BIRTH OF JESUS : DECEMBER 25, IT'S TRUE ?

Every year the birth of Jesus is commemorated by Christians on December 25. However, a number of historical experts believe that December 25 is not the birth date of Jesus Christ. So what date was Jesus actually born?

Until now, when Jesus was born is still full of mystery,even debated in interfaith dialogue. A number of experts believe that Jesus was born between 4 and 6 BC based on the story of the massacre of the infant king Herod the Great.

Birth of jesus according to expert's

Some experts, for example Peter Richardson and Amy Marie Fisher, in their book entitled "Herod: King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans", say that King Herod died in 4 BC. Although there are also contrary opinions from other historians that 4 BC was not the year King Herod died.

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Then there is no strong evidence to support the history of the massacre of babies under 2 years old at the time of King Herod, it is just speculation, said biblical expert Reza Aslan in his book 'Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth'.

Interestingly, there are other experts who try to make a connection between the star of Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus. In an article in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society published in 1991, astronomer Colin Humphreys revealed that the Star of Bethlehem was a comet that Chinese astronomers discovered in 5 BC. So, how can December 25 be designated as the birthday of Jesus Christ?  

 

A number of historical researchers say that it was the Roman Catholic church that chose December 25 as the birthday of Jesus Christ. The reason is because that date is the winter solstice and Saturnalia, then it is celebrated in a folk festival to honor the god Saturn. 

 

Astronomer David Allen admitted through his writing Solstice Determination at Moon, from Australia, that December 25 is the date on which observers of the northern earth can detect the movement of the sun towards the north after its midwinter solstice. 

 

Furthermore, in the same article, David also revealed that December 25 was designated as the birthday of Jesus on the Christian calendar later in the 4th century AD by the Roman king, Constantine.

This Roman king tried to blend Christianity, which was already starting to have a large number of adherents, with Mithraism and the customs of the Sol Invictus cult festival.

Ignacio Gotz, through his article "Jesus the Jew: Reality, Politics, and Myth-A Personal Encouter" which was published in 2019, revealed the fact that the Church tried to combine the customs of Roman society at that time, namely pagan festivals with winter festivals. other pagans. So December 25 was chosen as the birthday of Jesus.

However, whatever the experts' opinions, I have a different opinion that December 25th is never included in any of the verses in the Bible. This means that this came not from the word of God but from the people of that time, who were motivated by the interest of stabilizing the security of the Roman Empire during the leadership of King Constantine.

Birth of jesus according to Bible

The story is different from the Gospel of Luke 1:1-37, which tells the initial process of how Mary's pregnancy occurred and ended with the birth of Jesus. However, these two gospels do not exactly say when Jesus was born, what date and month he was born.

In the Bible, many verses containing indications of the birth of Jesus Christ are told in various verses in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, although in different versions. For example, the Gospel of Matthew 2:1-5 tells of the arrival of the wise men who aimed to find and worship the newborn king, then intended to give him various expensive gifts.

The only clue in the Bible that can predict the birth of Jesus is only in the gospel of Luke 1:39-56. Here we tell the story of the arrival of Mary, who was pregnant, to her sister Elisabeth's house shortly after being visited by the angel Gabriel. When Mary arrived, Elisabeth was 6 months pregnant with John the Baptist.

In this event, it can be concluded that the distance between the birth of Jesus and the birth of John the Baptist was 6 months. It is not known for certain how old Mary was when she came to visit, but what is certain is that John the Baptist was born before Jesus.

So when was John the Baptist born?

Instructions regarding this birth depart from the information in 1 Chronicles 24:7-18. In the 9 verses of the chronicle, it briefly tells the story of Zakaria, John's father, who was assigned to the Temple of God during the time of King Herod.

There is an expert opinion that says that Zakaria's duties are carried out in the month of Siwan or to be precise between the months of May-June in the current Gregorian calendar. So, if it is true that Elisabeth was 6 months pregnant in June, then John the Baptist was born sometime in March or April of the following year.

At the beginning it was said that Jesus and John were 6 months apart in age, (Luke 1:39-56) so if John was born in March then Jesus' birth would be 6 months later, namely in September or October.

If so, why was December 25 chosen as the birth of Jesus? Meanwhile, in the historical literature of the Bible itself, there are no clues that point to that date and month.

This is an oddity, you have to think about it again because you can be sure that something hidden has happened in the past behind December 25th. 

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