48 Hours, Bah! Humbug!

Give me Ebenezer Scrooge any day! Last night I had the distinct impression that CBS television was out to outdo the old man in Charles Dickens’ classic story.

The difference is Scrooge was simply a greedy old man who made no bones about his obsession with power and wealth, while 48 Hours attempted to couch their disbelief in pseudo-intellectual jargon.

I have to admit that I watched only a portion of last night’s broadcast. Fifteen minutes was enough to convince me that the producers of that program could use a visit from a few appropriate spirits themselves. So maybe I missed something. Maybe they had a complete change of heart after the first quarter of the program. But I doubt it.

The program began with children at a private elementary school presenting a nativity play. They were given a few sound bites. Then as if to say, “well that’s what ten-year-olds believe, now lets see what some real experts have to say on the matter”, the scene shifted to two New Testament professors. These professors were each given a massive build up, their credentials listed as if taken directly from their résumés. And then the hostess (adorned paradoxically during parts of the program with a gold cross around her neck) dropped the bomb and asked if Jesus was really born in Bethlehem.

The first quarter of the program dealt with this question.

“Are the Gospel accounts accurate?” She asked (or words to that effect, I didn’t tape the thing).

One of the experts responded with, “the Gospel accounts are very difficult to harmonize on the subject of the Nativity”. A semi-true statement, but extremely misleading.

You see, a harmony in music occurs when two or more instruments or singers are performing the SAME PASSAGE. A solo part occurs when one or the other is performing a single line alone. So to HARMONIZE means to deal with the exact same portion of something in different ways. To harmonize the Gospels means to bring two or more parallel passages together and compare the slight variations.

The Gospels do cover some of the same material when speaking of the Nativity of Christ, but divert on others. It doesn’t mean they contradict each other, it simply means that some of the material is unique to each. In other words a harmony does not occur if a solo is going on.

Matthew tells us, “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king…” (Matt. 2:1a)

Mark doesn’t give an account of the Nativity.

Luke gives a longer account which corroborates Matthew; “Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem…” (Luke 2:4a)

The experts interviewed said that John’s Gospel, “doesn’t know anything about Jesus being born in Bethlehem”. Another misleading statement. While John didn’t spend any time at the beginning of his account on Jesus’ birth per se, he goes right to the heart of the matter, and says that Jesus is GOD. (John 1:1)

Furthermore there is a passage later in John’s Gospel that corroborates the Nativity stories of Matthew and Luke. In John 7:41-42 “Has not the scripture said the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem…?” The text assumes that Jesus was indeed descended from David and was born in Bethlehem. That the experts glossed over this passage makes me wonder just how closely they have been reading their Bibles.

So the crew at 48 Hours went to Nazareth, and confronted a man in a market. “Did you know that many experts believe that Jesus was born HERE, on this very spot, and not in Bethlehem?” The man responded, “No! I don’t believe it.” And that was that.

Which begs the questions: What experts? Who is this man who you are confronting with this supposed fact? Why not give some time to some opposing views, rather than your two chosen cynics? What about the historical records that corroborate that a census was indeed taken when Quirinius was Governor of Syria?

But rather than answer those questions the 48 Hours crew pressed on.

The experts again linked partially true statements with misleading statements and came up with this whopper. “The four Gospels were written for different audiences” (true) “and so the Gospel writers tailored those accounts to fit their specific readers” (also true). “So the Gospels are a mixture of fact and fiction” (I beg your pardon?).

This goes back to what I said above about them not reading their Bibles carefully. According to them Matthew and Luke were making stuff up. But if they had bothered to read Luke’s introductory statements they would have possibly questioned their own motives for casting doubts on the text.

“Inasmuch as many have undertaken the compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you many know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed”. (Luke 1: 1-4)

Here Luke is making statements that he investigated carefully and is reporting those things dutifully. Many times in his Gospel one can read the principle of being honest expounded, and yet these experts would have us believe that in the very next line Luke begins to lie to his readers?

Sounds like the reporters at 48 Hours are doing a little projection of their own faults.

So what has this got to do with my comics and cartooning? Simple, the folks at 48 Hours painted a broad and vicious characature of Christians as ignorant uneducated idiots. As a cartoonist I am honor bound to report that such broad characatures are not exemplary of the state-of-the-art. When journalists start messing around on my turf then it’s time to strike back. They cartoon, I report.

Am I writing from a Christian perspective? Sure. I’m also writing from an informed perspective…more than I can say of the producers of 48 Hours or their supposed experts.

Scrooge at least knew when to repent.