CHRISTMAS...LA NAVIDAD ... LE NOËL               POUR FRANCAIS PARA ESPANOL

Colossians 2:16 says "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day."  So the Bible says Christians are not to be judged over holidays as to if they are or are not Christians.  We have the right to either celebrate or not celebrate such days.  In support of celebrating Christmas, it is a fact that Luke 2 says angels and shepherds celebrated Christ's birthday.  Christmas has always been used to honor Christ, not some ancient sun god such as for the Saturnalia etc.  So for most Christians it is definitely Christian not pagan.  On the other hand some groups such as the Watchtower Society over Jehovah's Witnesses say it is "PAGAN" so they don't celebrate it and you are wrong to do so yourself if you are doing so.   To be fair, their dissenting, minority views deserve pointed out too.  For example they say that celebrating Christmas shows selfishness, a desire to celebrate just as the rest of the world is doing.  They say that celebrating Christmas does not actually honor Christ but really is about one's own fleshly desires to see pretty lights, eat sometimes to excess, drink sometimes to excess and the like.  They add that Christians are supposed to not be part of the world.   Of course, defenders of Christmas say celebrating Christmas does indeed honor Christ.  Christ himself enjoyed eating and drinking, most people don't eat as total gluttons or drink and drive.  Further scripture also says that we cannot completely get out of the world so long as here in our bodies.  Joy is one of the fruits of God's holy spirit. (Ga 5:22) The views and counter views thus go back and forth like a ping-pong ball. Those who defend celebrating the birth of Christ note that although Christmas may have come from the non-Christian Saturnalia as many encyclopedias suggest, others say it may also have come from the Jewish celebration of Hannukah.  The date of the first Jewish festival of Hannukah was December 25 but the date varies yearly now because Hannukah is based on the moon.   Often though Christmas and Hannukah are within days of one another and occasionally even coincide.  In fact John 10:22 says that in the winter Christ, himself a Jewish rabbi, was at the Feast of Dedication, another term for Hannukah.   It's also called the Festival of Lights because it has Menorah lights, also special foods, gifts etc.  It would make more sense that the earliest Christians who were mostly Jewish Christians followed after Hannukah rather than the Saturnalia of pagan Romans.  This isn't absolute proof that such happened, no, not any more than that the earliest mostly Jewish Christians followed Rome's holiday, but it does make sense.   Further, defenders point out that even if some aspects of it come from or remind some of the pagan Saturnalia festival, it is also a fact that God made unclean foods clean for Christians.  Too, there are many things of pagan origin that even those few who oppose Christ's birthday celebration also use.  For example there are the names of days and those came from ancient gods' names such as Thursday which is from name of the Scandinavian god name Thor, so that Thursday means Thor's Day, and June which is from the name of the god Juno.  For that matter wedding rings, handshakes money also came from pagans but those against Christmas use those too.  Remember that Christ spoke well of the father who included besides food a ring as a gift to the prodigal son and also Christ gave money to pay a tax. So again, there is freedom to celebrate or not celebrate Christmas and other holy days.  The main thing is to be trying to please God.  Christ says that we can only succeed in doing so if we show love toward others.  So which is more loving, to celebrate it or to not celebrate it?  Each of us must answer to a conscience mindful of having a good relationship with God.  Jehovah's Witnesses and those in some other groups against celebrating Christmas have freedom to act as they do, but the vast majority of Christians who do celebrate it in good conscience are right to continue doing so. A few other quick facts: the Christmas tree is not from the pagan Yule tree of Scandinavia in northern Europe but began among Christians in Germany's church plays of the Middle Ages as a prop for the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden; furthermore, Santa Claus is likewise not from Wodin/Odin of Scandinavia etc but from the Christian called Saint Nicolaus who gave gifts to the needy in Asia Minor also during the Middle Ages.  Saint Nicolaus is a word with name that looks like Santa Claus as that's where it's from.

