Happy Birthday Jesus?

[iahm87]

was Jesus really born on Dec 25th? Please discuss.

 

[toddpedlar]

No. I'm not sure there's much discussion needed. Dec. 25 is an imposed date set for reasons other than the historical.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Right. I recently pointed that out to an acquaintance who sent a "reminder" that today was Jesus' Birthday. For those that celebrate the day, the day is a celebration of the Incarnation - God becoming flesh for us. The idea of celebrating a "birthday" is a very poor analogy to what is actually being commemorated.

The Church used to celebrate the Incarnation on Epiphany but moved it to December 25th in order to compete with pagan celebrations of the Sol Invictus and Mithra. It wasn't in order to syncretize and integrate those celebrations but to compete with them and direct the people away from the pagan celebrations.

 

[Mayflower]

What do you brothers think about the argumantation which has been used for the 25th:

Dec25th.info - Proof of Christ's December 25th Birth
Under Construction

Edited by Admin to Remove the massive amount of info that can be found by clicking the link.

 

[Rich Koster]

There is about a 1 in 365.25 probability that 12/25 is correct if you ignore some points of scripture. If you take them into account, the likelihood is even less.

 

[TimV]

Ralph those zillion word complicated posts are usually ignored by most people on an internet forum. Consider reading it carefully yourself, and pick one or two points, offer your own comment and then perhaps some fruitful discussion will happen.

 

[blhowes]

What do you brothers think about the argumantation which has been used for the 25th:

Interesting. I've never seen such an in-depth study done on that topic before. Did you find it convincing?

 

[Herald]

Ralph those zillion word complicated posts are usually ignored by most people on an internet forum. Consider reading it carefully yourself, and pick one or two points, offer your own comment and then perhaps some fruitful discussion will happen.

I have to echo Tim's words. Even though I have a clear conscience in regards to Christmas, a post as long as yours loses the reader real quick.

 

[baron]

I read an article on GraceImpact.org that says Jesus was born late September or early October. The use October 3 as to the day Jesus was born. But then they are a hyper Dispensational group and have some bad Theology.

 

[N. Eshelman]

I believe Jesus was born at the feast of booths- he came and tabernacled among us. Each of the feasts relates to some aspect of redemptive history in the NT- what is it?

 

[Ivan]

It doesn't matter.

I agree.

 

[Scott1]

It is very unlikely our Lord was born on the day we commemorate His birth.

In addition to the several reasons given in this thread, the pattern of shepherds recorded in the account in Luke's Gospel is more typical of springtime.

The calendars we use are not perfect, nor continuous since His birth, either.

But, has been pointed out- the exact date really does not matter. We do not worship the day.

We worship our promised, risen Savior who was born, crucified, buried and rose again. I find this time of year perhaps helpful to focus on these truths, the hope of the world, but ought live in light of this every day.

This is particularly appropriate for focus each Lord's Day- meditating on His perfection, His conquering of sin and death on my behalf.

Praise God!

 

[blhowes]

I read an article on GraceImpact.org that says Jesus was born late September or early October. The use October 3 as to the day Jesus was born. But then they are a hyper Dispensational group and have some bad Theology.

That's what I'd been taught as well. December...September...either way, its a blessing to read the "Christmas story" whenever.

This morning, as is our tradition, we read the account of Jesus' birth in Matthew before opening our presents. It boggles my mind that He who was born King of the Jews, the eternal God, was lying there in the manger.

 

[Poimen]

This issue is very similar to that of pictures of Jesus. There are no pictures of Jesus as my PB friend Joshua points out. We don't know what He looked like.

Similarly there is no birth date of Jesus because we cannot know with certainty on what day he was born. Furthermore, even if we did, He never commanded us to celebrate it on a particular day or to celebrate it at all, so the point is moot.

 

[Southern Presbyterian]

The biblical evidence is clear --

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

Luke 2:3

It was on or near April 15th.