No. 3: Luke's Census

When Luke wrote his Gospel he was aware of two traditions. Jesus was from Nazareth, somewhere around the Sea of Galilee in the North of Israel. He was also aware of the tradition that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, near Jerusalem as a fulfillment of the early Christian interpretation of where the Messiah would originate. Somehow Luke had to get the Pregnant Mary and step father Joseph to Bethlehem. He did this by asserting an Empire-wide census requiring everyone to return to the city of their ancestral family. Since Joseph traces back his lineage to King David, he had to return to Bethlehem and brought along the pregnant Mary.

Luke adds the story that the Roman governor is going to carry out a census. According to Luke, Joseph is a descendent of King David so he has to return to Bethlehem to register for this census.  This account has no historical record for the reason that this census could not have occurred as Luke described.

That no census was recorded in any non-Lukean record is where Christian apologists have made their stand, claiming that because no records have been found does not mean it did not occur. The Christian defense of the Lukean census is that Luke was known as a meticulous scholar so he should be given the benefit of the doubt. This defense attempts to close the book on the perceived problem.   The only reason Romans employed census' was for tax gathering purposes. The Romans would want to know how many people were living in a particular city or region so they could estimate what taxes they would earn.  That they would require people to return to their ancestral lands is ridiculous.

Even if this could have been the case, which of the hundreds of ancestors would be the one whose home town mattered? For someone with a great king in his family history it might be easy but what about all those people who’s ancestors were sheep farmers. Which one of their grandfathers do they choose to be “the one,” and go to his hometown.

Why wouldn’t all of the Israelis gone back to Ur in Southern Mesopotamia? This was Abraham's home and all Israelites descended from Abraham.

Unfortunately for Christian Bible apologists this is but one of many problems with the census. One of the more obvious ones danced around is the simple fact that Joseph was not Jesus father. The only human that must trace a bloodline back to King David (in order to fulfill messianic prophecy is Mary, not Joseph. Jesus only has Mary's blood and DNA. His father is supposed God himself, not Joseph. Therefore, Joseph's lineage is meaningless and Luke's elaborate genealogy a waste of good papyrus leaves. Bible literalist defenses of this farce hinge on Luke's use of a qualifier (being supposedly the son of Joseph). Unfortunately, this argument goes no where because Luke continues on tracing Joseph's lineage.

With Luke's genealogy, Luke himself reveals another problem. Luke traces Jesus' (or his stepfather's) lineage back, not just to David. Luke keeps going, tracing Jesus lineage all the way back to God. Why Joseph would have to return to Bethlehem because that is where David was from is unclear. Why shouldn't Joseph have returned to Ur in Mesopotamia? That is where Abraham was born. Maybe he should have returned to Jerusalem, where David's heir Solomon originated. Unfortunately, he cannot do this latter one as Luke traces the lineage, not through Solomon (the actual messianic lineage) but through Nathan, meaning that Jesus does not follow the required messianic lineage. It seems the Jews were right all along.

Amazingly, Luke traces Jesus back to God in under 80 generations. Granted that one of those generations includes Methuselah and a few others that lived to ripe old ages, but that still put Adam as the first man roaming the Earth long after the first Mesopotamian and Egyptian cities. Some of the Pharaohs must have predated creation.

In simple terms this census and lineage travesty does exactly what the Christian apologists claim. It highlights Luke's credibility as a scholar. He has none. With it, one can safely throw away the Luke Gospel as it is clear Luke was just making things up.