![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2019\/12\/Matthew.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Dr. David Madison<\/strong>\u00a0is an atheist who was a Methodist minister for nine years: with a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Boston University.\u00a0 You can see (by the number in the title) how many times I have replied<\/a> to his videos or articles.\u00a0Thus far, I haven\u2019t heard one peep<\/em> back from him\u00a0 (since 8-1-19 to this date). This certainly doesn\u2019t suggest to me that he is very confident<\/em> in his opinions. All I\u2019ve seen is expressions of contempt from Dr. Madison<\/a>\u00a0and from his buddy, atheist author and polemicist, the extraordinarily volatile John Loftus<\/a>, who runs the notoriously insulting\u00a0Debunking Christianity<\/em><\/a> blog.<\/p>\n Loftus even went to the length of changing his blog\u2019s rules of engagement<\/a>, in order for himself and Dr. Madison to avoid replying to me. Obviously, I have \u201chit a nerve\u201d over there. In any event, their utter non-responses and intellectual cowardice do not affect me in the slightest. No skin off of my back. If I want to critique more of their material, I will<\/em>. If my replies go out unopposed, all the better<\/em> for my cause.<\/p>\n This is a reply to Dr. Madison\u2019s article,\u00a0O Holy Night! How Matthew Screwed Up the Christmas Story<\/a> (12-21-18).\u00a0 Dr. Madison\u2019s words will be in\u00a0blue<\/span>\u00a0below.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n We can imagine the literary agents for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John meeting for drinks one Friday evening after work. They all get texts that the church\u2019s Authorized Bible Committee has decided to publish the four gospels\u00a0together<\/em>, back-to-back. They all wince.\u00a0Not<\/em>\u00a0a good idea! This will encourage the faithful to\u00a0compare<\/em>\u00a0the four Jesus accounts. Matthew and Luke plagiarized (and altered) Mark extensively\u2014without telling anyone\u2014and the author of John\u2019s gospel was pretty sure that the other three hadn\u2019t told the story well at all, and made up stuff to \u2018improve\u2019 to tale. What a mess.<\/span><\/p>\n Very cute. Of course, this is sheer cynical speculation, and so has no argumentative value whatsoever. It\u2019s simply thrown out as red meat for online anti-theist atheist audiences, who will (as long experience invariably illustrates) sop up any dig at Christianity, no matter how imbecilic or devoid of substance. Of course, what atheists like Madison never seem to realize is: why in the world would this<\/span> \u201cAuthorized Bible Committee\u201d publish all four gospels if in fact (assuming for the sake of argument), they are a mess of endless contradictions? It makes no sense. But that\u2019s what this silly atheist \u201cscenario\u201d would entail.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n But, never fear, it would be many centuries before the faithful would have access to the Bible, and even when they could have their own copies, they would never develop the habit of critically comparing the four gospels. These were\u00a0holy<\/i>\u00a0books, after all, and anything that seemed fishy or hard to swallow was just part of the mystery.<\/span><\/p>\n There came a time, however, when pious New Testament scholars decided to study the gospels\u00a0using the methods of historians<\/i>, and it became a challenge to explain the mess. Specifically, this was the beginning of the end for the familiar birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, which\u00a0fail on all accounts as history<\/i><\/b>. But let\u2019s take a close look at Matthew\u2019s version as if he\u00a0thought<\/i>\u00a0he was telling the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n For dissident liberals, who deny the inspiration of the Bible and approach Scripture like a butcher does a hog, they will end up finding what they desire<\/em> to find, based on their prior lack of faith and incoherent worldview. For them (at least the most extreme ones) and for Dr. Madison, Matthew is simply a deliberate liar with an agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n But\u00a0 there is quite a bit of literature, too, from serious historic Christians, dealing with difficulties that naturally come up (as with all complex issues) and with all the so-called, trumped-up alleged \u201ccontradictions\u201d that atheists imagine: which are almost always not even logical contradictions at all, but simply different but complementary texts.