Matt’s Journal

Katie and I went to church again yesterday evening. We are going every other Sunday evening in order to qualify for our presence on the electoral role, our banns to be read and have our wedding at that particular church.

The topic of last nights discussion was the three wise men and the story relating to the birth of Jesus. In a QI style Q+A, the reverend asked us to think of the points we could remember about the story (the gifts, the wise men themselves, the fact they followed the star etc) and he would point out whether they were indeed half truths or referenced in the Bible.

As we progressed, I found that the reverend was clutching at different facts to make the story seem real for himself and obviously make us believe it too. I don’t go to church as a non-believer, I attend to know more about the stories that Christians relate to and educate myself so I can enter a debate and raise relevant points.

In this instance, he was talking about the “Star” that guided the three wise men to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The reverend told us that researchers had found that at around 7BC (700 hundred years before the birth of Christ), there was a celestial event which caused three of the planets in our solar system to eclipse with one another, and that it could have been the star that they may have followed. He explained that the person who had taken the time periods from the Bible and equated them to modern day lengths of time, had miscalculated the event that happened at 7BC, which had infact taken place on or around the birth of Jesus.

The Bible is the foundation of a Christians faith, the fact it was written by first hand eyewitnesses, but to non-believers, this is also something that cannot be tangible evidence that there is infact a God. In this case, I found the reverend to be grasping at events and relating them to verses in the Bible and also to historical fact, feeling to me like basing a suggestion upon another suggestion (how can we be so sure the eclipse of the planets did happen then?!).

The reverend then suggested we shouldn’t look to Astrology for answers as it was out of the question that science could explain what was essentially God’s work. I thought that was a tad weird, but if he wasn’t reliant on Astrology, how comes he was using a researchers notion that an eclipse happened in 7BC and that it was what may have led the wise men to Israel?

I’m not here to dispel the fact there is no God, I believe there maybe something that governs over all of us. I am very interested in the events that happened, I am even more so captured by stories of the Knights Templar and other religous secret societies. I just feel exasperated by the hearsay that religious leaders use to base theories on.

Perhaps all that we hear from ancient times is hearsay, they didnt have the internet, they only had messengers on horses. I believe Jesus existed and that the book was probably written about him, I just believe he was what we would know as a modern day magician, a psychologist who could manipulate and cast doubt on other people. Who knows?

If you are interested, here is the Bible passage we read:

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:
6 ‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH,
ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH;
FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER
WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’”
7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.”
9 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

From this, we could deduce that the following were “false”:

• They were not kings. (Referred to as Magi, they may have been priest like.)
• They didn’t have camels (for some reason all Christmas cards have them on camels!)
• There were no donkeys or lambs at the birth (refers to the point above).

I find that side of it very interesting, it helps me grasp an idea of other peoples beliefs. If I have offended, I am sorry. It’s just one man’s view on what is put in front of him.

This weekend I was asked to referee a football match for the 2nd Team of my club. £30 would see me ref the whole 90 minutes in the freezing cold…….but I’ll come to that later.

On Friday night myself and Katie with friends; Lauren, Cheg and Graeme took to Southend for a chinese, knowing full well it was statistically the busiest night of the year for Christmas parties (some blond bird on GMTV told me this). We were lucky, we chose the place that myself and Katie held our Engagement Party and it was dead quiet, perhaps other people knew something we didnt (cats in the Egg Foo Yung?). After that, we ventured to a bar for a few Southern Comforts and then crashed out, staying up after 12am doesn’t feel as easy as it used too!

Saturday was a mixed bag, Katie had her piano re-tuned so we decided to head to the local music shop to purchase some piano song books…..and nothing else……I thought. Wandering in, we happened upon a family who were all musical genii (plural for geniuses?) who were strumming, beating, playing every instrument possible, I think it must have inspired Katie. Finding a few books with “I Will Always Love You” and “Tears In Heaven”, we ventured to the stringed section with lots of fantastic looking guitars.

A geeky looking bloke silently walks up to us and asks us for help; we kindly accept and get him to talk us through the guitars worth buying. He picks one up, plays it a little and tunes it, tells us thats the best for a beginner and plays a little ditty on it. He then proceeds to tell us he cant play guitar…..yeah and I don’t own a blog. The sales magic (or lack thereof) and Katie’s smiling little face persuaded me to give in and buy a guitar for both myself and Katie to learn, hopefully making our home a musical home when we eventually move in.

Sunday was of course Ref day. Arriving in all back, I went over to the pitch, received a ribbing from all my friends who played on the team that asked me to ref and waited for the opposing team to turn up….and waited and waited. Then struts over a coloured guy with a bunch of misfits behind him, 10 minutes late and grinning from ear to ear. We shake hands and attempt to get the match underway.

Little did I know they were a community team, full of migrants, ex-convicts and weird indiviudals. To be fair, they were completely fine bar a bald guy threatening to punch a guy from the home team and the extra fat goalkeeper who kept blaming the ball for his 3 yard kickouts. The game went smoothly, the home team winning 12-2 and my hands almost black with frostbite.

Later in the evening it was over to church again and singing carols, it’s a lovely church, but I must admit but it’s got it’s fair share of “different” people.