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<font face="Times New Roman, Times">Dear Visionaries,<br><br>
Ron Smith just won't give up. I feel like I’m arguing with a
flat-earther or a creationist, who say "damn all positive evidence
to the contrary!" Stubbornness in the face of constant academic
challenge becomes intellectual dishonesty big time. He is now in
the same league as Doug Wilson, who continues to reaffirm his thesis
about Southern slavery even against the expertise of his own evangelical
congregant in Seattle and other knowledgeable conservative
Presbyterians.<br><br>
Smith wins no points by simply repeating the passage that is in dispute
and is contrary to everything we know about Roman taxation. If we
knew nothing about Roman taxation, then Smith's clever maneuver of
"Lack of evidence does foreclose the possibility of confirming my
facts" would have more force. <br><br>
The supreme irony is that Smith's own google search produced positive
evidence that 1) there were no imperial decrees about taxation; 2) that
is was done at a provincial level; 3) and that residents were required to
STAY AT HOME in order to be assessed. <br><br>
Only for the sake of argument did I suggest that an impoverished
carpenter would have owned land in Bethlehem, land that, by the way,
would have presumably had a few shacks on it. (I was also conceding
for the sake of argument that either Joseph or Mary were somehow
descendants of David.) Incredibly enough, however, Smith denies that
“Joseph went to Bethlehem to pay taxes on property in Bethlehem.”
Smith essentially undermines the presumed reason for Joseph to travel
there in the first place!<br>
<br>
Yes, Josephus, without any reference to Jesus, does report that Quirinius
held a Judean census in 6 CE. This was the census that Luke
incorrectly makes into an imperial decree and unhistorically applies to
Jesus. Herod died in 4 BCE, so one would have to remove Herod from
the story and move Jesus’ birth far ahead to be part of Quirinius’
census. Therefore, the dates are all wrong. With a birthdate
as early as 7 BCE, Jesus may have already been wowing the priests in the
temple by 6 CE.<br><br>
By the way, attempts to give Quirinius an earlier governorship in Judea
fail in the face of the fact that Saturninus ruled from 9_6 B.C.E. and P.
Quintilius Varus was there from 6_4 B.C. Besides Quirinius was fully
occupied in a Cilician campaign in Asia Minor from ca. 11_3 B.C.E.
Luke’s alleged “excellence as a historian” has been dramatically
marred.<br><br>
Conservative Christians who boast about fulfilling OT prophecies show the
greatest disrespect for Hebrew scripture by rejecting, as Smith does,
plain, straight forward readings of these wonderful texts. At least
Luther was honest enough to admit that Is. 9:6 does not refer to a divine
Messiah, an idea contrary to Jewish expectation. (The Messiah will
be mighty as God, not God himself.) Smith should throw the OT away if he
wants to manipulate it so dishonestly to his own ends.<br><br>
Thank goodness for Melynda’s post where she implies that there is a
higher truth than historical or scientific truth. It is the truth
of grand stories such as a virgin who conceives and gives birth to a
savior who is greeted by celestial displays, angels and the adoration of
wise men. <br><br>
At our church on the Sunday before Christmas our children reenacted the
miraculous births of Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus. One elderly
visitor, who thought that she was somehow witnessing the story of Jesus
three times, finally yelled out: “There were no dragons!” But a
Confucian Ron Smith would have responded: “How do you know that? Just
because it was not recorded, does not make it false!”<br><br>
Josephus hated Herod and chronicled his life in great detail, but
mysteriously failed to mention his notorious slaughter of the
infants. Several other great prophets were born of virgins,
threatened in infancy, and visited by wise men. Check out the
amazing parallels at
</font><a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/307/archetype.htm" eudora="autourl"><font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><u>www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/307/archetype.htm</a>.</u></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">
Myths are great tales that tell truths. They sometimes do more good
than lesser forms of truth.<br><br>
P. S. Joan, how could you forget Myron Floren, Welk’s accordian
player? Once again I feel terribly slighted. In graduate
school I once took at date into Hollywood and danced the night away with
Welk’s orchestra.<br><br>
Nick Gier<br>
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