“There was no pomp and ceremony in connection with the birth of Jesus - rather the opposite: it took place in simplicity and in poverty.” JesusPovertyBirthConnectionsOppositesSimplicityCeremonyJesus Birth Author:Keith O'Brien
“During the first 13 centuries after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, no one thought of setting up a creche to celebrate Christmas. The pre-eminent Christian holiday was Easter, not Christmas.” FirstsChristianJesusCenturyBirthSettingSettingsCelebrateHolidayEasterBethlehemJesus Birth Author:Nancy Pearcey
“While brother Joseph was referring to the provinces of God, I was led to reflect that there is no act, no principle, no power belonging to the Deity that is purely philosophical. The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood - was begotten of his Father, as we were of our fathers.” ChildrenActionFatherJesusChristNaturalResultsPrinciplesBloodBrotherBirthJesus ChristPhilosophicalOur ChildrenFleshBelongingDeitiesOur FatherSaviourProvincesReferringFlesh And Blood Author:Brigham Young
“Turning the pages of scriptural history from beginning to end, we learn of the ultimate pioneer-even Jesus Christ. His birth was foretold by the prophets of old; His entry upon the stage of life was announced by an angel. His life and His ministry have transformed the world. . . . May we ever follow Him.” WorldMayEndsJesusChristStageBirthPagesAngelJesus ChristUltimateProphetTransformedMinistryPioneersEntryStages Of Life Author:Thomas S. Monson
“In broad outline and in detail, the life of Jesus as portrayed in the gospels corresponds to the worldwide Mythic Hero Archetype in which a divine hero's birth is supernaturally predicted and conceived, the infant hero escapes attempts to kill him, demonstrates his precocious wisdom already as a child, receives a divine commission, defeats demons, wins acclaim, is hailed as king, then betrayed, losing popular favor, executed, often on a hilltop, and is vindicated and taken up to heaven.” ChildrenJesusWinningHeavenTakenAtheismDivineBirthKingsHeroLosingDefeatDetailsPositive AtheismFavorsDemonBroadsBetrayedInfantOutlinesArchetypeAcclaimPrecociousVindicated Author:Robert M. Price
“But to make a holiday record that involves favorite American songs and then also get to sing about Jesus birth, it just seemed like a real easy, subtle way to combine a couple of things that I love.” WayRealSongJesusEasyRecordsBirthCoupleHolidaySubtleJesus Birth Author:Amy Grant
“Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.” CountryJesusEnjoyChristExistenceKindnessEventsBirthGoodnessJesus ChristMercyEternityCreatorThanksEnlightenedStationsRenderingConfiding Author:John Dickinson
“It is impossible to conceive how different things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it. It is a truth that, for twenty centuries, there have been untold numbers of men and women who, in untold numbers of ways, have been so grasped by the child who was born, so caught up in the message he taught and the life he lived, that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with him.” PeopleIfsMenWayChildrenHas BeensMadeDifferentFoundJesusUnderstandingBornNumbersMillionsImpossibleHappenedCenturyChangedTaughtBirthMessagesMen And WomenTwentiesCaughtDifferent ThingsNew WaysCaught UpUnderstanding LifeJesus Birth Author:Frederick Buechner
“What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best possible way to live?” IfsWayStillsRealChristianFatherJesusBitsReligiousDoubtBirthTomorrowProveShadowProofAppealsWhat IfFollowersCultVirginsDnaTombsWay To LiveLarrySampleVirgin BirthBiological FathersReligious Cults Author:Rob Bell
“The Bible represents a fundamental guidepost for millions of people on the planet, in much the same way the Koran, Torah, and Pali Canon offer guidance to people of other religions. If you and I could dig up documentation that contradicted the holy stories of Islamic belief, Judaic belief, Buddhist belief, pagan belief, should we do that? Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth? Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical.” PeopleIfsWayShouldStoriesJesusBeliefBornMillionsPlanetsBirthHolyOffersFundamentalsWaveBuddhistGuidanceIslamicFlagsVirginsLiteralPaganMetaphoricalCanonLotusesDocumentationTorahVirgin Birth Author:Dan Brown
“Missionaries in the developing world waste a lot of time and money (not to mention the goodwill of non-Christians) proselytizing to the needy. . . . While missionaries do many noble things at great risk to themselves, their dogmatism still spreads ignorance and death. By contrast, volunteers for secular organizations . . . do not waste . . . time telling people about the virgin birth of Jesus. Nor do they tell people in sub-Saharan Africa - where nearly four million people die from AIDS every year - that condom use is sinful.” PeopleWorldYearsStillsUseChristianReligionDiesJesusMillionsFourRiskIgnoranceBirthWasteOrganizationSpreadNobleAidsDevelopingWasting TimeContrastSecularVolunteerVirginsGoodwillNeedyCondomDogmatismTime And MoneyGreat RiskProselytizingVirgin BirthSub Saharan AfricaJesus BirthCondom Use Author:Sam Harris
