The year of the Lord must coincide with Jesus' death or the year He was born.   

Does the Talmud say anything about why he was stoned?
It's very interesting, since the skeptics always said that Jesus never existed.

Yeshu was a common name like Joseph and Mary. Nearly half a dozen Mary are there in NT. Stoning, crucifying and burning at stakes too was a common occurrence. I am speaking about that Jesus who just before dying uttered a prayer, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they are doing". I do not think other Yeshus too had uttered the same prayer. May be Talmud had missed out the great event.

When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. Mt 2:9. It means the star was moving. It was not stationary. Thanks for your response.

till it came and stood over where the young child was.

At which point it was stationary, no?

From Matthew's Gospel, the wise men observed the star 'at it's rising' (or in the East). Since they came from the East to Judea, they must have travelled West (so not 'following the star' in the literal sense).

It's likely, however, that they were astrologers as well as astronomers - there was no distinction in those days - and so were pursuing information that they had deduced from the appearance of the 'star'. (See the links I've provided below).

Nice to see you back, Lamb ;)

A star only becomes stationary (in relation to other stars) if it is in orbit round the sun ... hence either a planetary conjunction or a comet is likely. Since Herod ordered the killing of 'all first-born males under the age of two years' after enquiring in detail about the star's first appearance, it suggests that the star had first appeared about two years earlier. Conjunctions do not usually last that long and it is very unlikely that a comet would have been visible, especially as a noticeable object, for that long.

Folks, ever think of... UFO? :)

Actually, I have often offered the theory to friends that everything in the Bible would make perfect sense if God was actually an alien...

It is recorded in the Gospel that ‘Star of Bethlehem’ attracted attention of three wise men of the east. Who were these wise men? The people before had a notion that the comets are heavenly omens. Babylonians, Egyptians, and Mayans had developed the first constellation maps and useful calendars; but only Babylonians had perfected the calendar by studying of the motions of the Sun and Moon. Perhaps they were astrologers from Babylon; only they could have known about planets, stars, and their positions. As early as 400 BC Babylonians could predict the time of the new moon and the day on which the new month would begin. They also knew the daily positions of the Moon and Sun for every day during the month. Babylonians were also able to calculate the planetary positions; and knew how to represent their eastward and retrograde motions. Since wise men from Babylon were already so advanced in astronomy, it is highly improbable that they would have mistaken the dazzling object due to pairing of Jupiter and Saturn; or of Venus and Jupiter as a star. Further, the pairing could not have produced a dazzling object, as the star of Bethlehem is traditionally depicted.

Don't forget that the 'traditional depiction' is, itself, only a representation of the description in the Gospels.

It is quite likely that the 'wise men' (magi, in the Greek) were astrologers from Babylon and that the 'star' they described was, in fact, a unique and meaningful configuration of planets rather than a specific and individual star or other heavenly body.

Matthew's story must have been put together from stories related many years after the actual events, very likely information which was passed around from mouth to mouth amongst early Christians. One can only think of them, in today's terminology, as 'urban myths'. There may have been some truth in them but there is very likely to have been some ornamentation and circumstantial addition as well.

I admire your faith in Lord Jesus Christ. I agree it is more important to believe in Jesus Christ. I like your short and sweet answer.

New Testament is quite unclear whether Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the great, or Herol Archelaus or was it Herod Antipas.Herod the great had reigned between 74 BC to 4 BC. Herod Archelaus had reigned between 4 BC to 6 AD and Herod Antipas had reigned between 4 BC to 39 AD.

In the Bible, Archelaus is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew. According to Matthew 2:13-23, Joseph, Mary and Jesus fled to Egypt to avoid the Massacre of the Innocents. When Herod the Great died, Joseph was told by an angel in a dream to return to Israel (presumably to Bethlehem). However, upon hearing that Archelaus had succeeded his father as ruler of Judaea he "was afraid to go thither" (Matthew 2:22), and was again notified in a dream to go to Galilee. This is Matthew's explanation of why Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea but grew up in Nazareth.

