# Three "wise" men find Jesus **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 25, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126 "2014-12-25T00:37:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/1 "2014-12-25T00:37:05Z")
1 Corinthians 3:18-19 > [@](#): > > …If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight… > **[Demographics of atheism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_atheism#Geographic_distribution)** > > Accurate demographics of atheism are difficult to obtain since conceptions of atheism vary considerably across different cultures and languages, ranging from an active concept to being unimportant or not developed. Also in some countries and regions atheism carries a strong stigma, making it harder to count atheists in these countries. In global studies, the number of people without a religion is usually higher than the number of people without a belief in a deity and the number of p According t... > [@](#): > > …Among the members of the National Academy of Sciences, 7% believed in God, 72.2% did not, and 20.8% were agnostic or had doubts. The study performed has been criticized, however, for defining God as “a God one may pray to in expectation of receiving an answer.”… Those people would have worldly wisdom but would be fools in God’s sight… Psalm 14:1 > [@](#): > > …The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”… On the other hand, three “wise” men found Jesus. But they didn’t use the wisdom of science - instead they used the wisdom of astrology… the stars told them that a great king would be born. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/2 "2014-12-25T01:14:05Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > But they didn’t use the wisdom of science - instead they used the wisdom of astrology… . I believe that says everything that needs to be noted about your post and opinions. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/3 "2014-12-25T01:29:10Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > On the other hand, three “wise” men found Jesus. But they didn’t use the wisdom of science - instead they used the wisdom of astrology… the stars told them that a great king would be born. The best reply to that comes courtesy of Stephen Fry: Paraphrasing and using his lines in a Straight Dope setting: In fact if you are watching the Straight Dope now, and you believe in astrology, you are banned from watching it; you are not allowed, you must turn it off now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/4 "2014-12-25T01:38:33Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I believe that says everything that needs to be noted about your post and opinions. Note that in the title I said “wise” men (with the quotes) I also used quotes in the end of the post. I guess I should have also said: they used the “wisdom” of astrology so that you’d know that I was also being sarcastic there. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/5 "2014-12-25T01:40:33Z")
You see Christians say that men were “wise” but I don’t think they actually were, but in part of my post I was pretending they had actual wisdom… ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/6 "2014-12-25T01:45:25Z")
Spread out… A whoop whoop whoop… ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/7 "2014-12-25T03:36:55Z")
And once again down the rabbit hole we go… ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/8 "2014-12-25T04:34:44Z")
Merry Christmas! ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/9 "2014-12-25T04:42:40Z")
Are there no prisons, no workhouses? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/10 "2014-12-25T04:42:45Z")
Moved MPSIMS --\> Great Debates. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/11 "2014-12-25T04:52:43Z")
Oh, a wise guy eh? Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/12 "2014-12-25T04:53:48Z")
nm (confused about prisons and workhouses) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/13 "2014-12-25T06:21:49Z")
A wise person would know that the Gospels don’t mention the specific number of magi (wise men) that allegedly came to acknowledge the birth of Jesus. There is a mention of 3 gifts, but not that there were 3 men. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/14 "2014-12-25T08:05:20Z")
A christian that believes in astrology?! I could swear I’ve seen stuff like astrology and tarot cards denounced as demonic. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/15 "2014-12-25T08:59:52Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > A wise person would know that the Gospels don’t mention the specific number of magi (wise men) that allegedly came to acknowledge the birth of Jesus. There is a mention of 3 gifts, but not that there were 3 men. Yeah you know I thought about that last night but forgot to mention that. Here’s a Bible verse I also wanted to include though it isn’t very relevant - well it is about an angel and angels are part of the nativity story… Isaiah 37:36: **Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning–there were all the dead bodies!** ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/16 "2014-12-25T09:09:06Z")
> [@grude](#): > > A christian that believes in astrology?! > > I could swear I’ve seen stuff like astrology and tarot cards denounced as demonic. I asked my fundy sister about the “wise” men but she said that astrology isn’t Christian - but that’s how they knew there would be a great king (apparently) - an angel didn’t tell them, it was the stars. BTW there is a DVD called “The Star” which I own which is about the star of Bethlehem: > **[Review of "The Star of Bethlehem"](https://reasons.org/explore/publications/articles/review-of-the-star-of-bethlehem)** > > In the last few weeks we've received a number of emails from people wanting to know RTB's perspective on The Star of Bethlehem. So a group of us got together to watch this widely distributed DVD documentary, presented by lawyer and Christian Rick... **He found a conjunction of Jupiter (the “king planet”) and Regulus (the “king star”) in 3 BC, which he claims would have announced the conception of Jesus to the magi.** That involves astrology (the meaning behind stars and planets) rather than science. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/17 "2014-12-25T10:22:30Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > nm (confused about prisons and workhouses) Bah! Humbug! ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/18 "2014-12-25T11:33:34Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > {…} there is a DVD called “The Star” which I own which is about the star of Bethlehem: > [Review of "The Star of Bethlehem" - Reasons to Believe](http://www.reasons.org/articles/review-of-the-star-of-bethlehem) {…} The only _[The Star](http://web.archive.org/web/20080718084442/http://lucis.net/stuff/clarke/star_clarke.html)_ worth mentioning. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/19 "2014-12-25T12:32:36Z")
“Led by a bottle, more like!” [/Monty Python] ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126/20 "2014-12-25T12:39:07Z")
[Follow a star some night, any star, and let me know where you end up.](https://what-if.xkcd.com/25/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/three-wise-men-find-jesus/708126.md?page=2)