Why is December 25 the birthdate of Jesus?

Question

Why do we consider Dec. 25 the date of Jesus' birth? Can't it be like July 4, April 12... something ;) thanks!

Answer 1

This is an interesting question, and the answer may have had more to do with socio-politics than with the event itself. Remember that the Roman society adopted christianity through the Emperor Constantine in about 310 AD; by which time the exact date would have been blurred. When the Roman calendar was produced, the year was supposed to start on mid-winter's day (which is now Dec 22 or 23), and some say that such a date was a convenient one for aligning with the birth of Jesus. Since then, the date has shifted around somewhat, because of calendar adjustments.

Answer 2

According to the Bible, December 25th is NOT the Birth of Jesus, However Man has decided to Celebrate it on this Day.

Answer 3

The exact day that Jesus is not in the bible, People ,not me, think that he was born on December 25, but if you read the bible it just says that it was a very cold day so with the colder months it could not be December. I personally do not think that any one knows the right day of Jesus birthday people just assume what day they think that is .

Answer 4

no person relatively is conscious while he replace into born, yet there are clues that it wasn't December 25. For one element, no king might rigidity people to commute to a distinctive city to sign in for a census or pay taxes in the lifeless of wintry climate, the toughest time to commute. Shepherds would not be out staring at their flocks by using evening. December 25 is on the factor of the wintry climate Solstice, the time while days quit getting shorter and start to get longer. each pagan faith had a occasion around this time. I strongly suspect that pagan clergymen, who had studied the skies for hundreds of years, knew purely while the wintry climate Solstice replace into approximately to ensue. that they had carry some form of ceremony and the days might initiate getting longer, and that that they had take credit for it. This replace into activity secure practices for clergymen. Paul replace into the guy who needed to proselytize pagans and altered the character of the religion to be greater commonplace to them, incorporating many of their customs and sacraments. whether it may additionally be that early Christians desperate to rejoice their fairs on the comparable time because of the fact the community majority pagans, with the intention to attraction to much less interest. ought to or no longer this is celebrated? beneficial, why no longer? that's a huge gamble to tell the story of ways Jesus replace into born, to remind young babies why they suspect, and so on.and so on. this is replace into form of a commercial and cultural nightmare, however the authentic Spirit of Christmas is in there someplace, and persons and households can rejoice it whether they like, religious or secular. Even people who don't think in Jesus love Christmas!

Answer 5

We have had this same question about five times in the past week, so here we go again

Was Jesus born on December 25?

Was Jesus born on December 25? There is no evidence for this date. So then, who decided that Jesus' birth would be celebrated on that date? The early Christian church did not celebrate Jesus' birth. It wasn't until A.D. 440 that the church officially proclaimed December 25 as the birth of Christ. This was not based on any religious evidence but on a pagan feast. Saturnalia was a tradition inherited by the Roman pagans from an earlier Babylonian priesthood. December 25 was used as a celebration of the birthday of the sun god. It was observed near the winter solstice.

The apostles in the Bible predicted that some Christians would adopt pagan beliefs to enable them to make their religion more palatable to the pagans around them. Therefore, some scholars think the church chose the date of this pagan celebration to interest them in Christianity. The pagans were already used to celebrating on this date.

The Bible itself tells us that December 25 is an unlikely date for His birth. Palestine is very cold in December. It was much too cold to ask everyone to travel to the city of their fathers to register for taxes. Also the shepherds were in the fields (Luke 2:8-12). Shepherds were not in the fields in the winter time. They are in the fields early in March until early October. This would place Jesus' birth in the spring or early fall. It is also known that Jesus lived for 33.5 years and died at the feast of the Passover, which is at Easter time. He must therefore have been born six months the other side of Easter - making the date around the September/October time frames.

Other evidence that December 25 is the wrong date for the birth of Jesus comes from early writings. Iraneus, born about a century after Jesus, notes that Jesus was born in the 41st year of the reign of Augustus. Since Augustus began his reign in the autumn of 43 B.C., this appears to substantiate the birth of Jesus as the autumn of 2 B.C. Eusebius (A.D. 264-340), the "Father of Church History," ascribes it to the 42nd year of the reign of Augustus and the 28th from the subjection of Egypt on the death of Anthony and Cleopatra. The 42nd year of Augustus ran from the autumn of 2 B.C. to the autumn of 1 B.C. The subjugation of Egypt into the Roman Empire occurred in the autumn of 30 B.C. The 28th year extended from the autumn of 3 B.C. to the autumn of 2 B.C. The only date that would meet both of these constraints would be the autumn of 2 B.C.

John the Baptist also helps us determine that December 25 is not the birth of Jesus. Elizabeth, John's mother, was a cousin of Mary. John began his ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. The minimum age for the ministry was 30. As Augustus died on August 19, A.D. 14, that was the accession year for Tiberius. If John was born on April 19-20, 2 B.C., his 30th birthday would have been April 19-20, A.D. 29, or the 15th year of Tiberius. This seems to confirm the 2 B.C. date, and, since John was 5 months older, this also confirms an autumn birth date for Jesus.

Another interesting fact comes from Elizabeth herself. She hid herself for 5 months and then the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary both Elizabeth's condition and that Mary would also bear a son who would be called Jesus. Mary went "with haste" to visit Elizabeth, who was then in the first week of her 6th month, or the 4th week of Dec., 3 B.C. If Jesus was born 280 days later it would place his birth on Sept. 29, 2 B.C. Some scholars interpret the 6 months to be in line with the Hebrew calendar or the August-September time frame. Since Mary's pregnancy commenced a little before the sixth month around July, Jesus would be born somewhere around March-June. But does it matter if Jesus was born on the spring, the fall, or on December 25? Does it matter, theologically, when Jesus was born? What do you think, does it matter what day we celebrate His birth?