Was Jesus really born in December?

Question

I watched a discovery channel thing and they say that there is evidence that jesus was not born in the winter times, but in fact closer towards the summer. Im a muslim, and we say that jesus was born in the summer time due to a excerpt from surah Maryam. But who knows when he was born? (rhetorical)

I know what rhetorical means, and i know no one will know his exact date of birth, i just wanted to give something to think about to everyone

Answer 1

He was not born in December, if he existed at all. The Christians have Christmas because it was an attempt (that worked) to convert the Pagans from celebrating their holy days around that time. Yule is one of the many holidays that used to be celebrated.

Answer 2

We do not have complete records from the period in question and there were several different calendars in use at the time all of which used "fudge factors" making precise dating almost impossible.

There were censuses taken by Roman officials every 8 years or so. Sometimes the censuses themsleves took several years to complete. We have reasonably established a census MAY have occurred ~6 AD. The previous one would have been ~3BC (there was no year 0). New evidence seems to indicate that Herod the Great may have died in 1 BC instead of 4 BC as most scholars had previously thought. So all of the dates do seem to add up.

The fact is that the entire story is very murky and we really cannot verify the story independently of Scripture. But by the same token the anti-Christians cannot DISPROVE it either.

Given the fact that the Gospel of St. Luke is inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore infallible and inerrant, I would be inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt in this case.

Answer 3

I don't have a lot of information about Biblical certainty or things such as this. I did watch a TV show where some research was done that showed Jesus couldn't have been born in December. I think it's a moot point after so many years of practice, but I agree that it is an interesting question. As others have mentioned already, the show also said it was likely that Jesus was really born in April. Also, it was asserted that Jesus was born before A.D. (a couple of years I think) rather than at the milestone change. Finally, consider that it was 2000 years ago and we are relying on calendars that may not be accurate and after 2000 years this could create a discrepancy.

Answer 4

Follow me here: in the gospel of Luke we read, “in the sixth month” an angel announced to Mary that she was impregnated by the Holy Spirit, and we might thus be tempted to conclude that Mary was impregnated in the six month of June but the Jews used a different calendar, in fact they had one ancient calendar with thirteen months and one created well after Christ with twelve months. So if you go by the older calendar that Luke was hopefully referring to, the sixth month was Elul (אֱלוּל) and is comparative to our modern months of August and September. Thus grant nine months for pregnancy and the birth of Jesus should be in April or May, which according to the ancient Hebrew calendar was Iyar (אִייָר) - as good a time as any to be in the field with the sheep. However, all of this would be irrelevant if Luke was referring to a non-Jewish calendar since he was, after-all, born in Syria and was not a Jew. But if Luke was using the Hebrew calendar, Jesus was born in April or May, no doubt about it.

Answer 5

No-one knows when He was born, but His birth was a central event in the history of humanity and should rightfully be celebrated. So the Church chose a day to commemorate His birth.

It's like adopting an orphan child from overseas. The actual birthday of the child is not known. So what are you going to do, simply not celebrate it? You choose a day and make that day the day his birthday will be celebrated.
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Answer 6

Based upon what is known astrologically it is believed that Jesus was born late spring/early summer. Christians celebrate his birth on Dec 25th becuz they adopted a pagan ritual & melded it with Christianity so that the pagans would accept Christianity since it was a ritual which they were reluctant to give up.

Answer 7

No He was not born in December, it is debated as to when exactly He was born but it was most likely not December. Christians know Dec 25th is not really His birthday but celebrate it on that day so that people of all faiths can enjoy the same holiday.

Answer 8

Who knows? The stuff written about Jesus was written decades after he supposedly died. So, if Jesus existed, he has about a 1 in 365 chance of being born on December 25th. The stories in the Bible talked about him being born in spring or summer. However, like I said, those were just stories written long after he supposedly died.

Answer 9

Shepherds watch their flocks by night during the time of year when ewes give birth. That would be springtime. December 25 was chosen because it approximates the winter solstice (already the time of celebration in the ancient world) and because, when combined with twelfth night, it spans the new year.

Answer 10

Jesus was problem not born in December. As for Christian celebrating HIS birth on December 25th is a very small point.

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