The Historical Jesus

[h311inac311]

even though this census would obviously be very demanding of people who travel by foot and donkey it is still not at all outside the realm of possibility,

It is very much outside the realm of possibility that everyone in the empire is returning to the home of their ancestors from a thousand years earlier. Joseph had to return to the town of Bethlehem because he’s from the lineage of David, but King David "lived" a thousand years earlier.

How is that possible? How would people know where to go? If you had to go register to vote in the town your ancestors came from a thousand years ago, where would you go? And are we to imagine that this massive migration of millions of people, all over the empire, took place without any other author from the period so much as mentioning it? We know a lot about the reign of Caesar Augustus from the writings of historians, philosophers, essayists, poets, and others living about that time. In none of these writings, including an account written by Caesar Augustus himself about his own reign, is there a solitary word about any empire-wide census.

But yeah, the entire Roman Empire went uprooting for a weekend in order to register for a census. Give me a fucking break.

Would if most people didn't respond to the census?

Also, you can't make the statement, "without any other author from the period so much as mentioning it." Unless you're a time traveler.

I could give you countless reasons as to why, but I think you're right, I think that in the age where laws were enforced by sword and bow, most people just shrugged their shoulders and said, "they can't arrest us all" and simply chose to keep on doing what they were doing. Maybe they weren't as eager to obey the law as Joseph was.

Also, during this time it was a lot more common to be near where your ancestors from 1,000 years ago lived. Nowadays, we would need a DNA test that would sprawl out across half the Earth.

Political tensions were high after all, and discussions over taxes are common within the gospel cannon.

as it is written, 
"Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."