A Christmas True or False Quiz

I wager most Christmas gift givers can't answers all of these questions correctly: 

1. Handel a German-born baroque composer wrote the oratorio Messiah.
2. King David and Jesus were born in Bethlehem.
3. The wise men were three kings from the orient.
4. Ockham's Razor is a favorite stocking stuffer for Dad.
5. The little drummer boy was the last visitor to the manger.
6. According to legend the Gordian knot is used by elves to tie Christmas ribbons. 
7. January 6 the traditional date for the Feast of Epiphany celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ. 
8. On December 25  pagan Romans celebrated the festival Natalis Invicti Solis (“Birth of the Unconquered Sun”). 
9. A bright star appeared above the manger.
10. Yin and Yang like Cheech and Chong are Chinese Christmas songs.
11. Hanukkah overlaps the Christmas season.
12. Immanuel means “God with us.”
13. Mary rode a donkey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
14. A yarmulke is a gentle breed of camel often used in Christmas pageants.
15. Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem because of a decree by Caesar Augustus.
16. According to Luke there were cows and sheep in the stable where Jesus was born.
17. The wise men were late for the birth of Jesus.
18. Programming a smart phone in advance for Christmas travel is called predestination.
19. Three gospels describe the events surrounding the birth of Jesus.
20. Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth before marriage and during Jesus' Childhood.
21. The appearance of the angel of the Lord filled the shepherds with joy.
22. The Magi outwitted Herod.
23. Ramadan occurs during the Christmas season.
24. Santa Claus calls a carelessly attached bicycle tire a prayer wheel.
25. Yom Kipper is a smoked herring Jews eat during Hanukkah to atone for sins.

Here are the answers:

1. True: Handle spent most of his career in England although he was German-born. At the conclusion of the first performance of the Messiah the audience stood with King George II establishing a Christmas tradition. Cynics believe that the King stood because he wanted to stretch his legs, relieve his gout or go to the bathroom. Christians know he stood because the music reflects that “God is the master of us all.” 
2. True: 1 Samuel 17:21; Micah 5:2-5: Luke 2:10-12
3. False: The Bible fails to give the number of wise men. No evidence indicates they were kings.
4. False: The principle that explanations should be kept as simple as possible is known as Ockham’s razor after William of Ockham, a fourteenth century English philosopher.
5. False: The Bible makes no mention of a little drummer boy. The lyrics of the song tell the apocryphal story of a young boy who plays his drum for the newborn Jesus. The music and lyrics written in 1958 have become a holiday classic.
6. False:  A Phrygian king tied the Gordian knot. According to legend whoever loosed it would rule all Asia. Alexander the Great undid the Gordian knot by cutting it with his sword. 
7. True:  Epiphany commemorates the birth of Jesus. Later James Joyce coined the phrase “epiphany” for the sudden revelation of the essential nature of a situation. 
8. True:  The Roman Church established December 25 as Christmas Day in 336 AD. 
9. False: The star appeared above the house where Joseph's family was living (Matthew 2:9-11). 
10. False:  The Chinese contend that  yin and yang are two forces in the universe. Yin is the passive, negative force; and yang, the active, positive force. Cheech and Chong were two hippie comedians famous for their marijuana smoking antics in the 1960s. You would not want to find your daughter under the mistletoe with them.
11. True:  Hanukkah a festival in Judaism that occurs each December commemorates the Jewish victory over the Syrians in the second century BC. Celebrants light a candle in a holder called a menorah each night for a week in memory of candles that burned without oil for a week when the Temple was rededicated. 
12. True:  Matthew 1:23
13. False: The Bible contains nothing about Mary riding a donkey. She probably walked. 
14. False:  A yarmulke is a skullcap worn by Jewish men as a sign of reverence. 
15. True:  Luke 2:1-5
16. False: There is no mention of cows and sheep in the Biblical account.
17. True:  The wise men arrived a few years after Jesus was born (Matthew 2:1). Jesus may have been about two-years old when the Magi arrived (Matthew 2:7, 11, 16).
18. False:  Predestination is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. 
19. False:  Only Matthew and Luke mention the birth of Jesus. 
20. True:  Luke 1:26 & 2:39 
21. False:  The shepherds were terrified (Luke 2:9). 
22. True:  The Magi refused to tell Herod they had found Jesus as he requested (Matthew 2:13). 
23. False:  Moslems are obliged to fast in the daytime during the holy month of Ramadan that comes in the spring. 
24. False:  In Buddhism worshippers turn a prayer wheel a cylinder with prayers written on it. 
25. False: Yom Kippur a Jewish day of fasting to atone for sins comes in autumn.

