An Uncensored Guide to the Christmas Stories

"An Uncensored Guide to the Christmas Stories" is a short book, which retells the Bible's Christmas stories and investigates their similarities and differences. The stories are illustrated with cartoons that include scenes that are usually absent from children's books such as the circumcision of Jesus and a headless dove being prepared for a sacrifice. However, the illustration of Herod's massacre of boys in Bethlehem doesn't show any blood.Since the stories are retold, the book is...
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"An Uncensored Guide to the Christmas Stories" is a short book, which retells the Bible's Christmas stories and investigates their similarities and differences. The stories are illustrated with cartoons that include scenes that are usually absent from children's books such as the circumcision of Jesus and a headless dove being prepared for a sacrifice. However, the illustration of Herod's massacre of boys in Bethlehem doesn't show any blood.Since the stories are retold, the book is suitable for readers who have no knowledge of them. It also highlights some other parts of the stories that casual readers might not be aware of.After a very short summary of the Christmas stories told by Matthew and Luke, it looks at the similarities among the stories. The stories both fulfill some prophecies such as the virgin birth, the birth being in Bethlehem and the Messiah being a descendent of King David.Besides a handful of similarities, the stories are very different. The distinct elements of Matthew's story can be summarized as being about "kings, wise men and dreams". Luke's story is about "priests, angels and shepherds". It appears as if their prophecies were fulfilled in independent ways leading to these quite distinct stories.The author is a former creationist and is now an agnostic, who still has an interest in the Bible. The aim is to also interest readers in this area of the Bible, whether they are believers or non-believers.