Whether Jesus Christ was actually born on December 25 or not is very difficult to state. Perhaps it is a fact or perhaps fiction. According to some, it’s a fact, while others would state it’s a fact. Another group might be such deep believers in Christ that it doesn’t matter to them whether Christ was indeed born on December 25 or not.
The Bible proclaims that people should have correct knowledge of Christ, something that is possible only if you have accurate information about the Prophet, which can separate fact from fiction. So, if we study the stories connected with Christ carefully such as the Bethlehem star, or shepherds looking after the sheep and their fields, the coming of the magi and the angels, etc., we can examine them and then determine whether His birth did indeed take place on December 25 or not. This is the only way we can determine the Prophet’s birth date to be December 25 since this date never finds a mention in the Bible.
Both the authors of the Gospel, St. Luke and St. Mathew, disagree that December 25 is the real birth date of Jesus. They, instead, believe that Jesus was born during King Herod’s reign of King Herod and for only one reason could he have been born in Bethlehem: that it was foretold that the ruler of Israel would be born there as it was the city of David.
It is also very unlikely that Mother Mary would travel through a difficult winter, pregnant as she was. However, it would be likelier that Mary and her husband Joseph would have made the journey earlier in the year. Another discrepancy is that if Christ was born in December, it wouldn’t be possible for shepherds to tend their flocks and fields in the snow.
The Gospel’s authors also believe that the Bethlehem star, central to the stories relating to Christ’s birth, is a complete fallacy. This is so because if, as these stories depict, there could have been one star that shone only on a particular town and remained stationary there, it would be in contravention to the laws of motion of the galaxy.
Today, it also seems difficult to believe that this one star guided all the astrologers of those times from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, a town that is barely eight kilometers away. In St. Luke’s Gospel, there is no mention of the star of Bethlehem or the three magi nor is there a mention of the stable or animal around the infant Jesus. However, he does mention a baby in a manger.
However, there is one reason for people to link Christ’s birth with December 25 and that is because this date is linked with pagan festivals. It also coincides with the winter solstice and is said to be the year’s shortest day and, hence, the day when the Sun God returns. It was also the date the Roman Catholics chose to lord over Christian culture and eliminate a pagan day and replace it with a holy day.
From the above, it would be very difficult to say when Jesus was born and it is a date that we can never know for sure. But yes, we can say with complete confidence that this was one human being who changed the course of mankind.
