Where Was Jesus Actually Born? (It Probably Wasn't an Inn)

Every Christmas, your house fills up. Cousins on the couch, kids on the floor, and somebody snoring in the guest room.

Now rewind two thousand years. You live in Bethlehem, and your house is packed for the census. Uncle Eli got the guest room. He is already snoring.

You know the Christmas card: a crowded inn, a grumpy innkeeper, a stable out back. But read Luke's version, and you won't find an innkeeper or a stable anywhere.

The word older Bibles translate as "inn" is the same word Luke uses for the guest room of the Last Supper. When he means a real inn, in the Good Samaritan story, he uses a different word.

So picture it his way. A young couple arrives, she's about to give birth, and the guest room is already full. So your family makes room where everyone lives.

Now guess where your animals sleep. Inside. Houses like yours probably brought the animals in at night, with feeding troughs built right into the floor. Tamar's goat is not thrilled about the visitors.

And that's exactly what Luke describes. She wrapped her baby in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.

Not a stable behind an inn. A family home, crowded with relatives, and a feeding trough in the floor.

Your guest room has a door that locks. Theirs had a manger.