THE REALITY ABOUT CHRISTMAS (DECEMBER 25)
The term "Christmas" is really an abbreviation of the Old English "Cristes mœsse" (Christ's Mass). Some people have criticized the use of the abbreviation "Xmas" because they think that it is a secular abbreviation of "Christmas." Actually, the word "Christ," which means Messiah or anointed one, is a Greek term. "X" stands for a Greek letter "chi" equivalent to the first two letters in the English word "Christ."
December 25th is not the actual anniversary of Yeshua of Nazareth's (Jesus Christ's) birthday. A few theologians and religious historians believe that Jesus never existed. In that case, he would not have had an actual birth day. However, the vast majority of people believe that he did exist. However, according to references in the Bible, it seems that he was born sometime in the fall.
Ancient people observed the daylight hours gradually shortening starting at the Summer Solstice, when the daylight hours are at their yearly maximum. They feared that the daylight hours might continue to shorten and perhaps reach zero. That would be an absolute disaster, because there would be no growing season during the next year. People would starve. So they held rituals about the time of the Winter Solstice -- the shortest daytime of the year -- to encourage the return of longer daytime hours. Since they lacked precision astronomical equipment, they were only able to figure out about DEC-25 that the Solstice had passed and the daytime hours were getting longer. So they picked DEC-25 as the solstice.
The Roman Saturnalia was one of the the wildest of these celebrations at this time of year. Numerous Pagan and other religions had DEC-25 as the birth date of their god. Christianity adopted and renamed Saturnalia as the birthday of Jesus, and the rest is history.
At the time, the Catholic Church had a policy of converting Pagan holidays into Christian holidays on the same day. Similarly, they often recycled Pagan temples and other worship sites as Christian buldings and locations. At the time, the public was already familiar with celebrating a Pagan holy day at that time of the year. It made their transition to Christianity easier to have a Christian holy day at the same time.
Thus, the original reason for the season is the Winter Solstice about DEC-21. This is caused by the 23.5º tilt of the earth's rotation axis relative to its path around the sun that produces the seasons.
DURING WHAT YEAR WAS JESUS BORN?
The year of Christ's birth is unknown. The only available evidence relating to his birth is contained within the 40 or so gospels written by the early Christian movement. Of these, the four that made it into the official canon of the Christian Scriptures (New Testament), are most often cited -- Matthew and Luke, chapters 1 & 2. People have tried to approximate the time of Jesus' birth using various clues:
References to political leaders: Luke 1:5 states that Jesus was born when Herod was King of Judea. Luke 2:2 states that Jesus was born when Cyrenius (a.k.a. Quirinius) was also governor of Syria. Unfortunately, this appears to be an impossibility. The historical record shows that Herod was king from 37 until his death in 4 BCE. (A few scholars say 5 BCE). Quirinius was not governor of Syria at any time during this period. He came to power in 6 CE, a decade after Herod died. 1 Some biblical literalists have suggested that the two Gospels can be harmonized if Quirinius was governor during two separate intervals. There is no historical evidence to support this; however, it is often taught as truth.
Census/taxation: Luke 2:1-4 mentions that Jesus' birth occurred during the time that Caesar Augustus had ordered all of the known world to be taxed. Luke said that every person had to return to the city of his ancestors, to be registered and taxed. Joseph went to Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. But it is probable that this universal census and tax never actually happened. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote a very complete history of the Jews in Palestine. He does mention a census which was conducted in Judea in 6 CE. But this was only a local census, not one that would enable "all the world to be taxed." Its purpose was to count the male population so that they could be taxed at a later time. And it triggered a major uprising among the Jews, who regarded a census as against scripture and the will of God. He does not refer to an earlier census and poll tax.
At the time of Jesus' birth, the Jews were still subject to King Herod. Since Palestine was a client kingdom of Rome, only the king had powers of taxation in the land. 2 It was only in areas that were operated under direct Roman rule that Caesar Augustus could have taxed the citizens directly.
There is no record of a mass migration of adults to their ancestral cities in order to be registered. It would have been totally impractical to hold a census in this way. The primitive transportation systems of the Roman Empire would have been totally inadequate to handle the flow of people. The entire empire would be largely shut down for many months while people were returning to their home towns. Even today, with airplanes, trains, busses and automobiles, it would not be practical to hold a census in this manner.
Herod's "slaughter of the innocents:" Matthew 2:16 describes King Herod's order that all of the boy infants who had not reached their second birthday in Bethlehem and vicinity were to be murdered. The date of that mass murder would give an approximate idea of Jesus' birth. Unfortunately for historians (and fortunately for the residents of the Bethlehem area) the killings never appeared to have happened. If the children were killed, then historians of the era would have been certain to have recorded the event. No such record exists. Josephus wrote in great detail about even minor actions and decisions of Herod. The mass murder was never mentioned.
