Who invented Christmas? No where in bible mentions we need to label the day as "Christmas " and above all celebrate exactly on the 25th or the night of 24th in December? Orthodox go with the 6th of January or the night of 5th? I am Armenian Orthodox and I go with both dates Dec. 25 and January 6, since both nations are close celebrating. Besides labeling as Hollidays, I would like to know where exactly in bible mentions those above dates?
Ano751: Who invented Christmas? No where in bible mentions we need to label the day as "Christmas " and above all celebrate exactly on the 25th or the night of 24th in December? Orthodox go with the 6th of January or the night of 5th? I am Armenian Orthodox and I go with both dates Dec. 25 and January 6, since both nations are close celebrating. Besides labeling as Hollidays, I would like to know where exactly in bible mentions those above dates?
I wasn't sure so here's a bit of cut and paste, hope this helps.
Most Christians today probably can’t imagine Christmas on any other day than December 25, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, for the first three centuries of Christianity’s existence, Jesus Christ’s birth wasn’t celebrated at all. The religion’s most significant holidays were Epiphany on January 6, which commemorated the arrival of the Magi after Jesus’ birth, and Easter, which celebrated Jesus’ resurrection. The first official mention of December 25 as a holiday honoring Jesus’ birthday appears in an early Roman calendar from 336 A.D.
But was Jesus really born on December 25 in the first place? Probably not. The Bible doesn’t mention his exact birthday, and the Nativity story contains conflicting clues. For instance, the presence of shepherds and their sheep suggest a spring birth. When church officials settled on December 25 at the end of the third century, they likely wanted the date to coincide with existing pagan festivals honoring Saturn (the Roman god of agriculture) and Mithra (the Persian god of light). That way, it became easier to convince Rome’s pagan subjects to accept Christianity as the empire’s official religion
aries1234: Tonight Christmas comes a step closer tonight whan Plymouth, Ocean city's aaaaaaachristmas Lights are switched on.
Is the run up to Chrisemasgetting longer?? or is it my imagination..
Have your lights gone on yet??
Yes the conditioning to accept and fully partake in this annual nonsense is getting longer and more aggressive each year. We absorb it readily such is our need for purpose and conformity.
In the 3rd century, the date of birth of Jesus was the subject of both great interest and great uncertainty. Around AD 200, Clement of Alexandria wrote:
“ There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord's birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20] … Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21]. ”
In other writing of this time, May 20, April 18 or 19, March 25, January 2, November 17, and November 20 are all suggested. Various factors contributed to the selection of December 25 as a date of celebration: it was the date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar; it was about nine months after March 25, the date of the vernal equinox and a date linked to the conception of Jesus. Solstice date
December 25 was the date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar. Jesus chose to be born on the shortest day of the year for symbolic reasons, according to an early Christmas sermon by Augustine: "Hence it is that He was born on the day which is the shortest in our earthly reckoning and from which subsequent days begin to increase in length. He, therefore, who bent low and lifted us up chose the shortest day, yet the one whence light begins to increase."
Linking Jesus to the Sun was supported by various Biblical passages. Jesus was considered to be the "Sun of righteousness" prophesied by Malachi: "Unto you shall the sun of righteousness arise, and healing is in his wings." John describes Jesus as "the light of the world."
Such solar symbolism could support more than one date of birth. An anonymous work known as De Pascha Computus (243) linked the idea that creation began at the spring equinox, on March 25, with the conception or birth (the word nascor can mean either) of Jesus on March 28, the day of the creation of the sun in the Genesis account. One translation reads: "O the splendid and divine providence of the Lord, that on that day, the very day, on which the sun was made, March 28, a Wednesday, Christ should be born.
In the 17th century, Isaac Newton argued that the date of Christmas was selected to correspond with the solstice.
According to Steven Hijmans of the University of Alberta, "It is cosmic symbolism ... which inspired the Church leadership in Rome to elect the southern solstice, December 25, as the birthday of Christ, and the northern solstice as that of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception."
Calculation hypothesis
The Calculation hypothesis suggests that an earlier holiday held on March 25 became associated with the Incarnation. Modern scholars refer to this feast as the Quartodecimal. Christmas was then calculated as nine months later. The Calculation hypothesis was proposed by French writer Louis Duchesne in 1889. In modern times, March 25 is celebrated as Annunciation. This holiday was created in the seventh century and was assigned to a date that is nine months before Christmas, in addition to being the traditional date of the equinox. It is unrelated to the Quartodecimal, which had been forgotten by this time.
Early Christians celebrated the life of Jesus on a date considered equivalent to 14 Nisan (Passover) on the local calendar. Because Passover was held on the 14th of the month, this feast is referred to as the Quartodecimal. All the major events of Christ's life, especially the passion, were celebrated on this date. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentions Passover, presumably celebrated according to the local calendar in Corinth.
Date of birth of Jesus From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any secular text but most scholars assume a date of birth between 6 BC and 4 BC. The historical evidence is too incomplete to allow a definitive dating, but the date is estimated through two different approaches—one by analyzing references to known historical events mentioned in the nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, and the second by working backwards from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus.
my lights aren't on yet but my tunes are.....Im not religious and I don't celebrate it as such...Christmas is really what you choose to make it just like any other holiday....
I've often heard several debates in regards to when this so called person was actually born.
Even though I was a brought up under the Catholic faith unlike my parents I decided when I reached the age of being able to make my own decisions is when I chose not to practice it.
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Is the run up to Chrisemasgetting longer?? or is it my imagination..
Have your lights gone on yet??