When Was Jesus Actually Born?

[@betsy4936]

Excellent and enjoyable video . I love the emphasis on the fact that Jesus was born for us and is here with us now and will come again!

[@philvestal]

Amen! The good news! Grateful you enjoyed it. 🙏

[@DawnBl3v1ns]

Thank you for your explanation. I appreciate it.

[@philvestal]

Absolutely! I love sharing this stuff! Grateful that you found it helpful. 🙏

[@Marie-o8x]

"For me, the most important thing is not when he was born, but that he was born." So well said!!!

[@philvestal]

Thank you! Definitely the point I hope we all get to no matter where we place Jesus birthday.

[@suevestal5776]

I appreciate your explanation. Thank you

[@philvestal]

Absolutely a joy!

[@elizabethpullen534]

I had heard similar information several years ago about the origins of celebrating Jesus' birth on Dec. 25 and that he may have been born in the fall. My understanding is that the Christian church was trying to convert the pagans to Christianity by moving the birth to their pagan festival day. So yes, as you mention, I can celebrate his birth any time during the year. What concerns me about choosing Dec.25 is that the reverse also happened. Christians took on many of the aspects of the pagan festivals over these hundreds of years, and we continue them to this day. It seems like it's gotten worse in the last 50 years with the commercialism of Christmas. Two years ago I was doing a Bible study of the sections from the rule of King Solomon through the beginning of the exiles. God was angry with the Israelites when they mixed with the pagans and celebrated their various pagan festivals and worshipped their idols. The Israelites still practiced some of the Jewish festivals and traditions, but their practice was overcome by their participation in the pagan cultures. God was patient for hundreds of years, but after a while, he let them face the consequences of their disobedience and were exiled. I find it ironic that we sing "Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel" to ransom captive Israel. That song might make a person feel sorry for the Jews, but in reality, I think the Jews were feeling remorse for their disobedience and asking God to give them mercy and a second chance. This study gave me a different perspective and made me question what we are doing today as we celebrate Christmas in its current form. I frequently hear to "keep Christ in Christmas", because it gets drowned out by the secular culture. I can't imagine that today's Jews would need a similar reminder while celebrating Passover and having a Seder dinner, where they read the Exodus story. On a humorous note, some friends and I went driving around our small city of Hickory, NC, looking at Christmas lights this week. We played a game to count how many nativity scenes we could see. Out of hundreds of homes we drove by, we counted 10 nativity scenes, and we are in the "Bible belt" of the south.

[@philvestal]

Thanks for sharing! I think you are correct that since we live in a capitalist country, money and possessions have taken over most of life, including our celebration of Christmas. We definitely have a long way to go to reclaim what the season is truly about. Followers of God have struggled through all the ages to keep everything on track, so we find ourselves repeating this history! Each day we can just make the choices we know honor Jesus, ask for forgiveness where we come up short, ask for strength to walk the path, and love one another along the way. 🙏