The Genealogy of Jesus.
"Matthew (1 : 17) says, 'So all the generations from Abraham to David
are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon
are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon
unto Christ are fourteen generations.'
"Luke (3 : 23-38) relates Christ's genealogy, and gives forty-three
generations between David and Christ, these two persons being
included. Here then in the genealogy of the same person is an
utterly irreconcilable discrepancy of fifteen generations. This
is truly a bad beginning. Although these two accounts may both be
false they cannot possibly both be true. If 'all the generations,'
from David to Jesus, were only 'twenty-eight,' as given by Matthew,
there could not possibly have been at the same time, 'forty-three'
of them as given by Luke. The case becomes much worse, however, when
we discover that, with the exception of Jesus, Joseph, and David,
these two authors give entirely different sets of men. Since it is
utterly impossible for the same individual to have descended through
both of these lines of ancestors, it is equally impossible for both
of these accounts to be true." (J. R. Kelso's "Bible Analyzed.")
"On the first glance these genealogies, as given by Matthew and
Luke, are so evidently different that it has been the ordinary, if
not invariable practice of Christian harmonists and commentators to
represent the former Evangelist as recording the descent of Joseph,
while the latter Evangelist is said to have given the pedigree of
Mary. We will say nothing of the plausibility of this explanation,
which acknowledges the genealogies to be wholly different, and supposes
they belong to two persons. Our questions must rather effect the
truthfulness of this mode of explaining away the difficulty. Let the
reader bear in mind how Matthew states that 'Jacob begat Joseph the
husband of Mary,' and how Luke's words are 'Joseph which was the son
of Heli,' and then let the reader say whether it is truthful to allege
that these different genealogies belong to different individuals. Is
it not plain that each of them professes to trace the lineal descent
of one and the same man, Joseph? If we are still to be told that when
Matthew professes to give the descent of Joseph, he is to be understood
as giving the descent of Mary, then we simply rejoin that such an
explanation is nothing more nor less than an abandonment of the idea
of inspirational infallibility; for it represents the Bible as saying
one thing and meaning another." (McNaught, "Doctrine of Inspiration.")
When was Jesus Born?
As to the time when Jesus was born, we have no positive
information. Matthew says he was born in Herod's time, and that Herod
caused all the little children to be killed on account of him. Luke
says Jesus was born in the time of Cyrenius, when Augustus Cæsar gave
orders that all the people should be taxed. Now, Cyrenius succeeded
Archelaus, who reigned ten years after the death of Herod. Here is a
contradiction that cannot be explained away. The exact day of Herod's
death can be almost arrived at, as shown by Josephus, who says that
on the night preceding the death of Herod there was an eclipse of
the moon. In calculating back to the time of this eclipse, it is
found to have occurred on the fourth of March, four years before
Christ; another perplexing discrepancy. Matthew says he was born
in the days of Herod, and John says it was in the days of Cyrenius,
fourteen years afterward. Again, Mark and Luke say Jesus began to be
thirty years of age in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius,
the very day of whose accession is known; and by counting back, we
find that Jesus must have been born four years before the Christian
era, which disagrees entirely with the statement of Matthew.
Professor John Fiske remarks that while the Jesus of the dogma is
the best known, the Jesus of history is the least known of all the
eminent names in history. "Persons who had given much attention to
the subject affirmed that there were not less than one hundred and
thirty-two different opinions as to the year in which the Messiah
appeared." ("Conflict Between Religion and Science," p. 184.)
Dr. Adam Clarke, on observations of Luke 2 : 8, in his Commentary says:
"The nativity of Jesus in December should be given up. The Egyptians
placed it in January; Wagenseil in February; Bochart in March. Some
mentioned by Clemens Alexandrine in April; others in May. Epiphanius
speaks of some who placed it in June, and others supposed it to have
been in July. Wagenseil, who was not sure of February, fixed it as
probably in August; Lightfoot on the fifteenth of September. But the
Latin church [Catholic], supreme in power and infallible in judgment,
placed it on the twenty-fifth of December, the very day on which the
ancient Romans celebrated the feast of their goddess, Bruma. Pope
Julius I. (in the fourth century) made the first alteration, and
it appears to have been done for this reason." The Christians often
aim to make an argument that the chronology of the Christian era is
established by the confirmation that is given by the years being
numbered from the supposed birth of Jesus, but it is no proof at
all. The idea of counting the years from the advent of Jesus was not
thought of for several centuries after the time when the vague legends
said he was supposed to have lived. The plan of numbering the years
from that apocryphal event was first invented by a monk, Dionysius
Exiguus, about 530 after Christ. It was introduced into Italy not
long afterward, and was propagated by Bede, who died in 735. It was
ordered to be used by the bishops in the Council of Chalcedon in 816,
but it was not generally employed for several centuries afterward. It
was not legalized until the year 1000. Charles III. of Germany was the
first sovereign who added "In the year of our Lord" to his reign, in
879. (See Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, and Encyclopedia of Chronology.)
Now, in recapitulation, let us see how much, by the common sense
method of interpreting the gospels, we have been forced to reject
as incredible.
First, we have seen that Joseph's dream concerning the immaculate
conception was, after all, only a dream, and that wonderful dreams are
not uncommon; Samson's mother having had one which is so identical
with Joseph's, that we are persuaded that the dream of the latter
is but a copy of the dream of the former; that almost all men of
distinction in ancient times were reported to have had wonderful
prodigies attending their conception and birth,--and that there is no
evidence in the gospels of the resurrection of Jesus. Paul saw him in
a vision, that is, in his mind's eye, but does not claim to have seen
him in the flesh. And of the ascension, it is a self-evident fiction.
The miracles are not only incredible from their being incompatible with
and contrary to human experience, but the manner in which they are
related proves that they never were performed. (See "Miracles.") And
concerning the moral teachings of Jesus we find great imperfection. He
did not come to save all men, but only the lost sheep of the house of
Israel; he taught that the end of the world was nigh at hand, when a
great physical revolution should usher in the kingdom of heaven, but
it did not come. We find also that Jesus did not respect the rights
of property; that he despised this world; that he condemned the rich
because they were rich, and made great promises to the poor because
they were poor; that he professed to pardon sin, and on one occasion
pardoned a person's sins for washing his feet; that he exhibited an
imperfect sense of justice in a great many instances; and, lastly,
we find that there is no history of him excepting the gospels, and in
these there is no unquestionable record of the time when or the place
where he was born. We are forced to conclude that if ever there was
such a person as Jesus of Nazareth, we have no trustworthy sources
of positive knowledge concerning him.
Christianity Rests Upon a Dream.
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother
Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found
to be with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a
just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to
put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph
thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." (Mat. 1 : 18-20.)
"Before they came together, she was found to be with child of the
Holy Ghost."