Christmas is to me a National holiday and I celebrate it as
such. I do not celebrate Christmas as the birthday of Jesus
for two reasons: 1) The Gospel never says anything about
celebrating December 25 as Jesus’ birthday. 2) I simply do
not believe Jesus was born on December 25 or any other day
in December. Consider a couple of things which are taught
about the circumstances around Jesus’ birth, and believed
by the majority of religious folks today.
MYTH # 1: “Jesus was born on December 25th.” False!
The fact is, the Bible simply doesn’t tell us what day Jesus
was born. Luke 2:8 tells us that immediately after Jesus’
birth, “there were...country shepherds living out in the
fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.” Now, this
just doesn’t happen in the winter. Jesus was most likely
born in spring, summer, or early fall.
MYTH # 2: “There were three wise men who came to
Jesus in the manger.” False! Actually, there are two myths
in this one statement. First of all, the Bible records that
“wise men from the east came to Jerusalem.” We are not
told how many there were. Secondly, modern day nativity
scenes show the wise men at the manger. But, the text tells
us they came to a house (Matt. 2:11). And, Jesus was
probably two years old before they arrived, certainly not an
infant as we are led to believe (Matt. 2:7, 16).
Be careful what you believe. Just because something is
taken for granted to be true by the general public, doesn’t
necssarily make it so.
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