There is no evidence that Jesus was born on Dec. 25 nor in the winter for that matter.
I could only think of one thing to say: well, duh. Everyone knows that. And no one cares. Did "anonymous" think that this would be some terrible blow to my self-esteem? (John Gram, friend and fellow blogger, gave this anonymous contributor a proper response in his own comment.) Here's the facts about December 25th:
Dating events from antiquity is very difficult. In fact, for a very long time in mankind's history no even cared about chronology. It's surprising to us, but even the intelligent Greeks didn't know when the battle of Troy took place, for example. Eratosthenes would attempt to place events like that one in a timeline, but he was unusual for doing so. The Greeks were happy to remember the lessons of the event and ignore the details. (George Feeney has written a book called Caesar's Calendar that discusses man's apathy toward calendar dating until recent times, if you are interested in reading more about this.)
As a result, it's no surprise that we don't know when when Jesus was born. The Bible doesn't give us much in the way of dates; in fact, the most specific dates we can discern come from passages like "In the year that king Uzziah died..." which is how ancient historians kept records. No years, just landmark events to provide some context. This sort of thing tells us approximately when something happened, and only more modern historians would later try to work out the exact dates.
The early church probably had no idea when Jesus was born (their big holiday was Easter, anyway), and since they were facing persecution they didn't really have the time to figure it out while running for their lives from Roman troops. The Romans also burned the Christian documents and buildings, so if these records ever did exist then we would have lost them.
People like to say that December 25th was chosen because it was a Pagan holiday, but there is no documentation to support this. Early church records indicate that church leaders were not interested in copying local polytheistic customs. And, as I've said before, this is sort of an unfair thing to say. Every day on the calendar was a holiday for some religion, so if the church had gone with a different date we would be hearing the same argument.
But, going back to the original complaint, I hear it said often that December 25th is a stupid time to celebrate Christmas. I read an article at Relevant.com recently that explained the tired old adage about shepherds watching their flocks by night:
According to biblical scholars, it’s unlikely that the Christ child arrived on the day we celebrate Christmas—or even during the winter season. For one thing, we’re told of shepherds “keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8). Decembers in Bethlehem are cold and regularly drop below freezing once it gets dark...
(You know what bugs me? I write original things on the site each week, but real journalists who are paid to write just rehash old conversations that everyone has heard before. But I digress.)
According to Weather.com, the average low temperature in Bethlehem is 42 degrees (F) - not below freezing. I know people who camp out in freezing weather for fun, so this old argument is not very good. Also, climates change over time, and unless you are an expert in late antique middle-eastern climate then you aren't qualified to know the temperature in Israel 2,000 years ago. Plenty of winter nights in December are warm enough to watch sheep by a fire. (By the way, Relevant.com writers, you are supposed to quote your sources instead of just saying "According to biblical scholars..." Wikipedia even has higher standards than that.)
But it doesn't matter, because everyone in the church is aware that the date is arbitrary. For those of you who think that nitpicking this date is a form of attacking the church, you should know that we Believers are well aware of our history and are only interested in remembering Christmas, not scrutinizing a calendar.
8 comments:
I had read somewhere (though conveniently don't remember where!) that there was some sort of emperor worship-celebration thingy happening around that time and so Christians chose then to have their Christ mass in order to be able to worship while being less conspicuous. Have no idea if there's any credence to that or not. Have you ever heard something like that?
I have not heard that one. It's certainly possible that Believers decided to worship Jesus' birth in place of worship an Emperor. However, we're still in the realm of speculation and vague hypothesis. As far as I can tell, no one really knows.
