How does one know that Jesus was born on December 25th?

Answer 1

Christmas is not a celebration based on the Bible.

M’Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopædia says: “The observance of Christmas is not of divine appointment, nor is it of N[ew] T[estament] origin. The day of Christ’s birth cannot be ascertained from the N[ew] T[estament], or, indeed, from any other source.”—(New York, 1871), Vol. II, p. 276.

Luke 2:8-11 shows that shepherds were in the fields at night at the time of Jesus’ birth. The book Daily Life in the Time of Jesus states: “The flocks . . . passed the winter under cover; and from this alone it may be seen that the traditional date for Christmas, in the winter, is unlikely to be right, since the Gospel says that the shepherds were in the fields.”—(New York, 1962), Henri Daniel-Rops, p. 228.

The Encyclopedia Americana informs us: “The reason for establishing December 25 as Christmas is somewhat obscure, but it is usually held that the day was chosen to correspond to pagan festivals that took place around the time of the winter solstice, when the days begin to lengthen, to celebrate the ‘rebirth of the sun.’ . . . The Roman Saturnalia (a festival dedicated to Saturn, the god of agriculture, and to the renewed power of the sun), also took place at this time, and some Christmas customs are thought to be rooted in this ancient pagan celebration.”—(1977), Vol. 6, p. 666.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia acknowledges: “The date of Christ’s birth is not known. The Gospels indicate neither the day nor the month . . . According to the hypothesis suggested by H. Usener . . . and accepted by most scholars today, the birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian), because on this day, as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithra celebrated the dies natalis Solis Invicti (birthday of the invincible sun). On Dec. 25, 274, Aurelian had proclaimed the sun-god principal patron of the empire and dedicated a temple to him in the Campus Martius. Christmas originated at a time when the cult of the sun was particularly strong at Rome.”—(1967), Vol. III, p. 656.

If you would like further information, please contact Jehovah's Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall. Or visit http://www.watchtower.org

Answer 2

The date is derived from the pagan worshipping of sun gods on December 25th. I.e. mithra and saturnilia. (as you'll find most Christian holidays are partly an adaptation on pagan celebrations to bring people into the fold. Back to December 25th, the church mandated a "Christ-Mass" to stop people from celebrating these pagan holidays. In fact the Roman Empire, initially under Constantine, sought to forcibly convert people to Christianity.

There is also good reason to believe that Jesus' birth took place closer to the fall months. It is known that shepherds bring their flocks in in October. In the stories of Jesus' birth the flocks are still out, therefor historians can deduce that Jesus would have been born in late september or early october. Which is actually closer to the Jewish New Year or Feast of Booths. It is difficult to speculate the specific day because the calendar we use now is gragorian and sun based while the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, being based on both the moon and the sun.

Answer 3

Ahh, I knew the Watchtowerites would *** when this question was asked.

No, Santa isn't an anagram for satan. "Santa" is short for "Santa Claus" or "Saint Nicholaus" of Russia, a man who gave gifts around December 14th, which was celebrated in Eastern Europe as a separate holiday. The holidays were later merged and that's why we get gifts on Christmas.

And logically, we have no way of knowing if Jesus was born on the 25th. The bible doesn't mention it and neither are there any secular sources stating a Yeshua Ben Yosef from Bethlehem was born around that time.

The December 25th date was picked by the early church fathers, partially because they wanted to market the religion better to pagans and partially because Christians had nothing to do on the 25th of December since every shop was closed on the Solstice.

The evidence of Jesus being born in the autumn is somewhat shaky if you're going by scripture alone. During heat waves in ancient Judea, sheep were brought out all the time in the winter.

Not to mention the earth was going through a warming period around that time and the climate wasn't the same as it is today in Isreal.

The secular evidence for Jesus' existence in itself is shaky, however, a short answer to my long explaination is simply "We don't know and it's impossible to know".

But don't act anal over it and not celebrate Christmas because Jesus happened not to be born on that day or because of it's crypto-pagan origins.


It's a fun and harmless holiday and if you were to not use everything that's cryptopagan, you shouldn't be using a keyboard with a Roman alphabet, (Especially with the letter "T"), you shouldn't wear that expensive engagement and wedding ring your husband gave you and you shouldn't go to church on SUNday, the day that was set aside for sun worship that was later absorbed by a majority of the Christian churches to market to the local pagans better.