WHY MOST CHRISTIANS D0 CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS The Christmas tree did not come from the worship of trees as those anti-Christmas sometimes tell but began in Medieval church plays as the Tree of Paradise in the Garden of Eden, and Santa Claus is from the famous Christian gift-giver, Nicholas, who was later called Saint Nicholas.  In Dutch his name was "Sinter Claus" and in English it developed into the name "Santa Claus."    As the church overseer or bishop in Myra, Nicholas wore red and carried a miter cane.   He quietly dropped small bags of gold through open windows at night where they fell near the chimney hearth at homes with poor girls.  The next morning the girls went to get the dried clothing and also found the bags of gold which they used as dowries to avoid being sold into slavery or worse.    Somebody reading this may think, well, that sounds like a made-up story; but it is confirmed by early historical documents.   Also, if you think about it, when some say don't celebrate the birth of God's Son Christ, and also claim Santa came from some ancient god, chimney goddess or wizards of northern Russia, those sound as much or even more like stories, which they are.  If some still wish to not celebrate the birth of Christ, you have that right but at least now you know why most Christians do.   christianwitnesses.com CLICK TO SEE A YOUTUBE VIDEO EXPOSING WATCHTOWER MISTEACHINGS ABOUT CHRISTMAS First, it repeats some of the same points as above but then gives you even more information showing why mainstream Christians believe as they do.  Often people believe in celebrating Christ's birth simply because he was God's Son and the angels also did so, not knowing and being able to discuss all the other things about Christmas.  Enjoy the accompanying music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia-uGOHl8-g

WHY THE DECEMBER 25 DATE OF CHRISTMAS Since Luke 2:8 says shepherds were in fields at Christ's birth some assume Christ wasn't born in December not knowing the Jewish Mishnah Seqal. 7:4 confirms flocks were kept in fields near Bethlehem even in winter.  Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem in winter not unlikely via the Jordan Valley as its roads were less rugged and at 689 to 1,306 feet below sea level protected them from colder December weather, though even then Israel is not terribly cold and snow unlikely due to the warm Mediterranean current.  The tax census was also likely in winter because then people's work had slowed, being largely agricultural with a winter lull.   Sheep wear natural wool keeping them so warm they can walk about even in Israel's rare snowfalls. Most sheep were also likely not taken indoors in winter as there were no large barns then due to no hay-making machines to make and store hay.  In winter shepherds brought flocks from cold mountains down to where snow had not killed as much grass closer to fields by homes where they could give better care.  Jacob had complained to Laban of suffering from cold frost as a shepherd at night (Gen. 31:40), proving there was  shepherding at night as noted in the Bible for when Christ was born.  Some poor homeless shepherds stay outdoors even in the cold.  Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.) wrote Marcus Aurelius that Jesus was born at Bethlehem ''as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing" (Apologia I, 34). Tertullian (160-250) noted "the census of Augustus-that most faithful witness of the Lord's nativity, kept in the archives of Rome" (Against Marcion, Bk. 4, 7).  Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) asked Julius to assign Christ's birthdate "from census documents brought by Titus to Rome," after which Julius assigned December 25th.  John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) wrote that Christ's December 25 date of birth was supported by the tax or census records still existing even in his day but not now known to exist which showed their registration at Bethlehem. Hippolytus of Rome wrote in his Commentary On Daniel in 202 A.D. that Jesus’ birth was December 25.  It had been deemed a forgery but more current scholarship suggests it is not.  The earliest record of a pagan Roman celebration December 25 is dated to 274 A.D., 72 years later.  The Watchtower Society over JWs and some other groups have claimed early Christians adopted December 25 because the pagan Roman holiday of Saturnalia occurred close to that date, but the opposite may be the truth. For the first few centuries early Christians distanced themselves from larger, public pagan religious observances such as sacrifices, games and holidays.   It has been noted that the date of Christ’s birth may tie into traditional Jewish observations that the date of at least some patriarchs’ deaths was the same as when they had been born.  The Babylonian Talmud records two early second century rabbis who though otherwise differing some did agree about this.  Rabbi Eliezer stated “In Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; on Passover Isaac was born...and in Nisan they [our ancestors] will be redeemed in time to come.”  A rabbi named Joshua agreed on the events but gave the month Tishri.  If this belief carried over among Christians, then they believed Christ was conceived Nisan 14 (=March 25) and then born nine months later on December 25. About 200 A.D. Tertullian of Carthage noted Nisan 14 for when Christ died.  An anonymous treatise called On Solstices and Eqinoxes, apparently from fourth century North Africa, says “Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.”  Augustine was also familiar with this association. In On the Trinity (c. 399–419)Augustine wrote “For he [Jesus] is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, ..... But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.”   Although many to most encyclopedias like to suggest derivation of the date came from the nearly identical date for the pagan Saturnalia, there has long been an undercurrent of modern scholarly dissent going back to the French scholar Louis Duchesne in the early 1900s.  In the 2000s American Thomas Talley has further developed Duchesne's idea that the December 25 birthdate may be based on the date of death even more.   christianwitnesses.com SOURCES Each year a wealth of material has been posted at jehovahs-witness.com and at its successor website jehovahs-witness.net, and those have had a handy searchbox.  So that's been one good source.  Another has been by surfing the internet with keywords such as Christmas.  The online encyclopedia wikipedia.org has also been informative.  Jeffrey Schwehm who helps Catholic Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses drew my attention to what Hippolytus wrote: http://knockingonheavnsdoor.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/christmas-is-christian/   Talley's idea is detailed here: http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/christmas.asp Of course references to the Bible itself are also made.

