last Christmas post before I convert my blog back to it's original format.
Here is a slide show with a few photos of our traditions like the annual ornament for the kids, Christmas eve jammies, Christmas morning, etc. I've included photos of the Santa Claus collection.
For those who have asked, Dave, the official church and family counter and accountant, has conducted an accurate census of the Santas. The official count....drum roll please...177! And I packed them away in record time...less than 4 hours! That's only because I took photos of the contents of every tub and box as I unpacked them and taped them to the lids!
Another item to complete in the promised Christmas posts is the story of My "Thing" about the Three Wise Men. I want to preface this by saying that I am not legalistic!!! However, we all have things that bug us, and for me it's the Wise Men....they WERE NOT there in on the night Jesus was born! So...in my house, they do not appear to be there on ornaments, cards I send, "Nativity Scenes" etc. I was aware at a very young age (thanks to my Jewish Grandmother who was a Jehovah's Witness...another story...) that the Biblical account makes it pretty clear that the Wise Men showed up a couple of years later. When I began to attend church again as an adult, I was attending a church whose members, I thought, were pretty "up" on their Biblical knowledge. Well one Christmas time, we were decorating the church sanctuary, and one of the "pillars" of the church had made silhouettes of the Three Kings approaching the life size Nativity scene we had set up behind the pulpit. I complemented her artwork, and said something like about the tradition of it even though they really weren't there the night Jesus was born. She said, "They weren't!?!" I was quite surprised to find out how few people there had read the Biblical account of Jesus closely enough to see that there is no mention of the Three Kings/Wise Men being in the stable on the night of Jesus birth.
SO....from then on, the Three Kings that came included in the Nativity set I had were set out in another room to make that point that THEY WEREN'T THERE! When we moved into our new house, I couldn't find a good place to put them, so I put them on top of the TV in the TV cabinet. I guess I didn't watch much TV in the living room at that time, because I forgot all about them found them in March! Now, my new set doesn't include the wise men, so it's not a problem for me anymore.
As I said, everyone has their "thing" and that's mine!
I want to wish all of you a Happy and Healthy New Year. Someone recently called it Divine 09 because we need to go into this year with an optimistic attitude. I agree. I also hope that all of the hardships turn into the blessing of bringing believers closer to God, and non-believers to embrace God. So have a JOY-FILLED DIVINE 09!!!
Hello world!
2 years ago
2 comments:
Ok now I am just curious, because I have actual never heard that about the 3 wise men before. Very interesting indeed.
You said that "the Biblical account makes it pretty clear that the Wise Men showed up a couple of years later". Where does it make that clear? Because I must have missed it.
I am not saying you are wrong or anthing, don't think I have that tone about me, I am 100% interested in learning more about it. I would love to hear more about it.
Hi Emma and Mommy!
Don't worry, I didn't take it the wrong way. I want to say that this is not that big of a deal to me, it's just one of those little hang-ups that some people have. I'm not on a crusade to prove to the world that the Wisemen, Kings, or Magi, whichever you want to call them, were there that night.
As for the Biblical account. I want to say that this has been taught to me from several reliable sources, and from more than one denomination of Christian belief. Read Luke 2:1-20, which is the most detailed account of the birth of Jesus. The Magi are not mentioned at all. Now read Matthew 2:1-18. I'm reading the NIV, so the exact words may be different in another translation, but the intent is the same. Notice that if starts out "AFTER Jesus was born..." and then the Magi go first to Jerusalem and ask "where is the one who HAS been born king of the Jews?" Herod hears about it, gets upset, calls the chief priests and teachers of the law to ask them what the prophesy says about the birth of a messiah. They tell him he's supposed to be born in Bethlehem. So then Herod calls for the Magi, and sends them off to Bethlehem, which is not a 5 minute walk from Jerusalem. So since the Bible says this all happens AFTER the birth of Jesus, and the Magi are not mentioned in the gospel of Luke, it seems fairly safe to say the Magi weren't there with the shepherds and angels. It also says in verse 11 that the Magi arrived at a "house" not a stable.
As far as the possibility that a couple of years have already passed, that comes from Matthew 2:13-17. Herod realizes that he has been duped by the Magi, who were supposed to return to tell him where the child was. He then sends out an order to kill all the boys in Bethlehem 2 years and younger, which would lead you to believe the baby was born anytime within the last 2 years.
And if you want to get really particular about it, the Bible never says how many of the Magi there were, obviously the plural indicates more than one, but it could have been any number. The tradition of 3 comes from the 3 gifts that were presented, gold, incense, and myrrh.
Those are all details that are easy to let slip by. But the more I learn about the Bible, them more I realize that it is in the details that the beauty and harmony of the scriptures come to life.
The bottom line is that whether or not the Magi were there, or whether you want to believe they were there or not, well, I don't think it changes the important fact: Jesus was born, He is the son of God, and He is our Savior. I'm sure that as Christians that's something we all agree on!!!!
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