• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Do you believe that Jesus was born on December 25th?

Reverend Rick

Frubal Whore
Premium Member
Do you believe that Jesus was born on December 25th or that the church chose to celebrate Christ's birth day during the Yule celebration and Winter Solstice to appease Early Pagans who were going to burn logs and exchange gifts and bring trees into the house anyway?
 

McBell

Resident Sourpuss
Something I found long ago:
Jesus' date of birth
Luk_1:5-13
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well on in years. Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshippers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer 32 has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.

Luk_1:23-24
When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.

Luk_1:26-31
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.

Luk_1:32-36
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end."
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.

1Ch_24:3
With the help of Zadok a descendant of Eleazar and Ahimelech a descendant of Ithamar, David separated them into divisions for their appointed order of ministering.
1Ch_24:7-19
The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,
the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,
the fifth to Malkijah, the sixth to Mijamin,
the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,
the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah,
the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,
the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,
the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,
the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez,
the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel,
the twenty-first to Jakin, the twenty-second to Gamul,
the twenty-third to Delaiah and the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.
This was their appointed order of ministering when they entered the temple of the LORD, according to the regulations prescribed for them by their forefather Aaron, as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded him.

The descendants of Abijah, which included Zechariah, got the 8. lot for their temple ministering. This means, they where on duty during the 4. Month (Tammuz). Six month later (Elisabeth was in her sixth month), the angel Gabriel came to Mary, and she got pregnant. Jesus was born 9 month later of course, which means in the month of Tishri, the seventh month. Tabernacle is appointed for the days between the 15. - 21 Tishri. Therefore, Jesus was borne around the feast of Tabernacle.

Source unknown
If you know the source of this information, please let me know so that I can give proper Citation.
 

Bishka

Veteran Member
No.

It wouldn't make sense for Him to be born on December 25th, but it is a day that was chosen, so I will celebrate His birth on that day.
 

standing_alone

Well-Known Member
No. But even when I was a Christian, I didn't see what the problem was with deciding to celebrate his birth on December 25th. I think it's stupid when people think Christians shouldn't celebrate Christmas because, "Dude, guys, that so wasn't Jesus' real birthday!!!"

I could care less why the Church decided to celebrate Christmas when it did and wouldn't be shocked it had something to do with appeasing Pagans and gaining them as converts. I really just don't care. Christians enjoy the holiday and it has meaning to them; that's good enough for me.
 

Nanda

Polyanna
No, I don't believe it was his day of birth (I'm not even sure I believe that he actually existed in the first place) but it doesn't really matter. I'm with Standing Alone on this one; Christians (and certain atheists who will go unnamed... >_ > ) enjoy the holiday and it has meaning to them; that's good enough for me, too.
 

Mister Emu

Emu Extraordinaire
Staff member
Premium Member
Not particularly, but I'll still be celebrating His birth that day, along with all the Church...
 

logician

Well-Known Member
Jessus wasn't born period, the story is a myth. Many mythical gods had birthdays around the winter solstice.
 

Mister Emu

Emu Extraordinaire
Staff member
Premium Member
Jessus wasn't born period
While I've never met or heard of anyone named Jessus before, I don't think I could take it to the level of certainty that you have the no such person has been born :p
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
Well, there is a 1:365 probability he was born on Dec. 25th. But I doubt he was actually born on that date, and it was likely placed on that date so the holiday would appeal to the Pagans that the early church tried to convert.
 

michel

Administrator Emeritus
Staff member
No.

It wouldn't make sense for Him to be born on December 25th, but it is a day that was chosen, so I will celebrate His birth on that day.

Quite; the queen has a national day for her birthday, and a private day for her real birthday, if she can get away with that, why shouldn't Jesus ?:p
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
Do you believe that Jesus was born on December 25th or that the church chose to celebrate Christ's birth day during the Yule celebration and Winter Solstice to appease Early Pagans who were going to burn logs and exchange gifts and bring trees into the house anyway?
Perhaps you could imagine a third option.
 

ChristineES

Tiggerism
Premium Member
No, I know that Jesus wasn't born December 25. I think most people know that by now. It doesn't matter for reasons already brought up.
 

Gentoo

The Feisty Penguin
No, I don't believe he was born on Dec. 25. But I don't think that it doesn't really matter, to most Christians, the fact that you celebrate it in general is what's important.
 

Muffled

Jesus in me
Something I found long ago:

The sixth month would have been the latter part of March into April which means that Jesus was born in the latter part of December or early January.

I have seen an astrological chart for the birth of Jesus on Dec 25th and it suits him to a tee. There is no reason to not believe that the Holy Spirit could convey that information to the church fathers. I think if there were a desire to replace solstice worship the birtday would have been made Dec. 21st.
 

Random

Well-Known Member
Someone rolled dice and the day was randomly selected?

It is obvious the Winter solstice has something to do with the reason the Church Fathers made their divine godman born on Dec. 25th. The date is the same for numerous proto-saviours, not least the Roman Mithras.
 

nutshell

Well-Known Member
No, I don't think his birth date was Dec. 25th.

To be honest, I have gone mostly secular when it comes to Christmas thanks to the commercialization of the holiday. Did I lose anything? I don't think so. Why? Because I try to celebrate Christ everyday.
 

Ceridwen018

Well-Known Member
Its interesting to see how many people "don't think Dec. 25 was Jesus' real birthday." Isn't there just as good of a chance that it was Dec. 25 as any other day?

Anyway, I know that when I was Catholic and found out that Dec. 25 was chosen as Jesus' birthday just because it coincided with a pagan holiday (and not just any pagan holiday--the birth of the Sun god to be exact. You don't have to dig deep to find that the Abrahamic religions are completely standard and not unique at all) I was deeply disturbed. Especially when I found that the purpose for overshadowing the pagan holiday was to gain converts--essentially tricking the pagans into worshipping Christianity. Just one more unethical practice to add to the list of many. The ends do not justify the means.
 
Top