Tuck agreed. "Not exactly the kind of accuracy you'd hope for when you're trying to base your calendar on this event, is it? Actually, many people think that this was a mistake in the Gospel of Luke. If we disregard it, then there's lots of evidence for the birth of Christ being in the range of 6 B.C to 4 B.C."

I still didn't like this, and said, "OK, that's a relatively narrow range, but it's still not as precise as you'd want it to be to mark the moment of the Christian epoch."

"No, it's not," Tuck said. "And even if we were sure of the year, it would be the wrong one according to the calendar. There are hardly any Biblical scholars who think he was born in 1 A.D. And even if he were, no one thinks he was born on January 1st, which would be the first A.D. day. We say he was born on December 25th, but that wasn't his exact birthday either. They just picked that date because we needed a holiday around that time."

"Kind of like how the fixed date of George Washington's birthday was abandoned, and they decided to make the holiday always fall on a Monday," I suggested. "We know his real birthday with absolute certainty, but we'd rather have a guaranteed three-day weekend than celebrate on the right day."

"Yup, that's a good example," Tuck said. "We know he was born on February 22nd, but it's not convenient for us as far as holidays go. Who wants to go to work on Monday and Tuesday, get Wednesday off, and then go back to work on Thursday and Friday? It makes a much better holiday now that it's been set to the third Monday in February. Now it's a three-day weekend every time."

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