when was Jesus born

[BobHunt]

someone wrote in today in our local newspaper and said she is so sick of hearing them sing Jesus was born on Christmas day, because shepherds did not go out and sit with their sheep on fields covered with snow and frigid air.I do know the Jewish calender is slightly different than ours, but I also remember hearing about the first large snow in Jerusalem and the suprise it brought, because it seems they are not used to getting a whole lot of snow in the winter.
Isnt our January their April or something similar?

[Roland Hearn]

someone wrote in today in our local newspaper and said she is so sick of hearing them sing Jesus was born on Christmas day, because shepherds did not go out and sit with their sheep on fields covered with snow and frigid air.I do know the Jewish calender is slightly different than ours, but I also remember hearing about the first large snow in Jerusalem and the suprise it brought, because it seems they are not used to getting a whole lot of snow in the winter.
Isnt our January their April or something similar?
Israel is in the sub tropics - snow is rare and night time tepratures would almost never get to the temprature described by the word "frigid" except in higher elevations like Mount Herman. Think southern Texas. Of course the argument against the date of Christ's birth being December 25 has nothing at all to do with weather. It probably is true that December 25 is not the day unless it is by fluke, however, that is all a pretty pointless discussion - it doesn't matter.

[David Cash]

I agree that it doesn't really matter when Jesus was born. I did read something interesting this Christmas season. It was in Edersheim's The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. He cited the fact that some old Jewish fast for the Messiah had fallen several times in the Christmas season as support for the December 25th date. Don't know how authorative that actually would be as I think about it, but it was interesting.

David Cash

[Wilson L. Deaton]

someone wrote in today in our local newspaper and said she is so sick of hearing them sing Jesus was born on Christmas day, because shepherds did not go out and sit with their sheep on fields covered with snow and frigid air.I do know the Jewish calender is slightly different than ours, but I also remember hearing about the first large snow in Jerusalem and the suprise it brought, because it seems they are not used to getting a whole lot of snow in the winter.
Isnt our January their April or something similar?

December 25th was "set" as Jesus birthday years after the fact based on theological reasons and some guessing.

The guessing had to do with knowing exactly what year Jesus was born. Given the accepted year they then calculated when Passover fell. It was then assumed, for theological reaons that Mary's conception of Jesus took place on that day. This is also the day Mary was informed by Gabriel and is on the church calendar as "Annunciation." The date is March 25th. Following a perfect pregnancy term, the birth then must have taken place on what we call December 25th.

(I'm afraid I can't remember exactly where I learned this but I seem to think it was in an NTS class titled, "Preaching the Creed," where we spent some time on the church calendar and the lesser known special days.)

Wilson

[John Kennedy]

someone wrote in today in our local newspaper and said she is so sick of hearing them sing Jesus was born on Christmas day, because shepherds did not go out and sit with their sheep on fields covered with snow and frigid air.I do know the Jewish calender is slightly different than ours, but I also remember hearing about the first large snow in Jerusalem and the suprise it brought, because it seems they are not used to getting a whole lot of snow in the winter.
Isnt our January their April or something similar?




Just about all of Israel is on the same latitude of the southern US, so you would not have the seasonal reversals that you would have with the US and Australia or South Africa. The seasons would be roughly comparable.

The climate is very similar to that of southern California. Snowfall at higher elevations is not at all uncommon.
The lady who wrote about the shepherds displayed a high degree of ignorance of sheepherding and sheep. Wool contains lanolin and this makes them largely impervious to frigid temps.

[Hans Deventer]

Isnt our January their April or something similar?

That can't be. One is either in the Northern or in the Southern hemisphere, and in the Northern, winter is the same. Of course, coming closer to the tropics, the differences between Summer and Winter diminish. But it is true, there can be lots of snow in Israel, it is mentioned in the Bible as well. Which has nothing to do with Christmas :basic03

[Brian Gocking]

It is quite simple. Jesus was born on his birthday! Sorry..I couldn't resist!
:basic05

[BobHunt]

Hans, I just felt as though what this lady wrote was so inaccurate, it really doesnt matter to me though. We know that the scriptures are true and that it says shepherds were in the fields whether it was December or later. The lady tried to make it a big thing out of it and I think she was totally off base. She was upset because people sing a Christmas carol and it says Christ was born on Christmas Day. Maybe she had a bad Christmas!

[Laurie Florence]

Honestly, when Jesus was born is a moot point. The most important thing is that He was born. That's what I celebrate on Christmas - and the rest of the year.

[Bob Carabbio]

Kind of like Moses' grave -

I'd guess that God purposely DIDN'T give any real clues about it, since He understood the Human way of peverting everything that we touch.

Just imagine the foolish hoopla that would accompany the KNOWN birthday of Jesus.

My suspicion was that it actually occurred during the Fall feasts, since God seemed to do major spiritual things in synchronism with the feasts (like the Easter sequence leading to Pentecost that meshes exactly with the Spring Feasts).

[Doug Wise]

Jesus was born in 3 BC on September 11th

While there is additional evidence to support this date Revelation 12:1-2 may give us the exact moment! The astronomical event which is portrayed in the passage by the sun clothing (or passing through the body) of the constellation Virgo (The Virgin) and at the same time the moon being at her feet occurred in Jesus' time only between 6:15 P.M. and 7:45 P.M. on September 11th of 3 BC. If Revelation 12:1-2 is portraying the birth of Christ (which most scholars agree it does) then Christ’s actual birth date may not be a mystery after all.
Whether this is fact or just fanciful speculation I can not say for sure as I am not an astronomer, but it is an interesting hypothesis of which the details can be found in several web sites and books including David Chilton’s “The Days of Vengeance” page 300-303.

Love in Christ,
Doug

[Wilson L. Deaton]

It is too big a coincidence that non-Christian terrorists chose 9/11 to launch the big attack. There must be something to this...

I wonder if this would make a good movie somehow... At least another good book series.

Maybe we could form a non-profit and get some grant money to examine this further. We could then start a web-based grass roots movement to back the year to 2004 and move Christmas.

People have invested their lives in lesser causes. :basic05

Wilson

[Doug Wise]

Wilson,
I think we’re on to something.

We could wrap a movie plot around uncovering a sinister conspiracy by a consortium of big business and some strange little green fellow to move the world’s biggest shopping event away from “back to school buying”, thereby increasing sales and profits while at the same time doing away with Christmas for three years!
Whatdoya think of “The Wal-Mart Code” or maybe “The Grinch Factor” for starters?

Also, I really like your idea of “non-profit and grant money”. After raising a couple children and currently spoiling several grandchildren I am at least familiar with the concept.
:fav18

Thanks,
Doug

[Michael R. Gentry]

Much like myself actually, Jesus was born at a very early age :)