THE VERY FIRST SANTA CLAUS It is history not fiction although it may sound like it, that about 200 AD Christians who had prayed in a little church at seaside Myra, Turkey for their next bishop, selected a newcomer off a ship who was named Nicholas, then gave him a long red robe and cane or miter indicating that he was their choice.   Nicholas was concerned that poor girls at Myra did not have enough money to pay as a dowry to marry, so were often sold into slavery or prostitution.    Since his wealthy family sometimes sent gold to him, he began to quietly at night go to their homes.  He dropped bags of gold through windows to by the chimneys where the girls dried clothing so in the mornings they found it for their dowries.  People did not know who the gift-giver was until Nicholas was dying.  Then somebody told people they had seen him.   More Christians in France and elsewhere in Europe felt  inspired to give gifts.   "St. Nicholas" became Sinter Klass in Dutch and that became Santa Claus in English.  One reason Christmas is in December may be that Nicholas was born then, plus some believe Christ was actually born about October 1, which would mean Mary conceived 9 months previously about or on December 25. So when someone, such as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, claims Santa came from legends of wizards, goblins or an Oriental god who came down chimneys, either tell them the real Truth of the matter or you can give to them a copy of this leaflet (tract).   christianwitnesses.com

WHY THE CHRISTMAS TREE IS NOT FROM THE PAGAN YULE TREE HIGHLY ACCURATE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITTANNICA STATES IT BEGAN AS A PROP IN CHURCH PLAYS  The Christmas tree is not a descendent of the pagan Yule tree according to Encyclopedia Brittannica but began in the popular 11th century Paradise Play in German churches. The drama told of Adam and Eve, featured the Tree Of Life in the Garden of Eden paradise, and it ended with the promise of Christ’s return.  The paradise tree with some apples was pretty, so Christians began putting up their own trees in their homes for Christmas.  Scholars have actual references to the tree’s origin from centuries old manuscripts.  Lesser encyclopedias are still tending to link the trees origin to pagan usage of trees or various legends, but that will change with time.  Yes, World Book and some other encyclopedias repeat the other myths and legends, enabling them to sell lots of publications to Jehovah's Witnesses for example, but happily the real truth is now out there for all to see and share thanks to Encyclopedia Brittannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/442528/paradise-tree and or click on: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Christmas+tree+origin+paradise+play+church+prop+up-to-date+information&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= Click the tree right above to watch a video.

