Not only did church leaders argue and speculate about the date, they also disagreed about the appropriateness of birthday celebrations within the Christian church. Much of the contention stems from the pagan customs associated with the origins of Christmas. Yet, today all Christian denominations and faith groups, aside from the Church of Armenia, celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25. Find out why as we look into the history of Christmas:
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HE CAME, GLORY TO GOD!
He fullfiled ALL the prophecies concerne His birth, life and ressurection.
His parents were jewish and celebrated the Festival of Lights in December when they traveled to Bethelehen thus making sence of a December birthday of Jesus.
HE SHINES!
You spelled “concern” wrong. As well as “sense” and “Bethlehem”. How do you spell ressurection right and then get “sense” wrong?
I like what you wrote
If memory serves me correctly, they went to the City of David as they were both descendants of King David and had to be censured for the census that I think King Herod had ordered. Also, questions the fact of shepherds being in the fields in December? Still He is God and can make a shepherd warm in winter and food for the sheep in the fields. But that Jesus’ parents were there for a Celebration of the Lights or Hanukkah is new to me. Raise another question, which of the 3 known calendars were they going by? Bless our LORD and Saviour, Jesus Christ…the debates will go on, and embarrassing are the fights (physically and verbally) to the rest of the world filled with non-believers.
can you help me find chrismas suff
Nothing in the Bible indicates that they were celebrating the Festival of lights!
Also, the author is INCORRECT in stating that ONLY the Armenian church celebrates on a different day. MOST of the Eastern Orthodox churches (Russia, Ukraine, etc.) celebrate Christmas in January. This is due to the difference of accepting either the Julian or Gregorian calendar.
Winter in Israel is NOT like elsewhere in the world. December is not that cold (snow, etc.) Think Georgia (same latitude).
Finally, having raised sheep myself and having seen unknown numbers born, I can tell you that lambing season is NOT in the spring but in the winter. “Christmas” lambs are very normal. In fact, this makes them the prime age for Passover (think Christ’s crucifixion)!
Jehovah’s Witnesses are Christian and do not celebrate Christmas at all.
Jehova’s Witnesses are not Christians. They do not accept Christ as God and in fact they deny the tri-une nature of God. Accepting God as Father-Son-Holy Spirit has always (historically and spritually) been the hallmark of being a Christian. IF you want to follow some other pattern go ahead but it is NOT historical Christianity.
Is christmas the christians festival of light ?
no, it is not. it is christmas. we dont have a “festival of lights”, that’s a jewish holiday, i think it is another name for hannakuh, but perhaps im wrong about that.
Jesus birthday, for god heaven’s sake, was in late MARCH according to the bible! This excuse for “Jesus’s Birthday” is complete crap and lunacy!
Jesus was born late March-early April (as Dan has said) Christmas is celebrated in December because it is a pagan holiday “rewritten” to match Christianity.
The days of the week are pagan also. Were you there on the day Jesus was born in so called March?
i,ve heard that it has it,s pagan origins including a decorated tree,but imo if we remember what christmas really means to commemerate the birth of jesus that,s what,s really important ,even though it,s traditionally celebrated December 25, that actual date of christs birth is unknown.imo it,s more important to understand that it,s more about gifts under a tree but to honor christ.
Some of the modern myths about pagan influence seam so widespread that people accept them without ever really knowing the truth. You might like what you find.
