purify this sacred place. down here in this grotto is this altar. it s marked by a silver star. and it s where christians and tradition say all of this began. this is where they believe jesus was born. the faithful gathered in this intimate space believe that the birth of jesus here was the fulfillment of a series of predictions and promises that began more than 2,000 years ago. 70 miles north of bethlehem is the small city of nazareth. a small orthodox church marks the spot where it s said the angel gabriel first told the virgin mary, she would bear a savior. i think mary s response to the angel s words are is nothing less than startling. instead of saying impossible,
genesis to jesus. we re overlooking the old city of jerusalem, where so many of those stories are said to have unfolded. but our journey is taking us to cities and deserts across the ancient world. so, come along with us. after the great flood, the bible says that god made a promise to never again destroy the earth. noah s family prospered and their descendants spread across the world. but noah s drunkenness and the bad behavior of his sons had greatly displeased god. still unsatisfied with his creation, he set out again to find the one man he could trust above all others. he tries adam and eve. and that fails. he tries noah, and that fails. he is searching for a human partner.
for the night. and where shepherds, angels and kings were led by an especially bright star, to worship a newborn child. he s the prince of peace. that s what we call him. and so, ever year, 2 million pilgrims come here to the church of the nativity, where there s a small cave that marks the humble beginnings of the savior. do you believe this is where jesus is born? i do. i met drew and his mother, theresa, who traveled from north carolina, to try to connect with their faith. i believe it s somewhere here. whether it s right at that spot, i don t know. when i go down there into the grotto, i may feel like this is the place. first, we must wait, as the greek orthodox caretakers must
but for many scholars looking for proof of the star of bethlehem, or proof of the nativity itself misses the real point. we don t know much about the historic story of jesus. we know, however, that the tales that were told are timeless. powerful and beautiful. but the story we celebrate this holiday season didn t start here. it follows the stories of all our ancient ancestors from the old testament. if you think about it, and it s very hard, the bible is the story of a family. a great, epic tale that spans and sprawls across the generations. like most families, they started off by fighting one another and by making peace. they tried to make rules to live by and to keep them. or at least to learn from their mistakes. and like every family, they were convinced that they were special, even when everything was working against them.
i m christiane amanpour and we re on a journey back to the beginning. we set off to try an unravel the history and mysteries that lie behind the stories of the bible from the genesis to jesus. we re overlooking jer louis limb but we re going to cities and deserts across the ancient world, so come along with us. after the great flood, the bible says that god made a promise to never again destroy the earth. no what s family prospered and the descendants spread across the world, but no what s drunkenness and the bad behavior of his sons had greatly displeased god. still unsatisfied with his