<\/span> I\u2019ve dealt with this mentality time and again<\/a> in my own apologetics (and in my previous 35 replies to Dr. Madison). But again, it sounds<\/em> good to the anti-theists, so (like all good sophists) Madison uses<\/em> it.<\/span><\/p>\n Familiar traditions have staying power, and Christians aren\u2019t about to give up their Nativity Scenes, with shepherds and Wise Men worshipping the baby Jesus in a stable. The folks in the pews don\u2019t seem to notice that this depiction is an impossible mash-up of Matthew and Luke. These two authors wrote\u00a0different<\/i>\u00a0stories about the birth of Jesus\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n This is actually correct, and it\u2019s the Bible scholars<\/em> who tell us that the wise men actually visited two years later. The Nativity scenes are simply engaging in what might be called \u201cdramatic compression.\u201d As an analogy, in the recent movie about the musical group The Four Seasons\u00a0(Jersey Boys<\/em>), it portrayed lead singer Frankie Valli sadly enduring the death of his youngest daughter Francine in the year 1967, whereas it was actually in 1980. There were other liberties taken as to when there were dramatic conflicts and departures of certain members of the band (with \u201cerrors\u201d as much as five years off). I\u2019m sure similar anomalies could be found in the recent biopics of Freddie Mercury of Queen and Elton John.<\/span><\/p>\n Movies do this all the time (mostly because biopics have two hours or so to deal with biographies and the entire lives of real people, so they conflate or compress events). So why is it inconceivable that Christians (with the sanction of the Church) might do it with regard to nativity scenes and the wise men? It\u2019s simply putting different elements of the early life of Jesus together, for the sake of devotion and reflection. The time<\/em> of the visit of the wise men is not nearly as important as the fact that they visited Jesus at all<\/em>. The time isn\u2019t the essence<\/em> of it. This sort of thing doesn\u2019t have<\/em> to be either ignorance or dishonesty.<\/span><\/p>\n actually, Matthew doesn\u2019t describe the\u00a0birth<\/i>\u00a0of Jesus at all\u2014and if Christians paid attention, they could figure it out. . . .\u00a0Matthew\u2019s story doesn\u2019t even take place at Christmas time; he says nothing whatever about the night Jesus was born. No stable, no shepherds, no angels.<\/span><\/p>\n Why does he have<\/em> to do that? In other words, I question Dr. Madison\u2019s false premise<\/em>. Where is it written that every Gospel account must<\/em> include details<\/em> of Jesus\u2019 birth? Christians believe that, in God\u2019s providence, the Gospels complement each other and have different emphases. What in the world is wrong<\/em> with that? It\u2019s just plain dumb \u201creasoning.\u201d Luke was the one with the details of the birth and the Annunciation nine months prior. Matthew just offers a few bare facts (\u201cJesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king\u201d: 2:1, RSV), Mark offers none (it starts with John the Baptist and Jesus at age 30, at the start of His public ministry), and John has no \u201cbirth facts\u201d (it starts with theological words about trinitarianism, the incarnation, and the divinity of Christ; again, a different emphasis<\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\n he seems to have timed their [the wise men\u2019s] visit well after Jesus\u2019 birth. . . .\u00a0When they arrived in Bethlehem\u2014after a detour to Jerusalem (more about that later)\u2014they came to the\u00a0house<\/i>\u00a0(not a stable) where Mary and the\u00a0child<\/i>\u00a0were Matthew 2:11). Not a newborn, but a\u00a0paidion<\/i>\u2014the Greek word for little child. In Matthew 19:14 Jesus himself uses the same word, \u201cPermit the children to come unto me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Exactly! Now how is this<\/em> a supposed \u201cdifficulty\u201d for Christianity, or some kind of \u201clie\u201d? I won\u2019t hold my breath for an answer, since \u2014 as I noted above \u2014 Dr. Madison completely ignores every criticism of his articles I make. My readers can see how silly all of this is.