# What's up with "baby" Jesus?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 5, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273 "2004-12-05T22:37:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/1 "2004-12-05T22:37:52Z")
Why do so many christians talk about The Baby Jesus? Jesus was an adult when he died. I suspect propoganda directed at children, but I could be mistaken. :dubious:
I see no reason to exclude christians from this discussion. đ
Peace,
mangeorge
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/2 "2004-12-06T00:38:36Z")
Well, Christmas is about the âbaby Jesusâ, and thatâs one holiday many non-Christians are exposed to religiously, so that may have something to do with it. Also many people have in their lifetimes participated in Christmas pageants and such - even medieval miracle plays are big on the Baby Jesus. Itâs a big theme in art, and itâs âaccessibleâ - the Nativity makes a better story with less whipping than the Crucifixion. Itâs something people can relate to more readily, perhaps.
I have no idea why Iâm answering this as an agnostic. đ
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/3 "2004-12-06T01:18:42Z")
The only place I ever hear references to âBabyâ Jesus is right here.
Same goes for Jack Chick.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/4 "2004-12-06T01:35:01Z")
Itâs just a concept that some people fantasize about. A god or semi-god or soon-to-be-god with a mixture of human and supernatural characteristics such as childlike innocence and human compassion, but omniscient and omnipotent, etc.
The idea of a humble beginning is also attractive. Pick your attributes and create your own god as you like him/her/it/whatever to be.
Then we can make fun of it.
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### Author:  [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/5 "2004-12-06T02:54:29Z")
I bring up Baby Jesus from time to time. The dog farts âoh dog, youâre making the baby jesus cryâ.
Of course I donât even buy the fact Jesus was a real person, so it doesnât mean much at the end of the day.
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/6 "2004-12-06T03:36:21Z")
I think it has to do with how bad youâd feel for making a baby cry, as opposed to making a man cry.
A crying man is a sissy, so if you make a grown man cry, itâs _his_ problem, not yours.
But doing something that hurts a _baby_ and makes him cry is just horrible, you bad bad person!
Or something like that.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/7 "2004-12-06T04:27:48Z")
Well, my understanding is that Jesus wasnât exceptional at all as a child.
No halo, nothing.
When we celebrate presidents day, I _never_ hear anyone mention Baby George, or Baby Abe, or anything like that. Personally, Iâd root for Baby Bill. đ
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### Author:  [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/8 "2004-12-06T05:07:18Z")
The first I heard about âsuch and such makes the baby Jesus cryâ was here. But then I read âDivine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhoodâ, there were references to a nun in Catholic school telling the kids â[not doing this rule] makes the Baby Jesus cryâ. Since then I figured it was a Catholic school thing that folks here made fun of. That may not be correct.
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/9 "2004-12-06T05:16:33Z")
Aw, come on, doesnât anyone know âthe classicsâ anymore? đ
ââXâ makes baby Jesus cryâ is taken from an episode of _The Simpsons_ in which Homer decides to befriend Ned Flanders. Homer, never one for half measures, becomes so overbearing that Ned ends up trying to get away from him, which leads to this exchange [(from this episode)](http://www.snpp.com/episodes/1F14.html) involving Homer, Ned, and Nedâs sons Rod and Todd:
> [@](#):
>
> Homer: Hey! Whatâs up for today, Neddy?
> Ned: Uh, er, Homer, weâre gonna visit the boysâ grandmother. Family
> only, you know?
> Homer: Right! No reporters.
> Ned: No, I, IâŚI mean just the Flanders family.
> Homer: [slowly] Oh, OK. [goes back through the hedge]
> Todd: Oh boy! Grandma!
> Ned: Weâre not goinâ anywhere.
> Todd: But you said â
> Ned: ErâŚsometimes to keep from hurting someoneâs feelings, you have
> to say things that arenât exactly â
> Rod: Lies make baby Jesus cry.
And so was born a future SDMB cliche.
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### Author:  [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/10 "2004-12-06T05:50:42Z")
> [@Seven](#):
>
> IOf course I donât even buy the fact Jesus was a real person, so it doesnât mean much at the end of the day.
I donât have any links at the moment, quite frankly itâs too late and Iâm to tired and lazy to look them up right now, but Jesus _was_, in fact, a real person. Evidence of that has been found. The superstition that he was divine in any way is still just a fairy tale, however.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/11 "2004-12-06T06:04:12Z")
Long ago, on a drug-addled night, we were laughing about low-grade dead baby jokes and Baby Jesus jokes. After some labored thinking, I wrote a Dead Baby Jesus joke. I canât remember how it goes, now.
