Cold-case detective J. Warner Wallace examines the evidence around the biblical accounts of the Christmas story 

When investigating an event in the distant past (in my case, an unsolved murder), I collect evidence, make lists and do my best to reach the most reasonable inference. When I began to investigate Christianity at the age of 35, I approached the Gospels the same way I approached my cold-case files.

One New Testament claim was particularly interesting to me: the conception and birth of Jesus. When I first read through the Gospels, the birth narratives seemed incredible and unreasonable.

I’m not the only person to express such a concern. In an article posted in the Herald Scotland, Reverend Andrew Frater called the Nativity story a “fanciful, fairy tale” and called on Christians to “disentangle the truth from the tinsel”. Frater is a minister and a believer, and even he doesn’t believe in the virgin conception of Jesus. 

As an atheist, I was even more sceptical. I rejected supernatural claims altogether and the first Biblical claim about Jesus… (Register to read the whole article)