Like most Americans I celebrated Christmas as a kid. My entire childhood I was taught that Christmas was the birthday of Yeshua (Jesus in English which I will use from this point on). After spending years reading the Bible and many college courses studying it, I found that no date is given. Why do Christians insist that Jesus’ birthday is Christmas, December 25th? Are they correct? Are they even close? Or do they believe in a complete myth?
Today, I don’t celebrate Christmas. I still believe in God. I still believe that Jesus was the son of God. But I don’t celebrate Christmas. First off, it’s not even His birthday, not even close. Second, it’s a pagan celebration. Nowhere in the Bible did the Jews (Hebrews) worship this day. The disciples of Jesus did not worship this day. After Jesus’ death, none of His followers worshiped this date. Do most Christians even know what Christmas is? Sadly the answer is, “no”. How can so many people be so clueless? Ask the mass majority of Christians what Christmas is. I’d say 99% would say, “Jesus’ birthday” and not even think twice about how wrong, ignorant they are of facts or how clueless they are.
The Germanic people thousands of years before the birth of Jesus celebrated winter festivals. These festivals included gift-giving, greenery (trees), lights and charity. Does any of this sound familiar? In Pagan Scandinavia, pagans celebrated a winter festival known as “Yule”, which was held in late December to early January. Scandinavia was one of the last European nations to accept Christianity. What better way to make converts than to take their holy day and make it the birth of Jesus? And that is exactly what the Christian missionaries did. Also note that “Yule” became synonymous with Christmas as early as 900 A.D.
(lights and trees were pagan rituals thousands of years before the birth of Jesus)
Santa Claus, another Christmas figure, is also of pagan origin. Santa Clause is based on the pagan god (among other pagan folklore), Odin. Many centuries before the birth of Jesus, Germanic children would leave their shoes (sounds like stockings) in hope that Odin would fill them with goodies. The kids would leave sugar and other treats for Odin in hopes of receiving presents. Again, doesn’t that sound familiar? Once more we see Christians turning a pagan ritual into “Christianity”.
(Santa, based on many pagan legends)
How did Christmas become an official Christian Holiday then? Easy, give thanks to the Catholic Church. Most scholars give thanks to Constantine and his triumph over the pagans as the first celebration of December 25th being the birthday of Jesus. The 25th was chosen because the pagan Romans had already been worshipping the pagan Mithra, an Iranian Sun-god. Again, what better way to gain coverts than simply turning an already “holy” day into a new “holy” day?
Do we even know a timeframe of Jesus’ birthday? The answer is, yes we do. The Bible clearly gives us the clues and facts. And it is NOT December 25th. The New Testament (NT) tells us that the shepherds “abide in the fields”. That proves that December is way off. Starting in November in Israel, shepherds stay in shelters because that is the beginning of the rainy season. This lasts ALL the way through December. Luke informs us that John the Baptist’s father served 15 months in the Temple before the birth of Jesus. We also know from Luke 1:5 that Abijah served. Add 15 months to that and the date is September 5th, not December 25th. The Romans were also taking a census during this time. The Romans never took a census in the winter, which means again, December 25th can’t be the birthday of Jesus.
Luke and John dates also point to September. We know that Jesus was born 46 years from the beginning of Herod’s temple and the 15th year of Tiberius, which would bring us to the same year. Co-regencies were counted as part of Roman rule, so Tiberius co-ruled with Augustus starting in 12 CE. Josephus stated that Herod began building the Temple in 19 BCE. Luke tells us that Jesus was “about 30” when he started His ministry. Going by this clock, Jesus would be 30 years and a few months. (No 0 in the timeline so 4 years to 1 BCE plus 26 to get to Rosh Hashanah, which is celebrated in September)
You may say, “so what?” Maybe to you it’s not a big deal. But how can you worship the son of God on a pagan day? Not only that, how can you celebrate his birthday on the wrong day? How would you feel if people came up to you on random days and wished you a happy birthday? It would be kind of odd, wouldn’t it? You do know that both the Old and New Testament warn about worshipping pagan rituals, right? When you celebrate Christmas you are worshipping paganism and not the faith of the Bible.
Facts are facts. Christmas is pagan and clearly not the birthday of Jesus. Anyone claiming to believe in the Bible should never celebrate Christmas. I may cuss, drink a little and so forth, but at least I don’t worship pagan holidays. Nobody in the Bible, Old or New Testament ever celebrated Christmas. Jesus would never celebrate Christmas. Why would you then? Answer that and then get back with me.
