Posted on 12/22/2008 10:15:06 AM PST by NYer
Take the "Christmas Quiz" at Christian History. Ten questions, among them:
Apart from a famously repetitive carol, what do the "twelve days of Christmas" refer to?
Which of the following best describes the origin of the candy cane?
When did Christians first start celebrating Christmas on December 25?
In 614, Persian invaders sacked Jerusalem. Amidst the destruction they wreaked, however, they left the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem intact. Why?
It's multiple choice, and you get your score at the end. No cheating--that'd be referring to Wikipedia.
OK, trick question. In that case it doesn't say three gifts either. It only says gifts, and their contents. If there were 45 wise men and they each left 2 gifts, that would make 90 gifts. That might be enough to build a church with.
Merry Christmas.
No, Matthew doesn’t say that three wise men visited Jesus. Matthew says that wise men visited him and brought three gifts. Many people assume that there were three wise, one for each gift, but the Bible doesn’t say that there were three wise men. My dad is a Lutheran pastor, and, while he was in seminary, he learned that there were 15-18 wise men.
OK, where does it say "three gifts"? It only mentions some substances. It there were 18 wise men and each brought 5 gifts, that would make 90 gifts. Now that is what I call a Christmas!
It doesn’t say the words “three gifts.” The second chapter of Matthew states, “Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. “ You’re correct. Each of the 15-18 wise men might have given one container of gold, frankincense, or myrrh. If that happened, Jesus would have received 15-18 gifts.
That is a possibility--one gift per person. But it does not say one gift per person. Each person could have given many gifts or none at all. For example, wise man #1 could have give two gifts of gold. Would the gifts have been in the form of bouillon or rings or bracelets? It does not say. So take your pick.
But to limit each person to only one gift is reading specifics into the text that are not there. It does not say how many gifts each gave.
my results exactly. Who says December 25th wasn’t the day? All the ancient churches celebrate around that date. Why are there no records of people complaining that the Nativity feast day was moved?
Merry Christmas!
Going to have the Midnight Mass Marathon this evening . . . we do a "pre game show" while folks who haven't been since last year are trying to find seats. We'll play and sing traditional motets and carols for 1/2 hour before the service. You don't realize how long 1/2 hour is until you have to sing!
Both my husband and I play in the handbell choir AND sing in the Traditional Choir. There are two other handbell ringers who sing, too. So there's a lot of scampering back and forth as the singers run to take their places at the handbell table, and vice versa. Somehow we will survive, we always manage to.
1/2 hour? Before Midnight, we're singing for an hour - including the Poulenc "Gloria" (God, help us. St. Cecilia, pray for us). And then some of us are singing the 5 pm with the brass quintet and then 10 am tomorrow. Being in the choir at the Mother Ship is a lot of work. I'm not in the bell scholette, but they're joining us, too.
Tomorrow - two martinis and bed.
We aspire to more and better music . . . but we gotta get more people!!!!!!!
6... I got lucky!
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