The evidence for the life of Jesus Christ is almost entirely restricted to the four Gospels as found in the Holy Bible. According to Timothy George, Jesus was born "shortly before the death of King Herod the Great in 4 B.C.E.," although the exact date has not been determined (2003, 45). He was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry sometime after John the Baptist had begun preaching and baptizing his followers in the River Jordan. Jesus' ministry lasted for approximately three years, taking place mostly in Palestine with a few short journeys beyond its borders into Phoenicia and Decapolis. The main center of Jesus' teachings and his home province was Galilee.
             In contrast to his alleged "supernatural conception, i.e. born to a virgin mother named Mary," Jesus was raised in a very ordinary "middle class" home in Nazareth, with his father Joseph working as a "carpenter" or as some other skilled craftsman (some have alleged that Joseph was a stonemason). Joseph may have died rather young, leaving Jesus as the eldest son to run the family business and provide for his younger brothers and sisters (Gabriel, 2004, 156). Jesus' knowledge of the Holy Scriptures shows that he had a normal Jewish child's education based at the local synagogue. Beyond the single incident which showed his talent for religious debate as demonstrated in the Gospel of Luke, nothing else is firmly known about his early life.
             The start of Jesus' ministry is very closely linked to John the Baptist whom some scholars have stated was a cousin of Jesus. While preaching and baptizing, John allegedly recognized Jesus as the true Messiah whose coming he had predicted some years earlier. Jesus submitted himself first to John's baptism "in order to identify with what John stood for and with those who
             had responded to John's call, rather than to admit personal sin" (Ric...