"What were the names of the 3 Magi?"

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So at my job, at this week's training meeting, we did a fun little Christmas quiz. (We are ESL teachers- we don't just do normal meeting things at our meetings; no, instead we use all the same tricks we use in the classroom to keep the students interested and accommodate different learning styles. Hey, let's start the meeting by playing a vocabulary game! Now discuss this question in groups of 3. Okay now let's get up and walk around the room and you can draw a happy or sad face on these pieces of paper that have been stuck to the wall, to indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statements on them. Etc.)

Anyway, so we played a quiz game with questions about Christmas. And one question was, "What were the names of the 3 Magi who visited Jesus?"

Now, you may know that back in the day I was a bible quizzer, and I was one of the best ones. I knew all the answers. Anything about the bible, any bit of surprising trivia, I've heard them all before. And therefore, I know that of course, the answer is, this is a trick question because the bible does not say any names for the Magi, and it definitely doesn't say how many there were, even though everyone thinks there were 3.

(Also, what kind of animal did Mary ride when they were going to Bethlehem? Aha! It's a trick question! The bible doesn't say!)

(And did you know the book of Esther never says the word "God"? I know all the bible trivia, you guys. I was the smartest one in my Sunday school class. I know all the answers.)

But anyway, at this point, several of my colleagues (from the US and the Philippines) were like, "oh man, I should know this," "I can't believe I don't know this," "ah I really should know this," etc. Of course I said something along the lines of "in the bible it doesn't say any names..." but I was ignored as others racked their brains trying to come up with names- definitely giving the impression that yes, these IS an answer to this question. Which confused me.

This continues for a bit, with a few of my colleagues frustrated at themselves for not being able to remember a single name, and me just dumbfounded at the idea that there are actual names to know. (Plus another colleague who had no hope of getting the right answer but just started shouting biblical-sounding names. "Jeremiah! Ebenezer!")

Finally the answer was revealed: Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar.

At this point, I assumed that this was a Catholic thing, because Catholics have a lot of "traditions" which are stories not found in the bible, usually about saints or whatever. Those of my colleagues who really really thought they "should know this" must have been raised Catholic. Catholics seem to place more importance on history and tradition and the structure of the church, whereas Protestants/evangelicals claim to just use the bible and that's it. (This claim of "just the bible" is totally not true though. We evangelicals think we're just doing what the bible clearly says, but there's a load of assumptions there.)

(And here I'd like to point out that actually in different cultures, the Magi's supposed names are different. The answer given here is from Western Christianity.)

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I'm just totally shocked at the fact that I was always the smartest kid in Sunday school because I knew all the trivia like the fact that the bible never gives any names for the Magi, and now I'm finding out- FOR THE FIRST TIME- that some Christians actually have names for them.

I always thought I was the best Christian because I knew all the bible stuff like that.

It seems like evangelicals always think we're better than Catholics because we just use the bible but those Catholics use other stuff that's probably just made up. (And at this point I'd like to apologize for thinking that.)

But really, why? Why would those other traditions and stories automatically be worthless and not credible, while every word in the bible is rock-solid truth? Is the bible a series of true statements that fell from heaven, while everything else is just nonsense?

If some churches are teaching these extra-biblical traditions, then maybe there's something to them. We shouldn't just say "that's not in the bible, so it's just stupid" (which is an attitude I've encountered a lot in the land of American evangelical Christianity, and, yikes, I'm sorry I thought that way).

Where do you think the bible came from? People wrote it. In actual history. Someone sat down and wrote each part (or compiled it from oral sources or whatever). Do you think some kind of magical trance came over the writer as he (she?) wrote what was destined to become part of the Holy Scriptures? Was the bible created in a way that's so different from any other book that it might as well be from a different dimension?

As you may imagine, I really have no idea how actual Catholics view the stories like that, and the bible, and whether or not they're equally important. I have no idea what Catholics think the role of the bible should be. (So if you know, please tell me.)

I never was interested in finding out, because I knew it was the wrong answer, whatever it was. "Can't believe they call themselves Christians and teach all these ridiculous things that aren't even in the bible." As if nothing in the bible is ridiculous.

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I was the best one in my Sunday school class. I believed everything in the bible BECAUSE it was in the bible, and didn't question where it came from. Unlike those other (supposed) Christians who believed silly things. I thought I was so much better than them.

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All right, if you have any experience with learning the names of the Magi/ other Christian traditions that aren't from the bible/ being Catholic, please tell me about it in the comments, because this is all new to me. Thanks, lovely readers. :)