and i think, like most scholars, that matthew s account is preferable. but doesn t luke give the more detailed account? more detailed, more vivid, more dramatic. but the linchpin of his account is the census which forces a man and his very pregnant wife to move the length of the country. i don t accept that census, because this was not part of the roman empire. and the census was for the empire. well, the new testament talks about a stable. that s not to say that it couldn t have been a cave, right? many stables are, in fact, caves. and i think the representation of a cave is much more accurate. now jesus was born here, because the bible says there was no room for them in the inn. what you should imagine is a small, humble house, a one-room house. the question of where the birth occurs centers around the greek word originally translated as inn. some scholars also translate it as family home. as in a large extended family