| A
Salute to the Season of Merry
And recommended reading
Where did the Christmas Holiday of December 25th come from? How
did it begin, and why?
 The
word “Christmas” is derived from “Cristes
maesse” and translated means Christ’s Mass for Christians.
Jesus Christ’s Birthday? Or is there more to the beginning
of this festive season?
December 25th is truly known as a pagan religious day of celebration
long before Jesus Christ was born.
Christmas has origins in ancient festivals celebrated as the nativity
of Christ’s birth since around 300 AD, but nowhere in the
Bible does it say that Jesus told us to celebrate his birth. Actually,
the vary date of December 25th is quite questionable.
Myth has Christ’s birth in the year 1 C.E. The New Testament
gives no date or year for Jesus’ birth. The earliest gospel,
St. Mark’s, written about 65 CE (Common Era), begins with
the baptism of an adult Jesus, this, perhaps suggest the lack of
interest in his birth date by Christians.
In the writer’s research about this hallowed date, he discovered
some interesting facts. The first offering of the year of Christ
birth was determined by, Dionysius Exignus, a Scythian abbot monk,
of a Roman monastery. He determined his findings in this manner:
In the Roman, pre-Christian era, years were counted from ab urbe
condita (the founding of the city—Rome). Thus 1 AUC
signifies the year Rome was founded. 5 AUC signifies the 5th year
of Rome’s reign.
 Dionysius
discovered that the Roman emperor Augustus reigned 43 years, after
that Tiberius ruled Rome. In the writings of Luke (3: 1,23), he
recorded that Jesus was 30 years old in the 15th year of Tiberius’s
reign. If Jesus was 30 years old during Tiberius’s reign,
then, he lived 15 years under the reign of Augustus, which places
Jesus birth in the 28th year of Augustus reign.
Augustus, according to history records, ruled in 727 AUC. Therefore,
Dionysius put Jesus birth in 754 AUC.
Yet, another Apostle, Luke (1:5) recorded that Jesus birth was
in the days of Herod. Herod died in 750 AUC, four years before the
year in which Dionysius places Jesus birth.
When it comes to the date (December 25th) of Jesus’ birth,
there are also a few doubts.
The De Pascha Computus, an unknown writers document, was
believed to have been written in North Africa, circa, 243 CE (The
Common Era), places Jesus birth on March 28th. . In 215 CE, Clement
of Alexandria wrote Jesus was born on November 18th.
 Modern
day Professor, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, at the Catholic University of
America, estimates that Jesus birth occurred on September 11-3 BCE
(Before the Common Era).
All the above research records could cause one to believe that
the date of Jesus Christ is--????
Was there a Jesus Christ? Or were there more than one? “To
be or not to be?”
Does Scriptures create more fiction than fact?
P.S. This ending period (The Holiday Season) of the calendar year
has long been known to be “The lure of profit.” Since
the 1870’s, merchants have vigorously promoted this season.
Could “Greed” one of the deadly sins could someday overshadow
this joyous season?
Other recommended reading:
The
Bible Nativity Story by Diana Gray's Ministries
Bible
Browser Ezekiel 37: 1-14
Now, go softly into the night. mgf
Comments are always welcome.
Email them to
- Attn: Michael, Behind the Fiction. |