References to political leaders: Luke 1:5 states that Jesus was born when Herod was King of Judea. Luke 2:2 states that Jesus was born when Cyrenius (a.k.a. Quirinius) was also governor of Syria. Unfortunately, this appears to be an impossibility. The historical record shows that Herod was king from 37 until his death in 4 BCE. (A few scholars say 5 BCE). Quirinius was not governor of Syria at any time during this period. He came to power in 6 CE, a decade after Herod died. 1 Some biblical literalists have suggested that the two Gospels can be harmonized if Quirinius was governor during two separate intervals. There is no historical evidence to support this; however, it is often taught as truth.
Census/taxation: Luke 2:1-4 mentions that Jesus' birth occurred during the time that Caesar Augustus had ordered all of the known world to be taxed. Luke said that every person had to return to the city of his ancestors, to be registered and taxed. Joseph went to Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. But it is probable that this universal census and tax never actually happened. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote a very complete history of the Jews in Palestine. He does mention a census which was conducted in Judea in 6 CE. But this was only a local census, not one that would enable "all the world to be taxed." Its purpose was to count the male population so that they could be taxed at a later time. And it triggered a major uprising among the Jews, who regarded a census as against scripture and the will of God. He does not refer to an earlier census and poll tax.
At the time of Jesus' birth, the Jews were still subject to King Herod. Since Palestine was a client kingdom of Rome, only the king had powers of taxation in the land. 2 It was only in areas that were operated under direct Roman rule that Caesar Augustus could have taxed the citizens directly.
There is no record of a mass migration of adults to their ancestral cities in order to be registered. It would have been totally impractical to hold a census in this way. The primitive transportation systems of the Roman Empire would have been totally inadequate to handle the flow of people. The entire empire would be largely shut down for many months while people were returning to their home towns. Even today, with airplanes, trains, busses and automobiles, it would not be practical to hold a census in this manner.
Herod's "slaughter of the innocents:" Matthew 2:16 describes King Herod's order that all of the boy infants who had not reached their second birthday in Bethlehem and vicinity were to be murdered. The date of that mass murder would give an approximate idea of Jesus' birth. Unfortunately for historians (and fortunately for the residents of the Bethlehem area) the killings never appeared to have happened. If the children were killed, then historians of the era would have been certain to have recorded the event. No such record exists. Josephus wrote in great detail about even minor actions and decisions of Herod. The mass murder was never mentioned.
Our present method of dates, which divide the past into AD (anno domine, the year of the Lord) and BC (before Christ), was established by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century. Exiguus was a Christian monk whose name translates into English as "Denny the Dwarf."
As the calendar has been more generally accepted among people of many religions, the terms AD and BC have been largely superseded in religious and academic books by: CE (common era) and BCE (before the common era).
The best guess of most Biblical scholars is that Jesus was born between 7 and 4 BCE. Recently, a new suggestion of 1 BC has been put forth. So perhaps Denny was not as far off in his calculations as people have believed. 3
The 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus would appear to have already passed. Marcus Borg organized and hosted the "Jesus at 2000" seminar on the life of Jesus. It was held on 1996-FEB-8 to 10, the approximate date of the 2000th anniversary of Jesus' birth.
The historical "reason for the season," for many of these celebrations can be indirectly traced back to the 23.5º tilt of the earth's rotation axis relative to the plane of the ecliptic, as shown below.
As the calendar has been more generally accepted among people of many religions, the terms AD and BC have been largely superseded in religious and academic books by: CE (common era) and BCE (before the common era).
The best guess of most Biblical scholars is that Jesus was born between 7 and 4 BCE. Recently, a new suggestion of 1 BC has been put forth. So perhaps Denny was not as far off in his calculations as people have believed. 3
The 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus would appear to have already passed. Marcus Borg organized and hosted the "Jesus at 2000" seminar on the life of Jesus. It was held on 1996-FEB-8 to 10, the approximate date of the 2000th anniversary of Jesus' birth.
The historical "reason for the season," for many of these celebrations can be indirectly traced back to the 23.5º tilt of the earth's rotation axis relative to the plane of the ecliptic, as shown below.
The earth spins like a gyroscope or a child's toy top. It constantly points to the same region far out in the universe.
1
The seasons are not caused by the earth getting closer or farther away from the sun, as many people believe. It is caused by this 23.5º tilt. As the earth travels around the sun, the density of the sun's rays differs between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. In early December of each year, the sun is very low in the northern sky, and very high in the southern sky. This produces winter in the north and summer in the south. In the northern hemisphere, the daylight hours shorten each day and the nighttime lengthens.
