Christmas has from long ago been "taken over" by non-Christians as their own with the santa claus, decorative trees, reindeers, presents, good food and wine. Even in Singapore, Christmas has been adopted by many as their own with an intensity not shared by other public religious holidays like Hari Raya Puasa/Haji, Deepavali and Vesak Day. One miffed Singaporean Christian (I imagined) actually wrote to the Straits Times Forum to complain about SMRT's lack of sensitivity by actually censoring Christmas and putting up a banner with the more generic and I guessed more politically correct, "Happy Holidays".
Perhaps Christians should be "honoured" that non-Christians choose to adopt the Christmas and Easter (I guess even non-Christians find it too morbid to adopt Good Friday since it is essentially remembering Jesus' death on the Cross) but then again, it could be just a case of of "anglophile" since Halloween seems to be catching on in Singapore as well with NTUC jumping onto the bandwagon by selling pumpkins and costumes in their stores.
What's interesting to me is that Christians themselves are sometimes none the wiser about their Biblical heritage and the traditional Nativity scene probably says it best.
(1) The shepherds were probably to only one that got to baby Jesus when he was born in the manger (Luke 2:15-20).
(2) There were no "Three Kings". They were the wise men from the east (magi) and there was no mention that there were three of them. People assumed that there were three of them given the 3 gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh presented to Jesus.
(3) The magi did not get to meet the sherpherds. The Bible recorded that they visited Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a "house", not a "manger" (Matthew 2:9-11).
(4) There wasn't a physical star that guided the magi to the house. If it was a physical star, the people there would not have lived to tell the tale based on the descriptions in Matthew Chapter 2. First the magi said they saw "His [Jesus] star in the east and have come to worship Him" and then this star "which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was". I majored in physics in my undergraduate days. Anyone in my class would have told you that no physical star can do such things. Even as a lay person, I cannot imagine how a star can go before you to bring you to a specific place and stand over a particular house to mark it for you. A more plausible explanation is that the star is probably a reference to an angel that guided the magi to the house where Jesus was staying then. The Bible is littered with references of stars being symbols for angels (see Job 38:7, Isaiah 14:12). There is even a specific description of stars being a symbol of angels in Revelation 1:20.
(5) Jesus would probably be 2 years-old or younger when the magi came since Herod ordered the massacre of children "who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi".
Perhaps Christians should be "honoured" that non-Christians choose to adopt the Christmas and Easter (I guess even non-Christians find it too morbid to adopt Good Friday since it is essentially remembering Jesus' death on the Cross) but then again, it could be just a case of of "anglophile" since Halloween seems to be catching on in Singapore as well with NTUC jumping onto the bandwagon by selling pumpkins and costumes in their stores.
What's interesting to me is that Christians themselves are sometimes none the wiser about their Biblical heritage and the traditional Nativity scene probably says it best.
(1) The shepherds were probably to only one that got to baby Jesus when he was born in the manger (Luke 2:15-20).
(2) There were no "Three Kings". They were the wise men from the east (magi) and there was no mention that there were three of them. People assumed that there were three of them given the 3 gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh presented to Jesus.
(3) The magi did not get to meet the sherpherds. The Bible recorded that they visited Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a "house", not a "manger" (Matthew 2:9-11).
(4) There wasn't a physical star that guided the magi to the house. If it was a physical star, the people there would not have lived to tell the tale based on the descriptions in Matthew Chapter 2. First the magi said they saw "His [Jesus] star in the east and have come to worship Him" and then this star "which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was". I majored in physics in my undergraduate days. Anyone in my class would have told you that no physical star can do such things. Even as a lay person, I cannot imagine how a star can go before you to bring you to a specific place and stand over a particular house to mark it for you. A more plausible explanation is that the star is probably a reference to an angel that guided the magi to the house where Jesus was staying then. The Bible is littered with references of stars being symbols for angels (see Job 38:7, Isaiah 14:12). There is even a specific description of stars being a symbol of angels in Revelation 1:20.
(5) Jesus would probably be 2 years-old or younger when the magi came since Herod ordered the massacre of children "who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi".
(6) The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh was God's provision for Joseph and Mary to seek refuge in Egypt during the reign of Herod till he passed away as a result of the persecution.
(7) And, by the way, contrary to popular belief and the many Christmas carols (like "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", "Angels We Have Heard On High"), the angels that appeared on the first Christmas did not do any singing.
Blessed Christmas to all!
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