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Story of Christmas is definitely not ‘fake news’

To the editor:

We are hearing a lot about fake news these days. Like the news that caused Brian Williams to be fired from NBC. Among perhaps numerous other stories he misrepresented, he reported that the helicopter he was in while in Iraq was hit by RPG fire when it was not true. Then we hear of extremely bad news, like the reports of the treacherous deeds of ISIS.

At Christmas, we are reminded of the ‘Good News of Great Joy’ that the angels reported about the birth of Jesus Christ. In the account of Luke in the New Testament, Luke begins by saying he heard from the eyewitnesses who were there during the life and ministry of Jesus, that he did his own research, and that he was writing to a man named Theophilus so he could be certain of what had been told. Immediately after stating this, Luke begins to tell of the circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ to the Virgin Mary.

He did not begin by saying ‘Once upon a time,” but rather he recorded these accounts that we might know the certainty of the events that follow.

Many in churches, even ministers, today doubt that this account of the virgin birth is true. It makes sense to have skepticism about such a supernatural event. But is there reason to believe Luke and the author of the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus was born to a virgin? Over the centuries, that has been the teaching of the church.

First of all, to say that the accounts of Jesus’ birth are a fairy tale or a legend is to question the integrity of Luke and Matthew who clearly believed what they were writing. Throughout the centuries, Christians have affirmed this amazing truth and millions believe it to be true in the 21st century.

One prominent head and neck surgeon from the University of Virginia Medical School, Dr. Robert Cantrell, began hearing from friends that his minister didn’t believe in the virgin birth of Christ. He responded that they must be wrong. Finally, after several conversations, he went to the minister and asked him directly. The minister responded that he didn’t think it mattered whether Jesus was born of a virgin or not. Dr. Cantrell never attended that church again. To him the virgin birth is one of the essentials of who Christ is.

Perhaps a more difficult miracle to believe is the resurrection of Christ three days after his execution by the Romans by crucifixion. He didn’t have just a ‘near death experience’ but was clearly dead for three days after which he appeared alive to more than 500 eyewitnesses. Then he ascended into heaven from where he will return in the future.

This is the central miracle of Christianity. If a person can believe in the resurrection of Jesus, he or she can see that with God all things are possible, including the virgin birth and the other miracles of the Bible. But was the resurrection of Jesus true history or just fake news or a legend that developed?

One man, Frank Morrison, set out to disprove the resurrection of Christ once and for all. In the process of researching the evidence for Christ’s resurrection, he himself became a believer that Jesus rose again and is the only Savior of the world having died to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross.

Morrison wrote the book, “Who Moved the Stone,” where he cites the evidence that changed his mind. The first chapter of the book is titled, ‘The Book that Refused to Be Written.’ Lee Strobel was another skeptic of Christianity as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. He says it was Morrison’s book that started him thinking that Jesus is truly the Son of God and Savior of the world. Strobel has since produced a series of books and movies with titles including, ‘The Case for Christ,’ The Case for Faith,’ and ‘The Case for Christianity.’

As Christmas is celebrated this year, I hope many more will discover its wonderful message of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2017 A.D. (in the year of our Lord).

Rev. Glen Bayly

Mifflinburg

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