1
On or about DEC-21, the daytime is at a minimum and the nighttime is at a maximum. This is the winter solstice. Humans living millennia ago were far more aware of the shortening day, an apparent pause, and then a gradual lengthening of the daylight hours in late December. Living in a pre-scientific era, many cultures were terrified that the daylight interval would continue to shorten, causing an end to life on Earth. So the winter solstice or the days immediately following the solstice were a time of great celebration. Ancient faiths attributed a major religious theme to the solstice: it was a time of the birth of a new God to replace the old, dying deity. Implicit in this is the hope for a new warm season and a return to the earth's fertility.
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The historical origins of religious observances in December:
The celebrations of various religions are tied directly or indirectly to the earth's tilt on its axis:
bullet Wiccans, and other Neopagans celebrate Yule, which is their name for the Winter Solstice.
bullet The American Atheists and local Atheist groups have chosen to have celebrations on the solstice which they call by various names: the Great North Texas Infidel Bash, the Winter Solstice bash, the Winter Solstice Parties, etc. Again, their day is tied to the solstice
bullet Nova Romans, celebrate Saturnalia, an ancient Roman holiday. This was the Festival of Saturn which was gradually extended in duration until it became a seven day observance from DEC-17 to 23 each year. The Romans decorated living trees outside their homes, and hung garlands, wreathes and other decorations on their doorways, windows, and stairs. It was also observed at the winter solstice. 2
bullet Ancient Rome: In the religious melting pot which was the Mediterranean in ancient times, there were many celebrations of the births of saviors at this season:
bullet The ancient Roman Pagan religion celebrated the birth of one of their Gods, Attis, in December of each year. Attis was born of the virgin Nana. He was sacrificed as an adult in order to bring salvation to mankind. He died about MAR-25, after being crucified on a tree, and descended for three days into the underworld. On Sunday, he arose, "as the solar deity for the new season." 5 His followers tied an image of Attis to a tree on "Black Friday," and carried him in a procession to the temple. His body was symbolically eaten by his followers in the form of bread. Worship of Attis began in Rome circa 200 BCE.
bullet The Babylonians celebrated their "Victory of the Sun-God" Festival on DEC-25.
bullet The followers of the Pagan mystery religion Mithraism observed the birth of the savior Mithra, the "Deus sol invictus" ("unconquered sun"). Their God was believed to have been born on DEC-25, circa 500 BCE. His birth was witnessed by shepherds and by gift-carrying Magi. This date was celebrated as the "Dies Natalis Solic Invite," The "Birthday of the Unconquered Sun" each year. Some followers believed that he was born of a virgin. During his life, he performed many miracles, cured many illnesses, and cast out devils. He celebrated a Last Supper with his 12 disciples. He ascended to heaven at the time of the spring equinox, about March 21.
The Roman Emperor Aurelian (circa 214-275 CE) blended Saturnalia with a number of birth celebrations of savior Gods from other religions, into a single holy day: DEC-25. At the time, the various Christian movements were not recognized as legitimate religions. They were subject to intermittent oppression. This new holy day partially lost its close connection to the Winter Solstice.
The Roman Emperor Aurelian (circa 214-275 CE) blended Saturnalia with a number of birth celebrations of savior Gods from other religions, into a single holy day: DEC-25. At the time, the various Christian movements were not recognized as legitimate religions. They were subject to intermittent oppression. This new holy day partially lost its close connection to the Winter Solstice.
bullet Christianity: By the third century CE the main surviving Christian movement who were spiritual descendents of the first century CE Pauline Christians, had forgotten Yeshua of Nazareth's (Jesus Christ's) birth day. An anonymous third century document "The DePascha Computus," "placed Jesus birth on March 28. Clement, a bishop of Alexandria (d. ca. 215 CE), thought Jesus was born on November 18." 3 After much argument, the developing Christian church adopted the Pagan Emperor Aurelian's date as the birthday of their savior.
Since the people of the Roman Empire were accustomed to celebrating the birth of various Gods on that day, it was easy for the church to divert people's attention to Jesus' birth. The earliest Christmas holidays were celebrated in the same way as Saturnalia. They involved drinking, sexual indulgence, and singing naked in the streets. These practices have long since been abandoned, although naked singing evolved into modern caroling. According to the Judaism Online web site: "Some of the most depraved customs of the Saturnalia carnival were intentionally revived by the Catholic Church in 1466 when Pope Paul II, for the amusement of his Roman citizens, forced Jews to race naked through the streets of the city."
By Pastor Lameck J. Stephen
Phone 0784556460
Zion harvest gospel mission church of Tanzania
Arusha City.
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