If I were setting up the calendar, I wouldn't start it at Jesus' birth, that event was unremarkable as all men are born, and there is no Biblical fixing of his birthday. The few clues we have, the shepherds in the fields indicate spring or summer.
Nor would I start with the day of his death, as all men die.
The truly extraordinary thing, the defining moment of his gift of salvation was his resurrection, an event with a clear Biblical authority to the exact date.
That's what I would have used, it's unique as few come back from the dead, and it has a known date, and it is proof positive of the good news.
Still, I'll celebrate on December 25th, with the rest of us...
...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
>> Only to jam Saturnalia. <<
What possesses so many Freepers to repeat that demon-inspired nonsense, invented by Satan-worshippers and atheists? Saturnalia ended on December 17.
We don’t know for CERTAIN what day Jesus was born, but Dec 25th is the day the Spirit of God returned to the Temple of God, and Jesus said he was the Temple of God... and observed that date, himself.
We also know from the book of Ezra that the feast of Sukkot was transferred to the Feast of the Dedication. And finally, if we mark the beginning of the world as 1 Nisan, then the first date Eve could conceive would be 14 Nisan, which is, not coincidentally, the feast of the first fruits, On Good Friday, that fell on March 25. 9 months after Good Friday would be Dec 25. (Although that year, the Feast of the Dedication would have fallen on Nov. 25, but of course Jesus wasn’t born that year.)
So even if the date of Jesus’ birth were lost to history, and there’s no reason to think it was, there would be plenty of biblical basis to celebrate it on Dec. 25.
Actually 3rd C. reckonning as to the date of Jesus’ birth did look to the date of His Resurrection (and death before), as a prophet, according to Jewish tradition of the day, would die either on the anniversary of his birth or conception. The traditional date of the conception of Jesus (Dec. 25 minus 9 months)(the Annunciation) is March 25, also very close to (or on, depending on the year) Easter.
I grew up in a secular household, but Mom never let us kids forget ‘the reason for the season’. A couple of Christmases, we kids even built our own nativity scene in the front yard.
We enjoyed and sang the religious carols right along with secular Christmas songs.
I’ve always remembered and respected that Christmas is a celebration of Christ’s birth.
As to the proper date, I’ve got no dog in that fight.
Merry Christmas, Nully!