Part 39 of Post Your Tough Questions Regarding Christianity

Good Brother Mitt ... Tell us which Bible is the one that is 100% the word of God and has no faults .. Would this be the KJV .Bible Mitt .. do not keep this secret knowledge of yours hidden under a blanket .. Reveal to us your source !

 

And what is your source that tells you, "God has 100% of all knowledge, therefore He knows everything."?

Let me guess, The Bible

And what is your source that the Bible is accurate?

God..because it's the "Word of God and God has 100% of all knowledge therefore He knows everything."

 

Another load of stuff that we already know. Why waste your time?

Education. https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Education-Biblical-Times It's a very long article.

We know Jesus wasn't a Christian. Don't waste your time.

 

For Mitt. When an external authority, be it a book, a person, or a religion, has final control over everything we do, say, and think, it is impossible for us to find and begin to live out of our own truest, deepest souls. We live oppressed by the external authority—this is definitely not good for mental health. It is the same as if a government came in and told us how to think, feel, believe, and act. The external authority has final and absolute control. Where, then, are our original thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions? Rather we must learn to find our own internal authority and come to trust its guidance—that is true spirituality.

 

Well it stands to reason that if to you, all of Judaism/Christianity involves conmen and dupes. Then those who reject it are therefore the smart ones in your estimation. Congrats on your smug self serving conclusion. That is exactly my point....that you reason to your own foregone conclusion, rather than to the truth. That isn't progress.

One cannot state with any confidence that there is no God without stating a fallacy. And this is so because to state it, one must known all things known and unknown and all that will ever be, to say there is no God, which is an impossibility to know. But to say with certainty that God lives, one need know only that one thing. And so it is according to the will and pleasure of the living God to reveal himself to whomever he chooses at his leisure. Such is the reality of God.

 

I reason to my study of the ancient history of the Middle East, Judaism and the history of the Jewish people of that age. Much of the History if the Hebrews in the book of Kings is confirmed by extrabiblical sources. It's odd that no extrabiblical references refer to much of the early part. In fact place the stories against the known and proven history which has extrabiblical references and the Bible comes up short.

To know with certainty that an 'experience' is real is only down to what you believe. For you to say there is a god needs proof. Not just to you but others. Reality of God? If god is real where is he?

If you wish to criticise then study for yourself. Rather like Mitt, you claim to be right with nothing to show for it but an 'experience' known only to yourself. Mitt has done nothing but criticise and ignore. Study seems to be lacking, and by study facts are known.

 

Speak for yourself trev, are we to believe you are somehow linked to other minds by telepathy or something?

You don't know if everyone who comes to read responses in this thread knew that Lord Jesus wasn't a Christian, and whoever didn't now know He wasn't after reading the in-depth thorough explanation given by my favorite Christian Ministry. And so, my responses I give is never a waste of my time. Even though I'm responding directly at you, my responses are for everyone who reads them and for some who weren't aware become aware after reading my responses that has Biblical truths in them backed up by what's written in the Scriptures of the Holy Bible.

True, but they at the time didn't know that He was the Son of God and had divine self-understanding.

Huh?..."things He had learned that were against what He was supposed to have said"? Learned from who? Truth is, it's the other way around, He taught us, Lord Jesus was often saying and doing things that only God has a right to say and do. We also learn from reading Scripture that He referred to Himself in ways that hinted at His deity. And some of these instances provide us with the strongest proof of Lord Jesus’ divine self-understanding.

We Read in Scripture:

61 But Jesus was silent and made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”
62 Jesus said, “I am. [a] And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven. [c]” Mark 14:61-62 NLT

Footnotes
a. 14:62a Or The ‘I am’ is here; or I am the Lord. See Exod 3:14.
b. 14:62b Greek seated at the right hand of the power. See Ps 110:1.
c. 14:62c See Dan 7:13.

34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. 36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? [a] 37 Is anything worth more than your soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38 NLT

Footnotes
a. 8:36 Or your self? also in 8:37.

Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,[a]
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it. John 1:1-5 NLT

Footnotes
a. 1:3-4 Or and nothing that was created was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything.
b. 1:5 Or and the darkness has not understood it.

13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. Titus 2:13 NLT

Ok thanks trev for your posts.

 

For goodness sake study outside the Bible. It makes nonsense of much of it. You quote Mark2 Jesus said, “I am. [a] And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven. [c]” Mark 14:61-62 NLT Matthew - despite the fact he was not there - tells us that Jesus said 'Thou hast said'. He contiues 'Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven'. This doesn't necessarily refer to Jesus. It is something that was believed and hoped at the time. It comes from Daniel 8. A vision which refers to the Hebrews.
Its odd that we hear so much from an enclosed meeting. v 56.