<\/span><\/p>\n The newborn babe (Greek\u00a0brephos<\/i>), in swaddling clothes in a manger, is found in Luke\u2019s account of the night Jesus was born, presumably weeks or months earlier. So the Nativity Scenes that include the Wise Men kneeling in front of a trough to present their gifts is part of the impossible mash-up. Note also Matthew 2:16, which reports Herod\u2019s dragnet to eliminate Jesus: \u201c\u2026he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were\u00a0two years old or under<\/i>, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s precisely how Bible scholars have deduced that he wise men visited Jesus at about two years of age. Ho hum . . .<\/span><\/p>\n The Jesus in Matthew\u2019s story could have been a toddler. So please, Christians, get those Wise Men out of the stable!<\/span><\/p>\n Again: why do we have<\/em> to: anymore than the film Jersey Boys<\/em> must be meticulously accurate as to the years that events portrayed in it actually<\/em> happened. Once again: the essence<\/em> of the thing is that the wise men (who were Gentiles, not Jews, and of a different religion: probably Zoroastrianism) visited Jesus<\/em>, offering gifts and adoration, not when they visited. So the nativities simply compress the time frame to present all of it together, just as biographical films do all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s much ado about nothing: which is a good summary of the entirety of the Bible-bashing work of Dr. Madison. I have shown myself (now literally 36 times) how he is in error and commits illogical fallacies over and over and over. But he doesn\u2019t care<\/em>. His goal isn\u2019t to arrive at the truth or fuller understanding of these matters, but rather, to drive as many Christians away from Christianity, and into a hatred of their former belief, as possible. It\u2019s all \u201cchum\u201d for the hungry anti-theist atheist sharks circling the Christian \u201cboat.\u201d It reduces to humorous folly in our view, but we also pity and pray for the poor man, to emerge from his self-imposed bondage to falsehoods and the slop of atheist disbelief.<\/span><\/p>\n Mixing Theology with Astrology<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Even more inept, however, is Matthew\u2019s invention of astrologers \u2018from the East\u2019 in the first place. Why would they even bother with the birth of a Jewish messiah? How in the world could they \u2018see a star\u2019 and infer that it had anything do to with a bit of Jewish theology? Well, astrologers talk even more nonsense than theologians do, so No, Matthew, this doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/span><\/p>\n There have been several in-depth treatments of the wise men. Dr. Madison asks questions only rhetorically and polemically<\/em>: never hoping to actually receive<\/em> any sort of answer from us stupid Christians. But we actually examine the thing in the greatest depth:<\/p>\n Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em> (\u201cMagi\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u201cThe Magi\u201d<\/a> (Fr. William Saunders)<\/p>\n \u201cWho Were the Three Wise Men?\u201d<\/a> (Fr. Dwight Longenecker)<\/p>\n Mystery of the Magi: The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men<\/em><\/a> (2017 book by\u00a0Fr. Dwight Longenecker)<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWise Men from the East and the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord\u201d<\/a> (Sandra Miesel)<\/p>\n \u201cThe Magi\u201d<\/a> (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia<\/em>)<\/p>\n \u201cMagi\u201d<\/a> (Smith\u2019s Bible Dictionary<\/em>)<\/p>\n And how can Christians be comfortable with the embrace of astrology anyway, especially concerning the story of Jesus? That omens in the sky relate to famous humans was a common superstition of the time; do Christians really want to go there? It would be hard to figure how astrology\u2014the notion that human destinies are determined by star and planetary alignments\u2014can be spliced into Christian theology. Astrology thrives where there is no grasp of confirmation bias and the capacity for critical thought has collapsed; theology has weak epistemology, astrology has none at all.