December 25th 1BC? the real day?

[colliric]

I know this thread’s a bit early, but I support the notion it is really Christ’s birthday and that Jupiter probably was the Star of Bethlehem.

what do you guys think?

 

[Unitas]

I watched a documentary on the three kings and it dealt with this issue. It concluded that Jesus was most likely born sometime in march.

Interesting as it is, I don’t think the actual date is as important as much as it be celebrated. If Dec. 25 is the day or not, that’s the day the Church chose to celebrate it, since time immemorial. Doesn’t matter too much to me.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

I know this thread’s a bit early, but I support the notion it is really Christ’s birthday and that Jupiter probably was the Star of Bethlehem.

what do you guys think?

IT is as far as I’m concerned. Until the Church makes a change.

 

[colliric]

I’d like to know the Apologetics of those who do believe it to be so. Yeah it’s because the church says so, but what is the evidence for, or against it?

I’ve heard some of the evidence for, which is very Strong now more than ever(now that it is known that Herod indeed may have died in 1BC or 1AD), and I’ve heard some of the evidence against… But I’d like to know more.

 

[Unitas]

I’d like to know the Apologetics of those who do believe it to be so. Yeah it’s because the church says so, but what is the evidence for, or against it?

I’ve heard some of the evidence for, which is very Strong now more than ever(now that it is known that Herod indeed may have died in 1BC or 1AD), and I’ve heard some of the evidence against… But I’d like to know more.

The only thing is that it’s not a very tenative argument as far as Catholic apologetics go. Whether or not Christ was born on Dec. 25 isn’t a big deal.

If that’s all a person has for a reason not to be Catholic I’d ask them to take a long hard look at why they’re not in RCIA. It’s quite trivial. It’s not a matter of faith or morals.

 

[thistle]

I know this thread’s a bit early, but I support the notion it is really Christ’s birthday and that Jupiter probably was the Star of Bethlehem.

what do you guys think?

What difference does it make if it was not Christ’s actual birthday? It has no impact on my faith one way or another.

 

[colliric]

The only thing is that it’s not a very tenative argument as far as Catholic apologetics go. Whether or not Christ was born on Dec. 25 isn’t a big deal.

If that’s all a person has for a reason not to be Catholic I’d ask them to take a long hard look at why they’re not in RCIA. It’s quite trivial. It’s not a matter of faith or morals.

Well ok yeah… but it is certainly interesting.

 

[colliric]

The only thing is that it’s not a very tenative argument as far as Catholic apologetics go. Whether or not Christ was born on Dec. 25 isn’t a big deal.

If that’s all a person has for a reason not to be Catholic I’d ask them to take a long hard look at why they’re not in RCIA. It’s quite trivial. It’s not a matter of faith or morals.

Oh and I am in RCIA already, this is just interesting to me.

 

[Unitas]

Oh and I am in RCIA already, this is just interesting to me.

I agree it is quite interesting.

My only point is that you asked for an apologetic view, as in a defense for the faith. And that this issue really isn’t up there among the better arguments (Meaning if it is or isn’t Dec. 25 doesn’t help or hurt the Church’s case).

But I’m certainly not saying it’s not interesting, which it really is.

If youtube was working I’d look up the documentary I saw so you can at least hear their evidence. It may just be my computer though.

 

[colliric]

I agree it is quite interesting.

My only point is that you asked for an apologetic view, as in a defense for the faith. And that this issue really isn’t up there among the better arguments (Meaning if it is or isn’t Dec. 25 doesn’t help or hurt the Church’s case).

But I’m certainly not saying it’s not interesting, which it really is.

If youtube was working I’d look up the documentary I saw so you can at least hear their evidence. It may just be my computer though.

cool. Maby he was born earlier, but to me what is nearly totally certain is that December 25th was probably the day the Kings arrived in Bethlehem so it was the best approximation as it seems in the gospel narrative that they arrived within a few days or on the same day of birth. Even though they may not have, the gospel seems to make out that they did.

 

[FrankLawrence]

“Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day.” He must have been, I mean…it says so right there in the song! What more proof does one need?

 

[Joero]

I’d like to know the Apologetics of those who do believe it to be so. Yeah it’s because the church says so, but what is the evidence for, or against it?

I’ve heard some of the evidence for, which is very Strong now more than ever(now that it is known that Herod indeed may have died in 1BC or 1AD), and I’ve heard some of the evidence against… But I’d like to know more.

May I know what you know, after I give you what I know? Promise?
As an apologist, I would like to share you this, but remember that this is just a speculation because it’s very hard to exactly correlate the old jewish calendar with our Gregorian calendar.

To start with, try to look at** Luke 1:10** which says “while the crowd of people outside prayed during the hour when the incense was burned.” ( This occurred when Zechariah was doing his priestly function in the old covenant). As you see, we could speculate that this was somewhat not ordinary sabbath for the Jews because the crowd of people were outside the temple. A question may arise on what particular sabbath does it done?

Try to look at Lev. 16: 12 and verse 17 (verse 12 speaks of the burning of incense and verse 17 speaks of no one should be in the tent while performing the ritual for purification.)
This goes to conclude that this particular sabbath was the Day for Atonement for the Jews. The Day of Atonement starts from the 10th day of the seventh month ( Lev. 16:29).

The 7th month of the old Jewish calendar was Tishri. Equivalent to this to our Gregorian calendar is “half of September & half of October”. Since Tishri sometimes has 30 days during Leap year of the Jews and only 29 days during ordinaries, we just speculate to use the ordinary - the 29 days.
Since it would be hard to exactly identify to what particular date does Tishri falls on the half of September, let us just speculate to start it from the 15th rather than the 16th. So, on date 15 (plus 10 - the 10th day of Tishri to start the ritual of Day of Atonement) it would amount to 25 - meaning Sept. 25.

In Luke 1: 36 says that the Blessed Virgin Mary was informed by the angel that her cousin, St. Elizabeth, was 6 months pregnant. Meaning to say that John the baptist was 6 months older than Jesus.
So, from Sept. 25, let’s move an advance of 6 months and would fall on March 25 (which is the beginning of the pregnancy of the Blessed Virgin Mary).
If we count 9 months from March 25, which is the gestation period until birth, it would fall on December 25.

Let me reiterate, that this is just a speculation and I don’t want to debate on this, okay?

 

[jo3ko01]

Hi guys!! I hope this helps . . .

new-life.net/chrtms10.htm

 

[jo3ko01]

and yet another link . . .

hebrew4christians.com/Articles/Christmas/christmas.html

Note this part:
“The Catholic church (in 336 AD) declaredDecember 25th (on the Julian calendar) to be Jesus’ brithday in order to replace a pagan Roman holiday, Saturnalia. Ironically, December 25th was a celebration of the birthday of the sun god. The early church, in an attempt to get rid of the pagan holiday, declared December 25th to be the birthday of the Son of God.”