You Tube Theology

I recently had Dr. Craig A. Evans (PhD, Claremont; DHabil, Budapest) on "Voices on the Journey" about COMMON MYTHS PEOPLE BELIEVE ABOUT THE FRIST CHRISTMAS.

Dr. Evans is the John Bisagno Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins at Houston Baptist University in Texas. He has taught at Trinity Western University in British Columbia for twenty-one years, and taught for thirteen years at the Divinity College at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Evans is the author and editor of more than ninety books, and has been seen on Dateline NBC, CBC, CTV, Day of Discovery, and many documentaries aired on BBC, The Discovery Channel, History Channel, History Television, and others. He has also served as a consultant for the National Geographic Society and for The Bible miniseries, produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.

ORDER OF QUESTIONS
"JESUS AND THE MANUSCRIPTS"

1. What is your goal with your new book, “Jesus and the Manuscripts?”
2. Is there any recent news with regard to manuscripts that we should be aware of?

Main Christmas Questions: Common myths people believe about the first Christmas:
MATTHEW/LUKE NARRATIVE

1. Is it true that Mary rode into Bethlehem on a donkey?
2. Was Mary illiterate, and didn’t know anything?
3. Do you think Jesus was born in a draughty barn that we see in nativity scenes or in a cave like at The Church of the Nativity?
4. Was there an innkeeper and an inn the first Christmas?
5. Was a manger in the first century a wooden cradle?
6. When Matthew 2:2 says the magi “saw his star in the east, ” does this mean the magi were in the eastern land when they saw the star in the western sky? Were there three magi, and were they kings? Did the magi see Jesus the night of his birth?

PEGAN MYTHS | DATE | QUR’AN

1. What evidence is there that pagan myths have not been adopted into Jesus’ birth narrative?
2. Is it true that Jesus was born in the year 0 A.D.?
3. Is it true that Jesus was born on December 25?
4. Is Jesus’ birth and life different in the Qur’an than what’s found in the gospels?

APPLICATION

1. Why should the world believe in the Christmas story?