The Jesus Itinerary

[John V]

That's the natural conclusion. We will just have to agree to disagree on that, I suppose.

The natural conclusion is that they were in a house - no more. you add that it's Joseph's in order to create a problem that isn't there.

Actually, it is. You outlined the plot of a fan fic to reconcile this problem with the Gospels. Whether you actually write it out or not is beside the point because you're still employing the same tactic to solve the problem.

No, I still maintain that you're fan fic-ing to reconcile that problem. Any "backpedaling" is you reading into my posts what's not there. Ironic, no?

I'm not reading into your posts - I quoted you saying "entire" fan-fic, and now you're backpedaling because you're clearly wrong.

Well, then your god is a bad communicator and acts like a spoiled teenager ("You don't understand me") when the message isn't understood.

...or maybe your god is made up and the reason the Bible is so provincial, both in the culturally anachronistic communication style and the limited area of initial publication (couldn't God drop off copies all over the world without the need of human missionaries or speak to an occasional prophet outside the Middle-Eastern region?) is because Yahweh is the product of human beings.

You can guess which one of these options I regard as more likely.

Or, as I noted, God is using a common teaching technique.