Leave my Christmas alone

  There has been an even bigger rash of posts this year by people pointing out things in the Christmas story that we supposedly get wrong. Maybe it is because a lot of them have been posted in a blogger group I help moderate that I have seen so many, but there are a lot.

 There were most likely more than three wise men.

The Bible doesn't say the angels sang

Jesus wasn't really born in a stable

The wise men don't belong at the Nativity

Jesus wasn't really born in a stable.

And more.

  I don't get why people want to make such a big deal over some of these things. I can't imagine when I get to Heaven that God is going to condemn me to an eternity in hell because I sang "We Three Kings" and had wise men in my Nativity scene.

 Were there three wise men? We have no idea. There may have been, so why waste time trying to make a case for there being more?

 Were they present when Jesus was in the manger? We have no idea. The Bible says they came into the house, but it could still be where Jesus was born.

 Was Jesus born in a stable? Bible experts, my Sunday School teacher among them, make a good case for a courtyard type of place inside a building where animals were kept for being where Jesus was born. Again, does it matter? He was definitely laid in a manger so it was pretty much a stable anyway......

 Did the angels sing? Well, the Bible doesn't say they didn't..... and I figure if we ever heard a group of angels chanting a message, it would sound more like singing than our actual singing we do here on earth.

  So refrain from singing We Three Kings, Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Angels We Have Heard on High and any other song that doesn't fit into your Christmas narrative. Throw your wise men away that came from your Nativity scene.....or set them way across the room so it looks like they are journeying towards the baby Jesus.

 As for me, I am not going to sweat the small stuff. I'll keep singing those songs, figure there may have been 3 wise men, keep my Nativity figures in a stable - that is better than the box they reside in during the rest of the year - and I will put my wise men in my stable surrounding the baby Jesus. And while I am at it, I'll keep Santa completely out of the house :)