Why is "The Nativity Scene" Inaccurate?

Question

The Nativity Scene displayed on yards (and many other places) all over the world during the Christmas Season is inaccurate, do you know why?

Answer 1

because the wise men didnt see Jesus until He was about 2.

Answer 2

Paartly because the "wooden creche" generally associated with the Nativity scene was probably never there. In Bethlehem, they would more likely have kept the animals in a cave or impression in the hillside, rather than waste the hard to find wood on a shelter for them. The manger was also probably made of stone.

Answer 3

Because all those folks weren't at the birth at the same time? The wise men came on a different day from the shepherds and the angels? Because Jesus wasn't white? Because there was no snow in Bethlehem? Because there's no dirt or blood or afterbirth around?



There are many answers to that question, I'm not sure which one you're looking for.

Answer 4

1. Because every year people claim 3 wise men seen Jesus in a stable. The Bible nowhere states "3 wise men" or "that the wise men visited Jesus in a stable". Read for yourself: (Matt.2:11).

2. It doesn't say to celebrate his birth.

Eccl.7:1 = "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.

3. His birth wasn't in the Winter or at Christmas Time.

Answer 5

Do you mean inaccurate as in illegal? (Some cities in the U.S. won't put them up because of the conflict between Church and State).



Do you mean the assorted animals and people often associated with the Nativity Scene? Then, yes, it probably is inaccurate. Shepherds probably weren't there as the manger in which Christ was born was "in town." There were animals there, but probably not camels. Maybe cows and goats and domestic animals like that. Is this what you mean?

Answer 6

Casper, Melchior and Balthasar the three wise men are inventions of the medieval writer, Bede. He derived them from a manuscript that only dates back to 600 years after Christ. The Bible only says that Jesus was visited by Magi. It does not specify the sex or number of Magi.

Answer 7

i didn't know anything was wrong with it

Answer 8

The Nativity of Jesus, or simply the Nativity, is the story of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.



For Christians, the authoritative accounts are those given in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke that form part of the New Testament of the Bible. More elaborate accounts of the events relating to the birth of Jesus have also been preserved, but have not been included in the Christian canon of the Bible. The Gospel of Mark, believed by most critics to be the earliest of the canonical gospels, is silent on the nativity.[1]



The birth narratives of Matthew and Luke relate that Jesus of Nazareth was the child of Mary, who at the time of his conception was betrothed as the wife of Joseph of the House of David. His conception was miraculous because he was conceived to her by the power of the Holy Spirit, (the divine presence of God) rather than by Joseph, who was to act as his "earthly father." The birth of Jesus was announced by angels to a group of shepherds and by the presence of a new star to a group of wise men.[2] The gospels present the birth of Jesus as the fulfilment of prophecies made by the Prophets of Israel.



The remembrance, representation and re-enactment of the Nativity scene are central to the Christian celebration of Christmas, the name "Christmas" for the festival signifying the Christian belief that Jesus of Nazareth is the "Christ" or Messiah promised in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the Catholic Church, and among other Christian groups, the main religious celebration of Christmas is the Church service at midnight ("Heilige Nacht", "Midnight Mass") or in the morning of "Christmas Day", which is always kept on the 25 December. During the forty days leading up to Christmas, the Eastern Orthodox Church practices the Nativity Fast, while four Sundays before Christmas, the majority of Christian congregations (including the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, many Mainline churches, and Baptists) begin observing the liturgical season of Advent – both are times of spiritual cleansing, recollection and renewal, in order to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas.



Many modern scholars consider that the two Gospel accounts present two different and conflicting narratives, and view both stories as "pious fictions".[3] E. P. Sanders describes them as "the clearest cases of invention in the Gospels

The Gospel of Luke states that Mary learned from the angel Gabriel that the Holy Spirit would cause her to be with child. Mary pointed out that she was a virgin and the angel responded that "nothing will be impossible with God". "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word," Mary responded (Luke 1:31-38).



At the time that Mary was due to give birth, she and her husband Joseph traveled from their home in Nazareth about 150 kilometres (90 miles) south to Joseph's ancestral home, Bethlehem, in order to register in a census ordered by Emperor Augustus, the Census of Quirinius. Having found no place for themselves in the inn, they lodged in a room where animals were kept. There Mary gave birth to Jesus (Luke 2:1-7).



An angel of the Lord visited the shepherds that were guarding their flocks in fields nearby and brought them the "good news of great joy" that "to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord". The angel told them they would find, "a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." A "heavenly host" joined the angel and said, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!" (Luke 2:10-14, NRSV). The King James Version (1611) reads, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." [5] The shepherds hurried to the manger in Bethlehem where they found Mary, Joseph and Jesus. They repeated what they were told by the angel, and then returned to their flocks (Luke 2:16-20).





