They had to go to Bethlehem because the census was organized by family lineage, and Joseph (and Mary, for that matter) was from the lineage of King David, whose hometown was Bethlehem.

From the time David took the throne until the first exportation of the Jews to Babylon, there were at least 13 recorded generations. From the time of the exportation until the time of the census, there were about another 13 generations. And all of those people from all of those family lines were all crammed back into Bethlehem for the census. It probably explains why there was “no room at the inn” for Mary – they were probably lucky to get a barn!

-sm

I had always assumed that the Grateful Dead were in town.

Then there would be plenty of room at the Inn, but no room in the barn, public park or parking lot. :hafucking

Isn't discussing the factual basis of distilled ancient mythology a blast?

I'll bet it was really itriguing watching Zeus, in the form of a swan, getting it on with Leda, and seeing Perseus behead Medusa would have been cool, too!

Read Joseph Campbell. He makes *a lot* of sense, and he doesn't deprive us of our individual and cultural spirituality in the process, unlike most of the so called organized religions.

The guy I always wanted to hang out with was Bacchus. Now that guy knew how to throw a party!
- Pie

Read Jung. Why skip to the Cliff's Notes when you can go directly to the source?

-sm

Jung doesn't tie it all in to Star Wars.

And Campbell isn't as dry and boring as the Sahara.

Are there any other 'ascensions' in other religions? or is this unique to christianity?

(click...click...click...drag highlight...click...click...)

Well, let's see here...the Taoists give us:

T'ien-shih
T'ien-shih was the title awarded to Chang Tao-ling (157-178 A.D.), the founder of the Yellow Turban Taoists (he is also claimed as founder by the Cheng-I and Five Bushels of Rice sects). It is believed that he received the Ling-pao (spiritual Treasure) Scripture written on golden tablets, from the Gods. He succeeded in finding the elixir of immortality, swallowed it, and ascended to Heaven, leaving his secrets, including his seals and demon-dispelling sword, with his son.

Shinto:

"Izanagi no Mikoto, his task having been accomplished, and his power great, ascended to Heaven and made report of his mission. There he dwelt in the smaller palace of the Sun."

More Buddhism:

"Moreover, since this country is a land of slander, the protective deities, hungering for the taste of the Law, have abandoned their shrines and ascended to heaven, so evil demons have entered them in their stead and provide guidance for many people.

And then there's this, which is informative and shows pretty definitively that, in mythology at least, Jesus was scarcely the first to do anything really cool/Godlike/magickal:

http://www.bandoli.no/nooriginaljesus.htm

That's why I referred to "distilled mythologies" in the earlier post...because there was nothing new under the religious sun by the time Jesus came along. IMHO, his followers just tended to come from societies which were more advanced technologically, and were able to either carry the Christian credo along on their paths of conquest of the world, or actually use that credo as an excuse for subjugating everyone possible.

thanks, Pat. thought so. Maybe they were all 'beamed up'? sound plausible, doesn't it? say....they were/are a science class from another planet doing a religion experiment for a study?

He came up to watch cable TV, with me. I thought I said that somewhere in the bible.

Oh, no...I just read God's User Title.

Halliburton's CEO?! Good grief, do you know what this means?!!

It means Dick Cheney will be God's boss...

He came up to watch cable TV, with me. I thought I said that somewhere in the bible.

I bet Jesus channel flips and you guys fight over the remote. And do you ever get the urge to smite Ron Popeil late at night?

I thought that the way it was right now --I just assumed Cheney was, you know, God's boss...I am going to have to pay more attention to stuff.