It started with Constantine during the Roman Empire. There was a Pagan cult that worshiped the Sun God of the Roman Empire. Related to this cult was Mithras, a God who was said to have been born from rocks. The cult was called Mithraism, a little known cult that was primarily worshiped by the elite of Rome (officers, rulers, and such). Mithras was said to have been born on the 25th of December and it was tradition to give gifts on that day. The reason it integrated with Christian mythology is because Constantine wanted to successfully integrate the two religions that were somewhat similar to strengthen his rule as Emperor. He united both the elite Pagan worshipers and the new cult of Christianity by mixing the traditions and rituals of both-members of the Pagan religion and Christianity made up important portions of the population in the army and he needed both the groups of have a strong empire. After defeating Maxentius at the battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine erased all traces of Maxentius when he defeated him and slurred his name calling him a Christian prosecutor, when in reality Maxentius and his reign had always left the Christians alone. Constantine simply wanted to strengthen his name. As everyone knows, the Roman Empire was the persecutor of Christians. Because of this propaganda, most people believe that Constantine was the first Emperor to embrace Christianity but the truth is he is just the first person to capitalize on it.
Still why do we celebrate it in december.Some people said he was born in March or October.
i hate christmas.my bad day is on 25 december.
Look, you can all fight about what the original reason for the celebration of Christmas on December 25th is, but it isn’t going to change the fact that it is celebrated on December 25th.
I am a Christian, and i celebrate Christmas like anyone else. Whether Jesus was born in march or december or any other month, He was still born. This is just when we celebrate it and it could be when His actual birth took place. Personally, i don’t see why it’s such a huge debate. My Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ and no matter what the origins of this holiday are, it is now set aside to celebrate His birth. =)
thanks for helping me do my work
I was always told that Christmas was celebrated near the time the wise men came to bring gifts to Baby Jesus… why he’d still be in a manager over 6 months later but it would make some sense… hence the star on the top of the tree and the gifts…. star = star of Bethlehem and gifts = gifts given to Jesus
Jesus’ birthday was NOT in March. March is when Mary found out she was pregnant. The question of years vary from 6 BC to 2 BC. 9 months from March is December. Because no1 knew the exact date, it was agreed upon that December 25 (9mnths from March 25) would be deemed Christmas. This is said to have happened around 336 AD.
Was he a God? Why God had to be born? What kind of God died?
I don’t understand what the big deal is. Personally I celebrate my Lord and Savior on this day as His birthday. Regardless of if it is his actual birthday, I separate one day out of the year to celebrate His birth. Don’t get me wrong, I celebrate Him daily. I don’t do a lot of the traditional things that a lot of people do for Christmas. No Santa Claus at my house….we put a tree up. For us that represents the birth(growth of the tree), Death(cutting down of the tree), and resurrection(putting the tree back up in our house). We don’t do it because it is what everyone else does, my husband and I do it because we want to give Glory to God. It is only bad when you make something bad of it. If you have the right mind set behind it and give God glory in all you do, then there is nothing wrong with whatever traditions you have. God first….period!!!
Mohd, your questions are very honest. Jesus was indeed God. He was born to show us, mankind, how we were to live and to show us how we could know Him, God, personally. It is the same concept as you getting down on your knees to play with your child. He had to die because the sins of the world required payment. He, totally innocent, died for our sins so that we could be forgiven. Justice requires that wrongs be paid for. Jesus paid for our wrongs. The account does not end with His death though. He rose from the dead three days later proving He is God. He wants to be your God, personally.
Dean, dont you think it is un-fair that only a tiny % of humans got to know “how they were to live”. Non of the previous generations got this previlage! As for “dying for our sins”- you must understand that laws are made for humans and all other creations of God. There are no laws for God, that He CANNOT do something unless something is done!! The statement that Jesus “died for our sins” means that he new that he would have to be sacrificed. Then why was Jesus, as stated in the Bible, crying tears of blood and prying to God to protect him from the evil people who wanted to kill him? How can an evil deed be deamed as something very nice and sacred to the hole of Christiandom? When prophet Abraham wanted to sacrifice his beloved son as ordered by God, the son told his father to do what God has ordered. Abraham’s son didnot cry the tears of blood or begg his father to reconsider… and he was less than 15 years of age and NOT A GOD!!! Thank you and God bless.
Shalom, Jackie!
Its sad to say that Jesus said that we are not from this world and yet majority of the world says they follow Jesus yet they practice all the things from this world.