When was Jesus born?

Back in 2009 the History Channel did a series on Christmas.  One of the shows depicted the Birth of Christ and how it might have actually occurred.  It also noted that one of the major errors of the story of Christmas was the date that it actually occurred, and it explained why this error was made.

In other words, most evidence suggests that December 25 is not the day Christ was born.  Likewise, most evidence suggests that the year 1 was not the year of the lord.

To be honest, none of this surprised me, as I was taught this at an early age.  I'm certain most children are taught the same, especially in the secular world we live in today, a world where people will do anything to prove Jesus is a fraud.

Yet as a Christian, and as a Catholic, I find that this information has little significance, and in no way proves that Jesus did not exist. Still, I believe it is good to be accurate with facts, especially considering most rulers throughout history believed an ignorant populace benefited the state.

Anyway, one episode discussed when Jesus might have been born. Yet most societies back then used random Roman kings to base their calendars on, and so there was no consistent calendar.  It is partly for this reason, and the fact that most people were illiterate and did not record history, that the actual birth of Christ remains a mystery to history.

Of course another reason why the Birth of Christ remains a mystery to history is because the main emphasis in the early years of Christianity was on the death of Christ, not on the birth of Christ.

However, what we do know is that several hundred years after the Birth of Christ, Christian Priests got together and they thought it would be really cool to have a calendar based on the birth of Christ, as opposed to some random Roman King.

So, since there was no knowledge of the actual birth of Christ, December 25 was chosen as the day to hold the celebration of Christmas.  This date was chosen for no other reason than that it was the date of a chief pagan holiday.  The idea was the celebrating Christmas on this date would be a great way of overriding the old celebration and bringing in the new.

This turned out to be perhaps the #1 most effective and significant public relations strategy in the history of the world, as, in the United States alone, 90 percent celebrate the birth of Christ, including 80 percent of non-Christians.

Of course this should be of no surprise, because, after all, Christianity is the only true religion.  And one must not doubt for a moment that God, or the son of God (the Word), helped the men in charge of the campaign.

So what started out as a cult following grew to become the most significant religion in the history of mankind. This is (was) a huge PR success story.

But I digress.

A scholar determined that Jesus must have been born on year 473, or something like that, of the Roman calendar.  So a week after the Birth of Christ starts the new year. That pretty much put to rest the search for the date of the Birth of Christ.

Eighteen hundred years later, researchers determined that the scholar who chose that year failed to take into account a few specific details mentioned in the Bible. For one thing, Jesus was born during the rein of King Herad, who died in 2 BC.

Therefore, since Herad is mentioned in the Bible for 4 years after the birth of Jesus, then Jesus must have been born in 6 BC.

Another scientist used information about the star of Bethlehem that the three Kings (of course the Bible does not say how many Kings there were) used to find the baby Jesus. The Bible states it occurred in the East. In Jesus's time, the east referred to the Eastern sky in the morning where the sun rises.

So, the search was on to determine what event would have occurred in the Easter sky that might have occurred around 6 BC.

Another account of the Bible states that Jesus was born in a manger, during a time when the Shepherds were watching their sheep. During the time of Jesus Shepherds only watched over their sheep at night, which meant he was born at night.

Also significant, most of the year sheep were not watched. The only time they were was in the spring.  So Jesus would have been born in the spring not winter.

Another scientist determined that other manuscripts of the time make note that the star occurred in the constellation (what was it called?) that was a symbol of of Judaism.

Likewise, Zeus was also mentioned. More significant, the planet that represented Zeus was Jupiter. Thus, this scientist determined that the star of Bethlehem would have been an event involving Jupiter in the eastern sky, at night, and in the spring, and around the year 6 BC.

So, using his computer, he set out to determine when such an event would have occurred, and he determined, according to his computer, that Jupiter would have been aligned in the Easter sky in this particular constellation on April 18, of 6 B.C.

This date lines up perfectly with all the significant historical events described in the Bible.  It was during the rein of King Heran; it was during the spring; it was during the phase of the moon and other things in the sky depicted in Biblical stories.

The experts note that the result of such an alignment in the sky would have made for a remarkable sight, although it would not have

The result of such an alignment would have been a remarkable sight for those who saw it the night Jesus was born.  Still, it would not have been too bright.  This would have made it obvious to those who were looking for it, and not so obvious to those who were not.

This was significant, because the kings (magi, magicians, wise men) had to convince King Herod there was such a sight in the sky the night Jesus was born.  It had to not only have been there, but had to have been not so obvious for un-knowing to have seen.

Merry Christmas.