The Bible Always Gets History Right

Did the Romans have a census? Yes!

THE HUMANIST'S CLAIM ABOUT: History and the New Testament

Let's start with a little background on the referenced Randall Helms book: In chapter three, called “Nativity Legends," Helms writes: In chapter three, called Nativity Legends," he writes:

Here we go again. Another fiction writer who makes up things to support his accusations against the Bible. For example, open your Bible. In the front will be a section describing the sources used for translation. In most cases the Old Testament is translated from one of the BIBLICA HEBRAICA texts, with some use of other sources such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. These are ancient Jewish copies of the Old Testament, with the Dead Sea scrolls pre-dating New Testament times.

Yes, about 2/3 of the Old Testament quotes in the New Testa-ment come from the Septuagint. Why? Because the language of their readers was Greek. It is the same reason I quote from an English language translation of the Bible. You read English. Helms state-ment above is pure fiction.

What is the main accusation? "It's ridiculous to think the Romans would require millions of people to travel enormous distances." This accusation is just an assertion saying that some atheists think it is ridiculous. It is not based on historical facts. We can stop here. There is nothing here. Just opinion. However, let's take a few moments and look at some facts. I love facts:

First, a little history about Rome. The Roman Republic (508 BC to 27 BC) became the Roman Empire in the year 27 BC. According to the Roman Empire web site, the census in the Roman Republic was very important: (From The History Co-op):

This type of census was historically common in Rome. Biblical scholar Harold Hoehner writes:

Let's open the book the humanist’s expert, Randall Helms, wrote and see what he said about this:

Stop here. Mary was not a Levite, she was of the Davidic line through Nathan. So we have another fiction. Also, Mary was not necessarily in her last days of pregnancy. That is a common myth even some Christians believe. What does scripture say? Joseph and Mary get to Bethlehem, and... “While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.” (Luke 2:6) Scripture does not say how long it was after they arrived until she gave birth. (Click here for details about what happened in Bethlehem. Be sure to watch the video.)

Let's continue with Helms:

What do we have? Fiction and opinion. The picture of "mil-lions" being dislocated is pure fiction. People in those days did not travel much, nor move from their ancestral homes. They typically stayed together in family groups. The vast majority of people were already where they needed to be for the census. Another important fact is that the census was a tax census, it involved more than signing your name on a tax form. That is yet another humanist fiction.

Consider this, what is described in Luke seems to be the height of efficiency. A major problem with taking a census are the people who do move around. In those days, taking a census could take many months at best... and more likely a year or two. How can you ensure everyone is counted, and only counted once? You specify the place where they will be counted. Their ancestral home is the only place that makes sense.

Only the men had to register. So why did Mary go? Where are they going? To the family home of both Joseph and Mary. Of course she wanted to go home. Of course she wanted to have the baby with her family there. Where did they go after the baby was born? They did not go anywhere. They stayed in Bethlehem. Their family was there and that was where they wanted to be. Of course Mary went to Bethlehem with Joseph. This was not just a trip for the census, they moved there.¹

Conclusion:

The humanist’s base their version of history on fiction created to provide a way to attack the Bible. It has no historical support. Nor does it reflect human nature (the desire to be with family, for exam-ple).

NEXT: New Testament and More:

The third chapter of Luke contains a genealogy tracing Christ’s ancestry back only 76 generations to Adam. According to Genesis chapter 1, Adam was created along with the rest of the universe during the course of one week.

The Bible thus views the human race and the universe as having existed for a relatively short period, probably no more than several thousand years. In fact, for many centuries the orthodox Christian position – to doubt which was to risk damnation – was that the creation took place sometime between four and six thousand years before Christ’s birth.

Historians and scientists give a much longer historical record. They say the universe is between 10 and 20 billion years old, the earth’s age is approximately 4.6 billion years, and humans evolved from ape-like ancestors during the last few million years.

Now we get to the age of the earth, another big topic. We'll tackle this one on the next page: click here...

Footnote 1: Why did they look for an inn instead of staying with relatives? Homes in those days were not like what we have today, especially for those on the lower levels of society. Bethlehem was a very small village. It is surprising that it even had one inn. When it was her time, Mary probably needed a place a little more private than a hovel crowded with people. A night at the inn would have provided a good place to deliver a baby. (Keep in mind there are no hospitals.) However, that was not possible. So she delivered the baby Jesus in a place that had a manger. Luke does not say it was a stable. The location of the manger is not given. However, we do know it was located in a place shepherds could access. That is probably why God caused the inn to be full. Shepherds would not be allowed to go into an inn.