December 19th Family Christmas Questions / Advent Study
Here are the next questions for your family Christmas Study or Advent Study. They are followed by a creative idea on keeping Christ in your family Christmas. The answers to the questions appear at the end of this blog. One great benefit of doing this with your family is that it will become a tradition which transcends the Advent Season whereby you do a short daily Bible study as a family at every meal throughout the year. Answer each question True or False
According to the Bible… 39) _____After the birth of Jesus, Mary remained a virgin and in a state of perpetual virginity and purity devoted herself to the service of God all her life.
40) _____The angel of the Lord who made his proclamation to the shepherds appeared to them in the sky, hovering above them.
41) _____It was an act of grace for God to first reveal the location of the baby Jesus to shepherds as shepherds were considered by the Law to be unclean.
42) _____ The angels who appeared to the shepherds had white robes, wings and halos.
Keeping Christ In Christmas - Merchants: Most Christians Have It Backwards… To tell you the truth, most Christians have it backwards. The talk on Christian radio, conservative news networks, Bible study, Sunday School and even from the pulpit is whether merchants say “Merry Christmas” and whether they use their facilities to celebrate the birth of Christ. Now I am not against this but it is not the duty of non-Christian, unbelieving merchants to keep the message of Christ’s Incarnation alive. In fact, just the opposite is true. It is the duty of Christians to bring the message of Christ’s Incarnation and the resulting salvation of one’s soul to merchants. This is a fun project you can do the week before Christmas. In the next few days I will take New Testaments wrapped in Christmas paper with bows (and in some cases Lou Strobbles “Case for Chrsit”, a candy cane with the “tradition of the candy cane attached, a card with a Christmas gospel tract and the Four Spiritual Laws inside and visit the merchants I frequent throughout the year and leave these as gifts, wishing them a Merry Christmas. (Note: we are faithful and loyal customers throughout the year so that the merchant comes to know us.) Here is a list of merchants I will visit… Auto Mechanic Exterminator Auto Parts Store Hardware Store Grocery Store Accountant Dentist Doctor Coffee Shop Pharmacy Dry Cleaners And others My suggestion for your family this week before Christmas – stop complaining that non-Christian merchants are not being good stewards about sharing the message of Christ’s birth and start a family plan to bless and reach out to the merchants you frequent sharing with them the Good News. Sit down as a family, make a list of merchants, have a “wrapping party”, pray over the pile of gifts, decide who will give the gift to whom and then go out into the market place and share the good news. The shepherds did not complain that Bethlehem merchants were not celebrating Christ’s birth, rather they spread the Good News - Luke 2:18 “And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds .”
The Answers to today’s Advent Questions -
39. F - After the birth of Jesus, Mary remained a Virgin. In this state of perpetual virginity and purity she devoted herself to the service of God all her life. The fable concerning Mary’s perpetual virginity flies in the face of numerous passages in the Word of God. From the divine revelation of God the Holy Spirit we learn that...
1.) Marry married Joseph Matthew 1:16 “ Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” Matthew 1:24 “Joseph... took her as his wife,”
2.) Mary was publically associated with Joseph as his wife Matthew 13:55 "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?” John 1:45 “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."” John 6:42 “And they were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?’...”
3.) After the birth of Jesus, Mary bore other children as a result of her union with Joseph her husband Matthew 13:55 "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?” Luke 8:19-20 “And His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd. And it was reported to Him, ‘Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You’." John 2:12 “After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples; and there they stayed a few days.” John 7:3 “His brothers therefore said to Him, ‘Depart from here, and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may behold Your works which You are doing’.”
4.) The fact that Mary bore Joseph other children was a fact publically known and held in the early church and carried with it no stigma or loss of status on the part of Mary. Acts 1:14 “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” 1 Corinthians 9:5 “Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?”
