Why December 25th?

Townhall.com ^ | December 24, 2013 | Erick Erickson

[SADMILLIE]

Anyway, it is when Santa comes!!

[silverleaf]

thanks

[Sherman Logan]

December 25 would seem to be an unlikely date for shepherds to routinely have their flocks grazing in the Judean hills.

Here is a link to the storm earlier this month with over two feet of snow in this area. Shepherds aren't stupid. Such a storm would decimate their flock.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.563057

[Varda]

December and January is when the Awassi (indigneous breed of sheep) ewes lamb around Jerusalem. It's the rainy season and the new grass is in. Snow storms like that are extremely rare in the area (hence why it made world wide news)

[narses]

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[Vendome]

Well, they would have died in the wool....

[CynicalBear]

I love those “it’s been that way since xxxx. Paul condemned the teaching and attitude of Simon Magus before 70AD. Error had crept into the churches by that time. The argument that it’s justified simply because is started early is weak at best.

It’s always interesting that the question is never addressed, did the apostles teach it? Did God institute it? I don’t care what your view or practice on holidays is. But the lack of concern of scripture teaching and practice is rather telling it seems.

[j.argese]

Which is worse, non-believers attempting to disprove the existence of God by questionable science or the religious attempting to prove His existence by questionable history? You believe or you don’t. If you require proof to support your faith, you have none.

[narses]

[CondorFlight]

The New Testament more than once refers to Christ being
born and “tabernacling” among us—ie, strongly
suggesting that he was born during Sukkot—the festival
which commemorated the time when Israel lived in tents
in the wilderness, and God Himself personally dwelt among them.

(that would place his birth in Sept.-Oct)

[Kaslin]

You are welcome

[alloysteel]

Calendars used to be such messy things, and even now, they are not entirely perfect, with an artificial day created every four years, and the measurement being determined by two different means, the sidereal calendar and the solar calendar. Add to that the irregularity of the lunar cycles with the defined length of this construction of what constitutes a “year”, and there is plenty of room for sloppiness in reckoning.

Stealing the dates of a pagan holiday was about as good an idea as any for, first, displacing the pagan celebrations, and secondly, finding some “common ground” by which to make religious conversions.

It is no coincidence that “Kwanzaa” has also tried to hijack the Christmas holiday.

[Kaslin]

Please notice the very last sentence in the article

Finally, the date of Christ's birth is not important. What is important is that he is.

[CynicalBear]

Martin Luther sez? Wasn’t he the Catholic monk/priest who thought Mary and Joseph disobeyed God in their marriage?

[Wiser now]

They didn’t have barns. The sheep were always outside.

[SkyDancer]

Someone or group would point out problems if it was August 12th.

[BigOrangeI]

See “Bethlehemstar.net” for a well researched explanation of the Star, when it was first seen, when Jesus was born, when the Wise men visited him (our Christmas celebration) and when he rose.

[IronJack]

Nailed it.

[Ditter]

I hate to repeat anything that Hillary said BUT “what difference does it make?”

Christ was born, he died for us, he is the Son of God. We celebrate his birth and his death. That is all!