When was Jesus born?

Question

Does anyone know exactly what month or day Jesus was born? Its not Christmas day, I know that much.

Some people think its March or September. Not sure whats right though!

Some people believe that Jesus was born in March, meaning his mother could have conceived him at the summer solstice, which would have explained the "virgin birth".

Answer 1

I got this from Wikipedia - hope i've helped!

The most detailed accounts of Jesus' birth are contained in the Gospel of Matthew (probably written between 65 and 90 AD/CE)[5] and the Gospel of Luke (probably written between 65 and 100 AD/CE).[6] There is considerable debate about the details of Jesus' birth among even Christian scholars, and few scholars claim to know precisely either the year or the date of his birth or of his death. Based on the accounts in the Gospels of the shepherds' activities, the time of year depicted for Jesus' birth could be either spring or summer. However as early as 354 Roman Christians celebrated it following the December solstice in an attempt to replace the Roman festival of Saturnalia (or more specifically, Sol Invictus). Before then, Jesus' birth was generally celebrated on January 6 as part of the feast of Theophany, also known as Epiphany, which commemorated not only Jesus' birth but also his baptism by John in the Jordan River and possibly additional events in Jesus' life. The traditional celebration of Jesus' birth is at Christmas.

In the 248th year of the Diocletian Era (based on Diocletian's ascension to the Roman throne), Dionysius Exiguus attempted to pinpoint the number of years since Jesus' birth, arriving at a figure of 753 years after the founding of Rome. Dionysius then set Jesus' birth as being December 25 1 ACN (for "Ante Christum Natum", or "before the birth of Christ"), and assigned AD 1 to the following year — thereby establishing the system of numbering years from the birth of Jesus: Anno Domini (which translates as "in the year of our Lord"). This system made the then current year 532, and almost two centuries later it won acceptance and became the established calendar in Western civilization due to its further championing by the Venerable Bede.

Answer 2

Speaking from a historical point of view, it is argued that he was born around 8B.C. The time of year chosen for the celebration of Christmas (which coincides with the Pagan holiday to celebrate the Solstice) was picked specifically by the Church to make conversion easier. It is the same with the celebration of Easter. Roman Census' were not held in December so if the Gospels are to be looked upon as accurate (which they are not historically) he would not have been born in December. Beyond that Galillee was not part of Judea when the census was held and therefore they would not have been counted. No one really knows a specific date, but historical records tell us that the time chosen, December, was not accurate. On a side note the emporer cited in the New Testament was inaccurate as well. Tiberius ruled Rome at the time of the alleged birth of Christ. Caligula was in control at his death.

Answer 3

The nearest approximate time and date is September 11th 3BC around 6-7pm. The time can be set by several factors. The first is that Christ, like Adam, was born on the first day of the first month. This is according to the Jewish calender of the time. This is equivalent to our September 11th. The year was three BC as he was a 'lamb of the first year' and because our calenders on which the dates are based today is actually not accurate when compared to the earlier calenders so that there is a three year gap between them. The time is given as 6-7pm for two reasons. On the night in question and on the nights before, several 'signs' were seen in the heavens. These signs were in fact constellations and planetary conjunctions which lined up to show certain pictures. The last being a conjunction (lining up) of five planets including Jupiter (The Kings Star), Venus (The bright and morning star), The moon, and others like them. These lined up to produce the so-called 'star' of David which was more like a line of planets pointing to where Christ was born. This planetary alignment has reportedly never happened again since.
There is more info then this. For the full story please email me. A friend of mine worked and reworked this subject very carefully and although he is not with us anymore, he left me enough of the original notes and details to be able to share this. It is my hope to someday write this into a book in his name.

Answer 4

December 25

Answer 5

I have seen a special on the History Channel that sought an answer. They showed that the year was screwed up by 5 years by the monk who made our calendar. He didn't figure on the 4 years that Caesar Augustus ruled as Octavian, and he didn't have a "0" year he went from 1 BC(-1) to 1AD(+1). They also studied the skies for the year that would have made Jesus's birth (5BC) and found on April 17th of that year all the visible planets lined up in Aries(I am pretty sure was Aries dang, remember date but only like 70% sure of sign). Anyway, Aries(or whichever it was) was associated by the ancient astrologers with Judea. Jupiter the king "star" had been visible in Aries during April, and that would have indicated to them that a King was to be born in Judea. The April 17th alignment would have meant something much much more significant, a King of Kings if you will. So they determined that for the Biblical account to work the date would have been April 17th, 5BC. They checked this with some of the other things like the shepherds in the fields part with local modern shepherd(still keep sheep in similar ways over there) who confirmed that being out in the field with the sheep like that would have been sometime during the spring. The special also determined that the Wise men, or Magi in one of the other Gospels, would have come from Persia. Other things they found, such as a very old depiction of the Magi support this. and it would have taken them 8 months of so to get to Judea by camel. Jupiter would also have settled in the direction of Bethlehem by then and they would have seen it leading them there, up to the point of settling over one particular spot in the city on Christmas Day. So they couldn't have made it to his birth, but would have seen him at about 8 months of age or so.

Answer 6

If you were to talk to a Middle eastern person they would tell you that Jesus was born in September. December 25 came handy to Constaino to replace the Soltisce of the Summer festival on the Southern Hemisphere. Remember you are talkina about a fairy tale not reality.

Answer 7

Check
http://www.new-life.net/chrtms10.htm

Answer 8

I suppose it's hard to find the exact date coz they buggered up the calender a few 100 years ago but I know he wasn't born in the year 0000. It was a few years after and it was in March (or at least the time of year ruled by Aries).

For the interest of others Christmas is celebrated in Winter originally to over-rule Pagan and Roman festivals. Also it's a very horribe, dark, cold time of year where it's good to have something to celebrate. Light from dark and all that.

Answer 9

Nobody knows for sure exactly but many believe it would have been in October, the first part of it. The reason is that the shepherds would have still been out and that was the time of the calling for the counting for the taxes that was done then. If you try for December, it would have been too cold for them to be out as it was winter and no shepherd would be out at that time of year but October would have been more feasable. We know the year but just not the exact date. The bible is very clear on that one but just not the exact day

Answer 10

Nobody really knows. The year of his birth varies based on different gospel interpretations, between 8 BCE and 6 CE.

Based on the accounts in the Gospels of the shepherds' activities, the time of year depicted for Jesus' birth could be either spring or summer.