was Jesus really born in the spring?

Question

or is it warm enough for the sheep other animals to be all hearded and stuff in that region of the world during December? im not versed on geography so i dont know if that would prove if Jesus was or wasnt born in Dec. you know? and plus i believe that the bible is not meant to be taken literally, and all that. so it doesnt matter to me if he was born in Dec or not, or if man decided it was Dec, or whatever-you know? i dont need to wrap my brain around the specifics as long as i know that it is true. im just wondering...

Answer 1

I think most people estimate Jesus' birthday to be in April.

Answer 2

December 25th was picked as a day to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus in the 3rd century AD to replace a pagan winter solstice holiday that many people who had joined the church were used to celebrating at that time of year. What does that have to do with Jesus being perfect? The article you gave a link to says that the people looked in the Bible to figure out when Jesus was born. Since the Bible doesn't say that Jesus was born in December why would you blame Jesus or the Bible for what people did around 300 years after Jesus rose from the dead, was seen by over 500 witnesses, and went back to Heaven before sending the Holy Spirit to earth?

Answer 3

Jesus died at Passover time,which about April 1,33CE(Matt.26:17-30).Christ was about 30 years of age when commencing his work and his ministry was three and a half years long,he was 331/2 years old around Passover time,or about April 1,33CE.Christ would have been 34 years of age six months later or about October 1.So counting back we can conclude that Jesus was born not on December 25,but about October 1,in the year 2BCE.
Also around December in that region it has been known to snow.So the shepherds would not have been living out of doors as the Bible tells us,as it would have been much too cold.
The Bible is to be taken literally.Of course,there are prophecies contained in the Bible,which often need interpretation.

Answer 4

It was definitely not December. Shepherds never watched flocks in the fields in the winter. It's ice cold and snowing there. Biblical scholars and historians even agree on that.

The December date was chosen in the Middle Ages by the Church because Gods of other religions were celebrated as being born of a virgin on the Winter Solstice. In fact, the Winter Solstice festival was banned for a period of time becasue it was Pagan and had no Biblical basis. Then they decided the only way to gain converts was to steal Pagan holidays with all the elements involved and create their own on the same date so the Pagans would be none the wiser. Also, celebrating births was a Pagan practice, not Jewish or even early Christian.

Answer 5

The December date for Christmas was based on the pagan calendar because a pagan festival called Saturnalia was at about the same time so when the Roman Empire became Christian people didn't want to give up their holiday and they decided to have Christmas at around the same time. In fact, no one knows when Jesus was born if he existed because all the contemporary records were destroyed when the Romans sacked Jerusalem in 135 AD. Based on the story of the Star of Bethlehem, Astronomers have concluded that he was probably born in the spring or summer, and was born a few years before the year 0.

Answer 6

The information in the Bible seems to indicate that he was born in Spring.
However, December 25th was celebrated as the birthday of Mithras, a sun deity who was widely worshipped around the Mediterranean at the time Christianity was rising among the Romans (early centuries A.D.). Mithras was also a "savior god" like Jesus. Since it was very common for the Romans to co-opt other religious ideas and traditions, they adopted December 25 as Jesus' birthday, too. This allowed them to carry on the traditions that were already familiar to so many people, but make them part of Christianity (the same holds true for Easter, but that's another question.)

December 25th was considered the birthday because it is very close to the Winter Solstice, which was long recognized as the time of the "rebirth" of the Sun. This is because after Winter Solstice, the days start getting longer (ie: the sun rises earlier and earlier, and sets later and later, until Midsummer).

Answer 7

Some Bible scholars believe that Jesus was born in January.

He definitely was not born on December 24th, (Christmas Eve), but we celebrate Christmas on the 25th because there are others who have celebrations of different religious beliefs so that was the national date chosen to celebrate his birth. The date is unimportant, it is the celebration that is important.

I really would like to know the real date myself. It would seem more logical to me if he was born in the very early spring simply because of the shepherds abiding in the flocks by night, BUT, shepherds always keep a watchful eye on their sheep no matter how cold.

I guess I will go with the Bible Scholars and opt to believe he was born in late January. (The tax time and everything). He could have been born earlier in January. There is an old song called "Jesus was a Capricorn." Makes you think.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Thanks for the question. It was interesting food for thought.

Answer 8

I was reading some of the answers...Funny, I heard summer,,,and by Christians, too.
l have no idea where a spring or summer time date came from except I read there was a debate, early in Xianity's history, whether to use Jan. 7th or 12/25. They both had something to do with the winter solstice (I thought it was based on Celtic philosophy but the solstice was celebrated at the time in that area, too)

Answer 9

The time of the census then was probably in the spring. We celebrate Dec 25 as Jesus birth in part because it was a day that the pagans considered holy and the Christians wanted to present an alternative to their faith. It was also partly because Dec 25 is when the days start getting longer, the opposite of John the Baptists birthday of June 25 when days begin to get shorter. This is an allusion to the passage that quotes John as saying "I must decrease that he may increase."

Answer 10

Bible scholars think that Jesus may have been born in early autumn... perhaps October, as they would still have been out in the fields with their flocks at night at that point. As for the actual date, no one knows for sure. The Bible does not tell us Jesus' birthdate, as birthdays were not celebrated in Jesus' day. Jews celebrated a persons life accomplishments at their death instead, and so the exact date IS known for his death. The way I see it, is if Jesus didn't celebrate his OWN birthday, and he didn't ask ME to, then for me to do it on my own would be disrespectful. The date that is celebrated is actually a date for a Roman holiday called Saturnalia that was incooperated into the church to coax pagans into the church. Did this help at all?

Answer 11

The Bible actually gives no recorded date for Jesus birth - only His death. Therefore He may have been born at anytime during the year, but I have heard similar thoughts that it most likely would have been spring, but this would only be speculation.