<\/span><\/p>\n We don\u2019t<\/em> embrace astrology, nor does the Bible. It simply recounts the story of people who believed in astrology finding out about a very significant birth. All truth is God\u2019s truth. Many great scientists (even those lionized by atheists) like<\/span> Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler were enamored of astrology<\/a> (and Newton with<\/span> alchemy<\/a> and the<\/span> occult<\/a>), while folks like<\/span> Augustine<\/a> and Aquinas<\/a> (lowly theologian types) were not<\/em>\u00a0at all.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Why the Nile?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Matthew\u2019s goofs get even worse. He is well known for his outrageous out-of-context quotes from the Old Testament to \u2018prove\u2019 that Jesus was the messiah, and perhaps the most egregious example is his use (Matt 2:15) of Hosea 11:1: \u201cWhen Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.\u201d\u00a0Yes, Hosea meant Israel<\/i>. But Matthew wanted desperately to make this apply to Jesus. How was he to get Joseph, Mary, and Jesus to Egypt?<\/span><\/p>\n Well, here is an excellent article that deals with the question:<\/span> \u201cOut of Egypt I Called My Son\u201d<\/a> (Kevin DeYoung).<\/p>\n God told Joseph in a dream that Herod was about to go on a rampage, so they should flee to\u2026where? Why would they go to Egypt of all places? It\u2019s not as if the toddler Jesus had been branded somehow (the halo wasn\u2019t added until artists worked on the story much later), so the Holy Family could have blended in among the peasantry almost anywhere away from Bethlehem. But for Matthew\u2019s contrived plot, it had to be Egypt.<\/span><\/p>\n They probably went there because Herod had no jurisdiction there. It was a populated place relatively close, away from Roman Judea. Dr. Madison simply assumes without proof that Matthew \u201cmade it up\u201d so as to dishonestly fulfill and Old Testament prophecy. When it comes to the Bible, he\u2019s usually a stranger to rational argument. How odd for a man who has a doctorate in biblical studies. It depends on what<\/em> one studies and whether one is operating with false premises<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n Eventually they had to go home again. But where was home? Joseph planned to return to Judea (Matt. 2:22)\u2014back to Bethlehem, presumably\u2014but that was still unsafe, so \u201c\u2026he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth\u2026\u201d Sounds like for the first time! Matthew\u2019s assumption was that Joseph and Mary had\u00a0lived in Bethlehem all along<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n Luke thought they were originally based in Nazareth, and he had to contrive a way to get them to Bethlehem for the birth. Hence he told of a census that required people to go to their ancestral homes to be \u2018registered.\u2019 On several grounds historians have dismissed the story as nonsense. There obviously was a strong tradition that Jesus was from Nazareth; Luke had Mary and Joseph there from the beginning; Matthew got them there after abandoning their home in Bethlehem. More of the impossible mash-up.<\/span><\/p>\n There is no problem here. Much ado about nothing. I dealt with these sorts of groundless assertions in the following articles:<\/p>\n The Census, Jesus\u2019 Birth in Bethlehem, & History\u00a0<\/a>[2-3-11]<\/p>\n Reply to Atheist Jonathan MS Pearce: Herod\u2019s Death & Alleged \u201cContradictions\u201d\u00a0<\/a>(with Jimmy Akin) [7-25-17]<\/p>\n Reply to Atheist Jonathan MS Pearce: Bethlehem & Nazareth \u201cContradictions\u201d (Including Extensive Exegetical Analysis of Micah 5:2)<\/a>\u00a0[7-28-17]<\/p>\n The Star Screws Up<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Earlier I called the story of the Wise Men \u2018disastrous\u201d because, the way Matthew spins it, a lot of babies ended up getting killed. He reports that the astrologers headed to Jerusalem to inquire where the holy child could be found. The top religious bureaucrats, consulted by an alarmed King Herod, agreed that Bethlehem was the place, based on Micah 5:2, \u201c\u2026for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.\u201d So the Wise Men set out for Bethlehem, but now\u2014wait for it\u2014the star had turned into a GPS!