Herod the Great appears in ancient Christian scriptures, in the Gospel according to Matthew (Ch. 2), which describes an event known as the Massacre of the Innocents.

According to Matthew, shortly after the birth of Jesus, Magi from the East visited Herod to inquire the whereabouts of "the one having been born king of the Jews", because they had seen his star in the east and therefore wanted to pay him homage. Herod, who was himself King of the Jews, was alarmed at the prospect of the newborn king usurping his rule.

I believe it was during the reign of Herod the Great Jesus was born, therefore the probable year of his birth 33-39 BC is correct.

Even if I assume that Jesus never existed; but then who could have narrated those parables? Did authors of the Gospels steal them from some other religion or some other scriptures? Nature of parables shows that none other but only Jesus could have narrated them.

Parables were not the personal persona of Jesus. History is filled with Great Teachers. The ancient Greeks, Romans, and even the Chinese (none of whom ever heard of Jesus) all had Great Teachers.
Here is an example from Chinese Literature-
A young man who lived by the sea loved seagulls. Every morning at daybreak he would go to the seaside and play with the gulls. Hundreds of gulls would come to him and not fly away.
His father said, 'I heard that seagulls like to play with you. Catch a few for me so that I can play with them too.'
The next morning when the father went to the seaside the seagulls swooped about in the skies but none came down to him.
The message of this parable is that one may try, but cannot, hide one's inner thoughts. Even birds and animals can sense one's true feelings.

While these wise men of the yore in their parables spoke about dogs, cats, birds in the sky and reptiles, Jesus only spoke about 'Kingdom of Heaven'. While these men spoke about the world around them, Jesus always spoke about the world beyond. There was none born like him neither before, nor after.

My Dear Man! Here is a parable purported to be from Jesus:
6Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'
8" 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'

This is good Farming Advise, easily obtained by a visit to your nearby Agricultural Extension Office. No need to go to the world beyond!(or the Kingdom of Heaven!)

There is another Parable of the Budding Fig Tree is a parable told by Jesus in Matthew 24:32-35, Mark 13:28-31, and Luke 21:29-33. I am mentioning it here because whenever Jesus spoke about 'fig' trees he meant 'Kingdom of God'

According to the Gospel of Luke (21:29-33):

"Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
"Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Now concerning the parable you mentioned in your post, Jesus was not giving a farming advice but he was speaking of unrighteous. Even if they do not give good fruits, God has patience with them, he nurtures and nourishes them. He does not hew them down immediately. Jesus was explaining God's way of doing things. Jesus always spoke in wider sense. One has to grasp the meaning of what he said.

Of Course He Was! In the vernacular of Jesus, Fig trees = the Kingdom of God! Give me a Break! or is This Christianity in a nut-shell. Reaching out,to grasp at straws, and give yourself a goody, goody Feeling. (Jesus is there for me, but Always- speaking in tongues) in a wider sense.) Yes, this takes a LOT of sagacity! One has to work at it, and forget logic. Clearly, its impossible, but faith will overcome all things religious!

This post contains content of a mature nature. You must be Signed in or Registered to have the option to view this content.

In 46 BC, Caesar established a 365-day year with a leap year every fourth year. Besides, we are not sure if it was Herod the great or Herod Archelaus or was it Herod Antipas. More over before Julius Caesar, the year had 304 days. See my comments on Starchaser's post at #5.

To me celebration of Christmas on December 25 appears logical because Christ must come at the end of the age to usher in a New Era. He is harbinger of a New Age. 25th December is the first day of the last week of the year; and thereafter, the New Year beings. Likewise, Jesus was born in the last century of the previous era. If you divide the century by 3 then you get 33.3. Jesus had lived for 33 years during the last lap of the century. After his death, the New Age began. I see the hand of divine providence in fixing the date of his birth on 25th of December.