The story of Christmas originates from two gospels: Matthew and Luke. The Gospel of Matthew is not the original gospel written by the disciple Matthew. It is not known who the author really is, nor when or where it was written.
We know this because the church fathers quote from the gospel of the Hebrews, written by the disciple Matthew, which was "written in Aramaic with Hebrew letters". The gospel called Matthew in our bibles we know was written in Greek. These facts reveal two very important facts about the early church: 1) their mother language was Aramaic or Hebrew and 2) the gospel of the Hebrews was likely the earliest gospel ever written.
Excerpts from the writings of church fathers:
In the Gospel which the Nazarenes and the Ebionites use which we have recently translated from Hebrew to Greek, and which most people call The Authentic Gospel of Matthew...
In the Gospel of the Hebrews, written in the Chaldee and Syriac language [Aramaic] but in Hebrew script, and used by the Nazarenes to this day (I mean the Gospel of the Apostles, or, as it is generally maintained, the Gospel of Matthew, a copy of which is in the library at Caesarea)
Matthew, also called Levi, who used to be a tax collector and later an apostle, composed the Gospel of Christ, which was first published in Judea in Hebrew script for the sake of those of the circumcision who believed. This Gospel was afterwards translated into Greek (and the Greek has been lost) though by what author uncertain.
The Hebrew original has been preserved to this present day in the library of Caesarea, which Pamphilus diligently gathered. I have also had the opportunity of having this volume transcribed for me by the Nazarenes of Beroea, Syria, who use it.
Christmas Story Absent in Original
The Christmas story was completely absent from the disciple Matthew's "the gospel of the Hebrews". The gospel of the Hebrews written by the disciple Matthew begins with the baptism of Jesus as do the canonical gospels of Mark and John and was written in Aramaic and not Greek.
The canonical gospel named "The Gospel According to St Matthew" was written in Greek by an unknown author. In the canonical gospel so-called Matthew, the story of the nativity was a later addition most likely composed of hearsay, some selected parts of other manuscripts that were extant at the time, and parts that were made up by the author to make his story convincing to his readers and principally made to coincide with the developing doctrines of the church at the time.
But the story of the birth of Jesus, obviously, is mostly made up of the anonymous Greek author's fabrications. None of the prophecies are found in any other place in the New Testament. These forgeries are unique to the canonical gospel called Matthew.
"most scholars now agree that the Gospel of Matthew found in the Bible was not written by Matthew, but composed posthumous to him." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_the_Nazarenes#cite_note-The_Interpreters_Bible_1951.2C_p.64-66-10)
You must understand that the contradictions that I bring forth are within the context of the canonical bible itself, not outside of it. When compared with manuscripts outside of the bible, the whole story gets a lot more surprising and even more illuminating in some very important aspects.
Contradictions
Some things appear to be contradictions is because of the lack of information the authors of Matthew and Luke provide. This fact reveals that these gospels were not original, but were extracted from a manuscript(s) written in Aramaic. However, the greatest fact that this reveals is that these authors left out important parts of the story and even corrupted the story.
The Christmas story in the gospel called The Gospel According to Saint Matthew:
- Was not written by the disciple Matthew, who spoke Aramaic
- Was written by an author who spoke Greek and is unknown
- Was not originally in this gospel, but added on at a later date
- Has contradictions, forgeries and corruptions
- Says Mary was a virgin which is non-existent in the original text
- Refers to a prophecy in Isaiah mistranslated virgin instead of "young woman"
- Says Jesus was begot of the holy ghost also not existent in original
- An angel supposedly says his name shall be Jesus -- He was actually named Yeshua or Joshua
- Refers to a prophecy says he would be called Emmanuel -- He was never called by this name
- Removed from gospel "thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee", so as to not contradict the virgin birth story that makes Jesus God Almighty incarnate
- Jesus is supposed to be born in Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy -- Bethlehem is not a city in the so-called "prophecy", but a person
- Herod supposedly killed babies according to prophecy -- but the OT passage is not even a prophecy, and the children were not murdered
- If Herod actually did kill babies then Jesus had to have been born about 10 years earlier than we are told, since Herod died in 4 BC
- No archaeological evidence of babies being killed in or around Bethlehem
- Supposedly fulfills 'out of Egypt have I called my son' -- scripture is not even prophecy, but about Israel coming out of Egypt who are also idolaters (Jesus was not an idolater)
- Supposed prophecy 'He shall be called a Nazarene' -- can be not found anywhere in Old Testament
(See also part 1 of this series: https://steemit.com/christmas/@dpdoug/what-is-the-true-meaning-of-christmas-part-1)