<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen \u2026until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.\u201d (Matthew 2:9-10) . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In fact we are talking about a major plot flaw, and a bungling God who didn\u2019t think things through; or was it just Matthew who didn\u2019t notice God\u2019s incompetence?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For thorough Christian treatments of the topic of the star of Bethlehem, see:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Star of Bethlehem\u201d<\/a> (T. Michael Davis)<\/p>\n \u201cStar of the Magi\u201d<\/a> (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia<\/em>)<\/p>\n \u201cSeeking the Star of Bethlehem\u201d<\/a> (Jimmy Akin)<\/p>\n That Other Famous Misquote<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n I might get pushback for my suggestion earlier that Matthew\u2019s use of Hosea 11:1 was his most egregious misquote. His biggest blunder, no doubt, which was noticed long ago and has been discussed\u00a0ad infinitum<\/i>, is his use of a mistranslation of Isaiah 7:14 in the Greek version of the Old Testament: \u201cBehold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son\u2026\u201d In the original Hebrew, the word isn\u2019t\u00a0virgin<\/i>\u00a0at all, but simply\u00a0young woman<\/i>\u00a0and, in the context of Isaiah 7 concerned a political\/military situation at the time. It had nothing whatever to do with the birth of a messiah centuries later. In pulling this text into his story, Matthew was sloppy or devious\u2014maybe both.<\/span><\/p>\n I and many others have dealt with this false accusation, too:<\/span><\/p>\n Reply to Atheist Jonathan MS Pearce: \u201cMistranslation\u201d of \u201cVirgin\u201d? (Isaiah 7:14)<\/a>\u00a0(with Glenn Miller) [7-26-17]<\/p>\n But the even bigger question is why Matthew thought it was a good idea to graft virgin birth onto the Jesus story. This concept clearly derived from other religions of the ancient world . . .\u00a0Was it a matter of \u2018anything your god can do, my god can do better\u2019? Or did Matthew just want to make sure that Jesus\u2019 divine pedigree was guaranteed? \u201c\u2026the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit\u201d (Matt 1:20).<\/span><\/p>\n Maybe because . . . it was actually true<\/em>? Just a thought . . .\u00a0 We can\u2019t prove<\/em> that it was true (i.e., we can\u2019t examine the actual conception \u2014 be there before it took place \u2014 to see if it was miraculous).\u00a0 But neither can Madison and our overlord atheist superiors prove that it did not<\/em> happen. Dr. Madison simply assumes<\/em> it didn\u2019t, because his overall belief that miracles are either impossible or cannot and have not in fact been sufficiently proven \/ documented, precludes<\/em> him from accepting the virgin birth even before he ever examines the question.<\/span><\/p>\n This is a minority opinion in the New Testament, by the way. Luke ran with it enthusiastically, but Mark knew nothing about it; for him the status of Jesus was sealed at his baptism and his Transfiguration. For the apostle Paul, the resurrection was all that mattered, and he probably wouldn\u2019t have mentioned virgin birth even if he had heard of it. The author of John\u2019s gospel most certainly knew of Matthew\u2019s story, but didn\u2019t need it, didn\u2019t want it: his Jesus had been present at creation! Maybe he thought virgin birth was, by his time, a clich\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n Now here is a classic example of a trumped-up \u201ccontradiction\u201d or \u201cdifficulty\u201d in Scripture that is in fact none at all. It\u2019s Dr. Madison who is thinking illogically. Here\u2019s a bit of logical analysis at no extra charge: to not mention <\/strong>a thing is not the equivalent of a denial<\/strong> of the same thing. <\/em>Let me illustrate by analogy. The two following statements are both true:<\/span><\/p>\n Dave: \u201cYesterday we visited downtown and went ice skating.\u201d Dave\u2019s wife Judy: \u201cYesterday we visited downtown, had lunch at a great Italian restaurant, went ice skating, and caught the bus home.