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### Author:  [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/12 "2004-12-06T10:01:36Z")
> [@mangeorge](#):
>
> Well, my understanding is that Jesus wasnât exceptional at all as a child.
> No halo, nothing.
> When we celebrate presidents day, I _never_ hear anyone mention Baby George, or Baby Abe, or anything like that. Personally, Iâd root for Baby Bill. đ
Actually, some of the Apocrypha {basically deleted, non-canonical Gospels} _do_ deal with the exploits of the infant Jesus, usually mundane âchildishâ miracles that he performed.
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/13 "2004-12-06T10:14:22Z")
I have heard from a few people in Ireland that this phrase was occasionally used by nuns in convent schools to give unruly students a guilt trip.
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/14 "2004-12-06T13:00:22Z")
> [@mangeorge](#):
>
> Well, my understanding is that Jesus wasnât exceptional at all as a child.
> No halo, nothing.
> When we celebrate presidents day, I _never_ hear anyone mention Baby George, or Baby Abe, or anything like that. Personally, Iâd root for Baby Bill. đ
What? Youâve never heard about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree?
Complete bunk, but people do mention it. đ
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/15 "2004-12-06T14:04:34Z")
Back in Buffalo, there are many old-school Catholics who give adoration to the Baby Jesus more so than the Big Jesus. âInfant Jesusâ dolls, which lresemble a tall, standing baby Jesus in a huge wedding dress, are common sights in rear car windows in more blue-collar neighborhoods. People pray to the Infant Jesus, as if it was a different Jesus than the Big Jesus.
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### Author:  [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/16 "2004-12-06T17:40:38Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#):
>
> Actually, some of the Apocrypha {basically deleted, non-canonical Gospels} _do_ deal with the exploits of the infant Jesus, usually mundane âchildishâ miracles that he performed.
[Father Guido Sarducci]And-a three of them were-a card tricks. [/Father Guido]
âCliffy
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### Author:  [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/17 "2004-12-06T17:47:32Z")
> [@elmwood](#):
>
> Back in Buffalo, there are many old-school Catholics who give adoration to the Baby Jesus more so than the Big Jesus. âInfant Jesusâ dolls, which lresemble a tall, standing baby Jesus in a huge wedding dress, are common sights in rear car windows in more blue-collar neighborhoods. People pray to the Infant Jesus, as if it was a different Jesus than the Big Jesus.
Yep. The only person that Iâve ever heard talk about the Baby Jesus in real life is my Catholic Buffalonian grandmother.
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### Author:  [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/18 "2004-12-06T18:31:51Z")
> [@elmwood](#):
>
> Back in Buffalo, there are many old-school Catholics who give adoration to the Baby Jesus more so than the Big Jesus. âInfant Jesusâ dolls, which lresemble a tall, standing baby Jesus in a huge wedding dress, are common sights in rear car windows in more blue-collar neighborhoods. People pray to the Infant Jesus, as if it was a different Jesus than the Big Jesus.
Statues like that are called [The Infant of Prague](http://www.cwo.com/~pentrack/catholic/infhist.html) and were pretty common among the Latin and Byzantine rite Catholics when I was growing up. My grandmother had one, complete with different outfits for the different holidays. Hereâs a [photo](http://imagesofheaven.org/JesusInfant.html) at a site where you can buy one, whether for nostalgia or actual devotions.
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### Author:  [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/19 "2004-12-06T19:30:16Z")
I have no idea. I AM a christian, and I find a great many of my so-called fellow christians weird and creepy.
That affected, hypnotized sounding âJaaazus, Lord Jaaaazusâ REALLY creepy. I want to just SCREAM at them âGod gave us a BRAIN you know? USE IT, quit sounding all brainlessâ. sigh
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [December 6, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-baby-jesus/278273/20 "2004-12-06T22:26:49Z")
For what itâs worthâŚ
In the Czech Republic and several other European countries, Santa Claus/Father Christmas doesnât bring presents on Christmas; Jesisek, the Baby Jesus does. That spelling isnât exactly right, mind you, but I canât type the Czech alphabet on this computer. St. Mikalus (Nicholas) day is December 5th (sort of a little pre-Christmas) and the good Saint goes about delivering little presents aided by an angel and a devil. On the big day, though, itâs up to the flying invisible Baby Jesus.
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