why don't christians know when?

Question

jesus was born? come on, this was supposed to be the most important even in the history of the world! didn't anyone think of writing it down somewhere?

and i know you realize he was not born december 25.

bizz - look up the question i asked? i asked the question to get answers. maybe you aren't aware of how this forum works

john 3:16 - can you sum that up for me please?

to the people who said the more important date was when he was crucified then resurrected, well people didn't know that was going to happen on the day he was born, so when he was born, that was the most important day in history

Answer 1

Well come on hon. If the stories are true and he was born in a manger--surrounded by cows and donkeys--there weren't exactly many people around. Mary was a bit too busy. Children did not have a life expectancy and most people during that time wouldn't have even NAMED their child until it passed a point where they thought it would live. People had a lot of children and lost a lot of children so it just didn't matter that much back then. If Mary had annouced she'd had a child, other women would have just shrugged it off until most of a year. And of course at the time it was not the most important event. It was just a baby, born to a poor woman, who couldn't even get an inn at 9 mo pregnant.

Also in that time period, most people were illiterate and no one had books--there was no printing press or anything. Paper was only for the rich and would have been carefully scraped off and reused.

To further confuse it, the Jewish calendar is not the same as ours. First they didn't use a Gregorian calendar so the date would have been something more like the 25th of Kislev, and to us using the Gregorian calendar that would fall on a different day each year (like Hannukah does). And it's a lunar calendar.

The problem with strictly lunar calendars is that there are approximately 12.4 lunar months in every solar year, so a 12-month lunar calendar loses about 11 days every year and a 13-month lunar gains about 19 days every year. The months on such a calendar "drift" relative to the solar year. On a 12 month calendar, the month of Nissan, which is supposed to occur in the Spring, occurs 11 days earlier each year, eventually occurring in the Winter, the Fall, the Summer, and then the Spring again. To compensate, an extra month was occasionally added: a second month of Adar. That wasn't fixed until the 4th century when a new calendar was based on mathematical and astronomical calculations--which is why Hannukah doesn't ever occur in spring, but it's still lunar.

Now if I haven't utterly lost you yet--it gets worse. The Jewish calendar of course was not set up with the beginning being the birth of Jesus. So they are living in a completely different year than 2007. In the Jewish calendar it's something close to 5768 C.E.

So even if it was written down in every piece of paper and stone we had--I doubt we'd even be able to translate that to anything close. December 25--relatively close to the winter solstice--is a much better time to celebrate. So much easier to figure out and when merging wtih the pagan customs, much easier and nearly all non-christians celebrated the winter solstice.

Hope this wasn't too long for ya!

Answer 2

Why don't muslims know when Muhhamad were born? Why don't Buddhist know when Buddha was born? In the last 2 thousand years we've had many different calendars. Months and days have been added to the year. So it's inevitable that the exact date of an event would get lost!

Answer 3

...The Hebrew historian, Josephus, records "events" that were causing a social uneasiness about the birth of "The Christ" (see Micha Chapter 5 vs. 2)...somewhere in April of "that" year... The Biblical history clearly states that the Shepard's were watching their flocks by night... (this was not a normal "thing")...only in April and May would the Shepard's spend the entire night with he flocks because of the weather. The "exact date" is not recorded, however, it was in the spring...read Luke, Chapter 1. and you'll have a much better explanation of the Birth of Jesus... (Romans Chapter 1 vs 16)

Answer 4

This was not the most important event in the history of the world, the most important event in the history of the world would be when Jesus was crucified then resurrected.

Answer 5

Jesus was not born in the winter but Bible scholars think that He was born in the spring or fall because the shepherds were out in the fields and they weren't in the fields in the winter. We will never know the exact date or the exact year (either 6-4 BC) but why do we really need to know? we know that Jesus was born so does it matter the exact date and time?

Answer 6

Well the fact that he when he born it was not as significant event as it is now -- you have to think that at that time the only events marked down were done by the emperors or other kinds of royalty -- so a carpenters son -- and a jew at that probably wouldn't have been recorded -- you really have to think logically when it comes to combining history with major religious events.

Answer 7

Just as I have no evidence, save for allegorical, on when Jesus was born, you have none, either.
Sure, the shepherds were in the field. Does that necessarily mean it was not winter? No. Does that mean it was winter? No.

