With the advent of the Internet, information has been able to spread rather quickly and facts are disseminated at an astronomical rate. This is, of course, a good thing. But it would be naive to assume that misinformation could not be spread as quickly, and perhaps in some cases, even quicker. Needless to say, I think issues of paramount importance, such as the one I am about to undertake, have suffered mercilessly from this abusive and perpetuating trend. It is indeed ironic that widespread access to information should facilitate the exact opposite of the expected effect (but again, maybe not given what we can see in history). Anyways, I think the author of the Gospel of Luke has unjustly become the victim of this. The issue arising from the purported discrepancy in the dating of Christ's birth has been continuously peddled as the knife in the heart of biblical inerrancy. Of course, the edifice of biblical inerrancy may come crashing down, but I don't see any reason to think that it will be at the hands of Luke.