“I wouldn't put it past God to arrange a virgin birth if He wanted, but I very much doubt if He would.” IfsWantedPastJesusChristChristianityDoubtBirthJesus ChristVirginsVirgin Birth Author:David Jenkins
“For many people, the big feast of the year is Christmas, but for Christians, the truly great feast is Easter. Without Easter, without the Resurrection, we would not have the gift of salvation. Jesus had to rise from the dead or else he would have just been another failed Messiah and his birth would be a forgotten footnote of history.” PeopleYearsBigsWould BeChristianJesusBirthSalvationForgottenResurrectionEasterMessiahFootnotes Author:Robert Barron
“It is difficult to look at any newborn baby and accept that he or she will necessarily encounter pain, challenges, disappointments, and hardships in life. Yet even the Savior needed to "go forth, suffering pains and afflictions . . . of every kind" (Alma 7:11), the only difference being that Jesus, though tempted, did not sin (Hebrews 4:15; see also D&C 45:4). Even harder to comprehend, however, was how that precious Babe of Bethlehem, whose birth we celebrate each Christmas, would one day bear the weight not only of our sins but also all our infirmities.” LooksKindPainSufferingJesusDifficultChallengesDifferencesSinAcceptingBabyBearsBirthNeededOne DayWeightHarderDisappointmentCelebrateEncountersHardshipSaviorAfflictionTemptedBabeHebrewNewbornInfirmityBethlehemNewborn BabySuffering Pain Author:Eric D. Huntsman
“And speaking of sex, the Immaculate Conception does not mean Jesus was conceived in the absence of sex. It means Mary was conceived without Original Sin. That's all it has ever meant. And according to the tabloids, Mary is apparently the only one who can make such a claim. The Jesus thing is called virgin birth.” MeanDoeJesusSexSinBirthClaimsOriginalsAbsenceConceptionMaryVirginsTabloidsOriginal SinImmaculateVirgin BirthImmaculate Conception Book:The Best of Brain Droppings Source: The Best of Brain Droppings
“I would argue that the truth of Easter does not depend on whether there was an empty tomb, or whether anything happened to the body of Jesus. ... I do not see the Christian tradition as exclusively true, or the Bible as the unique and infallible revelation of God. ... It makes no historical sense to say, 'Jesus was killed for the sins of the world.' ... I am one of those Christians who does not believe in the virgin birth, nor in the star of Bethlehem, nor in the journeys of the wisemen, nor in the shepherds coming to the manger, as facts of history.” WorldBelieveDoeFactsBodyChristianJesusStarsSinHappenedJourneyDependsBirthUniqueTraditionEmptyHistoricalArguingRevelationsVirginsEasterTombsShepherdsInfallibleBethlehemVirgin Birth Author:Marcus Borg
“Then Jesus introduced Himself to me. Though my birth certificate reads 1983, I reckon I was born in 1999, when I met Jesus - not in a church or on a camp or through people, but alone in my bedroom with an open Bible and a tangible revelation that the Son of God was not only real, but alive and awesome and stronger than the chains that bound me.” PeopleRealJesusBornChurchAliveSonBirthMetsStrongerBoundsChainsRevelationsCampsBedroomTangibleCertificatesBirth Certificate Author:Brooke Fraser
“In Revelation 12, we see a pure, holy woman giving birth to a son - a corporate son who brings victory by the blood of Jesus, their testimony and sacrifice. My vision is to see that kind of church moving in the authority, the sacrifice and love of Jesus.” GivingKindMovingJesusChurchVisionSacrificeBloodSonBirthVictoryHolyPureAuthorityAnd LoveCorporateRevelationsTestimonyMoving InGiving BirthBlood Of JesusLove And Sacrifice Author:John Noble
“Jesus proclaimed, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. .. He is saying that a whole new order is about to enter history, and if you want to be a part of it, you will need a change so fundamental that the Gospel of John would later refer to it as a "new birth". Being born again was not meant to be a private religious experience that is hard to communicate. .. but rather the prerequisite for joining a new and very public movement - the Jesus and kingdom of God movement.” IfsWantNeedsHardWholeHandsOrderJesusHeavenBornReligiousMovementBirthFundamentalsCommunicateKingdomsMeant To BeRepentKingdom Of GodJoiningBorn AgainNeed A ChangeKingdom Of HeavenPrerequisitesReligious ExperienceGospel Of JohnWere Not Meant To Be Author:Jim Wallis
“Is it possible Hanukkah doesn't inspire folksy songs? Plot lines may be a part. The Christmas story has a lot of material to work with. There's Jesus and his birth, the wise men, their gifts and tons of frankincense.” MenMayStoriesSongJesusLinesWiseInspireMaterialsBirthPlotHanukkahPlot LinesFrankincense Author:Matisyahu
