Any thoughtful and careful study of the infancy narratives found in Matthew and Luke as well as a study of the social world in which the events happened will indeed show that there are shortcomings and errors in the traditional portrayals of the birth of Jesus as found in most manger scenes. Most are of a product of the middle ages and not the 1st century. At best they provide us with symbolic presentations of the birth of Jesus, nothing more nothing less So let's not throw out the baby with the manger hey.

So what?

This is not news, Biblical Scholars and Church Historians have been saying this for more than 20 years. Pope Benedict XVI as an academic knew this and is not really just now shedding light on the fact. The Gregorian calendar was developed several hundred years after the birth of Jesus, he was off a few years, so what, the fact that he got as close as he did is amazing.

The nativity narritives found in Mathew and Luke are absolutely
correct in describing the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. However, I agree that Christ was not born on Dec. 25 and there is nothing in the scriptures that authorizes a celebration of Christ's birthday.

This holiday was purely man made in an attempt to attract pagans into the church. The fact that the date Dec. 25 coincides with the pagan celebrations of the Roman And Iranian Sun Gods
is evidence to prove this fact.

"This holiday was purely man made in an attempt to attract pagans into the church. The fact that the date Dec. 25 coincides with the pagan celebrations of the Roman And Iranian Sun Gods
is evidence to prove this fact."

This does not mean we are not now allowed to, or should not celebrate the Incarnation with respect to the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches' number 1 celebration - as is the case presumably in most Protestant traditions - is the celebration of the death and resurrection of our Lord. No resurrection, no Christianity.

By the way, the Pope enjoys the Christmas celebrations and the nativity scenes, even if extended to images of oxen and asses (not present in the Gospel narratives, as he correctly pointed out) as much as most other people.

I wish you a happy and profound Christmas festival. The commemoration of the birth of King Jesus always brought great joy to me, starting from at least my third year of life.

Catholic friend.

In my opinion, it should be clear to all of us that the traditions are not always based on facts and things that really happened. However, this does not mean that we shouldn´t keep them, they are already a part of our lives as they were a part of the lives of our ancestors.

Since history tells us that King Herod died in 4 B.C.E. it is evident that Jesus was not born in 1 A.C.E. It is very likely that he was born in 4-6 B.C.E. December 25th most likely is not the date of his birth. While there is nothing wrong with remembering Jesus' birth on that day, I agree with Jesse that "nothing in the scriptures that authorizes a celebration of Christ's birthday". If God really wanted us to observe Jesus' birthday he could have given us a specific day or season to celebrate it like he gave the Day of Atonement, Passover, and the Feast of Tabernacles to the Jews. The tradition of placing the magi at Christ's birth is probably inaccurate according to the Scripture they likely arrived at Bethlehem about 2 years later.

Many Christmas songs also are inaccurate or add to what is known from the Scriptures concerning Christ's birth.

C'mon guys.... Does the exact date really matter? All that matters is that it happened! I know that shepherds wouldn't have their flocks in the mountains at that time of year. It gets cold! The barn would have been full. So the critters part might be right after all. Christmas and Easter, could only be recorded in ref to the nearest pagan marker.

Be happy. Enjoy it. You didn't deserve it!. That's what Christmas is about!

The Dec 25 date is date for the liturgical commemoration of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ not his birth day. It's tied in to the entire cycle of Christian seasons (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Triduum, Easter, and 'Ordinary Time').

Why do we need to prove and question, our God the almighty can make anything happen, if it be born in a hay with animals on that date or not, faith is about believing in God without questioning him, there are so many things around us we should be concerned about and question, and the birth place and time of christ is not one of them!