In the first Q&A in this series, we looked at the malevolent nature and influence of Satan the devil and started to look at false assumptions that many may make about different situations and teachings in the Bible. We know that Satan’s influence is everywhere and in every sphere, and is recognised by those faithful believers in the one true God.
Let us continue with further false biblical assumptions.
FALSE ASSUMPTION No. 3
Many think that Jesus didn’t own a home and that He was a vagabond – a person who had no home, without a job and who travelled from place to place.
In Matthew 8:20, we read: “And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’” We read the following on page 49 in our booklet, “Do You Know the Jesus of the Bible?”
“While Matthew 8:20 is not as specific as to the timing, the parallel passage in Luke 9:58 is given in the context of when He was on a journey with His disciples and the Samaritans refused to grant them shelter (compare Luke 9:51–56; note verse 57: ‘NOW it happened as they journeyed on the road…’). There were times when Christ and His disciples did not encounter hospitality while they were on their missionary journeys, and it was that fact which Jesus stressed when He spoke about the sacrifices one must be willing to make when he or she wants to follow Christ (compare verses 57–58).”
On page 48 of this same booklet mentioned above, under the heading “Jesus Built and Owned Houses,” we read:
“There are numerous passages indicating that Jesus owned His own house—or perhaps even more than one. He grew up in Nazareth, but He later lived or ‘dwelt’ in Capernaum (Matthew 4:13), ‘His own city’ (Matthew 9:1). Luke makes this possible distinction when referring to Nazareth as the city where Jesus ‘had been brought up’ (Luke 4:16). It appears that at some point in time, then, Jesus made His adult home in Capernaum. We read that when in Capernaum, Jesus would go into ‘THE’ house, and that people would visit Him there when they found out that He was in the house (compare Matthew 13:1, 36).
“Many commentaries say that this is a reference to Peter’s house in Capernaum, but it would be strange that in a few passages, it is specifically said that He entered ‘Peter’s house’ (Matthew 8:14), while in most cases, it is only stated that He was in THE house. It was obviously a dwelling place that was well known to the people—they knew where to go when they heard that He was in THE house. The strong indication is that it was actually Christ’s house where He would live when He was dwelling in Capernaum and when He was not on a missionary journey.
“For instance, in Mark 2:1, some commentaries feel that the phrase, ‘He was in the house,’ should be rendered, according to the original Greek, as ‘He was at home,’ which would strongly indicate that Christ either owned a house in Capernaum, or that He was renting one, still showing that this was ‘His home.’
“Later, when Jesus went up from Capernaum to Nazareth, we read His words in Matthew 13:57, which could refer to His relatives and/or to visitors in His own house: ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country [or: hometown, compare New American Standard Bible] and in his own house.’ And so, He did not do many works in His hometown where He had grown up, ‘because of their unbelief’ (verse 58).”
Therefore, the assumption that Jesus didn’t own a home and that He was homeless is false.
FALSE ASSUMPTION No. 4:
Another false assumption is about the so-called “Lord’s Prayer.” We read that Jesus, in Matthew 6:7-8, gave the following instructions:
“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
And then comes the prayer in verses 9-13:
“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
In mainstream churches around the world, this outline prayer is mouthed every Sunday, word for word, in about 30 seconds, without any time made available to think about what all of those words truly mean. It can become meaningless. But as we will explain below, this is just an outline of subjects to consider, not a prayer to be repeated word for word.
A former UK Prime Minister was reported to have said the “Lord’s Prayer” when a terrorist atrocity happened in the UK many years ago, which was the sign of a decent person but was somewhat misplaced. The prayer should have been about the immediate situation where people were killed, maimed and injured but there is this misplaced “understanding” that just mouthing the words of the “model prayer” is sufficient for all occasions. When you see prayers in a “Christian” movie, it is almost inevitable that it will be just the “model prayer”; in fact in one movie, the early Christians kept repeating the same words faster and faster; almost as if they were in a trance!