Islam's Culture Contributions

Regular readers know that I lift weights with two other guys. I call us the Three Muscleteers, although their testosterone toned strength turns heads while I am a 199-pound weakling, a Charles Atlas reject. Nonetheless I like the name (even though no one laughs at the witty expression except me) so I’ve stuck with it.

Being very proud of the long hours of research I put in on A Brief History of Islam I sent the link to the two muscleteers. The next day as the three of us drove to the Weight Club neither mentioned receiving the blog. Finally I asked what they thought about the entry expecting to get praise for a fantastic, very, very smart summary (maybe I’ve been watching Donald Trump too much).

Instead Michael said he thought the writing reflected a Christian perspective. “Christian perspective!” I yelled, going into a harangue about how the blog epitomized factual reporting, contained no inflammatory remarks, and showed no bias in the hot spot Middle East section.

“What did you think Mike?” I asked the brawny other half sitting in the back seat.

“Well John sometimes we can’t comprehend our prejudices," Mike replied while I sat stupefied by the unexpected comments.

That night I reconsidered. After all I am a Christian and I know that the grace of Jesus Christ offers love, joy, peace and salvation. So I am biased.

After admitting my predilection to prejudice I began to contemplate Islam's contributions to civilization. Here, then, out of respect for the muscleteers I bring you the rest of the story.

Following the death of Mohammad a great wave of Islamic expansion swept over Asia, Africa and Europe.  When Muhammad died in 632 Islam's authority extended over little more than one-third the Arabian Peninsula.  Within a hundred years of Muhammad’s death Islam dominated half of the civilized world.

The conquerors were lenient.  Jews and Christians permitted to retain their own beliefs and customs lived unmolested in the Islamic empire for centuries.

Islamic culture left a splendid legacy of original discoveries and achievements:  

• Astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry and medicine advanced under Islam.  
• Europe adapted the Arabic system of numerals. 
• Muslims expanded algebra and trigonometry beyond Hellenistic times.
• They developed optics and the compass.
• Muslims found uses for alum, borax, sulfuric acid and sodium carbonate.  
• Muslims made paper.
• They developed the art of weaving pile carpeting and rugs and making brocaded silks and tapestries.  
• Muslims inlaid metal work, enameled glassware and painted pottery.  
• They improved farming techniques, terraced slopes and irrigated barren land.  
• They produced cotton, flax, silk, rice, wheat, spinach, asparagus, apricots, peaches, olives, banana, coffee and oranges.
• The songs of the troubadours and love poetry of medieval France were directly inspired by Muslim writings.  
• The Book of the Arabian Nights influenced Boccaccio and Chaucer.   
• The medical writings of Avicenna became the authoritative work in Europe until the late seventeenth century.  
• Medical progress included the description of smallpox, tuberculosis, stomach cancer, eye infections, pleurisy and a variety of nervous conditions.  
• The spread of disease through contamination of water and soil were described.  
• Under the Muslims commerce and manufacturing grew to an extraordinary degree.  
• Muslims developed checks, receipts, bills of lading, letters of credit, trade associations and stock companies.  
• They developed domes, minarets, horseshoe arches and built magnificent cities.

One final note: Every night I pray for the radical Islamic terrorist: “Lord please forgive the terrorist and open their hearts to receive your grace.” This petition presents difficulties for me but it follows Christ’s command to forgive our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. 

Hotbeds of Islam Conflict

 

Currently several hotbeds of Islamic conflict exist. Here are a few:

           

Saudia Arabia.  About 1500 the Saud dynasty established control over a small area of land that would later become Saudia Arabia.  In the mid-eighteenth century, the Saudis formed an alliance with a religious fundamental, Muhammad idn Abd al-Wahhab, a Sunnite who believed that Muslims should follow a strict interpretation the Islamic law.  In 1932, Ibn Saud proclaimed the Arabian Peninsula the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Ibn Saud's success was due largely to his revival of the Wahhabi movement.  Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait precipitated the Persian Gulf War of 1991.  Saudi leaders fearing that Iraq would attempt to control their oil fields joined the United States and its allies in driving the Iraqis out of Kuwait.  Thousands of U.S. troops were stationed in Saudi Arabia from 1991 to 2003.  The Wahhabis strongly opposed the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia home of Islam’s two holiest cities.  Tensions between the ruling Saudis and the Wahhabis began to grow.  The most notorious Wahhabi Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden became the leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaida.