Look outside the Bible. Look at was really happening at the time. Look at the people involved and the practises of the time. The Gospel writers simply tell you what they want you to know. The ministry of Jesus was supposedly 3 years. What we have is about possible 6 months recorded. We have little of his early life and just 3 years of his ministry. A lot happened in the intervening time in a country which was not as peaceful as is assumed by reading the Bible.

You're really like the Hebrew children. They were taught what to believe and that's how how they remained.

 

Why would Jesus curse a fig tree?

What was Jesus doing from the age of 13 until he started preaching?

 

He didn't curse a fig tree literally. The fig tree represented Israel and its spiritual state. The Pharisees actions over the centuries had made Israel spiritually bankrupt - barren. Jesus is saying they need to return to Yahweh. He was a Jewish preacher - nothing more - despite the misinterpretation by the Gospel writers of OT scriptures.

As to what he was doing we are not told.

However. If you look at the history of the religious group of the Pharisees we may have an answer.
This is only my suggestion. We read that Jesus had learnt the Tanakh as a child/youth so well that he was able to debate and astound the priests at the temple. This was simply because he was an intelligent boy and a quick learner.
In those days a teacher - or Rabbis as they were known much later after Jesus death - would take under their wing such a boy and bring him on to further education. He would be encouraged to do more study, to produce his own interpretation of Tanakh Scriptures and be able to discuss with others. This would take time as it would be intermittent teaching. Teachers/Rabbis were not allowed to be paid and would take time off to earn sufficient money to live on and to cover the time taken in teaching. I suggest that Jesus would also take the time to assist his father.
Rabbi's did not live forever. They had to teach other boys/young men to continue their ranks.
How long this teaching would have lasted is a guess. Is the rest of the time taken up by marriage and supporting a wife? It would be very unusual for a man of that day not to be married. Who knows? Is this why there is silence on the period?

Any other suggestions - based on what we know of the time?

 

A good answer. Of course if he had a wife, he would have likely had children which would certainly in an inconvenient reality to many.

 

Nope, not true. This study outside of the Bible that you did fed you lots of rubbish/garbage. The works of the devil full of lies & deception is what you received.

Basically, a Jewish rabbi is a teacher. The title rabbi or rabboni came into use among the Pharisees, and it means teacher or master.

Lord Jesus Himself was called a rabbi by many, including a few Pharisees that we read about in Scripture. Let me present a few passages in Scripture that illustrates this.

We Read in Scripture:

51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“My Rabbi,[a]” the blind man said, “I want to see!” Mark 10:51 NLT

Footnotes
a. 10:51 Greek uses the Hebrew term Rabboni.

31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus, “Rabbi, eat something.” John 4:31 NLT

39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” Luke 19:39 NLT

2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” John 3:2 NLT

The above verse of John 3:2 is referring to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who visited Lord Jesus after dark one evening.

For goodness's sake trev throw out into the trash that study outside the Bible notes that you have in your possession. That garbage you received is the source of why you see the Bible as nonsense, it's full of lies & deception, the works of the devil.

Maybe if you put your thinking cap on it wouldn't be so odd, I mean, yes, it's true that none of the Lord's disciples were there at the enclosed meeting because they fled like scaredy cats but c'mon now trev, before Lord Jesus ascended into heaven He appeared to His disciples, so of course it's plausible that the Lord told them about that enclosed meeting and what transpired there. Also, there is another plausible explanation of why the writers of the Gospels knew what transpired at the enclosed meeting.

You trev have a bad habit of forgetting this.

We Read in Scripture:

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT

And as for that Mark 14:61-62 quote you alluded to, here Lord Jesus is referring to the Old Testament book of Daniel where the prophet Daniel states:

We Read in Scripture:

13 As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man[a] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed. Daniel 7:13-14 NLT

Footnotes
a. 7:13 Or like a Son of Man.

Now let me present a thorough in-depth explanation coming from my favorite Christian Ministry below that will clear up your confusion trev.

That's where you went wrong trev, you looked outside and received garbage/rubbish in other words full of lies.

The Gospels of Matthew and John were written by two of Lord Jesus' original disciples. So both of these Gospels are based on eyewitness testimony. Early church tradition claims that Mark's Gospel was based on the preaching of the apostle Peter (another eyewitness of Jesus' life and ministry). And Luke's Gospel begins by noting the importance of eyewitness testimony to the ministry of Jesus.

The four Gospels are written as in the form of historical narrative documenting the life, death and resurrection of Lord Jesus.