I agree that the date has no impact on our faith but it is interesting! I had this saved on my hard drive - it's by Barry Setterfield: http://www.setterfield.org/index.html
I haven't fully checked it and I offer it solely for your interest. (had to cut it short to fit here)
The Census order was given by Augustus in 8 BC, but it was implemented province by province. For the province of Judea, Luke records that it was taxed when 'Cyrenius was first Governor of Syria.' Senator P. Sulpicius Quirinius, otherwise known as Cyrenius, was Governor of Syria twice. As Luke states, it was on the first occasion that the world census occurred. Quirinius was Legate (Governor) to Syria an that first occasion for 5 years during the Homonadensian War. He then become adviser to Gaius Caesar in I BC. Additionally, the Christian historian Tertullian records that the Judean census took place when Sentius Saturninus was Proconsul to Syria, attending to the day to day running of the province, which included Judea. He left early in 2 BC to be replaced by Quintillius Varus, about a year before the death of Herod, who was the king of Judea. These facts indicate that the census acted on by Joseph and Mary had been completed by late in 3 BC. This is confirmed by the date of Herod's death. According to Matthew, Herod ordered the slaughter of all children two years old and under, according to the time the Star first appeared to the Wise Men. Therefore, if we back-track two years from the date of Herod's demise, this will give the date for the first appearance of the Star and an approximate date for the birth of the Christ.
Josephus records that Herod died shortly after an eclipse of the Moon seen at Jericho, and sometime before the Feast of Passover. It is this point which has caused much historical confusion, as we have to select between four Lunar eclipses. There is one key piece of evidence which is often overlooked. The Jewish historian Josephus, records that there was a Jewish holiday celebrating Herod's death on 2nd day of the month Shebat. Significantly, this date is in accord with only one of those 4 eclipses, namely the one an 9th Jan, 1 BC. The 2nd Shebat date fell just 15 days after that eclipse. This means that Herod died 24th January 1 BC. Consequently, the Christmas star must have appeared throughout 3 and 2 BC. This accords with the census completed by late 3 BC.
As to the time of the year that Messiah was born, Luke gives us further details. He records that shepherds were watching over their flocks by night. There are only two specific times in a year when this was done, namely when lambs were being born in the spring or autumn. At other times of the year they were kept safely in their sheep-folds to protect them from wild animals. Significantly the flocks bred in the Bethlehem fields were used for the Temple sacrifices.
It was there, to those shepherds, that the angels announced the birth of the Lamb of God who was to make the final sacrifice for the sin of the world. However, we can pinpoint the in the time of Messiah's birth more exactly. Revelation 12 tells of the birth of Messiah when the constellation Virgo (the woman in the heavens) was clothed with the sun and had the moon at her feet. This tells us that Jesus was born when the sun and moon were in Virgo. In other words, at the time of the September New Moon, or shortly thereafter. This fits the autumn lambing season. Furthermore, it coincides with the season of the three Jewish feasts, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles.
As the New Moon was on the 10th and Tabernacles on the 25th September in 3 BC, the birth of Christ would be somewhere between those dates.
I had this saved on my hard drive - it's by Barry Setterfield: http://www.setterfield.org/index.html
I haven't fully checked it and I offer it solely for your interest. (had to cut it short to fit here)
The Census order was given by Augustus in 8 BC, but it was implemented province by province. For the province of Judea, Luke records that it was taxed when 'Cyrenius was first Governor of Syria.' Senator P. Sulpicius Quirinius, otherwise known as Cyrenius, was Governor of Syria twice. As Luke states, it was on the first occasion that the world census occurred. Quirinius was Legate (Governor) to Syria an that first occasion for 5 years during the Homonadensian War. He then become adviser to Gaius Caesar in I BC. Additionally, the Christian historian Tertullian records that the Judean census took place when Sentius Saturninus was Proconsul to Syria, attending to the day to day running of the province, which included Judea. He left early in 2 BC to be replaced by Quintillius Varus, about a year before the death of Herod, who was the king of Judea. These facts indicate that the census acted on by Joseph and Mary had been completed by late in 3 BC. This is confirmed by the date of Herod's death. According to Matthew, Herod ordered the slaughter of all children two years old and under, according to the time the Star first appeared to the Wise Men. Therefore, if we back-track two years from the date of Herod's demise, this will give the date for the first appearance of the Star and an approximate date for the birth of the Christ.
