Timeline for Given many questions as to whether Jesus was born on 25 December or not, I ask if the ambiguity in scripture is meant to teach us something?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 27, 2021 at 19:05 | comment | added | Jess | GD, “ Defending that the birth happened in a specific time and place was very important to the 1st century church.” As it is also to those in our modern era. The narrative that the early church just made up a date feeds into a narrative that the N.T. accounts themselves were made up stories to counter pagan stories. | |
| Dec 27, 2021 at 15:01 | comment | added | Anne | @GratefulDisciple We're saying that the lack of a specific date is significant. Also, the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary is very important which is why it's curious that no exact date is given. But my Q is NOT about whether 25 December has to be established, so please don't go into that. By all means update your answer and I will consider it, but going on about the correctness of 25 December only shows lack of understanding the question. | |
| Dec 27, 2021 at 14:51 | comment | added | GratefulDisciple | @Anne I beg to differ about moving from the non-mention of the date to saying that specific date is not important. Defending that the birth happened in a specific time and place was very important to the 1st century church. I came across a lecture by an author of scholarly book about Coptic documents bolstering 25 December even earlier than 204 AD that someday when I have time I would use to update my answer to another question. I also plan to update my answer with the voluntary reason too. | |
| Dec 27, 2021 at 14:37 | comment | added | GratefulDisciple | "No birthday Jesus" is a good insight. But Christmas is rarely celebrated as a "birthday" if we look at the greeting cards and the carols. It's a celebration of Immanuel, Incarnation, solidarity of God to participate in human struggles, the birth of Messianic hero in disguise, a humble baby protected by God to symbolize hope of the most vulnerable of the Godly, and of course all the sentiments embedded in the lyrics of "Joy to the world". I am more inclined to see the ambiguity as inviting our voluntary joyful response to this gift from God. | |
| Dec 27, 2021 at 13:56 | vote | accept | Anne | ||
| Dec 28, 2021 at 10:12 | |||||
| Dec 27, 2021 at 13:52 | comment | added | Anne | Using Phil.2:5-8 to reason that "a dateless birth is well in keeping with both the mind and purpose of Christ" gives a biblical answer. You also picked up on the difference between the Son of God (who has no birth/beginning) and Jesus the man, whose birth date is not given due to his uniqueness. Worldly reasoning might argue that that should make his birth date all the more important, but Phil.2:5-8 helps show why the date is with-held in the Bible. | |
| Dec 27, 2021 at 13:22 | history | answered | Mike Borden | CC BY-SA 4.0 |