“That's why the virgin birth never gets rid of the human mother. The story only gets rid of the human father. So Jesus' life was the life of God nurtured through the Virgin Mary. That's because the virgin birth died as a literal story as soon as we discovered that women had an egg cell. It's interesting to watch what the Roman church did about that.” HumansStoriesMotherFatherJesusChurchInterestingWatchesBirthDiedCellsEggsMaryVirginsLiteralVirgin MaryVirgin Birth Author:John Shelby Spong
“Among mammals, a virgin birth (parthenogenesis) can only produce female offspring, for chromosomal reasons. Messiahs are mammals. Therefore, Jesus was... On the other hand, among turkeys, the chromosomal situation is such that all products of virgin birth are males. So if Jesus was a male, he might also have been.” IfsHas BeensReasonHandsMightJesusSituationAtheismProduceProductsBirthFemaleMalesVirginsTurkeysOffspringMessiahMammalsVirgin Birth Author:Frank Zindler
“So, because in no other person but Jesus of Nazareth did God first become human (in his birth), then bear our sins (in his death), then conquer death (in his resurrection) and then enter his people (by his Spirit), he is uniquely able to save sinners. Nobody else has his qualifications.” PeopleFirstsHumansPersonsAbleSpiritJesusSinBearsBirthConquerSinnerResurrectionQualificationsGod FirstNazareth Author:John Stott
“Matthew loved the magi. He gave their story more square inches of text than he gave the narrative of the birth of Jesus. He never mentions the shepherds or the manger, but he didn't want us to miss the star and the seekers. It's easy to see why. Their story is our story.” WantStoriesJesusStarsEasyMissingBirthNarrativeSquaresInchesWant USeekersShepherdsMatthewJesus Birth Author:Max Lucado
“There are four accounts of the gospel itself! The momentous events of the conception, birth, life, teaching, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus of Nazareth are too vast to be adequately viewed from one angle alone. Just as we need several points of view to "see" a person's face, so we need these varied emphases and angles to gain the full perspective of all God wants us to understand.” JesusTeachingPerspectiveBirthPoint Of ViewResurrectionWant U Author:Christopher J. H. Wright
“We impose our modern worldview on the Bible to make it conform to our intellectual happy place. But we deceive ourselves into thinking this works or is legitimate. We fail to realize that the supernatural things we want to avoid are no more supernatural (or "weird") than the things that define the Christian faith. What's so "normal" about the virgin birth, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection of Christ, the hypostatic union of the incarnation (Jesus was 100% God and 100% man)?” ThinkingMenChristianJesusChristRealizingFailingModernBirthIntellectualResurrectionDeceivingConformWorldviewIncarnationChristian FaithHappy Place Author:Michael S. Heiser
“Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.” WorldMayHelpingStoriesJesusPowerfulRichBirthChristmasUnderdogPowerful God Book:The Jesus I Never Knew Source: The Jesus I Never Knew
“When we were arguing on my twenty-fourth birthday, she left the kitchen, came back with a pistol, and fired it at me five times from right across the table. But she missed. It wasn't my life she was after. It was more. She wanted to eat my heart and be lost in the desert with what she'd done, she wanted to fall on her knees and give birth from it, she wanted to hurt me as only a child can be hurt by its mother.” GivingHeartChildrenDoneWantedMotherFallJesusLostLeftHurtFiveBirthMy HeartTwentiesTablesArguingDesertKneesKitchenFourthHurt MePistols Book:Jesus' Son: Stories Source: Jesus' Son: Stories
“It was no accident, no coincidence, that the seasons came round and round year after year. It was the Lord speaking to us all and showing us over and over again the birth, life, death, and resurrection of his only begotten Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It was like a best-loved story being told day after day with each sunrise and sunset, year after year with the seasons, down through the ages since time began.” YearsStoriesAgeJesusChristLordSonBirthJesus ChristSeasonsRoundsAccidentsSunsetSaviorResurrectionSunriseCoincidenceOur LordLife DeathSunrise And SunsetSavior JesusBirth Life Book:The Last Sin Eater Source: The Last Sin Eater
“Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years... Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart.” ThinkingWorldLoveGivingYearsFirstsHeartTwoRememberJesusHealingEventsBabyBirthThousandSickMedicineWideSignificantChristmasTransformedThousand YearsPouringOpen HeartBundlesInspirational ChristmasChristmas DayMerry ChristmasChristmas HolidayChristmas ThoughtsBest ChristmasChristmas LoveMerry Christmas InspirationalChristmas CardChristmas MagicHoliday TraditionsReligious ChristmasMeaning Of ChristmasCharity At ChristmasChristmas GivingHoliday GivingBelieving In ChristmasHoliday Greeting CardBaby JesusJesus And ChristmasJesus ChristmasSignificant EventsSick World Author:George Matthew Adams