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Are these two statements contradictory<\/em>? No, not at all. One simply has more information and a recounting of facts than the other (which happens in the Gospel accounts innumerable times). Judy\u2019s account includes the information that lunch was enjoyed downtown, and that a bus was taken home. Did Dave deny those two things? Not logically<\/em>. He simply highlighted the most important aspects of the visit: the place<\/em> and their main reason<\/em> for going (eating lunch and taking a bus being \u201csecondary\u201d details). If \u2014 logically speaking \u2014 Dave were to truly contradict<\/em> Judy\u2019s account, he would have to say something like:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYesterday we visited downtown and ice skating is all<\/em> that we did, before returning by car.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That<\/em> is undeniably a contradiction to Judy\u2019s account, by the rules of logic, because it denied that lunch was also eaten downtown, and differs in the mode of transportation. But in \u201cMadison-logic\u201d and that of so many atheists in analyzing the Bible, the first two statements above would be \u201ccontradictory.\u201d Madison would conclude that Dave denied<\/em> the fact of the downtown lunch and the bus trip home, because he didn\u2019t see fit to mention<\/em> them. After all, he claims that Gospel writer Mark<\/span> \u201cknew nothing about\u201d the virgin birth because he didn\u2019t mention that<\/em>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n For Dr. Madison, the virgin birth is a<\/span> \u201cminority opinion in the New Testament\u201d<\/span> because it\u2019s mentioned very few times. For Christians and logical thinkers, we believe in the inspiration of Scripture (for many good reasons, but ultimately as an article of faith and belief). If in fact all of the Bible is inspired (which means literally \u201cGod-breathed\u201d and God\u2019s revelation of Himself), the virgin birth need not be noted or recorded in every book. Even once is enough to suffice. That\u2019s the outlook of Christian faith. But my primary concern here is to show how Dr. Madison is not even thinking logically<\/em>: even before we get to questions of faith.<\/span><\/p>\n One of the unfortunate consequences has been the idealization of chastity, and the exaggeration of Mary\u2019s virtue. Indeed, in Catholic piety, Mary had to remain a virgin to preserve her special holiness; this is a challenge to Catholic apologists since the gospels mention Jesus\u2019 siblings!<\/span><\/p>\n Actually, in Catholic thinking and theology, Mary didn\u2019t have<\/em> to (that is, necessarily<\/em><\/strong> in all possible worlds) be a perpetual virgin, anymore than she \u201chad to\u201d be immaculately conceived<\/a>. In this strict sense, Jesus didn\u2019t even have to necessarily\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>become a man and die on the cross, either, if<\/em> <\/strong>God the Father had in fact simply decided to proclaim all human beings (or a certain number) forgiven: a forgiveness that they would have to receive on their end. We believe that both things are fitting<\/em> and appropriate<\/em> and that they both actually happened in fact.<\/p>\n The Bible has more than enough information in it to explain the use of the term \u201cbrothers\u201d in the Hebraic sense, which could refer to (just as it also does in English) far more than merely siblings. Since that is a rabbit trail, I refer readers to many of my articles on the topic in its own section, on my web page about the Blessed Virgin Mary<\/a>. And it\u2019s not only\u00a0\u201cCatholic piety.\u201d<\/span> All of the original Protestant \u201cReformers\u201d believed the same thing, as have the Orthodox all along.<\/p>\n Virgin Birth = another installment of magical thinking. This doesn\u2019t help make the case for Christianity.<\/span><\/p>\n The virgin birth is what it is: an actual historical event. It was a miracle<\/em>, fitting for the incarnate God, Who is a pretty special human being, after all. Dr. Madison denies and ridicules all miracles, and for him they can only be fictional \u201cmagic.\u201d He\u2019s bound and prohibited from free inquiry by his false presuppositions, that have no basis themselves. No one has ever \u201cproven\u201d that no miracle could ever possibly occur, or that an omnipotent God (assuming for a moment that He exists) could not bring one about.