HOW CANDY CANES ORIGINATED Candy canes now come in a variety of colors and flavors Amalia Erikson's town Candy canes are very attractive and some people hang them on Christmas trees.  So naturally some students of the Bible have wondered what the candy’s origins are, and, whether it might have some kind of religious origins. We know that Amalia Erikson was an actual 25 year old widow who lived in Gränna, a city by a large lake in southern Sweden during the 1800s.  She needed money to support herself and her daughter, so in 1859 she obtained a license to open a store making sugar canes.  She called them Polkagrisar meaning “Polka pigs,” perhaps because their curly ends resemble pigs’ curly tails and the sugar in them can make people dance the polka more lively. In any case Granna is still famous for production of candy canes.  Amalia may have also have given a peppermint flavoring to the candy. Although best documented Amalia Erikson may not have been the first person to ever make the canes in the whole world.  Legend says that around 1670 the choirmaster of the Roman Catholic cathedral in Cologne, Germany, gave sugar sticks to young singers to keep them quiet during long services, and he deliberately bent the end parts of the sticks to resemble shepherd’s crooks.  History does show that around this time the candy had become common in Europe, often appearing in homes at Christmas time along with cookies and cakes. At Wooster, Ohio, in 1847 a German-Swedish immigrant named August Imgard made candy canes and decorated a small Christmas tree with them to delight his nieces and nephews, thus beginning their usage in the United States.  Christmas cards from the 1800s show only white canes; those after the early 1900s show red-and-white candy canes.  In the 1920s Bob McCormack of Albany, Georgia, a Roman Catholic priest, made candy canes as Christmas treats for family, friends and shopkeepers.  He had to pull, twist, cut and bend the candy by hand.  In the 1950s his brother-in-law Gregory Keller invented a machine to make and wrap the candy in newly invented cellophane so that it could be mass produced, kept fresh long enough to become widely distributed and sold.  In the 2000’s people sometimes say the colors red and white have taken on a religious significance, for example, that the red represents the blood of Christ while the white represents his purity.  They also note that when held upside down the candy canes have the shape of a J as in the name Jesus.  No one is absolutely sure as to who actually made the first candy canes any more than who made the first pies and cakes, whether animist, Jewish, Christian, atheist, agnostic or whatever else.  Of course the Bible itself says nothing one way or another about candy canes. Nearly 2 billion candy canes are now sold each year.  Researchers have discovered that peppermint fights germs and aids digestion.  People are often advised to eat peppermint or other herbs daily.  The sugar in candy canes is increasingly avoided due to concern that contributes to cancers, but the canes still appear safe when eaten in moderation.  If to eat them or not, how often to eat them etc, are free decisions for each of us to make.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_cane  http://www.answers.com/topic/candy-cane http://www.ideafinder.com/features/everwonder/won-candycane.htm  http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/12/24/candy-canes-germs.html  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granna,_Sweden

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHRISTMAS There is a historical basis for the December 25 date.  Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.) wrote Marcus Aurelius that Jesus was born at Bethlehem ''as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing." (Apologia I, 34).  Tertullian (160-250) noted "the census of Augustus-that most faithful witness of the Lord's nativity, kept in the archives of Rome" (Against Marcion, Bk. 4, 7).  Cyril of Jerusalem (348-386) asked Julius to assign Christ's birthdate "from census documents brought by Titus to Rome," after which Julius assigned December 25th. John Chrysostom lived about 347-407.  He wrote that Christ's December 25 date of birth was supported by the tax or census records still existing even in his day but not now known to exist which showed their registration at Bethlehem.  Christmas has always been used to honor Christ, not some ancient sun god such as for the Saturnalia etc. So for most Christians it is definitely Christian NOT pagan.  Nor is it darkness mixed with light but Light overcoming any darkness.  Ironically although the Watchtower Society over Jehovah’s Witnesses tells them to oppose Christmas, they let JWs use the names of days such as Thursday which is from the name of the Scandinavian god Thor (Thursday means Thor's Day), and names of months such as June which is from the name of the god Juno. For that matter wedding rings and money came from pagans but are also used. Since Luke 2:8 says shepherds were in fields at Christ's birth, some assume Christ wasn't born in December not knowing the Jewish Mishnah Seqal. 7:4 confirms flocks were kept in fields near Bethlehem even in winter. Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem in winter not unlikely via the Jordan Valley as its roads were less rugged and at 689 to 1,306 feet below sea level protected them from colder December weather. Although Christmas may have come from the non-Christian Saturnalia as many encyclopedias suggest, and the Watchtower delights in pointing out, others say it may also have come from the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. The date of Hanukkah was December 25 but the date has varied yearly since then because it is based on the moon.  In fact John 10:22 says in the winter Christ, himself a Jewish rabbi, was at the Feast of Dedication, another term for Hanukkah. It's also called the Festival of Lights because it has Menorah lights, also special foods, gifts etc.  Luke 2 says angels and shepherds celebrated Christ's birthday. Regardless, the date of December is also attacked because of the weather.   Israel is not extremely cold and snow is very unlikely due to the warm Mediterranean Sea current, although during some winters it has occurred including in modern times. The tax census was also likely in winter as the Bible states because back in those days people's work had slowed, being largely based on agriculture with a lull in the winter.  Sheep wear natural wool that keeps them warm so that they can walk about even in Israel's rare snowfalls. Most sheep were also likely not taken indoors in winter because there were no large barns then due to no hay-making machines to make and store hay. In winter shepherds brought flocks from cold mountains down to where snow had not killed as much grass closer to fields by homes where they could give better care. Jacob had complained to Laban of suffering from cold frost as a shepherd at night (Gen. 31:40), proving that there was night-time shepherding. Some poor homeless shepherds stay outdoors even in the cold. Although some pagans have worshipped trees, the origin of the Christmas tree is not from ancient tree worship.  Researchers have found notes in Medieval manuscripts which state that the tree began as the Tree of Life in early church plays about the Garden of Eden.  Similarly, Santa Claus did not originate from a pagan god like Odin, a wizard of the Siberian north, or an ancient Chinese god who came down chimneys.  Records prove that the original source for Santa Claus was Saint Nicholas.  He headed a church at Smyrna, now in modern Turkey.  As such he wore the color red and carried a miter stick.  He was famous for secretly leaving small bags with gold that poor girls used as dowry money so that they could marry instead of be sold as slave or concubines.  After he died his tradition of giving gifts was adopted by other people.  In Holland the name of Saint Nicholas became Sinter Claus, from which comes the English name Santa Claus. Finally, as Christians let us note that Colossians 2:16 says "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day." So the Bible is telling us that as Christians we are not to be judged over holidays.  Christmas celebrates Christ’s birthday and, coming in winter, it is also excellent for breaking winter blues or depression.  Its happy memories are in line with the fruits of love and joy (Ga 5:22).  Happy memories are definitely needed to help build happy families.  If you are a Jehovah’s Witness or an ExJW, you are scripturally and morally free to celebrate Christmas. ANOTHER USEFUL SOURCE RE CHRIST'S DATE OF BIRTH http://www.christiancommunitychurch.us/cruci0.html Proof Snow Falls Though Rarely In Israel - Mount Of Olives Proof Snow Falls Though Rarely In Israel - Wailing Wall Proof Snow Falls Though Rarely In Israel - Jerusalem

SO, WHICH YEAR CHRIST WAS BORN IN? Gold coin showing Emperor Augustus Caesar TO BEGIN, the following information and reasonings are not from the writer-researcher but are from such sources as noted and also others found aplenty by the google.com search box.  Further, for some general information about some of the principal persons mentioned here, please be reminded that Luke 2:1 tells us that Christ was born during the reign of Augustus Caesar about whom history shows that the reign of Augustus Caesar was from 44 BC to almost 15 AD.  Herod the Great, who was also prominent in the life of the Christ child most likely lived from 74 BC to 4 BC.  As will be shown, many experts think that Christ was born in one of three different years, namely 4 BC, 2 BC or 1 AD although in recent years there has been considerable shifting from 4 BC to 2 BC as the preferred date.   It would take a good-sized book to detail all the different reasonings that are necessarily quite summarized here. THE CASE FOR 4 BC: The most commonly believed date for the birth year of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is 4 BC.  Here’s four reasons why: 1.) He was born two years before the death of Herod the Great.  2.) Herod the Great died shortly after a lunar eclipse visible from Judea and before Passover.  3.) A census was taken in 4 BC.  In the 100s AD Justin Martyr and Tertullian wrote that archives in Rome verified a census had been taken in 4 BC.  If they had been lying about such a document existing, then people alive back then could have and beyond doubt would have easily challenged and disproved what they said of its existence.  http://www.xenos.org/classes/chronc.htm  That it no longer is known to exist is not a surprise because Rome was later sacked and burnt by Germanic tribes. 4.) There was an astronomical event involving what appeared to be a great light in the sky or a star.  All four events occurred in 4 BC. THE CASE FOR 2 BC: However it now appears increasingly likely that 2 BC was the year of Christ's birth.  