“why do people change the date of Jesus’ birthday, and then celebrate it on a pagan holiday?”?

Question

I read that in the Catholic Encyclopedia this;
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.

Which raises my question, “why do people change the date of Jesus’ birthday, and then celebrate it on a pagan holiday?”

If not everybody knows this, the Catholics should, this quote is out of their encyclopedia! I can’t believe God would except this, rather I believe it would be the biggest blunder of mankind and very upsetting to Him! We are tying His Son to paganism!

Illustration: Suppose a crowd come to a gentleman’s home saying they are there to celebrate his birthday. He does not favor the celebration of birthdays. He does not like to see people overeat or get drunk or engage in loose conduct. But some of them do all those things, and they bring presents for everyone there except him! On top of all that, they pick the birthday of one of the man’s enemies as the date for the celebration. How would the man feel? Would you want to be a party to it? This is exactly what is being done by Christmas celebrations.

Answer 1

They do it because of tradition and because everyone wants to celebrate something. But you're right. Jesus was not born on December 25. He was born about October 1, a time of year when shepherds kept their flocks out-of-doors at night. (Luke 2:8-12) Jesus never commanded Christians to celebrate his birth. Rather, he told his disciples to memorialize, or remember, his death. (Luke 22:19, 20) Christmas and its customs come from ancient false religions. The same is true of Easter customs, such as the use of eggs and rabbits. The early Christians did not celebrate Christmas or Easter, nor do true Christians today.

Answer 2

Over the course of history, this was a very common practice. If one group of people (with one religion) was trying to subjugate a second group of people (with another religion), they would change the current set of holidays to fit the religion that they were trying to impose.

There are many examples of this. For example, Halloween -- also called All Hallow's Eve -- is a pagen holiday and was co-opted by Christians when they placed All Saints Day after Halloween.

As you note, Christmas is very close to the Winter's Solstice, which is also a pagan holdiay. The prominance of Christmas has over-shadowed the pagan holiday.

Answer 3

It's true, we don't even know the date within six years of when Jesus was born.

Why arbitrarily pick a date? People are just like that. They prefer having a celebration than following what Jesus was all about.
He came into the world to give an abundant life to all who receive Him, but that is "too hard". Many think it better to keep a baby in a manger.

Answer 4

I am a Catholic and this is not a surprise or a concern.

We chose to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Dec 25 th., This is better than not choosing any day,,,,,,

I have never herd anyone that Worships God switch to worshiping pagan Gods after the 25th. of December.

What you worship in in your heart, not on a Calendar.

Peace and God Bless!

Answer 5

People changed the date to a pagan holiday to obscure the pagan holiday. I don;t know where you're from but here in Northern Europe in mid-winter its **** miserable. You get a maximum of eight hours a day "light", and that "light" is about as bright as an overcast summers dusk. Its wet, its cold, its miserable - that's why the pagan's had a big blow out in mid-winter.

Now put yourself in the position of an early churchman. You've got a problem - because its soooo horrible your flock are going to celebrate mid-winter no matter what you do. "Ok", you say, "have you're celebration. But instead of worshiping Mithra, why not sings hymns, go to church and remember Jesus?". I think its a BRILLIANT idea. You do realise that church attendance is at its absolute peak during Christmas? When otherwise people would be worshiping pagan gods? We are not tying His Son to paganism - its obliterating paganism by taking their big feast and turning it into a Christian festival!

Answer 6

The Emporer Constantine set the date during the Nicaean Council to try to unite his empire by appealing to both Christians and Pagans in 325 AD. This is also when they decided Jesus was "God" on Earth...more than 300 years after his life!

Answer 7

Well of course the crux of the matter is;People do not care what
God considers suitable worship,They want to please themselves
and just have fun.(1Tim.3:1-5)But you know,thats OK too.because
soon now,(very soon)his Patience will be gone,and so will all that
dont want to respect his sovereignty,and want to do things their own
way.(Matt.24:11-14)"And many false prophets will arise and mislead
many,and because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the
GREATER NUMBER WILL COOL OFF. But he that has endured
to the end is the one that will be saved. And this good news of
the kingdom will preached in all the inhabited earth for a WITNESS to all the nations and then the end will come."

Answer 8

We do not know the actual day of Jesus's birth. December 25 is just as good as any other day to celebrate it.

Answer 9

When the early christians couldn't sell their religion to the Jews, their intended audience, they went to the pagans. To make it more palatable to the pagans, they incorporated certain existing pagan beliefs including virgin birth and Dec 25.

Answer 10

This date was chosen by the Church to counteract the celebration of Saturnalia, and to detract from the celebration of the pagan holiday.

It obviously worked!