The Christmas census
The gospel stands on historical credentials. David Jackman helpfully demonstrates this in his column this month.
Objections to the Christmas story come from many quarters. Sometimes these objections make fair points. Jesus was almost certainly not born in a barn on December 25, etc. These are objections to later traditions and not to the biblical account of the birth of Jesus at all. However, we do need to respond to objections made against the reliability of what we read in the Bible.