Of Shepherds and Snow and the Real Date of Christ's Birth

12/20/2018 Christianity 28 Comments

One of the most frequently asked questions from truth-seekers concerns the actual birth of our Lord Jesus Christ (when He manifested Himself in the flesh). Many religions, foremost is the Roman Catholic Church, believe that Christ was born on December 25; hence, they celebrate this date with great lavishness and extravagance.

Appointing and celebrating December 25 as the birth of the Lord Jesus is another false teaching of the Catholic Church; it is merely their invention. This is confirmed in an article about Christmas in The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 2, page 607, which states that “the actual date of the Lord’s birth is unknown.” It also stated that, initially, the commemoration of His birth was included in their celebration of the Feast of Manifestation, or the Epiphany, held every January 6.


However, 300 years later, the Church in Rome changed the date. Instead of January 6, they made December 25 as the day of celebrating the nativity. Unfortunately, the date that they assigned as the birth of Christ, coincided with the feast day of the Roman pagan sun god, Sol. This feast was likewise held to celebrate the birthday of their Unconquered Sun.


Indeed, it is a great insult and a blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ to schedule the celebration of His birthday on the very same day that they were celebrating a feast for their pagan god!

Biblically and historically speaking, the Lord Jesus Christ could never be born in December. When Christ was born, there were shepherds in the fields watching their flock by night; and it was to those shepherds that an angel proclaimed the good news that the Lord Jesus was born. How could the shepherds be on the field that evening if it was December, when as early as November, the terrain of Bethlehem where the Lord Jesus Christ was born is already covered with snow? How would the shepherds be able to feed their flock on December night? Only foolish shepherds would bring their flock out in the field covered with snow. They, both the shepherds and their flock, would all freeze to death there.

This is what LUKE 2:7-14 (KJV) says,


That was what happened during the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the eve when Christ was born, there were shepherds in the field watching over their grazing flock. They grazed grasses, not snow. Therefore, Christ’s birth never happened in December; He was not born in winter.