I have to admit, I often refer to the 25th of September as the Pagan Holiday when we celbrate the birth of Jesus. I have always "known" that Christ was born on April 6th. Or was he? Maybe the way to make the Christmas season a little more merry, is to realize that there is a good possibility that Jesus was born the first week of December.
After reading the following article in the deseret news, I am almost convinced that Jesus was born in December.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700094707/What-was-the-real-date-of-Jesus-birth.html
The strongest evidence I believe is that the angel appeared to Mary in the 6th month. Now if that is our sixth month (June), then 9 months later would be April. But, if the 6th month refers to the Hebrew Calendar (whose new year begins in September) then the 6th month would be our month of February, and it is quite possible that 9 months give or take a couple of weeks falls on the first week of December.
Regardless of when his birth was, what a wonderful time of year to think of the Christ Child. As it was said by Special Witnesses "His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world."
HE LIVES
1 comment:
Feel more free than usual to ignore this comment.
Yes, the Hebrew calendar is more likely than the Gregorian calendar that wasn't invented for several hundred years.
The main reason Mormons think it's April 6 is D&C 20:1, which says that the church was organized April 6, "being 1830 years since the coming of our Lord." The problem is that December 25, 1830 was similarly 1830 years since the coming of our Lord, and so was August 24, 1830, and and and...
Pres. Lee and Kimball have, based on that verse, affirmed His birth on the 6th of April in General Conference. A collection of church leader quotes on it is here, which includes both McConkie saying April 6 and McConkie saying we don't have enough information to go on.
The Hebrew set of rituals point to April as a more likely candidate, most cultures have a birth, death, and rebirth event in the early spring, and BoM timing for the crucifixion certainly seems to favor April.
Sorry that I haven't read the article before commenting.
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