December 25 was chosen as the celebration date due to its coincidence with Satarnalia, a pagan holiday celebrated mainly in Germany. This was done to help bring thousands to the faith.

When was He born? I don't know. All I know is THAT He was born, and I thank God for it. Amen.

Answer 8

they don't seem to be Jews because of fact Jew's don't think the messiah has come yet. they do no longer have faith Jesus so believing in Jesus and asserting your Jewish of course contradicts one yet another.... this is unhappy that there are those Evangelist Christians that decision themselves "Jews". end this custom now, your disgracing the two Judaism and Christianity.

Answer 9

Because it says in the Bible that his birth wasn't that important like his death. It doesn't tell us anywhere in the Bible to celebrate Christ's birth.
Note: ECCLES.7:1 = "A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth."

CHRISTMAS
Christmas isn't Jesus's birthdate; it was the birthday of the sun god. Scripture doesn't mention Jesus's birthdate or any christians celebrating His Birthday. The only birthday mentioned besides Pharoah is the heathen king Herod. "Christmas" means "mass of Christ"; the celebration coexisted in Rome before there was any in Jerusalem. The early Roman Church however did establish a pagan festival that (Jer.10) coexisted with Jesus's Birth and that was the birthday of the sun god. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., article: "Christmas"). The Catholic sources admit that Christmas didn't co-exist with the earliest festivals. Jesus wasn't born Christmas; even scripture makes this evident. "On the night of Jesus's birth, the shepherd's were still keeping watch over their flocks." (Luke 2:8). The rainy season in Ancient Israel began after the Feast of Tabernacles which generally is early October. In November, it would be cool and wet; the flocks from the pasture had already been brought and kept in winter quarters by the shepherds. This tells us the shepherds were no longer in the fields at night. Another peice of evidence is overlooked is in Luke 1:35-36; it tells us John the Baptist was born to Mary's cousin Elizabeth six months before Jesus. And as we look further in verse 5-17, we see Zacharias an elderly priest burning incense on the altar and then an angel appearing to him and telling him that he and his wife would have a son to prepare Christ's Way. We know however when this announcement was made by the angel because of Zacharias was "of the course of Abijah" Please look at 1Chron.24:1-19; it tells us that King David divided these priests into 24 "courses" that served in the temple by rotation. The Course of Abijah would be the 8th of the 24 courses which usually would occur around the end of May. Pentecost came the week after the 8th course served and he had to serve all 24 courses during the three festival seasons. So Zacharias came home approximately after the first week of June; in which John the Baptist was conceived around mid-June and 9 months later would be his birth. John Baptist's birth came around mid-March while Jesus's was around mid-September. Also notice every year people claim 3 wise men seen Jesus in a stable; is this really true? The Bible nowhere states "3 wise men" or "that the wise men visited Jesus in a stable". Read for yourself: (Matt.2:11); these Magi came from the east beyond the Euphrates River which in the 1st century was called the Parthian Empire (the eastern border of the Roman Empire). Several weeks after Jesus's birth, the Magi arrived in Jerusalem, the king's palace searching for Jesus. The "star" in the east led them to take their trip to Judea. After hearing about the timing of the "star's appearance" from the Magi; King Herod ordered the slaughter of all children two years and younger(Matt.2:16). When Jesus was 40 days old: His parents presented him in the temple (Luke 2:22)(Lev.12:2-4). After the Magi came, the family fled to Egypt. {Jesus six weeks old.}
WHEN WAS JESUS'S BIRTH?
http://www.lcg.org/cgi-bin/tw/magazine/tw-mag.cgi?category=Magazine33&item=1104261794
http://family.webshots.com/photo/1342393463049373547FazWzQ

Luke 2:34-35 = "And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

Answer 10

Well, last time I checked, our calendars are based on A.D. and B.C., meaning after the birth of Christ and before His birth. Let's see, according to the notion that we live 2,007 years after the birth of Christ, I would say that He was born 2,007 years ago. One could give or take a couple years or so because this was knowledge based on over 2,000 years of history. After the ministry of the disciples of Christ, the Bible stops the recording of history, so we are left to assume that early Christians were accurate in their timetable, as passed down through the generations. As for the exact date, if it was important for us to know the exact date, then the Bible would have recorded it. It is enough to know that he was likely born in the fall, given the details that the Bible does mention concerning the time of His birth.