The prayer that Jesus gave His disciples then, and today, is an outline. We should pray to the Father, not to Mary or some saint, but to the greatest Being in the universe. On page 3 of our booklet “Teach Us to Pray,” we read:
“There is absolutely no Biblical basis for praying to anyone but God. Even [the Apostle] John, on two occasions, was so overwhelmed and filled with awe by the visions revealed through one of God’s angels, he reacted by falling down to worship the angel, but the angel corrected him, saying: ‘Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God”’ (Revelation 22:9; compare Revelation 19:10).”
On page 14 of the same booklet, we read: “Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John [the Baptist] also taught his disciples.’” Christ then proceeded to give them an outline, which is recorded in Luke 11:2–4 and in Matthew 6:9–13.
“Note that this is just an outline—a guideline, if you will—on how to pray. It is not a prayer per se, to be repeated, word for word, over and over. Most professing Christian churches routinely require their members to recite the ‘Our Father’ prayer, verbatim, in their services. Priests may even instruct their parishioners to pray ten or twenty ‘Our Father’ prayers in order to become absolved of certain sins. This is NOT Biblical! Christ never intended such a custom! In fact, He specifically warned His disciples not to use “vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matthew 6:7).
“We find, in John 17, the words of Christ’s prayer to the Father, just prior to His arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. When reading that prayer, you will see that it does not at all contain the exact words that were recorded in Matthew 6, but it does contain some of the concepts listed in that prayer outline.
“Christ gave His disciples this prayer as an outline, essentially setting forth the basic principles for prayer. We are to expand on those basics and go on to develop a meaningful conversation with God. We are not to present Him with an endless cycle of repetitive words. Think about it! When you converse with friends or family, or if you were to give a speech to a group of people, how long would they listen to you if all that came out of your mouth was a drone-like, repetitive cycle of repetitive words?”
The belief that this outline prayer just has to be continually repeated word for word each and every time is another false assumption. In passing, the “Hail Mary” (Ave Maria) prayer is totally wrong and must not be prayed by a true Christian. Mary is dead and in her grave, without consciousness. She was not resurrected and did not ascend to heaven. She is sometimes referred to as the “Queen of Heaven.” However, the idea that a “Queen of Heaven” is in heaven who has become our Mediator is an old pagan belief which is strongly condemned in Scripture (compare Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-25). It is, in part, based on the apocryphal book of Enoch which contains many demonic concepts.
FALSE ASSUMPTION No. 5:
The many errors about Christmas are manifold but most people either don’t know or are not interested in them, as they enjoy many days off work to celebrate something that is not biblical; not that that worries many people today in this secular society.
In our Q&A: “Was Jesus really born on December 25?”, we clearly show from just two books in the Bible that it can be proved that Jesus was born around late September/early October, but if God had wanted us to celebrate Christ’s birthday, He would have given us the exact date.
We’ve all seen the general nativity scene; mother and child, Joseph, with shepherds, angels and the wise men (the Magi). All of this is false as it never happened that way, although many churches and ministers know this, but go along with the false representation about the birth of Jesus.
In Halley’s Bible Handbook, we read: “Matthew 2:1–12 VISIT OF THE WISEMEN on page 418. This must have occurred in the period when Jesus was between 40 days and two years old (2:16; Luke 2:22, 39). It would have taken the Magi (or Wise Men) some time to get to Jerusalem after they first saw the star (verse 7), although probably quite a bit less than two years. And it took some time before Herod realized that the Magi weren’t coming back. So Herod, in order to be sure, took the outside limit. We know that the child was no longer in the manger, as is sometimes pictured, but in the house (verse 11; see on Luke 2:6–7)…”
Of course, Christ could have clearly been about two years old by that time, as Herod had carefully inquired as to His age. Continuing with the above-mentioned commentary:
“We may know the Christmas carol ‘We Three Kings’ which recounts the story of the three Magi or Wise Men. The false assumption is that there were only three wise men. They were men of high standing, for they had [been given] access to Herod. They are commonly spoken of as the ‘Three Wise Men.’ But Scripture does not say how many. There were probably more, or at least they were with an entourage of scores or hundreds, for it would not be safe for a small group to travel a thousand miles over desert wastes that were infested with bandits.”
