The Birth of Christ
We recognize the above scene right away. It’s the Nativity—the birth of Christ. You don’t have to be a Christian to recognize it. Jews recognize it. Agnostics recognize it. Atheists recognize it. This latter group must know what it means because some of them are so offended by it when it appears on public property, they demand its immediate removal. Most Westerners can look at this painting and tell you Who the Child is, where He was born, when He was born, why He was born, who His parents were, and what this Child’s birth means to them.
It’s a different story with the image on the next page, enlarged and in color on the cover of the book Athena and Kain: The True Meaning of Greek Myth. It’s a Greek painting from about 410 BC, depicting a very special birth that took place in Athens in about 1400 BC. I doubt if one out of a hundred thousand Westerners could tell us who this child is, when he was born, where he was born, or why. The idea that this child’s birth would mean anything to them is thus out of the question. Our failure to recognize this birth and its meaning represents a blind spot for all thinking Christians and non-Christians alike.
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