[edit] Gospel of Matthew

In the Gospel of Matthew, the impending birth is announced to Joseph in a dream, in which he is instructed to name the child Jesus or possibly Emmanuel, meaning God is with us. A star reveals the birth of Jesus to a number of magoi (magi, Greek μάγος, commonly translated as "wise man" but in this context probably meaning "astronomer" or "astrologer"[6]) who travel to Jerusalem from an unspecified country "in the east":



"In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, 'Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,[7] and have come to pay him homage.' When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born" (Matthew 2:1-4).



The statement that Herod was "frightened" (Matthew 2:3) by the magi's words implies that Herod did not know of the presence of the star, (often referred to as the Star of Bethlehem), before the magi arrived or was not aware of its significance in heralding the "Messiah".





Joseph is warned by an angel in a dream to flee Bethlehem. Rembrandt, 1645Herod understood the phrase "King of the Jews" as a reference to the Messiah, since he asked his advisers where the Messiah was to be born. They answered Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David, and quoted the prophet Micah (Matthew 2:4-6).[8] "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," a deceitful Herod told the magi. As the magi traveled to Bethlehem, the star "went before" them and led them to a house where they found Jesus. Thus Jesus was not at this time in the stable as described by Luke. He was a παιδίον ("paidion," transl. "child"), not a βρέφος ("brephos," transl. "infant"). But Luke only speaks of shepherds outside of Bethlehem who visit Jesus in the stables, and does not speak of the magi from the east celebrating with him on the day of his birth. The magi presented Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:9-11).[9]



In a dream, the magi received a divine warning of Herod's intent to kill the child, whom he saw as a rival. Consequently, they returned to their own country without telling Herod the result of their mission. An angel told Joseph to flee with his family to Egypt. Meanwhile, Herod ordered that all male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2 be killed, the so-called "Massacre of the Innocents" (Matthew 2:12-16).



After Herod's death, the holy family settled in Nazareth, fulfilling, according to Matthew, a prophecy: "He will be called a Nazorean" (Matthew 2:23). The King James Version of the Gospel reads "He shall be called a Nazarene." This prophecy is possibly a free reading of Isaiah 11:1, with the Hebrew netzer, for "branch," read as Nazōraios (Nazorean) in Greek. Here "Nazorean" means both a resident of Nazareth and a "branch," or descendant (of David).[10] Another possible interpretation[citation needed] concerning this particular word in Isaiah 11:1 is the emphasis on this branch being different from the main body--as Jesus teachings vary from those of the main religious body.[11]





[edit] Gospel of John

The Gospel of John 1:1-14 also gives an account of the coming of Jesus, as one who was with God and who was "the Word of God", (ie. God's communication). This passage is not narrative and does not contain the details of Matthew's or Luke's gospels. However, it is closely associated with the Biblical narratives, and it is this reading, rather than a narrative reading, which is set down as part of the formal Catholic and Anglican liturgy as the "Proper Reading for Christmas Day" and as such, is read in thousands of churches across the world on Christmas morning. The final verse is:



“ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of Grace and truth.[12] ”





[edit] The Nativity as myth



Relief of Nativity, Cathedral St. Peter, Worms, GermanyMany modern scholars argue that the Gospels present two very different accounts[13]: the Gospel of Matthew relates the appearance of an angel, in a dream, to Joseph; the wise men from the east; the massacre of the innocents; and the flight to Egypt. The Gospel of Luke mentions none of these but describes the conception and birth of John the Baptist; the appearance of an angel to Mary; the worldwide census; the birth in a manger, and the choir of angels; none of these is mentioned by Matthew.[14] They also emphasize the apparent contradictions between the accounts, which explain the birth in Bethlehem in different ways (Luke says they lived in Nazareth and only moved to Bethlehem briefly for the census, Matthew implies that they lived in Bethlehem and only moved to Nazareth on their return from Egypt;[15]) give two different genealogies of Jesus,[16] and appears to use a contradictory time frame (Mathew's account places the birth during the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4BC, but Luke dates it to the census of Quirinius in 6 AD).[17]



As a result, many scholars see the nativity stories either as completely fictional accounts[18], or at least constructed from traditions which predate the Gospels.[19] Raymond Brown, for instance, who observes that "it is unlikely that either account is completely historical",[20] suggests that the account in Matthew is based on an earlier narrative patte