5.) There is no special grace or righteousness associated with preserving ones virginity in marriage. In fact just the opposite is true. Not only is it not spiritual or righteous for a woman to preserve her virginity after marriage, it is sin to abstain for more than brief periods from sexual activity. (I Corinthians 7:1 – 5) In fact it is a blessing for a wife to minister to her husband’s sexual needs and desires and this extends beyond mere procreation to include the enjoyment of their intimate moments together for love’s sake. (Proverbs 5:18 & 19; Song of Solomon 1:13 – 16)
Very little is known of Mary’s life during the ministry of Jesus, but enough is known to establish that she did not live the life of Anna in fasting, prayer and abstinence at the Temple. Rather Mary lived the life of a wife and mother who was publically associated with her husband, was known by all for her role as wife and mother, was sexually active and bore Joseph at least four natural children.
40. F – Luke 2:9, 13 - 15 (The angel of the Lord who made his proclamation to the shepherds appeared to them in the sky, hovering above them.) When the angel of the Lord in Luke 2:9 appeared to the shepherds he was standing before them. Luke 2:9 “And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.” Although the Word of God does refer to the accompanying angels as “heavenly host” it does not say that they were in heaven praising God. (Luke 2:13) The phrase “heavenly host” can just as easily refer to their place of origin, especially since they are described as returning to heaven when their proclamation had been completed. (Luke 2:15) In the account of the angels nowhere is it mentioned that they are flying or hovering in the air.
41. F – (It was an act of grace for God to first reveal the location of the baby Jesus to shepherds as shepherds were considered by the Law to be unclean.) There is no injunction in the Law of Moses which declares the keeping of sheep as rendering one “unclean”.
42. F - Luke 2:8-15; Hebrews 13:2 (The angels who appeared to the shepherds had white robes, wings and halos.) There is no scriptural basis for the current fashion of depicting angels with white robes, wings, long flowing hair, halos and who speak in a special mystical language. In fact, the Angel who spoke to the shepherds stood before them, (Luke 2:9), and made his proclamation in their language (as do all Biblical accounts of angels). There is no specific mention of the heavenly host being in the air or flying when they were praising God and giving their revelation, nor is their any indication that, using wings, they flew away afterward. Nowhere is there depicted in the Bible angels, in human form having white robes, wings, long hair and halos. Nowhere in the Bible are angels depicted as beautiful young women, effeminate men nor as babies. The only depiction of feminine angles in the Bible are of fallen angels, demons. These indeed were women with beautiful long wings , as the demons spoke of in Zechariah 5:9, “Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.” As for babies with wings, this is a purely pagan depiction taken right out of Roman and Greek pagan ritual. Upon visiting Roman ruins in England I was amazed to see the commonly depicted Renaissance baby angles adorning the pagan grave stones and temples for Roman pagans.
In stark contrast to the current fad of feminizing angels, all angelic descriptions in the Bible are decidedly masculine in nature (and often fearful, violent and bloody). All named angels had male names. The fearful response given to the appearance of angels surely brings into question the wimpy, effeminate angels which are sold in most Christian book stores and appear on greeting cards. A careful study of history will reveal that these depictions are pagan in nature, harking back to the sculptures found in ancient Rome and Greece rather than the Bible. I doubt seriously the Death Angel or the angels whose appearance struck such fear into men that they fell on their faces unable to speak, appeared in long effeminate flowing robes with sappy expressions on their faces. All of these depictions are simply artistic fabrications and fables, which pander the predominantly female clientele of modern Christian bookstores and should be avoided (I Timothy 4:7 “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women...”)
Baby angels, angels with wings and effeminate depictions of angels are simply artistic recreations of Roman and Greek pagan deities. The use of halos in depicting angels, saints or Biblical figures was begun in the middle ages by painters who wished in some way to indicate the individual when he was painted in a group setting. Although in some early paintings arrows with annotations are used, slowly this was replaced by the use of halos. These were considered more esthetically appealing and carried with them the growing superstition, that like Moses when he came down from the mount, so surely all great saints, glow with the glory of God. Hebrews 13:2 makes it clear that angels are so human like in their appearance, speech and actions that we can entertain them in their earthly duties without ever even knowing it. (Authors Note: It is true, the Seraphim and Cherubim of Ezekiel 1 & 10 had wings but these were not in human form and are a form of angelic life known as “living being”.)
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