One should be more skeptical about a text claiming to be historical record and being written in the 1st person. Just think about history in general..the only documents that I can think of written in the 1st person would be autobiographies.

Did Lord Jesus have to write a story about His own life? Of course not. Nearly all historical works follow a "reporting" style and would thus use 3rd person narrative.
More importantly, the purpose of the Gospels is not for the writers to talk about their lives, but the life of Lord Jesus . Writing from 3rd person places even more emphasis on this goal as opposed to the writers (unnecessarily) talking about themselves.

We see that Luke begins his Gospel in the 1st person clearly stating the purpose of the work in Luke 1:1-4.

We Read in Scripture:

Introduction

1 Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples.[a] 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write an accurate account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught. Luke 1:1-4 NLT

Footnotes
a. 1:2 Greek from those who from the beginning were servants of the word.

Luke essentially says that he is writing a history book chronicling the life of Lord Jesus. Though not explicitly indicated by the other three Gospel writers, this same historical narrative style can be seen in the other three accounts.

Their claim isn't that "hey, we saw this stuff happen" (even if the writers were firsthand witnesses), but more formally documenting history events.

They each had their own perspective and unique style in that they focus and write about some different things, mainly to appeal to the audience they are trying to reach, Matthew to the Jews, Luke to the Gentiles etc.

No matter what the circumstances you would protest. The reality is that the Gospels never give and do not claim to give a comprehensive account of all of Lord Jesus' activities. If we received a lot of it, you would protest and say it's too much to digest, too convoluted.

When was there ever a time when things on earth were very peaceful for long periods of time? There is always misery, hostility, depravity, persecution, wars that goes on and on and on. Throughout the entire Bible it was noted. Obviously your assumption was off.

Well, truth is, we are all taught what to believe, that's just human nature. We have over four thousand religions world-wide. I'd say that was a lot of teaching going on.

Why just recently you yourself trev were taught by that study outside of the Bible to believe the Bible is nonsense, there by influencing you to believe in the illogical no god atheist religion.

Ok thanks trev for your posts.

 

Thanks for mentioning this. The Holy Spirit gives scripture, understanding of scripture beyond appearance, and recollection of inspired words, as in the remembrance and scribing of Jesus's sermons many years after by his Apostles. I mention this because Trevor was doubting the Apostles recollections of so much so far removed.

 

Jesus disciples would have called him Rav. Rabbi came later.

In the text of the gospels, Greek letters are used to spell out the Hebrew word “rabbi” as ραββι rather than translating it into a Greek equivalent in 15 places (see Matt. 23:7, 8; Mark 9:5; John 1:38, 49, and elsewhere). In these passages, Jesus was called rabbi mainly by disciples – namely Peter, Nathaniel, and Judas, and some would-be disciples, including Nicodemus. John the Baptist’s disciples called him “rabbi” too (John 3:26).

Here’s one passage where ραββι is found:

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” [ραββι] (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” (John 1:37)

Here John explains that his use of “rabbi” is the equivalent of the Greek word didaskalos, which means “teacher.” It’s reasonable to assume, then, that when we see Jesus addressed as “teacher” in English translations, the Gospel writers are using it to translate the word rabbi.

Like many crossover words between languages there is no meaning in one for the other.

The Book of Daniel is in 2 parts. The Daniel of the stories in the first part was probably a local hero to whom stories etc we attrituted. In fact the stories contain many historic, religious and cultural errors of the time. There was a man called Daniel. But not the Daniel in this book. The second half is simply written during the Seulucid invasion of the Hasmonean Kingdom under Anthiochus Epiphanes, and their removal.

I really can't bother with GotQuestions. They simply quote Christian teaching. They have little real knowledge outside the Bible - as I have proved.

One should be more skeptical about a text claiming to be historical record and being written in the 1st person. Just think about history in general..the only documents that I can think of written in the 1st person would be autobiographies.

A lot of history has been written in the first person and confirmed by other reports so that's just nonsense.

Why just recently you yourself trev were taught by that study outside of the Bible to believe the Bible is nonsense, there by influencing you to believe in the illogical no god atheist religion.

And you, Mitt, just accept what you are told. You never questioned what you were taught at school, or what your parents told you? You have been lead by a collar without question.
You just parrot other's beliefs and have no understanding of the background to the
Bible or the real teaching of the OT. Neither has your GotQuestions.

You'll never learn. Leaning on others teachings can be disastrous. Hitler learnt how to manipulate people as many people have done in the past.

Don't waste time or effort trying to teach your teacher.