Answer 4

Jesus was not actually born on the 25th of December. That is merely the day people choose to celebrate his birth.

Answer 5

Jesus was not born on the 25th of December Thats just the day people choose to celebrate His birth.. I dont know if any one realy knows when He was Born but it does not matter when the main thing is that He was Born. . Kids love Christmas so much plus they learn about God ....

I LOVE CHRISTmas

Answer 6

He wasn’t born on December 25th. This is when the Winter Solstice was celebrated, and various other Pagan Holidays. Horus, the son of Isis, was thought to have been born on this day.

There have been times in the history of Christianity when Christmas was a banned celebration. Having a tree in one’s house was also considered bad at times. (This is a tradition also taken from the Pagans.)

Scholars will agree that Jesus wasn’t even born in the winter.

Answer 7

We don't know for sure when he was born. But it wasn't in December. December 25th was the celebration of the pagan god Saturnalia, the sun god. The Catholic church accepted this celebration in tolerance of pagans and slapped Jesus birthday on it instead. The Bible says that the sheep were in the pasturage, which was impossible in December because it was too cold, they would've died. So it must have been sometime in summer or fall.

Answer 8

He wasn't; it came from pagan! Cupid from Valentine's is the same god for Christmas. Article down below.
http://community.webshots.com/photo/271589370/1272715597049373547QOChzt

Christmas is pagan! (Jer.10; Gal.4:8-10).
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., article: "Christmas"
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Scripture doesn't mention Jesus's birthdate or any christians celebrating His Birthday. The only birthday mentioned besides Pharoah is the heathen king Herod. "Christmas" means "mass of Christ"; the celebration coexisted in Rome before there was any in Jerusalem. The early Roman Church however did establish a pagan festival that (Jer.10) coexisted with Jesus's Birth and that was the birthday of the sun god. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., article: "Christmas"). The Catholic sources admit that Christmas didn't co-exist with the earliest festivals. Jesus wasn't born Christmas; even scripture makes this evident. "On the night of Jesus's birth, the shepherd's were still keeping watch over their flocks." (Luke 2:8). The rainy season in Ancient Israel began after the Feast of Tabernacles which generally is early October. In November, it would be cool and wet; the flocks from the pasture had already been brought and kept in winter quarters by the shepherds. This tells us the shepherds were no longer in the fields at night. Another peice of evidence is overlooked is in Luke 1:35-36; it tells us John the Baptist was born to Mary's cousin Elizabeth six months before Jesus. And as we look further in verse 5-17, we see Zacharias an elderly priest burning incense on the altar and then an angel appearing to him and telling him that he and his wife would have a son to prepare Christ's Way. We know however when this announcement was made by the angel because of Zacharias was "of the course of Abijah" Please look at 1Chron.24:1-19; it tells us that King David divided these priests into 24 "courses" that served in the temple by rotation. The Course of Abijah would be the 8th of the 24 courses which usually would occur around the end of May. Pentecost came the week after the 8th course served and he had to serve all 24 courses during the three festival seasons. So Zacharias came home approximately after the first week of June; in which John the Baptist was conceived around mid-June and 9 months later would be his birth. John Baptist's birth came around mid-March while Jesus's was around mid-September. Also notice every year people claim 3 wise men seen Jesus in a stable; is this really true? The Bible nowhere states "3 wise men" or "that the wise men visited Jesus in a stable". Read for yourself: (Matt.2:11); these Magi came from the east beyond the Euphrates River which in the 1st century was called the Parthian Empire (the eastern border of the Roman Empire).

You can read the rest on:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/271589370/1342393463049373547FazWzQ
http://www.lcg.org/cgi-bin/tw/magazine/tw-mag.cgi?category=Magazine33&item=1104261794

Answer 9

no one knows the exact date Jesus was born so they just set aside a day ( December 25th ) to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Answer 10

Jesus MOST DEFINETLY WAS NOT born on Dec 25!!

The closest reasonable estimate, using the clues in the gospels, is early spring time. Probably March or April.

December 25 was chosen by a Catholic Church council about 600 yrs ago, to coincide with a Pagan Festival called Yuletide.