kepha31
Regular Member
The Jewish "New Year" does not begin with Passover, it begins with Rosh Hashana. The Jewish calendar is lunar based. The Roman calendar is not the same as the Gregorian calendar. No farmer will tell you that harvest is a fixed date. Sol Invictus was not a fixed date but a harvest season until the Emperor Aurelian made December 25th a civil holiday, to detract from the Christians who were already celebrating it.
Again, nobody knows the exact date of Jesus' birth. Jewish celebrations make more accurate time markers than today's theories, IMO. What I am saying is Dec. 25 is not a certainty, but a day chosen by the Christians of the 2nd century or the Emperor would not have bothered passing a law in a feeble attempt to counter it.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what day one wishes to assert the date of Christs' birth. Dec. 25 is the chosen date to celebrate His birth, not an actual date and not formalized for some 60 years after Aurelian's law. All these historical and analytical efforts are valuable, but they should not be used to discredit the Church's 2nd century tradition, because the actual date doesn't matter.
Again, nobody knows the exact date of Jesus' birth. Jewish celebrations make more accurate time markers than today's theories, IMO. What I am saying is Dec. 25 is not a certainty, but a day chosen by the Christians of the 2nd century or the Emperor would not have bothered passing a law in a feeble attempt to counter it.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter what day one wishes to assert the date of Christs' birth. Dec. 25 is the chosen date to celebrate His birth, not an actual date and not formalized for some 60 years after Aurelian's law. All these historical and analytical efforts are valuable, but they should not be used to discredit the Church's 2nd century tradition, because the actual date doesn't matter.
Last edited:
Upvote
0