dated properly no lart than 350 ash ad. after that the oldest inscription ever found. part of the verse from the nativity story of luke about simeon the old man who held the baby jesus. you have seen the inscription. in fact you discovered them. how do you know they are authentic. good question. we are living in an age of forgeries. the inscription which were there almost 30 feet in the air. it s impossible to forge something like that today. a forger would want to forge something he can sell and you cannot sell something this big. there s no way again it has been up there for the last almost 1700 years, and it will always be there. like absalom s tomb christianity survived a variety of assaults. these days it s a best selling book that has many people angry and upset.
for 2,000 years christians all over the world celebrated the birth of jesus christ with thankful prayer and joyful song peace on earth goodwill to all is a simple christmas message. it s at the heart of jesus teaching. welcome to fox news channel special presentation. behind me is bethlehem where jesus was born. coming up on this program a very special guide will take us on a tour of the church of the nativity: travel village to recreate jesus life. archeologists tell how they find a fake from a find. why many women are angry about a best selling book they are calling it an assault on christianity s basic belief. first faith and fact what we know about the birth of gees saunsd how we know jesus and
where have all of the christians gone? they are afraid to come. they are afraid of all of the turmoil and fighting that has plagued this area. this bethlehem used to be 100 percent christian. now it stands only above 35. i talked with people who used to wait in line for hours to get into the church of the nativity. now it looks like you can walk right in. absolutely. the door we will be going through. so this is the traditional birth place of jesus? this is the traditional birth place. there is very little doubt about the city and for us the probability about 85 percent that the church is actually built over the right place. we have two different versions one in luke where mary and joseph start from nazareth and matthew where mary and joseph are native of bethlehem. that s why jesus is born here.
john dominic clawson believes the gospel writer s motives are not to write list but to make the world of theology. when matthew is going to have jesus give a sermon on the mount he is going to model him even as he has been born so moses was almost killed by the evil pharaoh jesus is going to be almost killed by the evil herod. the number one message from roman imperial theology was that the emperor was divine and the emperor had a divine right to rule. he takes note of the symbols used through out his empire and how they were received through the new christian religion. after julius caesar died haley s come met flew over the skies in rome. augustus claimed that was in fact my father julius caesar it s his soul ascending into
grot el of the nativity. father o connor took us there. there are two altars this is the brothel of the nativity scene. if you put your hand through the whole you can touch. on this side this is the altar of the manger. even in this paceful place there are long running disputes. the altar of the manger belongs to the monks the other alter in greek orthodox. the other christian groups is the arameanian orthodox. there is splits every where. exactly. that is give to go the holy man. the belief is that this is where jesus was born? yes. and then he was carried over here to the manger.