Does God have the Power and Will to...

[plain and simple]

Originally Posted by ancient warrior

RESPONSE:

Rather it's the age old debate between historians and fundamentalists regarding historical facts rather than just stories.

>>The first, and most likely explanation, is that Quirinius ruled Syria twice and a census was taken both times<<

We know who the Roman governors were and the years of their reigns. Look them up on the web. Quirinius was not governor during the reign of King Herod.

More importantly, we are not talking about a census of Syria but of Judea. We know that 10 years after the death of Herod, his son Archelaus’ who had inheredited rulership of Judea was exiled. It was only then that a census of Judea (not Syria) was taken.

>>explaining that the Greek word for "first" in Luke 2:2 (which is protos), is translated to mean "before."<<

Thaat's a poor translation, but it isn't relevant. We know the date of census of Judea. It was in 6 AD, not before 4BC.
So this attempt to avoid the obvious contradiction won't fly. Herod had been dead for 10 years when the Romans conducted the census of Judea.

Josephus, Antiquities 17.342-344, 355

"In the tenth year of Archelaus’rule [ Note: This would be ten years after the death of King Herod ]the leading men among the Jews and Samaritans, finding his cruelty and tyranny intolerable, brought charges against him before Caesar the moment they learned that Archelaus had disobeyed his instructions to show moderation in dealing with them. Accordingly, when Caesar heard the charges, he became angry, and summoning the man who looked after Archelaus’ affairs at Rome. . ., he said to him, “Go, sail at once andbring him here to us without delay.” . . . And when Archelaus arrived, Caesar gave a hearing to some of his accusers, and also let him speak, and then sent him into exile. . Now the territory subject to Archelaus was added to (the province of) Syria, and Quirinius, a man of consular rank, was sent by Caesar to take a census of property in Syria and to sell the estate of Archelaus."

And then the facts of history get even worse for the scripture writers. Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth which was in Galilee, not Judea. They were ruled by Herod Antipas, another son of the dead King Herod, who conducted taxing there, not the Romans . They weren't subject to any census of Judea .

Scripture contains many such contradictions with historical fact and even other scriptures. Thus scripture is proven to be the work of men, not God.

So.... you didn't search this out for yourself. You Googled, Cut, Copied and Pasted. Blindly accepting. Ok. Got it.

I've been a Christian for nearly 30 years, heard all the nonsense non-believers throw at Christians and did my own research, verifying sources. You Googled, found something that sided with you, copied and pasted.

Huge difference. But, you go on believing what you like. God doesn't demand you believe in, or accept Him (or His Word) so neither do I. You asked for information and I gave it. The choice is up to you.

[plain and simple]

Originally Posted by katjonjj

First you'd have to be able to prove God exists...

How delightfully original. You're the one who doesn't believe and you came into a Christian forum. How about you prove He doesn't exist and then we'll chat.