Was Jesus really born on Christmas Day?

Ugandan Christians majorly believe that Jesus was actually born on the 25th December. They don’t know that neither in the Bible a concrete date for his birth is given nor that there is even a coherent story surrounding his birth.

The birth of Jesus according to the Bible

The Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John contain no story of Jesus’ birth at all. It is only the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew that deliver a story of his birth – a contradicting one to be exact. This is why the relevant passages are getting quoted by me in full in order to show the reader these contradictions openly.

The Gospel of Luke says:

“And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.”¹

The Gospel of Matthew says:

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.”²

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;

For out of you shall come a Ruler

Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.””³

What follows is the story of Herod killing the first-born children in Bethlehem.

It is quite a lot of reading, indeed, but necessary. It is obvious that we have one event but two totally different stories. Who stood at Jesus’ cradle: Shepherds or wise men? These “wise men” later even turned into “kings” in the later church tradition despite the Bible calling them “magicians” (a Persian term for priests) with the names Balthazar, Caspar and Melchior (that are not in the Bible either).

Besides being hagiographical stories that cannot be taken as having happened the exact way written, the tales from the two mentioned gospels also contradict history.

The census mentioned by Luke cannot have anything to do with the birth of Jesus due to different reasons: The main one is the fact that Quirinius was governor of Syria in 6 CE when Judaea was added to the province. This would be far too late for the birth of Jesus to happen. Another, though less important detail is the fact that a census is only for Roman citizens. If Joseph was a Roman citizen, then Jesus would have been a citizen too. But a Roman citizen could not be crucified legally⁴.

Besides that, Herod died in 4 CE, making only one of both stories possible to have happened. In typical manner bits often get mashed up from both tales though only one could have happened anyways. Most likely Jesus was actually born under Herod, but this is disputed. What could not have happened for sure is the so-called “Massacre of the Innocents” by Herod. Such a massacre would have been documented in other sources, but there is nothing about it to be found outside of the Gospel of Matthew itself. It is just an analogy from the Exodus tale from the Old Testament⁵. This analogy is made even more obvious since the family of Jesus is fleeing from Israel to Egypt.

What Luke and Matthew both prove is that the counting of years since the birth of Jesus is wrong in either way. Going back 2025 years in time means to end up exactly between the timeline of both of the mentioned gospels. This is creating a third problem: That the “official birth year” of Jesus does not even match with any of the gospels. If we take 2025 as the actual “Anno Domini” (Year of the Lord), then both gospels get invalidated. The historical placement of Jesus´ birth is, as you can see, a complete mess.

No matter how long we look into the biblical source material, we will not see more than an unreliable story that cannot be regarded as a historical record. Mark and John did not write about the birth of Jesus because nothing was known except that he came from Nazareth⁶. That was more honest than making up tales that cannot withstand the critical eye of a historian.

The actual origin of Christmas

Uganda is a tropical country at the equator. There is neither summer nor winter. In the northern hemisphere however there is a winter solipsis on 21st/22nd December as the shortest and a summer solipsis on 21st/22nd June as the longest day of the year.

Obviously the dating for Christmas on the winter solipsis is only approximately correct. In Germany Christmas is not on the 25th December but already on the evening of the 24th December traditionally. The actual date of Jesus´ birth is unknown.

Unlike Easter, which fell in the time of the Jewish festival Pesach and therefore can be actually dated on either 7th April 30 CE or 3rd April 33 CE, there is no date for the birth of Jesus according to the Bible. Because of that the heathen winter solipsis festival was overwritten by the church. Even Easter, which can be relatively correctly dated, was mixed up with a heathen spring festival to some extent.

The broad celebration of Christmas did not come up until the 18th and early 19th century in Europe because for the church the birth of Jesus mattered less than his death and resurrection on Easter. For the church the highest Christian holiday is Easter, not Christmas; for the laymen its vice versa.

Giving gifts at Christmas has a longer tradition than presents for Easter in Europe due to that. Since Easter was mostly a church festival, at Christmas as a mainly laymen festival gifts were prepared for the children (mostly self-made things that had utility, like clothing but also toys like home-made sleds for playing in the snow) in analogy to Jesus receiving gifts as a child in the stable by the Three Wise Men. Children are the most needy in the family next to the elders since they cannot take care for themselves and only get what the adults give them.

Also it was common to care more about the poor people who could not afford celebrating Christmas with a big dinner. They got invited to join. This habit does not spring from Christmas especially but the Commandment to love your neighbor⁷ and even a concrete tale from the Gospel of Luke inviting the poor people from the streets to a Great Supper⁸. Though not related to the Christmas story directly, it suits the occasion and was used as the theological reasoning behind it.

We have to learn the following fact: The Bible cannot be used as a historical record. It is not enough to ignore the wonders described as not scientifically proven, also the events mentioned in it often have different, contradicting versions (not just in the gospels but also in the five books of Moses). But this doesn’t mean that we should dump Christmas.

What matters is to have a good time with family and practice solidarity with the poorest of the working people that cannot even afford to have a Christmas dinner or have nobody to celebrate with.

Christmas is the time in which we should think about the children and the weakest in society, just like Jesus was born poor and weak into a manger. This should be first of all in mind during the celebration, even though it stands on weak foundations from a historical-materialist perspective.