Cedars, December 2018

A s I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded, it’s Christmas! Somewhere between breaking 54 glass ornaments and in- dulging in crazy marketing scams, we find a celebration of the birth of our savior. It’s my absolute favorite time of the year, but as an extremely popular holiday, it’s bound to have some legends and myths surrounding it that aren’t true. I compiled a list of some of the biggest lies surround- ing Christmas... 1. Jesus was born on Christmas Day. This is pretty well known by all you Bible minors. Ah, wait, that’s all of us. The Bible never mentions a date or a month, but let’s Sherlock this: in Bethlehem in the winter, it’s cold; I’m not sure if the shepherds are out in the fields — what fields have crops in the middle of winter? Some Christian scholars think Christmas was scheduled to coincide with a major pagan holiday and thus de- tract attention from it (unproven, just plausible). Maybe all they succeeded in doing was paganising the birth of Christ with capi- talism? #YouDecide. 2. “Xmas” takes the Christ out of Christmas (and Starbucks is trying to kill Christmas with its red cups). “Χριστός” is the name of Christ written in Greek — and Emperor Constantine was the first to start using the “X” as an abbreviation for Christ. If this is a part of the secular war on Christmas, Constantine — the guy who made Christianity a major state religion — is the one who started it. 3. Santa Claus isn’t real. Santa Claus was, in fact, a very real man named St. Nicholas who (perhaps a bit creepily) took to leav- ing money in people’s stockings overnight in 4th-century Turkey. There’s actually a few different generous old men, mythical or oth- erwise, who have contributed to the legend — a Dutch dude named Sinterklaas, and Father Christmas in Europe. There’s also a Central European anti-Santa named Krampus who punishes the truly bad children, such as those who steal forks from Chucks. 4. The Wise Men came right after Jesus was born. They were not there immediately, and also there were not just three of them. They were actually probably a brand of magician slash astrologer slash philosopher, which sounds like a poorly made video game character by someone who can’t make a decision. They showed up after Jesus was presented at the temple, which was at least 40 days from the nativity. When you display your nativity sets this year, put the wise men about 40 feet from the scene. 5. Christmas trees were always a part of Christmas. Sure, your pastor’s Christmas Eve sermon illustration about how ev- ergreen trees relate to our everlasting life is compelling, but the roots of decorating Christmas trees are pretty complicated. First, Romans put them up for Saturnalia, Vikings for the sun god Bald- er, Druids for ancient Celtic rituals, and then 16th century German Christians started up the tradition of bringing the whole tree into the house, which makes perfect sense, because the reason we built houses away from the trees was to then put trees back in them. Anyway... legend has it that Martin Luther is the one who thought to put candles in it, thus triggering one of the largest fire safety disasters the world has ever thought up. 6. Jesus was born inAD 1. I’mnot going to get into the chronol- ogy of Jesus’s birth — that’s reserved for truly intense biblical schol- ars and crazy apocalypse predictors — but Luke and Matthew place his birth around the time King Herod the Great died around 4 BC. You can also use Luke and subtract 30 years from the time of Je- sus’s death, which was around 33 AD. So ... we don’t know. The cal- endar was actually suggested in 6th century, and Russia and Turkey didn’t even adopt it until the 20th century. Lol. You can use this list of factoids as conversation starters — or interrupters, to prevent your slightly racist uncle and your cous- in who went to a state school in California from killing each oth- er over Christmas dinner. Enjoy the time with your family and friends. From all of us at Cedars, Happy Holidays. Oops, I mean, stay safe from Krampus. Or, Merry Xmas. Nevermind. Alexandria Hentschel is a junior International Studies and Span- ish double major and the Off-Campus news editor for Cedars. She enjoys old books, strong coffee, and honest debate. December 2018 3 Explain your transition from being a pastor to being a Bible professor Dr. Trent Rogers Assistant Professor of New Testament and Greek I love teaching at Cedarville University. God led my family to Cedarville a little more than 5 years ago for me to serve as Pastor for Adult Ministries at Grace Baptist Church. I served at Grace on staff for five years, and I continue to serve as a committed church member. Ministry to college students was not on my radar initially, but I began leading the college-aged adult Bible fellowship a few months into my tenure at Grace. As I shepherded college students, God grew in me both my love for college students and my ability to minister to them effectively. I was impressed by the spiritual maturity of CU students and the amazing growth that I observed from when they came in as freshmen to when they graduated. The local church was essential to their spiritual growth, and the ministry of CU was instrumental in helping them understand the Bible and develop a biblical worldview. My role at Cedarville, teaching in the School of Biblical and Theological Studies, provides me opportunities to have an impact on freshmen, upperclassmen, and graduate students. I love the opportunity to influence the lives of students from various majors in Bible minor classes, and I also love the opportunity to help equip and form students for vocational ministry. Just Sayin’ ... Alex Hentschel Christmas Lies You (Probably) Believe BEOC (Big Event On Campus) F inals W eek !!! Dec. 10-14, Cedarville University The semester has finally reached an end with just a few exams and/or papers to go. Take heart knowing that soon you will be celebrating the holidays with family.