The Roman Census at the Birth of Jesus

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A major objection to the Gospels comes from the account of a census found in Luke 2. Skeptics often claim that Augustus never ordered a census, and that if he had it wouldn't have been like the census in Luke. They are wrong on both counts. Either they haven't studied the evidence of censuses in the reign of Augustus or they have assumed that you haven't and can therefore easily be deceived. This video shows that Augustus ordered a system of censuses, and that this system worked exactly as Luke depicts it. In addition it shows how the census could start in the reign of Herod the Great and not be completed until the governorship of Quirinius - another problem often raised by skeptics.

This video is produced by the Gospel Online project which is arranged and supported by the Christadelphian community in the United Kingdom.

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It is a common schoolboy error to read ancient history and to presume that things were done the same way in the ancient world that they are done today. The assumption that is made by the Skeptics is that Augustus would decree a census like a modern one, where everyone is counted at a fixed time. The decree of Augustus was that every province must have a system which kept track of the inhabitants of that province. This system would be kept up to date and involved people registering at a suitable centre - often the town in which they lived or a nearby town.

Joseph was registered in Bethlehem, which was where his family came from. He had chosen to go back there for the birth of Jesus because this was the city of David, who was an important ancestor of Jesus, and from whom Joseph was also descended. The alternative would have been to re-register in Nazareth, or possibly in some other town. The picture painted by Skeptics is ludicrous, but is also completely unlike the system described by the Gospels.