| Re: "Like a virgin," by David Bright, Viewpoint, December 21-27, 2006.
News flash to all Christians the world over! The good news of the birth of Christ and his gift of salvation is all a fable and we should simply give up. These are the words of a not-so-esteemed scholar David Bright, who wrote that the virgin birth is not truth and that the gospels were written too long after the fact to be taken as accurate.
The gospels were written by the very same men that were with Christ during his ministry and watched him die and rise again all in a space of 30 to 40 years.
Bright takes exception to the fact that the Gospels were not all written recollecting the history in exactly the same words. The Gospels are real and authentic for the very reason they are not written the same. These men all emphasized different points for man to see as inspired by God. When the Herald and the Sun cover the same car accident they don’t relay the story in the same words or cover all the same facts, but we all accept the fact there was an accident.
There are no inherent contradictions in the four gospels of Christ. True the writers of the gospels don’t mention the season but nor do they mention what they wore that particular night. I celebrate his birth daily as it’s a fact of my faith and I don’t need a national holiday to do so.
The massive amount of historical record to back up the events surrounding Christ’s birth, life, death and rising from the dead are far too large to cover here, but suffice to say few today can truly deny the existence of Jesus Christ. His following is recounted by the ancient Jewish writer Josephus in nine Greek manuscripts and this man was no Christian in Jesus’s time either. The hatred of Jesus by Rome at the time is undeniable and his crucifixion is also a historical fact. Thus a question for Bright, with all these people preaching weeks after the death of Christ that he rose from the dead, why would the Romans not have produced the body for all the world to see? Why is there not a single historical record or find of Jesus’s grave and his body buried beneath it? Imagine someone managed to take his body and bury it, never to be found again? Only Christianity claims to follow a risen Lord, not Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or any other faith. Their leaders all died as natural men. What better way to disprove this risen Christ than to make a national monument with his body, thus making all of Christianity a fable. The Romans would take great glee in having achieved that!
No, Christ is risen and his birth by Mary is why we celebrate Christmas. There is, as Bright questioned, no claim in the gospels that Mary went on to be a virgin the rest of her natural life. That really is not important at all. Faith is required to accept the Holy Spirit impregnating Mary as claimed and it seems that Bright lacks any faith at all. Please, though, don’t attack the most holy day in Christianity with such an unscholarly piece of dribble. The fact you did it only days before the event shows spite. Go on and celebrate whatever you like, but leave Christmas alone as we leave all others alone.
"Fear not for I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour which is Christ the Lord" Luke 2:10-11.
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