Josephus records that Herod died shortly after an eclipse of the Moon seen at Jericho, and sometime before the Feast of Passover. It is this point which has caused much historical confusion, as we have to select between four Lunar eclipses. There is one key piece of evidence which is often overlooked. The Jewish historian Josephus, records that there was a Jewish holiday celebrating Herod's death on 2nd day of the month Shebat. Significantly, this date is in accord with only one of those 4 eclipses, namely the one an 9th Jan, 1 BC. The 2nd Shebat date fell just 15 days after that eclipse. This means that Herod died 24th January 1 BC. Consequently, the Christmas star must have appeared throughout 3 and 2 BC. This accords with the census completed by late 3 BC.
As to the time of the year that Messiah was born, Luke gives us further details. He records that shepherds were watching over their flocks by night. There are only two specific times in a year when this was done, namely when lambs were being born in the spring or autumn. At other times of the year they were kept safely in their sheep-folds to protect them from wild animals. Significantly the flocks bred in the Bethlehem fields were used for the Temple sacrifices.
It was there, to those shepherds, that the angels announced the birth of the Lamb of God who was to make the final sacrifice for the sin of the world. However, we can pinpoint the in the time of Messiah's birth more exactly. Revelation 12 tells of the birth of Messiah when the constellation Virgo (the woman in the heavens) was clothed with the sun and had the moon at her feet. This tells us that Jesus was born when the sun and moon were in Virgo. In other words, at the time of the September New Moon, or shortly thereafter. This fits the autumn lambing season. As the New Moon was on the 10th and Tabernacles on the 25th September in 3 BC, the birth of Christ would be somewhere between those dates.
Mark, I tend to agree with that link that Jesus was born in the autumn. Here is a site that painstakingly has reassembled the evidence:
http://www.bethlehemstar.net/
Methinks the author of this blog protests too much. I say that with respect because he obviously loves the Lord. Jesus would most certainly NOT want his birthday associated with the commercialism that now represents Christmas. As believers in Jesus it is important to take a stand against that which casts doubt upon the Lord's absolute divinity. I personally have read enough ancient history to know that mixing the birth of our Lord with pagan traditions just puts Jesus in the same category as "The Dying Gods", which include the likes of Baal, Mithras, Horus, Tammuz and a slew of other fakes. Read David Livingstone's books if you don't believe how damaging this is to Christianity:
http://www.irishoriginsofcivilization.com/appendices/cultofmithras.html
In addition, you have the mockers like Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins and company who will use the opportunity to get a lot of laughs about Merry Mithras- all at Jesus' expense. See here:
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2006/12/merry_mithras.html
For reasons like that, we as Christians need to ask our church leaders to explain to the world that although we wish to celebrate the birthday of our Lord, Jesus Christ on December 25th, we also acknowledge that there is no conclusive evidence to indicate that Jesus was born on December 25th. We are simply following a tradition set by the early church fathers, for reasons that are no longer important to the overall reason behind the holiday. If we truly cared about worshiping the Lord on his birthday, we would hardly be running around like nuts buying presents for everyone else, sticking dead trees in our living rooms, and kissing each other under mistletoe. Give me a break.
This is why the New Age movement now has free reign within Christian churches. It is sad that we have not taken the stand that God asked the Israelites to take against foreign Gods and idolatry.
where's the "like" button for blog posts??? oh well. "Like."
I believe it has to do with the winter solstice, The suns (sons) path across the sky gets closer to the horizon (Horizon means: Horus rising,Pagan savior. The story of Horus is pretty much the same as Jesus) until the beginning of the winter solstice when it stops (dies) for three days then begins to rise on the third day. In 2011 the solstice began on the 21st of December. But it is always around the same time of year. This time of year was celebrated for thousands of years prior to the times in which it is said that Jesus lived.
Zedge. I think these are separate holidays. They don't have anything in common besides proximity on the calendar.
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