Advent is back, so the Reddit atheists and pagan LARPers have returned to display their historical and biblical illiteracy.
December 25 really is the date of Jesus’ birth.
Zechariah was in the priestly course of Abijah. Thus he served in the temple in the 8th and 32nd week of the year.
Luke’s Gospel has him serving on the Day of Atonement (at the end of September) and conceiving John the Baptist right when he got home.
This places John’s birth in late June.
The Catholic Church has traditionally celebrated the Nativity of John the Baptist on June 24, which fits Luke’s time line perfectly.
The Protoevangelium of James flat out confirms St. John’s late September conception. Sure, it’s apocryphal, but that doesn’t disqualify it as a source of historical data.
Luke clearly states that Jesus was conceived when Elizabeth was six months pregnant with John.
Scriptural, traditional, and historical evidence place John’s birth in late June. Adding 6 months puts Jesus’ birth in late December.
This is nothing new, either. The Church Fathers knew the evidence & reached the same conclusion.
St. John Chrysostom preached his famous Christmas Morning Homily on December 25, 388.
St. Hippolytus, who died in AD 235, wrote, “The first advent of Our Lord in the flesh occurred when He was born in Bethlehem on December 25.”
But the tradition goes back even further than that!
St. Theophilus, d. AD 181, wrote, “We ought to celebrate the birthday of Our Lord on what day soever the 25th of December shall happen.”
There you have it. The Bible, eyewitnesses to Jesus’ ministry who knew and loved Him–including His mother–and His Apostles’ early successors, give strong testimony that Jesus really was born on December 25.
There are really only 3 objections to affirming December 25 as the actual date of Christ’s birth. I’ll answer them in turn.
Objection 1: Luke has shepherds tending their sheep on the night of Jesus’ birth, but shepherds don’t graze their flocks in winter.
Answer: Bethlehem has a similar climate to Houston. You’ll find sheep out in the pasture in both places year-round.
Objection 2: The Church “baptized” Saturnalia, an ancient Roman feast, by setting the celebration of Christmas to the same date.
Answer: Saturnalia was held on the Winter Solstice, between December 17 and 23. The dates simply don’t match. Close only counts in horseshoes & hand grenades.
Objection 2: OK, if not Saturnalia, then Sol Invictus.
Answer: The Emperor Aurelian did decree the feast of Sol Invictus in 274, prior to the first documented celebration of Christmas on December 25, 336. But there’s no record of Sol Invictus’ celebration on December 25 until 354, when Julian the Apostate moved it in the original War on Christmas.
TL; DR: Scripture, tradition, & history attest to December 25 as Christ’s actual birthday. Atheists got nothin’. Merry Christmas!
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Nice tidbit to add from Dwight Longenecker, who’s been doing research on the Nativity narratives:
“One other detail about those Bethlehem sheep: Do you remember the old grumble that Jesus could not possibly have been born in December because shepherds are only out in the fields with the sheep all night during the lambing season, and lambing is in the spring—not the winter? It’s true that lambing takes place in the spring in Europe, but the breed of sheep common to the Middle East from time immemorial is the Awassi breed—and they give birth between November and January.”
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2023/12/all-animals-bethlehem-dwight-longenecker.html
Nice.
The “No sheep outside in December” objection is dumb for numerous reasons, not the least of which is that sheep always wear what are in effect multiple layers of sweaters, allowing them to withstand temperatures as low as -40.
And as Jimmy Akin found out, the average low temperature for Bethlehem in December is 40 above.
I admit I never even understood this objection as New England kid me was aware that you could have a tropical vacation in December, depending on the climate involved. It’s not like modern Palestine is know as a skier’s paradise or something.