<\/p>\n In Dreamland<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Matthew reports that Joseph heard from God in dreams, and even the Wise Men were \u201cwarned about Herod\u201d in a dream. A novelist has the \u2018omniscient perspective,\u2019 i.e., he\/she knows what\u2019s going on inside the heads of the characters. Those who claim that Matthew\u2019s story is history have to explain how the author knew the content of the dreams.<\/span><\/p>\n I can think of at least two scenarios right off the bat:<\/p>\n 1)\u00a0Since biblical writing is divinely inspired, God could have directly revealed this fact to Matthew, just as He revealed things to Abraham and Moses, and the prophets, and St. Paul at his conversion, and St. John in the revelations of the last book of the New Testament, and to many other people.<\/p>\n 2) The disciples knew Mary the mother of Jesus, who lived some years after Jesus\u2019 death. For example, the Bible informs us that Mary was with the disciples in the upper room, when they received the Holy Spirit\u00a0 on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:13-14). Early Christian tradition tells us that the apostle John lived with her in Ephesus. Thus, it\u2019s a simple matter (and possibility): Joseph could have told Mary about the dream he had. Later Mary told Matthew, or told someone else, from whom he heard the story. It\u2019s \u201cearwitness\u201d testimony of a second person, in relation to the person who experienced it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Now ask yourselves: why is it that Dr. Madison didn\u2019t seem to be able to imagine or comprehend<\/em> such a scenario?<\/p>\n Of course, people have dreams, so that\u2019s not the issue. However, for Matthew\u00a0the historian<\/i>\u00a0to report the content of the dreams\u2014what God said to Joseph, for example\u2014he would have needed access to some kind of contemporary documentation: that\u2019s how history is written. If Joseph had kept a diary in which he wrote down what God told him, well, that\u2019s the kind of documentation Matthew could have used. It doesn\u2019t mean that a god really did speak to Joseph, but it would be documentation of what Joseph thought his god told him.<\/span><\/p>\n I just explained in #2 above a perfectly plausible, sensible, rational scenario where this very thing could have happened.<\/p>\n Since there is no evidence whatever that there was a diary and since we know that Matthew fails as a careful historian, then it\u2019s no surprise that we find his use of the omniscient perspective in creating this fantasy literature.<\/span><\/p>\n Rather, it\u2019s no surprise that Dr. Madison has so \u201cdumbed himself down\u201d in his rejection of the gospel and Christianity, that he can\u2019t even imagine a simple procedure: \u201cJoseph told Mary about x<\/em>; Mary told Matthew about x<\/em>, or told someone else who told Matthew.\u201d Such skepticism causes folks to become less rational and logical.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\nUnfortunately, Money Trees Do Not Exist<\/strong>:<\/span>\u00a0If you have been aided in any way by my work, or think it is valuable and worthwhile, please strongly consider financially supporting it (even $10 \/ month \u2014 a mere 33 cents a day \u2014 would be very helpful). I have been a full-time Catholic apologist since Dec. 2001, and have been writing Christian apologetics since 1981 (see\u00a0my Resume<\/a>).\u00a0My work has been proven (by God\u2019s grace alone) to be fruitful, in terms of changing lives (see the tangible evidences\u00a0from unsolicited \u201ctestimonies\u201d<\/a>).\u00a0I have to pay my bills like all of you: and have a (homeschooling) wife and three children still at home to provide for, and a mortgage to pay.<\/div>\n*<\/div>\nMy book royalties from\u00a0three bestsellers in the field<\/a>\u00a0(published in 2003-2007) have been decreasing, as has my overall income, making it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.\u00a0 I provide over 2600 free articles here, for the purpose of your edification and education, and have\u00a0written 50 books<\/a>.\u00a0It\u2019ll literally be a struggle to survive financially until Dec. 2020, when both my wife and I will be receiving Social Security. If you cannot contribute, I ask for your prayers (and \u201clikes\u201d and links and shares). Thanks!<\/div>\n