Can We Talk 2

Answers To Quiz

According to the Bible, the answers:

1/ We don't know. She might have walked the whole way. She may have ridden someone's cart part of the way. It just doesn't say. They were poor. It's not important. They got to Bethlehem from Nazareth somehow.

2/ We don't know. It doesn't say. There was more than one, and not likely a whole convention. We generally think of 3 because three kinds of gifts are mentioned. Some traditions say four. Some say as many as twelve. The Bible does not say or give any names or mention servants or other people traveling with them. It's likely they had a servant or two.

3/ It does not say the angels sang. It says the first angel spoke. then there was a host of angels saying 'Glory...' In fact, Billy Graham, in his book on angels, says that the angels never sing in all of the Bible. It's something we humans like to think of, but there is no indication of angels singing.

4/ No animals are mentioned. We assume that a stable would have a donkey, maybe a cow if the innkeeper owned one. It doesn't say what the shepherds did with their sheep, so there may not have been any sheep with them. It's unlikely any camels were there. We just don't know. A manger is a feeding trough (from the French word for eat.

5/ False.According to the Bible, the angels left before the shepherds decided to go look for the things they were told. So the angles were not at the stable. According to the Bible, the magi didn't show up child was a little older, in a house. Historians think it may have been during his stay in Egypt, which is the result of a warning to Joseph. By the time Herod realized the wise men had not come back to him, almost two years had passed. So the baby was probably over a year old. We can't be for sure.

6/ No. Only the Magi saw the star which moved (the earth moved in its path0 as they traveled. The shepherds found the baby by following the instructions of the angels, and looking for the "signs".

7/ We don't know. It's likely, but there is no mention of camels in the Bible. Secular historians have not determined this either.

8/ We don't know. There is no mention of heat or cold, or season. Popular tradition favors winter.The winter date was chosen to divert people away from pagan holidays to turn to this celebration instead.

9/ We don't know. There is no mention in the Bible. Scholars think she may have been about 13 to 15, the normal age for marriage. She did not have an education or unusual experience working with children. It does turn out that she had good instincts and occasional good insight.

10/ We don't know. Chances are a lot of people were traveling for the same reason. The inns were full. They probably caught up with other groups of travelers on the road.

Nativity scenes are not exactly correct. The stable itself might have been a cave rather than a wooden structure. The star was not noteworthy to anyone but the Magi who studied the stars every day. But we don't have a problem with it. It was an extraordinary event. The god of all creation chose to become one of the created, not as a full grown man, but as an innocent baby at the mercy of first-time parents. People were in awe and came to worship, from the lowly to the mighty. Mary marveled at all that happened and treasured it in her heart all her life. We set up our Nativity scenes as symbols only, and we marvel. We can put them all there at once and celebrate like those early worshipers that the God of Love came to earth.