Ernest Martin who wrote "The Birth of Christ Recalculated" as summarized in John Mosley's The Christmas Star has identified a combined census and oath of allegiance to Augustus in 3-2 BC possibly related to bestowing of the title "pater patriae" (father of thy country) by the Roman Senate on February 5 in 2 BC.  The historian Josephus has written that more than  6,000 Pharisees refused to pledge good will to Caesar.  This was about a year or so before Herod died.  This likely referred to oath-with-census that would also have told that this was the number who refused to give allegiance.  Orosius was a fifth century historian who wrote linking the census to the oath of allegiance: "[Augustus] ordered that a census be taken of each province everywhere and that all men be enrolled. So at that time, Christ was born and was entered on the Roman census list as soon as he was born. This is the earliest and most famous public acknowledgment which marked Caesar as the first of all men and the Romans as lords of the world ... that first and greatest census was taken, since in this one name of Caesar all the peoples of the great nations took oath, and at the same time, through the participation in the census, were made part of one society." Orosius identified the time via two Roman systems that join in indicating that the year of Christ's birth was 2 BC.  http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/herod/herod.html#fn13 Besides the census-with-oath, two major planets came together in 2 BC.  Jupiter and Venus not only conjoined on June 17, 2 BC but also were closer to the bright star called Regulus (a word for King in Latin) than at any time in history before or since that date.   Jupiter was also called Zeus who was the father of the gods associated with kings's births.  Venus was the mother goddess of fertility.   The Constellation Leo, which had the bright king star of Regulus, was in turn the King constellation associated with Judah and royalty.  Matthew 2:2 speaks of the coming of the "King of the Jews."  Epiphanius wrote in the 300s AD that Christ was conceived on June 20 which is only three days different from the June 17 conjunction.  He also wrote that tradition related that the pregnancy had lasted ten months.  This would be a perfect match because the conjunction happened near the full moon ten lunar months before the following Passover in 1 BC when some think Mary may have given birth. To answer a question that some have had about Herod's time of death.  There was an eclipse on December 29, 1 BC which was likely observed widely, and so Herod would have died in early 1 AD.  Historical evidence showing differently is explained by if the historian Josephus was unaware that Herod's successors had antedated their reigns.   For more information read "Yet Another Eclipse for Herod" by John P. Pratt in The Planetarian, Vol 19, No. 4, December 1990, pages 8-14. Luke 3:1 tells us that Jesus was baptized in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when he was about age thirty, which means he was still age 29 but almost 30 years old when baptized.  Augustus died on August in 14 AD, and he was succeeded by his adopted son Tiberius.  The fifteenth calendar year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign began January 1, 29 AD.  Therefore Jesus Christ of Nazareth was born in 2 BC if we determine it by the time of his baptism.  Nearly all of the early Christian writers also agree with 2 or 3 BC.  THE CASE FOR 1 AD: The year 1 AD allows for Christ to have been born during the census that started in Judea in 2 BC, meaning that he was about age 30 in 29 AD, thus agreeing with Luke's gospel.  St. Augustine wrote that besides Christmas being chosen in the 4th Century so that it could compete with and overcome the pagan celebration called Saturnalia, it was "computed from the twenty-fifth of March — the day on which the Lord is believed to have been conceived, because he also suffered on that same date — to the twenty-fifth of December, the day on which He was born."  Other reasons explaining why Pratt and others favor the date of 1 AD are explained at his article posted at: http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/herod/herod.html

WHO SENT THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM Jehovah’s Witnesses are told by the Watchtower Society that the star of Bethlehem was not from Jehovah God Almighty the Father but from Satan the Devil; that it was sent in order to have Christ slain.  (Watchtower magazine of July 1, 1985: 16, 17 Matthew 2:1 and 2 says the wise-men saw Christ from where they had been in the east.  Directly east of Israel were the cultures and lands of the Arabs and Persians (Iranians).  Being relatively closer to Israel than people in India and China, they knew about Judaism. One indication that the wise-men came from more likely a relatively close Arabic or Iranian area to the east is the fact that the Bible says that they knew the star was tied to the birth of a king that the Jews had waited for a long time.  They went first to Jerusalem which was the capital of Israel.  The reason they went there was that a capital is the logical place to go in order to look for a new born king.  No scripture says the star led them to Jerusalem, but common sense or logic led them there. Matthew 2:9 says the star that they had seen back in the east advanced ahead of them then stopped over where the young child was.  