2. WHAT IS ESSENTIAL TO CHRISTMAS?

3. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at your nose Yuletide carols being sung by a choir Folks dressed up like Eskimos

4. IS THE VIRGIN BIRTH ESSENTIAL? ISAIAH 7:14 LUKE 1:26-38

5. What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus has a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archaeologists find Larry’s tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? -Rob Bell Velvet Elvis

7. Those who assert that he was a mere man, begotten by Joseph...being ignorant of him who from the virgin is Emmanuel...are deprived of his gift, which is eternal life. Not receiving the incorruptible Word, they remain in mortal flesh and are debtors to death, not obtaining the antidote of life. -Irenaeus Against Heresies

8. If the virgin birth of Jesus is untrue, then the story of Jesus changes greatly; we would have a sexually promiscuous young woman lying about God’s miraculous hand in the birth of her son, raising that son to declare he was God, and then joining his religion. But if Mary is nothing more than a sinful con artist then neither she nor her son Jesus should be trusted. Because both the clear teachings of Scripture about the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life and the character of his mother are at stake, we must contend for the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. -Mark Driscoll The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

9. REASONS WHY THE VIRGIN BIRTH IS ESSENTIAL...

10. 1.The trustworthiness of the Bible.

11. REASONS WHY THE VIRGIN BIRTH IS ESSENTIAL... 1.The trustworthiness of the Bible. 2.The humanity and deity of Jesus.

12. REASONS WHY THE VIRGIN BIRTH IS ESSENTIAL... 1.The trustworthiness of the Bible. 2.The humanity and deity of Jesus. 3.The display of God’s initiative.

13. REASONS WHY THE VIRGIN BIRTH IS ESSENTIAL... 1.The trustworthiness of the Bible. 2.The humanity and deity of Jesus. 3.The display of God’s initiative. 4.The supernatural foundation of our faith.

14. REASONS WHY THE VIRGIN BIRTH IS ESSENTIAL... 1.The trustworthiness of the Bible. 2.The humanity and deity of Jesus. 3.The display of God’s initiative. 4.The supernatural foundation of our faith. 5.The possibility for redemption.