When did Christians start celebrating Christ's birth on December 25th?

Question

Discord43: That was the most bizarre and inaccurate account of early church history I have ever read. Please do yourself a favor and read the Edict of Milan and ponder its relevance to your notion that Christians were speading the faith by sword.

Discord43: That was the most bizarre and inaccurate account of early church history I have ever read. Please do yourself a favor and read the Edict of Milan and ponder its relevance to your notion that Christians were speading the faith by sword.

Discord43: That was the most bizarre and inaccurate account of early church history I have ever read. Please do yourself a favor and read the Edict of Milan and ponder its relevance to your notion that Christians were speading the faith by sword.

opps x 3. My browser is screwed.

Answer 1

the Catholic Chrurch at the end of the 3rd/beginning of the 4th century adopted Dec. 25th as the true date.

Answer 2

Is Christmas a celebration based on the Bible?

Date of the celebration

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.

Answer 3

During the early church period, when the Roman Catholic church was busy slaughtering everyone who did not follow their word exactly, they were having problems dealing wth some of the earlier so called Pagan religions. In an attempt to swallow them into the fold, the Roman church "borrowed' several pagan holy days, and made them Christian holy days. December 25, or thereabouts, was the winter solstice and was called Yuletide. So the church "borrowed" it, declared it Jesus birthday, and it's stuck until now. No one truly knows when Jesus was actually born, so I guess this day is as good as any. It's the celebration of His birth, not the actual day, that matters.

Answer 4

one, "christ" was never a real person. Its an idea of a hero/messiah, there were many pagan (over 15) deities that lived lives EXACTLY like him.
like mithra,horus, doinysis, odonis,hercules, ect, they all
Had 12 deciples, were crusified, walked on water to prove faith, turned water into wine, had a last supper with their 12 deciples BEFORE BEING BETRAYED BY ONE FOR 30 SILVER rose after 3 days, went back to "the afterlife"

Just like the MYTH of jesus stated.

Answer 5

It was to take over the Pagan holiday.
December 25th is the shortest day of the year (Shortest sunlight)
I guess not too many people realize that.

Just like Jewish Holiday and the New black holiday Kwanza.
Just competing for superiority.

Answer 6

Around 325AD when Constantine replaced the pagan celebration of Sol Invictus with Christianity.

Answer 7

When they decided they had to draw attention away from the Pagan holidays like Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox (Christmas and Easter)

Answer 8

It started as a Catholic practice to counter-act the pagan celebration of December 25th.

Answer 9

some where in the early years they made it dec 25 so they could get pagans in church he was born sometime in September. the reason the bible doesnt say is because the bible tells us not to put one day above another

Answer 10

When they took the Winter Solace Holiday from the Pagans to get more converts...