Verse 12 says that in a dream from God, not Satan, they were warned to not return to King Herod as Herod had said they must do but instead to return to their home country by a different route. If the star of Bethlehem had been from Satan he would have sent the star to direct Herod to go at once and slay Jesus.  Also the obedience of the wise-men to what God told them to do proves that the wise-men obeyed God, not Satan. God could have stopped the wise-men from finding Jesus but Matthew 2:18 quotes a prophecy saying God knew Herod would be slaying young children.  To keep Jesus safe, God also gave Jesus' step-father Joseph a dream that warned him and Mary to flee with Jesus to Egypt.  Logically for this life-saving trip, money was needed. The wise-men had been aroused to go to Israel to find the new-born Jesus.  They had also been motivated to bring along gifts.  The gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh were very valuable items, providing enough money to make the life-saving trip. So, who aroused the wise-men to go to Israel with valuable gifts to keep Jesus and his family safe?  Do you really think it was Satan the Devil as the Watchtower Society tells Jehovah’s Witnesses to teach themselves and others, or was it God Almighty the Father who loves Jesus Christ?   Should men who fail at such Bible basics be allowed to with impunity tell you, your loved ones and others how to run, ruin, wreck or actually destroy their lives?  Christ warns that we need to be alert that the blind not mislead the blind into stumbling into a pit.

THE MAGI (WISE-MEN)  In Biblical Greek the word "magoi" means wise men.  Depending upon the translator's bend, the  term can also be translated less positively as astrologer or magician.  The magi came from "anatolon" meaning the East, a term identified with nations spanning from Arabia to Persia (Iran). The Persians and in particular the Medes established the priestly caste of the magoi.  The magoi or Magi specialized in astronomy, medicine and religion although other such magi were also much involved with astrology and magic.  Words such as Magi, magician, magistrate, magnificient share a common root denoting for example that which is wondrous, of or from powerful knowledge. As said, the Magi were given especially set into power by the Medes who worked with the Persians.  The Magi were from the ethnic group that we now call the Kurds, a people who today reside largely in Mesopotami (Iraq) but also in Persia (Iran), and Turkey.  In general, the Magi of Persia were greatly admired for their intellect and religious attainments.  Those from Babylon (Mesopotamia/Iraq) were regarded in a negative manner, sometimes equated for example to astrologers and charlatans. The term magi itself comes from the Medo-Persians (early Iranians).  Early traditions for Syria give the Magi names that are Persian.   Second century Christian art in Roman catacombs shows them in Persian garments.  Most of the early church writers interpreted them as having been Persian (Iranian). For such reasons,  experts believe the three wise-men or Magi came from Persia, although some believe that they were from different lands.  Some speculations for other lands have been what are now Yemen, India or even China.  At the time of Christ's birth, those Magi who were in what is now Iran still held great religious influence as part of the empire of Parthia, the old empire of the Medes and Persians having long before turned over.  They knew that among Jews scattered in their region too, it was being said that the Messiah was to be born. Spotting the movement of a heavenly object confirmed what they were hearing.  The word usually translated as star from Koine or Biblical Greek can also refer, for example, to a comet.  Given earth's rotation they "followed it" east to satisfy their curiosity about the foretold new King. One reason why they are said to have been three in number is that they bore three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  However, there are many other reasons why "three" is said to be the number. Christians in Syria to this day call the Magi by the three names Larvandad, Gushnasaph, and Hormisdas.  Unlike names given for them in the West and Ethiopia, these names do resemble actual names in the language of the Persians. However, from what may be a sixth-century Syrian source, cited by the Zoroastrian scholar Dariush Jahanian, come the Persian names of: “Hormizdah king of Persia, Yazdegerd King of Saba, and Perozadh King of Sheba." The explorer Marco Polo reported that he was shown the three tombs of the Magi during the 1270s.  This was at what is now called Saveh, which he transcribed as Saba, located south of Tehran, the capital of modern Iran.  Polo said that at the time there were three “very large and beautiful monuments, side by side. And above them there is a square building, beautifully kept. The bodies are still entire, with hair and beard remaining.” Germany has the Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral.  Saint Helena lived from about 248 to 330 A.D.  She was the mother of Constantine I, and she is said to have had the remains of the three Magi transported from Persia to Constantinople, from which they later went to Milan, Italy, before finally going to Germany. As can be seen, all the sources from over the many centuries have agreed upon the number of the Magi or Wise Men.  They all say there were three.  This has nothing to do with the three of the trinity doctrine, a wildly off-the-mark speculation by the Watchtower Society over Jehovah's Witnesses.