           

Afghanistan.  In 1996 bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders moved to Afghanistan.  There they lived under the protection of the Taliban a conservative Islamic group that controlled most of the country.  On September 11, 2001 Islamic terrorists hijacked two commercial jetliners and deliberately crashed them into the twin towers of World Trade Center causing them to collapse.  The United States retaliated by briefly ousting the Taliban from Afghanistan.

Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups dominated by the Sunni Arabs. Bashar al-Assad who has been president of The Arab Republic of Syria since 2000 has effectively suspended most constitutional protections for citizens, many of whom have fled the country. A civil war has splintered the country, divided national alliances and contributed to the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1999.

Iraq.  In 1979 the Shiite Muslim Ayatollah Khomeini took control of Iran and fought a war with Iraq over territorial disputes.  The United States supported Iraq until the Kuwait invasion in 1991 when the United States organized the Islamic coalition against Iraq.  In March 2003 United States-led forces launched another war against Iraq to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein a supporter of the Taliban. After the American presence in Iraq ended in 2011 fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country allowing ISIS to grab Iraqi territory.

Iran. The Persian Empire as Iran was then called collapsed with the invasion of Alexander the Great in 330 BC. Under the Sassanid Dynasty Iran again became a leading world power until Muslims raided the country in 651 AD. Following a coup in 1953 secular Iran gradually became close allies with United States until the 1979 revolution. With the fall of Saddam Hussein Iran has become a nuclear threat and the religious terror group Hezbollah, an Iranian surrogate has grown more powerful.

Pakistan.  In the nineteenth century the area that makes up Pakistan and India came under British colonial rule.  In 1947, Pakistan was created as a homeland for Muslims while the people of India were primarily Hindus.  Almost all the people of Pakistan are Muslims, but major cultural groups including Punjabis, Sindhis, and Pashtuns make establishing a unified nation difficult.

           

Palestine, the land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and between Egypt and southwest Asia, has for over 2000 years been the center of religious conflict.  Between 1933 and 1935, more than 100,000 Jewish refugees fled to Palestine to escape persecution in Nazi Germany and Poland.  In 1947, the United Nations divided Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish.  The day after the Jews established the state of Israel on May 14, 1948, five Arab states—Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria—attacked Israel and were defeated.  In May 1967 Egyptian troops entered the Sinai Peninsula.  In the following six days, the Israelis destroyed the invading Islamic armies.  The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) founded in 1964 seeks to establish an independent state in Palestine.  The other Islamic states support the Palestinian’s fight against the Israelis but exclude Palestinians from their own countries considering them an inferior sect.

Malaysia a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy divided into 13 states and a Federal Territory in Southeast Asia is rich in natural resources and racially and ethically diverse.  Islam is the official religion.  Kuala Lumpur with once the world’s tallest building, the Petronas Towers, reflects the urbanization of Malaysia.  With Muslim mosques, Christian churches and Hindu and Buddhist temples standing side-by-side, stricter Islamic standards have engendered religious unrest.

Conclusion: It’s a mess. Recommendation: Pray, celebrate life, turn off the news and change the channel to I Love Lucy reruns.

Compassion for the Churlish

A good friend of mine became concerned about his wife's tendency toward irritating interrogations of friends and family. "She is the grand inquisitor," he said.

Understanding that his wife's hubris covered a failure to trust induced by childhood abandonment, I made these comments:

It's not the questions, it's how they're asked. Disconsolate people fail to conceive that arrogant queries quince the spirit and convivial questions build rapport. Thus their attitude increases feelings of loneliness. They become more cheerless, churlish, cranky, crabby and cantankerous. 

The cure: kind, gentle warmth, awarding the good while ignoring the atrocious. Praise good behavior and it will increase; ignore bad behavior and it will diminish. 

Understanding the origins of behavior encourages empathy allowing us to replace our retaliation response with benevolence. This isn't easy. Responding to pomposity with compassion is difficult. Our ability to do so depends on our belief that kind correction changes attitudes.    

The Gift of Joy

When God gives man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work---this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart. Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

Contrary to most I view Ecclesiastes as a joyful, hopeful book because it confirms that nothing can satisfy man but God's gifts.

Wealth won't give lasting joy, nor will possessions, neither will sensuality, power, or fame. Knowledge fails to forever satisfy. Constant folly is foolish. Pleasures fade.

Man can do nothing better than eat and drink, find satisfaction in industriousness, encounter contentment in love and experience gratification in service.

The thoughts found in Ecclesiastes can expand wisdom and stimulate meaningful conversation. It is the Faustian book of the Bible.