rache,

<<The next [gospel] said he was born in Nazareth (a town that didn't even exist in Jesus' time).>>

I wish you’d do your research before making this rash and false statement.

First century Jewish historian, Josephus (ca. AD 37 – 100) did not mention Nazareth. It was thought to be a small, insignificant town, based on Nathaniel’s question to Philip, ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?’ (John 1:46).

Apart from the NT reference, my initial research couldn’t locate anything from historians of the first century outside of Scripture. Argument from silence is poor reasoning.

At the beginning of the 20th century, archaeological excavations by Bagattti showed that Nazareth at the time of Jesus 'was an agricultural settlement with numerous wine presses, olive presses, caves for storing grain, and cisterns for water and wine; (Archaeology & the New Testament, John McRay 1991:157-158).

However, an important archaeological find was made in 2003 by Elias Shama and his wife Martina who owned a small souvenir shop in Nazareth.

"A team of forensic archaeologists and biblical scholars have been poring over a network of tunnels Shama unearthed under his shop several years ago. They believe he has made a discovery so remarkable it will rewrite the history books, changing our understanding not only of the Holy Land but of the life of Jesus himself....

"Professor Richard Freund, an academic behind important Holy Land digs … put aside other excavation projects to concentrate on the Nazareth site. ‘I am sure that what we have here is a bathhouse from the time of Jesus … and the consequences of that for archaeology, and for our knowledge of the life of Jesus, are enormous’.

"But the huge scale of Shama's bathhouse suggests that Nazareth, rather than Sephori, was the local hub of military control from Rome. The giant bath could only have been built for a Roman city or to service a significant garrison town” (See: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/oct/22/research.artsandhumanities.

Daffy Duck,

<<Every minute fraction of this essay is an exercise in childish fantasy, and the naive mommy-daddy "creator-God">>

Based on the links you provided in your post, are you calling on us to worship The Avataric Great Sage, Adi Da Samraj and to apostasise from Jesus Christ?

Penelope,

<<Yes, it is encouraging to hear Christmas carols played over shopping centre loud speakers, but with so much else that is played it is no wonder that the true story of The birth of Jesus has been blurred in the mind of the unbelieving public.
To those who sneer at the Christian Gospel, I ask: How do you resolve the issue of good and evil in the world?>>

I agree that the message of Jesus' birth is 'blurred' in the minds of the people. We have the additional problem that many don't engage in examination of the facts surrounding Christmas. Instead they are happy to use name calling, other fallacies, or misinformation like we've seen in this thread:

+ 'Every minute fraction of this essay is an exercise in childish fantasy, and the naive mommy-daddy "creator-God"'.

+ 'it's you mob who have infected it with all your Christian claptrap'.

+ 'stop with the foam-flecked verbal'.

+ 'The oldest gospel says only that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (in accordance with the prophesy). The next one said he was born in Nazareth (a town that didn't even exist in Jesus' time)'.