The office of the President of the United States is one of the most powerful positions in the world, leading a nation of some 309 million people. However, many might argue that Savior of the World is a more important office, claiming over one billion followers.
The qualifications for the US President are laid out in the US Constitution, Article II. To meet the constitutional definition, Barack Obama must have been born in the United States. Some have questioned Obama’s Hawaiian birthplace and hence we have the tribe of the birthers.
The qualifications for Savior of the World are less compactly stated in the Christian Bible. However, one article of faith is that the Savior is one and the same as the Jewish messiah, and must therefore fulfill prophesies from Jewish holy writ including this:
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. [Micah 5:2]
The standard Christmas story indeed has Jesus born in Bethlehem; that is the standard story as told by the Luke the Evangelist. However Jesus was jeered by folks who said “can anything good come from Nazareth?” Jesus was popularly called “Jesus of Nazareth” not “Jesus of Bethlehem.” There is a legitimate historical dispute over where Jesus was born that calls into question his qualifications as the Jewish messiah and the Savior of the World. So…
Okay, I realize the entry is just a quick stab at the irony of birthers who take The Bible as the innerant word of God, but want more proof that our Hawaiian-born President is a US citizen.
That said, both nativity stories tell of Jesus being born in Bethlehem. Luke has the familiar story of the birth in the stable.
But Matthew also tells of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, as told in the story of the Magi:
Matthew 2:1-2
The Maji visited Bethlehem at Herod’s direction. After the visit, Joseph took his family to Egypt until Herod died, and then moved to Nazareth.
Bottom line, Luke says Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Matthew has Jesus’ parents living in Bethlehem at his birth and for at least two years after that, then moving to Nazareth after a stay in Egypt.
Joseph wasn’t Jesus father, so where are the adoption papers? Did he get reconverted to Judaism after spending all that time in pagan Egypt?
Shouldn’t Judas be hailed as a hero for questioning Jesus eligibility and giving up his pension? Who finally ended up with the thirty pieces of silver, by the way?
LOL! Checkmate.
‘Praire, the bible is the ‘inerrant’ book of CONFUSION.
And none of the extant “official” writings were contemporaneous.
According to the Hebrew part of the Bible, as related by Jewish scholars, Jesus did not meet the eligibility standards for the Hebrew Messiah on many levels.
The purpose of the article was to point out the irony and double standards exhibited by birther Christians.
Thanks for pointing out my faulty memory. The article is now corrected.
The same folks who ALWAYS end up with the thirty pieces of silver.
The child of a Jewish woman is automatically Jewish regardless of the father’s religion.
I know.
However, he was a descendant of a people that was once enslaved in Egypt, so he would have suffered great discrimination in Egypt, he would have had to use separate drinking water wells, and separate ablution blocks.
He surely would have had to convert to paganism to go to school in Egypt, and those schools would have put those radical revolutionary ideas in his head. (This is only half in jest, by the way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ_in_comparative_mythology#Ancient_Egypt )
I wonder how many non-christian birthers there are…
> The child of a Jewish woman is automatically Jewish regardless of the father’s religion.
Is it established, to the degree that birthers usually move their goalposts to, that Mary was Jewish (at the time of giving birth, if that matters)?