BUT we have the New Testament, the sequel of the Old, in which
Christians find the fulfillment of prophecies made by inspired Jews.
The New Testament vouches for the truth, the inspiration, of the Old,
and if the old is false, the New cannot be true.
In the New Testament we find all that we know about the life and
teachings of Jesus Christ.
It is claimed that the writers were divinely inspired, and that all they
wrote is true.
Let us see if these writers agree.
Certainly there should be no difference about the birth of Christ.
From the Christian's point of view, nothing could have been of greater
importance than that event.
Matthew says: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the
days of Herod the King, behold there came wise men from the east to
Jerusalem.
"Saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his
star in the east and are come to worship him."
Matthew does not tell us who these wise men were, from what country they
came, to what race they belonged. He did not even know their names.
We are also informed that when Herod heard these things he was troubled
and all Jerusalem with him; that he gathered the chief priests and asked
of them where Christ should be born and they told him that he was to be
born in Bethlehem.
Then Herod called the wise men and asked them when the star appeared,
and told them to go to Bethlehem and report to him.
When they left Herod, the star again appeared and went before them until
it stood over the place where the child was.
When they came to the child they worshiped him,--gave him gifts, and
being warned by God in a dream, they went back to their own country
without calling on Herod.
Then the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to
take Mary and the child into Egypt for fear of Herod.
So Joseph took Mary and the child to Egypt and remained there until the
death of Herod.
Then Herod, finding that he was mocked by the wise men, "sent forth
and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts
thereof from two years old and under."
After the death of Herod an angel again appeared in a dream to Joseph
and told him to take mother and child and go back to Palestine.
So he went back and dwelt in Nazareth.
Is this story true? Must we believe in the star and the wise men? Who
were these wise men? From what country did they come? What interest had
they in the birth of the King of the Jews? What became of them and their
star?
Of course I know that the Holy Catholic Church has in her keeping the
three skulls that belonged to these wise men, but I do not know where
the church obtained these relics, nor exactly how their genuineness has
been established.
Must we believe that Herod murdered the babes of Bethlehem?
Is it not wonderful that the enemies of Herod did not charge him with
this horror? Is it not marvelous that Mark and Luke and John forgot to
mention this most heartless of massacres?
Luke also gives an account of the birth of Christ. He says that there
went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be
taxed; that this was when Cyrenius was governor of Syria; that in
accordance with this decree, Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to be
taxed; that at that place Christ was born and laid in a manger. He also
says that shepherds, in the neighborhood, were told of the birth by
an angel, with whom was a multitude of the heavenly host; that these
shepherds visited Mary and the child, and told others what they had seen
and heard.
He tells us that after eight days the child was named, Jesus; that forty
days after his birth he was taken by Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem,
and that after they had performed all things according to the law they
returned to Nazareth. Luke also says that the child grew and waxed
strong in spirit, and that his parents went every year to Jerusalem.
Do the accounts in Matthew and Luke agree? Can both accounts be true?
Luke never heard of the star, and Matthew knew nothing of the heavenly
host. Luke never heard of the wise men, nor Matthew of the shepherds.
Luke knew nothing of the hatred of Herod, the murder of the babes or
the flight into Egypt. According to Matthew, Joseph, warned by an angel,
took Mary and the child and fled into Egypt. According to Luke they all
went to Jerusalem, and from there back to Nazareth.
Both of these accounts cannot be true. Will some Christian scholar tell
us which to believe?
When was Christ born?
Luke says that it took place when Cyrenius was governor. Here is another
mistake. Cyrenius was not appointed governor until after the death of
Herod, and the taxing could not have taken place until ten years after
the alleged birth of Christ.
According to Luke, Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, and for the
purpose of getting them to Bethlehem, so that the child could be born
in the right place, the taxing under Cyrenius was used, but the writer,
being "inspired" made a mistake of about ten years as to the time of the
taxing and of the birth.
Matthew says nothing about the date of the birth, except that he was
born when Herod was king. It is now known that Herod had been dead ten
years before the taxing under Cyrenius. So, if Luke tells the truth,
Joseph, being warned by an angel, fled from the hatred of Herod ten
years after Herod was dead. If Matthew and Luke are both right Christ
was taken to Egypt ten years before he was born, and Herod killed the
babes ten years after he was dead.
Will some Christian scholar have the goodness to harmonize these
"inspired" accounts?
There is another thing.
Matthew and Luke both try to show that Christ was of the blood of David,
that he was a descendant of that virtuous king.
As both of these writers were inspired and as both received their
information from God, they ought to agree.
According to Matthew there was between David and Jesus twenty-seven
generations, and he gives all the names.
According to Luke there were between David and Jesus forty-two
generations, and he gives all the names.
In these genealogies--both inspired--there is a difference between David
and Jesus, a difference of some fourteen or fifteen generations.
Besides, the names of all the ancestors are different, with two
exceptions.
Matthew says that Joseph's father was Jacob. Luke says that Heli was
Joseph's father.
Both of these genealogies cannot be true, and the probability is that
both are false.
There is not in all the pulpits ingenuity enough to harmonize these
ignorant and stupid contradictions.
There are many curious mistakes in the words attributed to Christ.
We are told in Matthew, chapter xxiii, verse 35, that Christ said:
"That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth
from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of
Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar."
It is certain that these words were not spoken by Christ. He could not
by any possibility have known that the blood of Zacharias had been shed.
As a matter of fact, Zacharias was killed by the Jews, during the seige
of Jerusalem by Titus, and this seige took place seventy-one years after
the birth of Christ, thirty-eight years after he was dead.
There is still another mistake.