Question
When was Jesus Christ born?
1. The Gospel according to Luke (2:8) states that during the time of the birth of Christ
"there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night"
2. In the New International Version (©1984) The Song of Solomon 2:11 states, “See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone”.
Adam Clarke (1762–1832) was a British Methodist theologian and Biblical scholar who is remembered for writing a commentary on the Bible which took him 40 years to complete . He said in his Commentary, Vol. 5, page 386 (and 370):
“It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover (early spring), and bring them home at commencement of the first rain.”
Clement of Alexandria, a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria in about 200 C.E says in Stromateis 1.21.145:
“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 in our calendar]...And treating of His Passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the 16th year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth [March 21]; and others on the 25th of Pharmuthi [April 21] and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi [April 15] the Savior suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].
The Catholic Encyclopedia sums this fact:
The exact date of Jesus' birth is entirely UNKNOWN.
Question
How did they come to the 25th of December?
Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions: By 336 A.D., the Roman church calender definitively records a nativity celebration by Western Christians on this date (25th December).
Sir Isaac Newton physicist, mathematician and theologian in his book labelled, the Observations upon the prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John said about the Annunciation of Mary (which is when the angel Gabriel told the virgin Mary, that she would conceive).
This annunciation that happened was ‘on the 25th of March, which was when Julius Cæsar corrected the Calendar and was the vernal Equinox; the feast of John Baptist on the 24th of June, which was the summer Solstice; the feast of St. Michael on Sept. 29, which was the autumnal Equinox; and the birth of Christ on the Winter Solstice on Decemb. 25.
Modern scholars debate in the "Heim, "Solstice d'hiver, solstice d'ete", Latomus 59 (1999), whether the December 25 date of Christmas was selected to correspond with the Roman festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti or "Birthday of Sol Invictus."
The first certain record associating December 25 with the birthday of Sol Invictus is the Chronography of AD 354, in the part known as the Philocalian Calendar.
Question
So what is the Winter Solstice and how does it link to Christmas?
The Winter Solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's polar hemisphere is farthest away from the star that it orbits. It is the shortest day of the year and in the days after, the sun begins to regain its strength as the day increases in length.
According to Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius who was a prominent roman who flourished during the early fifth century, he said :
In the winter solstice the sun would seem to be a little child, like that which the Egyptians bring forth from a shrine on an appointed day, since the day is then at its shortest and the god is accordingly shown as a tiny infant.”
Gordon J. Laing a professor of Latin at the University of Chicago in his book titled Survivals Of the Roman Religion says,
And in the year 274 the Emperor Aurelian dedicated a magnificent temple in Rome to "the Unconquerable Sun-God” (Deus Sol Invictus), who probably was the chief divinity of Palmyra in Syria.
*Note
This pagan divinity is of special interest for our inquiry, for his annual festival fell on the 25th of December and its relation to Christmas has been a matter of protracted discussion since.
Gaius Plinius Secundus (23 AD – August 25, 79 AD), better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire. In his book the wrote:
Book XVI: "The Druids hold nothing more sacred than mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing ... when it [mistletoe] is discovered it is gathered with great ceremony Hailing the moon in a native word that means 'healing all things,' they prepare a ritual sacrifice and banquet beneath a tree and bring up two white bulls, whose horns are bound for the first time on this occasion. A priest arrayed in white vestments climbs the tree and with a golden sickle cuts down the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloak. Then finally they kill the victims, praying to god to render his gift propitious to those whom he has bestowed it. They believe that mistletoe given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that is barren, and that it is an antidote for all poisons."
*Note
Mistletoe slows down in the winter or goes into a sort of plant hibernation but it remains alive all year rather than growing. It is green in the winter and can be seen much better because trees it grows on lose their leaves.
We can see from this how the tradition of the Misltetoe came into being.
Another Important point to be noted is the sacrificing of a bull being part of this ancient pagan tradition.
Encyclopedia Britannica states:
Taurobolium, bull sacrifice practiced from about ad 160 in the Mediterranean cult of the Great Mother of the Gods. Celebrated primarily among the Romans, the ceremony enjoyed much popularity and may have been introduced by the Roman emperor.
The picture shows Mithra killing white bull ‘tauroctony’ which is the central icon of this ancient pagan cult.
As concerns Mithra's identity, Mithraic scholar Dr. Roger Beck says:
Mithras...is the prime traveller, the principal actor...on the celestial stage which the tauctony [bull-slaying] defines.... He is who the monuments proclaim him—the Unconquered Sun. (Beck (2004), 274)
Colliers Encyclopedia agrees.
Quote: "After the triumph of Constantine, the church at Rome assigned December 25 as the date for the celebration of the feast, possibly about A.D. 320 or 353. By the end of the fourth century the whole Christian world was celebrating Christmas on that day, with the exception of the Eastern churches, where it was celebrated on January 6. The choice of December 25 was probably influenced by the fact that on this day the Romans celebrated the Mithraic feast of the Sun-god (natalis solis invicti), and that the Saturnalia also came at this time."
Quintus Curtius Rufus was a Roman historian, writing probably during the reign of the Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) or Vespasian. His only surviving work, Historiae Alexandri Magni recorded in his book
Before going into battle against the 'anti-Mithraean country' of Rome, the Persian soldiers would pray to Mithras for victory. However, after the two enemy civilizations had been in contact for more than a thousand years, the worship of Mithras finally spread from the Persians through the Phrygians of Turkey to the Romans.
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225 AD), was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.[2] He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. In Tertullian (c.200), On the Soldier's Crown 15, he sheds some light on intitiation to the third level, "Soldier," in a treatise about Christians refusing crowns in military service.
He notes that a Soldier of Mithras, during his initiation in some gloomy cave, is presented with a crown at sword-point. He refuses it, saying that Mithras is his crown, and he never wears a crown after that.
Questions
Was the festival of Christmas built around these ancient customs?
What does the Bible have to say about such customs?
Jeremiah 10:1-10: This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.
In conjunction with Jeremiah:
The Prophet SAW said: "Whoever imitates a nation is but one of them." [Abu Daawood]
Moreover:
The Prophet SAW came to Madeenah while they had two days they celebrated. The Prophet asked, "What are these two days?" They said, 'These are two days we used to celebrate in our pre Islamic era. The Prophet said: "Allah has replaced them with two better days: 'Eed Al-Adh-haa and 'Eed Al- Fitr." [Ahmad and At-Tirmithi]
Imaam Ibn Al-Qayyim reported the consensus of all scholars that greeting non-Muslims on their religious occasions is forbidden. He said: “As for congratulating the disbelievers for their rituals, it is forbidden according to the agreement of all scholars- like: congratulating them for their feasts and fast by expressing good wishes: happy feast or enjoy your feast… etc. If the Muslim who says this does not become a disbeliever himself, he, at least, commits a sin as this is the same as congratulating him for his belief in the trinity, which is a greater sin and much more disliked by Almighty Allah than congratulating him for drinking alcohol or killing a soul or committing fornication or adultery…etc.”
Finally the Qur’an again sums this up succinctly:
{And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.} [Qur'an 2:85]