According to many traditions, there were actually twelve wise men visiting Jesus; each representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
We state the following in our Q&A, “Who were the magi or wise men in Matthew 2? How many were there?”:
“Surprisingly to many, the ‘magi’ were neither ‘astrologers,’ nor did they visit Joseph, Mary and the Christ Child in the inn, nor is it biblically revealed how many there were. However, there are traditions which would support the idea that they were twelve, not three, as commonly assumed… The Bible describes at times angels as stars (compare Revelation 1:20; Isaiah 14:13; Job 38:7); so it appears certain that this ‘star,’ which was not always visible to the ‘magi,’ was an angel who showed them the way to the place where Christ dwelled. At that time, Christ was no longer in a manger or an inn. Rather, He was now in a house (compare Matthew 2:11)…
“According to Matthew 2:16, Christ was at that time perhaps as old as two years, since King Herod had all children two and under killed, based on the information which he had received from the wise men…
“The P.M. magazine published an article some time ago, entitled, ‘What do we know about the Three Holy Kings?’ It pointed out:
“’That they… became kings, can be accredited to the theologian Tertullian (160 until 220). He wrote, “in the east, Magi were normally kings.”… According to Persian tradition, these Magi were descendants of the ancient Median priesthood… In the gospel, we are not told how many they were. The oriental churches speak of twelve Magi.
“’Jacob of Edessa (640-708), one of the most important ancient writers of the Church of the Jacobites, writes: “The Magi were from Persia, but they were not three, as portrayed by artists for the people, as derived from the threeness of the gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense, but rather twelve, as can be seen in many traditions. Those who came were princes and well-respected persons from the country of Persia. Many people, more than a thousand men, accompanied them, so that Jerusalem became very excited when they arrived.”‘
“The article also speculates that the number of the Magi was reduced to ‘three,’ not because of the three types of gifts mentioned, but because another argument for the Trinity was searched for. Allegedly, the remains of the ‘three kings’ rest today in the dome of Cologne in Germany. However, P.M. notes that ‘the garments, in which the bones are wrapped, were made in the second or third century after Christ in Syria.’”
“… historical and biblical evidence reveals that the Magi of Matthew 2 were not astrologers whose observations of heavenly bodies led them to the Christ Child. Instead, they were representatives of the tribes of Israel in exile who were led to their King by an angel…
“Since the Jew Daniel was one of the righteous ‘magi,’ and he and many other Jewish exiles lived in Babylon as captives, after King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the house of Judah, and since the Parthian Empire subsequently absorbed the Babylonian Empire, it stands to reason that Jews continued to live in the Parthian Empire, and that they still dwelled there at the time of the birth of Christ. The tradition that it was TWELVE magi who visited Christ would be quite interesting, in that the magi could have been representatives of ALL the twelve tribes of Israel AND Judah (being descendants of the TWELVE sons of Jacob or Israel), who were led by an angel to their King.”
Under the heading “Don’t Mix Pagan Customs With the Worship of God” in our booklet “Don’t Keep Christmas,” we read on page 20: “Do you know that you can be sincere in your worship of God and Christ, and still worship in vain? Christ clearly said in Matthew 15:7-9: ‘Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”’ Who can doubt that the celebration of Christmas and the observance of its customs are pursuant to the commandments of men? Nowhere in the Bible are we told to do these things! And Christ said, this kind of religious worship which is based on men’s traditions is ‘in vain’ – it is useless. Rather, we are expressly told how to worship God.”
The additional Santa Claus myth is just another “add-on” to a time not sanctioned by the Bible. There are so many false assumptions about the birth of Jesus, as well as the Christmas tree, Christmas carols, the exchange of gifts, etc.
For much more information, please see our booklet: “Don’t Keep Christmas”.
(To be continued)
Lead Writers: Brian Gale and Norbert Link