Is it Time for a New Christmas Story


Relying heavily on the Bible as the basis for the Christian faith was troubling to many from the git go. As the centuries move on it gets more troubling. Wouldn't it be better for the faith to say something like, "We have an inner belief there is something bigger than what we can see with our own eyes. We don't know for sure what that is, but we have rituals and ceremonies we perform because we enjoy them?" If this was the narrative of all Christianity the opportunity for ridicule would be reduced. 

This comes up now because of the Christian season. Maybe it's ok to let children believe there is a Santa while they are really young. Parents enjoy that too. Maybe, also, it's ok for children to think there was a Jesus in a manger while they are tiny tots. Both of these, however, should eventually pass into childhood memories. The Jesus story has no more going for it than the Santa one.

Lots of people who study this stuff, even Christians, now say if there was a Jesus birth, it did not take place in the Bethlehem tourist place. The earliest Gospel, Luke, did not include the birth story. Paul didn't either. The story was inserted into the faith later to justify another story. This one was in the Old Testament.  The coming superhero, according to the Old Testament, was to be a descendent of a former superhero, King David. Some ancient writer decided to place the birth of the second superhero, Jesus, in the hometown of David. So was born the travels of "Joe and Mary."

The picture narrative of "Baby Jesus", originally a propaganda tool of Christians, has been used by others for their own purposes. The "scandal" this year is blanket used to warm the fictious baby. Formerly, the "swaddling clothes" came from a pricey baby store. The new blanket is a political statement that the whole gang, including Jesus, were Arabs. It is a traditional Arab keffiyeh. The knives are out.     

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