Thanks

 

I just find it amazing that the Holy Spirit tells different things to different religious sects. The Holy Spirit inspired the OT scriptures to record massacres at Gods authority. Not exactly a good advert for God. The Holy Spirit didn't disclose to the Hebrews the nature if his Messiah but left them to their own thoughts. Did the Holy SApirit inspire the Essenes to write their Book of Revelation which John adapted a century or so later for his Book of Revelation.
Again, most religions are 'inspired' by some spirit or other so they say. Even ancient civilisations have codes inspired by their gods, like the 10 commandments. There's nothing new under the sun.

 

What can I say. There is the truth, and there is everything else.....lies, counterfeits, knock offs, half truths. Who is the real Captain Kirk? Jesus said the way to life is narrow, where few enter. And the way to death is broad, where many enter. Then he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So everything outside of himself goes to death. Life then is in him. The choice is ours.

 

The secret of writing a good religious fairytale is to include lots of passages where the God character says such and such to convince the listener or reader that the story is real. Of course the whole thing is imaginary but it is good enough to fool billions of gullible people.

One thing is for certain and that is no one will ever see any of the over 33 million assorted gods conmen have cooked up over thousands of years. You will walk on the Sun eating ice cream before any of those deities show up to reveal itself in all of its reputed majesty and glory.

 

Therein lies the problem. What is Truth? That of Mohammed, of Joseph Smith, of Buddha, even of Jesus. There is no evidence he was anything more than a Jewish preacher that what is written down. The way to death is factual. The rest is just belief.

 

With all the differing voices speaking the way to God, it is near to madness or babel. Who or what is to be believed? The appeal of life and science is our first command and sweetheart. So why then all these strange Gods and avenues. What is God more than the life we are given? This life we know. So what more or other is to be believed. This life is familiar, into which we are born. Can one be reborn into another life, even while we live, only to then call it God again? Is this one not good enough already? Is God dissatisfied with what he had done and made, that he should say ye must be reborn? If he makes us for the grave, then why change it and remake us for forever. We are wrung out. What kind of a person is this God named Jesus? Why does he suppose that we have no limits, and stretch us out like the universe. He makes us toothless and commands us to suckle. Then he changes his mind, gives us teeth and commands us to chew. Then he changes again, gives us a full mouth of teeth and commands us to eat everything. Then he says that man does not live by bread alone, so stop eating and hear my word for life. I am your God. And you are my people. Remember me as I have remembered you. And love as I have you.

 

There is some truth to what you say. Jesus told the Jews that there is no eternal life in the scriptures John 5:39. And apparently not in invoking his name either Matthew 7:22-23.

 

Well, what the Lord Jesus had to say evidently was sufficient enough as recorded in the Scriptures of the Gospels. The messages He left us is understood and believed by His followers/Christians but sadly the majority doesn't understand it, consequently they don't believe in it.

They don't believe they are headed towards doom because of their sins committed while living their earthly lives. They don't believe they will be forgiven those sins, if they repent, ask Him for His forgiveness of those sins. They just can't bring themselves into believing and trusting in Him as their Lord and Savior...I honestly feel so sad for them!

True, and who would know that truth better than the Lord Himself...nobody, not even the hypocritical Jewish religious hierarchy could see their own hypocrisy being displayed by their selfish evil actions, they were what you call spiritually blind to the truth and so the Lord called them out about it.

Yes, that's what these hypocrites were doing which were totally wrong and not serving God in the least bit. They were serving their own selfish interests at the expense of others not in their elitist hierarchy circle.

Well, we mustn't forget the Lord was the incarnate God in human flesh and so although He was Jewish, He was also deity the incarnate God.

And during His ministry no one really knew this, not even His disciples, they were somewhat confused but not at the level of the hypocritical Jewish religious hierarchy were.

And so, there were people not understanding Him, not accepting Him. The Jewish religious hierarchy could not accept it when Lord Jesus said, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

We Read in Scripture:

Jesus before the Council

57 Then the people who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of religious law and the elders had gathered. 58 Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end.

59 Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council[a] were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death. 60 But even though they found many who agreed to give false witness, they could not use anyone’s testimony. Finally, two men came forward 61 who declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” 63 But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

64 Jesus replied, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.” [c]

65 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Blasphemy! Why do we need other witnesses? You have all heard his blasphemy. 66 What is your verdict?”

“Guilty!” they shouted. “He deserves to die!”

67 Then they began to spit in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him, 68 jeering, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?” Matthew 26:57-68 NLT

Footnotes
a. 26:59 Greek the Sanhedrin.
b. 26:64a Greek seated at the right hand of the power. See Ps 110:1.
c. 26:64b See Dan 7:13.

Ok thanks trev for your post.

