quick christmas quiz

a quick Christmas quiz:

1. Which of the four gospel authors (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) records the Christmas story of the Magi (the 'three wisemen') following the star to visit Jesus after his birth?

2. Which of the three remaining gospel authors records the Christmas story of the shepherds visiting the scene of Jesus birth?

3. Which of the two remaining gospel authors records the Christmas story that includes a great red dragon?

December 20, 2010 8:43 AM

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Steven J said...

1. Which of the four gospel authors (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John) records the Christmas story of the Magi (the 'three wisemen') following the star to visit Jesus after his birth?

That would be Matthew, although he doesn't specify that there were three of them.

2. Which of the three remaining gospel authors records the Christmas story of the shepherds visiting the scene of Jesus birth?

Luke.

3. Which of the two remaining gospel authors records the Christmas story that includes a great red dragon?

That would be John, assuming that Revelation and the gospel of John are in fact
by the same author.

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@Steven J

quiz grade: A

Yes. Revelation 12 is a Christmas story from a different vantage point. It tells the story of what Christmas looked like from the perspective of heaven.

(As you correctly point out, it's been traditionally held that the John author of Revelation is the same author as the gospel of John, although scholarly research suggests these two were penned by two different authors.)

@BOTS

quiz grade: D

You kind of missed the entire point of the quiz there, chief.

You are correct, the Bible omits mention of the number of wisemen. That particular detail is not reported.

But you are incorrect, in reporting that I am unaware of this detail, or that I have made assumptions.

It's not clear you even noticed that the question referred to "the Magi", followed by a secondary reference to 'three wisemen', in quotes and in parentheses. Perhaps you might consider that was included to clarify what was meant by 'the Magi' to those that might not have known.

You may not have noticed that the question did not say the Magi visited at the time of Jesus birth.

Really? The number of wisemen is the answer you came up with to that quiz. The number of wisemen is clearly not an important detail, so picturing them as three might be extra-biblical, but it's not unbiblical.

December 20, 2010 11:51 AM


Steven J said...

Ray, have I been misreading Spencer7593 all these months? As far as I can tell, his position is very similar to yours: the gospels might appear to contain superficial contradictions, but we can't prove this is the case. If he's being cynical in this question, I don't see it.

Your analogy with witnesses in court is worse than usual; it's not at all uncommon for witnesses to present accounts that cannot be harmonized: if one says he saw the defendant commit the robbery and another says the defendant was with her on the other side of town all day, those aren't complementary accounts. At least one is either mistaken or lying. Quite a bit of research on the unreliability and liability of eyewitness testimony exists.

Now, it's not hard at all to harmonize the divergent details that Spencer7593 listed (I'm assuming that the dragon was intended as a figure of speech, to be sure). If you work at it, you can harmonize Luke's explanation for how Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem (Mary and Joseph were living in Nazareth, but went to Bethlehem for a census) with Matthew's (where they seem to have been living in Bethlehem before Mary became pregnant, and to have gone to Nazareth only after the sojourn in Egypt).

You can even, with appropriately convoluted assumptions about what fills in the gaps of history or the proper translation of the text, make Jesus' birth before the death of Herod (4 BC) fit in with the mention of the census under Quirinius (6 AD): the most plausible, in my opinion, is to translate Luke to refer to Jesus being born during a census that happened before Quirinius' census (which was famous for the riots and protests that attended the attempt to impose it) rather than referring to Jesus being born during the first census under Quirinius.

But all this shows is that if you put enough work into it, you can rationalize away any contradiction; it doesn't show that the accounts actually are inerrant and complementary rather than contradictory.

December 22, 2010 10:16 AM

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stranger.strange.land said...

I was more than just a little bit baffled when I saw this post answering Spencer7593's Christmas quiz.

First, let me say that the quiz was a good one, Rev.12 is not a scripture that usually comes to mind when we think of the christmas story, but Spencer is right. Revelation 12 is a "snapshot" of the history of the church from the time of Christ's birth-life-ascension to heaven.

What baffled me even more is that whoever wrote the post apparently didn't realize that Spencer is a Christian, and has been a consistent commenter here for quite a while. A quick look at his blog shows that he likes to answer our skeptic friends here who address apparent contradictions in the Bible. Spencer is just the opposite of that which the writer of this post seems to think he is.

Hopefully by now (1:15pm p.s.t.)the post writer has realized his mistake and made things right with Spencer. I really feel bad for him.

@Spencer7593
It was a good quiz. Juan nailed the solution and even posted the relevant scriptures. I hope that you are not too discouraged.

Happy Advent to all.

Craig B

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@Juan

Quiz grade: A

You are exactly right. Revelation 12 is the Christmas story, but told from a different perspective. It gives an account of what that first Christmas looked like, from the vantage point of heaven.

At first blush, it might seem that Revelation 12 doesn't have anything to do with Christmas (what with no reference to 'shepherds tending their flocks by night', and no 'we three kings from orient are'.

As different as the Matthew and Luke accounts are, Revelation 12 is yet another account of that first Christmas.

Rather than a contradiction, however, all three of these accounts give details about the exact same momentous event.

Merry Christmas, Juan!


@Craig

Thank you for the kind words.

I think Ray illustrates a very important point: the Bible is complete and consistent, despite claims to the contrary.

Many opponents of the Bible are quick to point to discrepancies they observe, and declare them to be "contradictions".

They are opposed to considering the idea that they have injected their own meaning into the symbols, and that the contradiction they observe is an illusion of their own invention.

My quiz was intended to point out that there are more than two "Christmas" accounts in the Bible. Many of us are familiar with the account from Luke ('shepherds tending their flocks by night') and the account from Matthew ('we three kings of orient are ... following a star ...').

A much less familiar Christmas story is Revelation 12. (Actually, start with the last verse of Chapter 11).

The carolers sing "Silent Night ... all is calm " Really? Was it really a "silent night"?

According to Revelation 12, in heaven, it was a night of war, between Michael and his angels and the great red dragon (Satan), and Satan was "thrown down" to earth.

Satan, the "great red dragon", is just as much a central figure in the Christmas story as the shepherds and the wisemen.

Merry Christmas, Craig!

December 23, 2010 9:31 AM


@Jason B

Thank you.

I think Ray is using my 'Quick Christmas Quiz' to illustrate a very important point. It's one that I would like to be able to illustrate as effectively as he does.

Do be assured, I am not offended by Ray's words, and I hold no animosity towards him. I'm sure he doesn't hold any towards me.

Ray is free to quote anything and everything that I post as comments to his blog, and use them however he wishes.

(I think this is the first time that Ray has ever quoted me in one of his posts.)

It's interesting to note the disparity in responses to that quiz. Yours, by far, was the most amusing, made me laugh... Glenn Campbell... like a Rhinestone Cowboy...)

Merry Christmas, to you and yours, Jason B! Have a safe and joy filled holiday!

December 23, 2010 9:58 AM