Mistakes, falacies, paradoxes in the Bible - answers

[wucko]

hi,

 

im willing to answer any question you might have regarding mistakes, fallacies, inconsistencies that you believe you find in the bible,...

 

so please, post your questions, i will attempt to answer all in my best strenght.

 

ofcoourse discussion is welcome.

Edited October 7, 2015 by wucko

[ydoaPs]

hi,

 

im willing to answer any question you might have regarding mistakes, fallacies, inconsistencies that you believe you find in the bible,...

 

so please, post your questions, i will attempt to answer all in my best strenght.

 

ofcoourse discussion is welcome.

In what century, or decade, for that matter, was Jesus born?

 

Matthew and Luke give us two different answers.

 

Matthew's nativity:

Around 6BCE, Joseph and Mary were living in Bethlehem. Sometime around then, Jesus was born. Herod the Great heard rumors of the birth of the King of the Jews (at the time, Judea was a client kingdom of Rome and Herod was its ruler). Since that was him, he was quite angered. Herod ordered the death of all of the children 2 years or younger.

 

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were given advance warning by an angel, and they fled to Egypt. For an unspecified amount of time, they lived in Egypt and only left when the Angel told them that Herod was dead. Since Herod's rule was split among his sons (creating the Tetrarchy) upon his death in 4BCE, they didn't want to chance it. Instead of returning home to Bethlehem in Judea, they moved to Nazareth where they would raise Jesus.

 

Herod died in 4BCE, and some time before that, he ordered the death of all of the children 2 and younger. So, Jesus must have been born around or before 6BCE.

 

Luke's Nativity:

Around 6CE, Joseph and Mary are living in Nazareth and Mary is pregnant with Jesus. That year, Herod's son in charge of Judea was deposed, and thus Judea fell under Roman control. Since it was no longer a client kingdom, according to the taxation reform of Augustus, it must now be censused so that it may be accurately taxed. This is not only the first Roman census of Judea, but the first time Rome could have a census of Judea.

 

For some reason, Joseph took Mary and the unborn Jesus to Bethlehem for the census. While in Bethlehem, Jesus was born. After some time, they returned to Nazareth where Jesus would be raised.

 

Jesus wasn't born until after the declaration of census in 6CE. As though Luke wanted us to be extra sure that we knew it was 6CE, he also drops the historical anchor of Quirinius being the governor of Syria which started in 6CE.

 

So, Matthew gives us a date of 6BCE or before, and Luke gives us a date of 6CE or later. That's a minimum discrepancy of 12 years. It's different decades in different centuries. Furthermore, the historical anchors for Matthew's story are the direct causal factors leading to the historical anchors for Luke's.

 

Again, when was Jesus born?

[Strange]

so please, post your questions, i will attempt to answer all in my best strenght.

 

Well, that didn't last long.

[ydoaPs]

Well, that didn't last long.

Apparently not.