 

I've already replied to this. You keep repeating yourself.
They don't believe they are headed towards doom because of their sins committed while living their earthly lives. They don't believe they will be forgiven those sins, if they repent, ask Him for His forgiveness of those sins. They just can't bring themselves into believing and trusting in Him as their Lord and Savior...I honestly feel so sad for them!

Well we feel sad that you are wasting your life on a god that doesn't exist.


62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” 63 But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God—tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

64 Jesus replied, “You have said it. And in the future you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.” [c]

The difference is simple. Apparently the high priest asked if he were the Son of God (his divinity). He didn't say yes. What he said was 'YOU have said it'. Then he refer to himself as the Son of Man (his humanity). Now work that one out.

And don't keep repeating yourself, it gets boring.

 

You have completely backwards.
To lack belief in a God requires NOTHING because the burden of proof is with anyone claiming there is a God. I don't need to know all things unknown to say "I don't believe a God exists". The only thing that would be required to change my mind is convincing evidence of the existence of a God. I don't have that. No one has provided it. So I have nothing. With that nothing I will assume a God does not exist until someone provides me with something to change my mind.

 

My response was to Trevor. You aren't Trevor. Trevor essentially said the entire gospel is make believe and there is no God. What you say is that you don't know one way or another. If you would like to know, you would have to try a private scientific experiment and pray to the unseen/unknown God with sincerity, believing that if he is real, he will answer your prayer. I can only tell you that I know that he is real.

 

That would depend on what you call the gospel. If you are referring to the Christian message of the gospel then I say it is make believe. I dont believe that Jesus was anything more than a Jewish preacher. The gospels themselves have the story of this preacher with Christian additions to make him divine. There is no reference to Jesus in the OT apart from the gospel writers - Matthew and Luke - misinterpreting OT scriptures and claiming them for Christianity. Have you actually studied them closely? Given the laws of the Roman Census and Jewish religious practices and customs we have Mary travelling a 4 day journey, camping on the roadside at night, cooking and doing bodily functions in the scrub, when Jewish practices allowed pregnant and weaning women to stay at home - even for festivals like the Passover. The Romans didn't require women to be anywhere. A completely unnecessary journey as Joseph had no property in Bethlehem. David - if he existed - was 1000 years in the past. The intervening years had been chaotic including exile by many and the chaos of the Greek Seleucid invasion of Palestine.
Let's just suppose Davids descendants had to go there to pay taxes on their property.
David was 1000 years in the past. He had 20 sons we know of. 40 years a generation and say 6 in the family given the need for large families. Say just 2 were males. Double each generation through 1000 years. And this colossal number all had property in the village of Bethlehem to be taxed?
Trip to Egypt - Hosea 11:1 doesn't mention Jesus.
Borne in Bethlehem. The Hebrew tells us their Messiah would come from Bethlehem. Not be born there. And he would be of old - Not from eternity. The other thing is also that the Hebrew mentions coming from the clan - family - named Ephratah from Bethlehem.

Luke has Joseph returning to Nazareth after Jewish ritual was fulfilled. That was within 40 days. There Jesus stayed while growing up. Matthew has Joseph and family in Egypt by deliberately using Hosea, though there's no reference to Jesus. Matthew ignored the rest of the chapter. Apparently it didnt fit in with his idea of a divine being.
So Jesus was in 2 places at one time.

I asked GotQuestions how this had happened. There answer was that they went to Nazareth. Then Herod found out where they were and sent soldiers after them. Of course Herod must have used his radio media to get people to ring in with the information. What a load of...... Not only that but the road to Egypt led back through Bethlehem and the soldiers.
When I pointed out that the Roman province of Syria was just 20 miles from Nazareth and Joseph and Jesus would have been quite safe there I got no answer.

Herod would not have entered Syria which was a separate Province ruled by a Roman appointed Governor
Rome did not take kindly to their provinces falling out and Herod was already disliked in Rome.
Aretas - King of Damascus - fell out with Herod Antipas and send troops to harrass him. Rome reacted by sending an army. Aretas scuttled back to Damascus on hearing this. Actually the army halted short of Damascus as Caesar died.
After Herods death there was uproar and the Governor of Syria sent troops from the Roman Garrisons held in Syria just for the purpose of dealing with trouble in the Roman Middle East.

The Nativity stories are just made up. Jesus was a simple Jewish child who became an evangelist trying to bring the people back to Jahweh. He so upset the hypocritical religious leaders they had Pilate execute him. Incidentally. This was completely against their beliefs as they considered Crucifixon wrong and cruel. Stoning was their method.

That's why I believe much of the Gospel is made up. Many people can be made to believe anything if it fits in with their needs and ideas. Others look beyond.