So how was the 25th of December selected as the birthday of Jesus ?

Question

Jesus is commonly considered to have been born on the 25th of December. However, it is common knowledge among Christian scholars that he was not born on this day. It is well known that the first Christian churches held their festival in May, April, or January. Scholars of the first two centuries AD even differ in which year he was born. Some believing that he was born fully twenty years before the current accepted date. So how was the 25th of December selected as the birthday of Jesus ?

the church did not observe a festival for the celebration of the event until the 4th century.... since 274, under the emperor Aurelian, Rome had celebrated the feast of the "Invincible Sun" on December 25.

In the Eastern Church, January 6, a day also associated with the winter solstice, was initially preferred. In course of time, however, the West added the Eastern date as the Feast of the Epiphany, and the East added the Western date of Christmas".

so this means that christmas is a fake?

The Romans observed this day as the birthday of the god of the sun, Natalis Solis Invicti ("Birthday of Sol the invincible"). There was great rejoicing and all shops were closed. There was illumination and public games. Presents were exchanged, and the slaves were indulged in great liberties. These are the same Romans who would later preside over the council of Nicea (325 CE) which lead to the official Christian recognition of the "Trinity" as the "true" nature of God, and the "fact" that Jesus was born on the 25th of December too.

he played it up??

In Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says: "The Roman Christians, ignorant of his (Christ's) birth, fixed the solemn festival to the 25th of December, the Brumalia, or Winter Solstice, when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of Sol " vol. ii, p. 383

we should never ridicule the religious beliefs of others, no matter how much we disagree with them. but facts are different than cutting off a tree or waiting for white christmas.
MERRY CHRISTMAS..on whatever date you guys want..cheers

so why not clear your own doubts first? read..

Answer 1

looks to me like you already know the answer.
read into the roman empire and Constantine.
he played it up so that the christian holidays coincided with his own religion.

Answer 2

Interesting: You say "Jesus is commonly considered to have been born on the 25th of December. However, it is common knowledge among Christian scholars that he was not born on this day". Now which of the two statements is correct?
Actually, we don't know when He was born. We CELEBRATE his birth on December 25th. Why? Well, around that time, the "rebirth" of the sun was being celebrated, for obvious reasons. So people were already in the mentality of birth.
Does that make Christmas fake? Of course not. People are fake if they claim to be remembering the birth of Jesus and they don't even give Him 2 minutes of thought. The day isn't fake. It's a celebration, that's all. I don't make a big deal of it one way or another. I just celebrate it. It can be a great opportunity, sometimes, to expose some people to the Gospel who wouldn't listen otherwise, because, through sentimentality, people like to hear Christmas carols around that time. Just adding a little explanation of what the carols are about... Why not, if people are willing to listen?

Answer 3

I was told that it was Constantine who 'made a deal' with the Church Fathers. Constantine was considered a leader among the Pagans and the Church Fathers wanted to convert them to Christianity. Constantine told them that the celebration of Winter Solstice was one of their most important yearly celebrations so it needed to be retained if they were converted. So, they agreed to hold Christ's birthday near the Solstice. Hence, they picked the 25th of December when he was supposedly born in June. But, this made the Pagans more comfortable with their transition into Christianity as they were able to retain their winter celebration.

Answer 4

I agree with the person who wrote, "looks to me like you already know the answer." A good follow-up question might be, "Why do Protestants, who reject the authority of the Catholic Church, celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th?"

Answer 5

Unknown, these are the facts.

Gennesis (begetting) of our Lord on or about 1st Tebeth December 25
Birth of our Lord on or about 15th Tisri September 29, 2 B.C.