Three is a number with some spiritual significance, but the 3 wise men number comes from a much simpler explanation. Matthew says that they brought gold, frankincense and myrrh. Three gifts and from there it’s not hard to make the leap of three givers.
Why three gifts is perhaps something that might be more debatable. The traditional telling is that gold symbolized his kingship, frankincense his priestly role and myrrh his death and sacrifice. The three gifts could be related to the mystical number three as you say. They could simply just be valuable things that the author thought of off the top of his head and of course it could be that there really were magi at Yeshua bar Joseph’s birth and that really was what they brought and they brought it for the same reason that we bring a Lego set to a kid’s birthday party. They saw it and thought the family would like it.
They could’ve pooled, though. And in eastern traditions, I think there’s twelve Magi. Although I always thoughts that kinda makes them seem a bit cheap.
Cheapness is less about variety and more about quantity. If each of the twelve dragged up their weight in gold I wouldn’t say they were cheap. Uncreative perhaps, and perhaps guilty of a faux pax akin to wearing the same dress as someone else to a party, but not cheap.
Alternatively, it could have just been two guys and one of them had trouble making up his mind. “Gold or myrrh? Gold or Myrrh? Screw it, I’ll just take both.”
Or it could have been five guys and one was just an overachiever. The other’s are like “Hey, we’ll just bring a card or something after all, we did come all this way to show we cared. What gifts does a baby need anyway?” and then freaking Melchior pulls out this bag with all sorts of crap in it and makes his friends look like cheapskates.
Jesus said “I am the way.”
Using the same ‘logic’ as in the OP this means:
- Jesus is the road to Heaven
- Jesus ‘weighs’ our souls
Amen.
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Bidding will start at 500 Quatloos.
And for the trinity word score:
- Jesus is the clear runny stuff in your cottage cheese.
If Jesus is the Sun, He should come on down here and remind us all that His power in the firmament is steadfast and abiding. For the Power of the Lord is the Solar Constant, which varies not from one season of seedtime and threshing to another. Yea, verily, for the false prophets who blame Global Warming on Jesus the Sun failing to be steadfast have been deceived by Satan. They shall be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, and the Lord will say unto them, oh bringers of heresies, know ye not of evidence-based science?
It’s all a fairy tale. All you have to do is look at all the different religions worldwide to understand that they all have no idea what they are talking about. The simple answer is you will find out something when you die. Either nothing or something but the bottom line is everyone is wrong.
Have you ever heard the Story of the Blind Men and the Elephant?
One day an elephant was brought to a house where several men who were blind from birth lived. They went out to determine what an elephant was like.
One blind man felt its side and said, “An elephant is like a flat wall.”
Another felt its leg and said, “No, an elephant is like a supporting pillar.”
Another felt its tail and said, “No, an elephant is like a thin rope.”
Another felt its ear and said, “No, an elephant is like a large fan.”
Another felt its trunk and said, “No, an elephant is like a snake.”
Another felt its tusk and said, “No, an elephant is hard and sharp like a spear.”
You could say that everyone is wrong. On the other hand, you could say that everyone is right - to some extent.
do u know de wae?
I know the way to San Jose!
To the extent of being utterly wrong, sure.
A casual survey of religions demonstrates that they collectively agree on absolutely nothing - except that some of them feel things (or “know” things) and some of them have visions. The content of these feelings and visions is utterly inconsistent. A reasonable conclusion to draw from this is that humans have a tendency to feel things and have visions under some circumstances. Particularly since you can reproduce such effects without invoking or referencing any god.
On the other hand, Jesus might literally be the Sun. Certainly a possibility worth considering, though it does raise the question of how he was raised on the cross without setting it, and the entire planet, on fire.
Just noting that it looks like the OP hasn’t been back to this board since he/she first posted on Monday.
Heh, I would agree with that. I always thought that that analogy was about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. If I said, “Hey, what’s an elephant?” and you responded, “It’s like a large fan.” You would be wrong. Not ‘Right from a certain point of view.’ You would just be wrong. I would be left with an idea that is so far from the truth as to be completely worthless.
As an aside, I have a nitpick with your statement too. All of them also agree that something outside of the physical exists. In our blind man analogy, at least they all agree that there is something there even if they can’t describe it and they would be correct.
There have been religions that claim that their deities are physical, just elsewhere. Mount Olympus being a classic example.
I think that someone is confusing Jesus with Rao.
Folks, he’s been gone for 3 days, and ain’t coming back.
I’d wait one more day. Do you know who else rose after three days?
Dracula.