THE MAGI ACCOUNT AS GIVEN IN A 1,700 YEAR OLD PARCHMENT  The following video is from yahoo.com and originally from ABC News.  It tells about the wise men or rather the Magi whom the Book of Matthew tells came from the Orient.  For example it says that a recently translated vellum parchment, over 1,700 years old was translated from Syriac, a form of Aramaic commonly spoken in Christ’s time in the Middle East.    The translator was Brent Landau of the University of Oklahoma.  His translation of the parchment is titled Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men's Journey to Bethlehem.  In the 18th century a man had discovered the manuscript in a Turkish monastery, bought and gave it to be housed in the Vatican Library.    The ancient manuscript tells that the Magi came from an oriental land known as Shir which had silk.   The Magi are said to have been in an ancient mystical order which is in the "extreme east of the world, at the short of the Great Ocean."  In other ancient texts Shir is a word for what is now China, and in fact there is a road, a “Silk Route” that leads all the way from what is now Israel back into China.  At the time of Christ it would have been common to see caravans with wagons coming from Shir (China) and other lands to the east such as what are now Pakistan and China.  Such journeys would have taken months to years. In Syriac, the name Magi means "pray in silence."  The Magis’ story goes from the Garden of Eden to when the Magi were baptized by the apostle Thomas.  The indication is that they were not wise men in the sense of students of the stars etc but, again, men who prayed in silence.   Speculatively, as a secret order, silent prayer was probably protective of their existence.  The parchment names twelve not three Magi, and in some parts suggests that there was a group the size of a small army.  Matthew did not write how many Magi there were, but since they came from distant parts, it is logical to think they were not alone for as they journeyed to would otherwise have been more subject to attacks from bandits etc. All along Christian traditions have spoke of there being not twelve but three Magi.  Speculatively only, there may have been more than three, but there were three who were perhaps more influential, the main leaders of the other Magi and even others who might have come as servants and guards. The European Marco Polo wrote that he had seen the tombs of the three Magi in Persia (Iran).  As said, the parchment’s account indicates the land of Shir or China for the origin of Magi.  The apparent contradiction may be corrected by if the Magi came from China but three or so of them resided in Persia as Persian Chinese, serving to bridge the gap for the other Chinese Magi who came from farther east in China proper.  In any case, the Magi are also described as descendants of Seth, who was very devoted to God.  Seth had passed down to them a prophecy that "a star of indescribable brightness will someday appear, heralding the birth of God in human form."  Seth had the prophecy from Adam and the star had been over the Tree of Life in Eden. In the ancient parchment the light of the Star of Bethlehem becomes concentrated in intensity and finally reveals a small luminous being, the Christ Child. Many of the possibly 50 million Christians in China have believed that at least one of the three Magi came from China.  This parchment gives even more credence to that belief. (Eliza Marian Butler, "The Myth of the Magus By Eliza Marian Butler". Cambridge University, 1993. 281 pages. Page 20. ISBN 0-521-43777-6) Chinese interest in astronomy was very keen.  In the time of Christ, Chinese astronomers knew how to predict eclipses.  Historians believe Chinese knowledge of stellar objects may have been the very best in the ancient world. http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/mystery-of-the-magi-23613928 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2BShir+%2Bancient+%2BChina+%2BLandau&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= http://www.ksdk.com/news/watercooler/story.aspx?storyid=231417&catid=71

HOW MIGHT SCIENCE BE APPROACHING MARY’S VIRGINAL BIRTH? This article presents scientific information which indicates a possible melding of science and religion insofar as regards the account of the Jewish virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus Christ of Nazareth.  A year or two ago this would have been thought wholly impossible among scientists, but science marches on. To begin, although there are “no known cases of naturally-occurring mammalian parthenogenesis,” (underlining for emphasis) in 1936 Gregory Goodwin Pincus reported that he had successfully induced parthenogenesis (virginal birth) in a rabbit in 1936.  In 2004, scientists at Tokyo University of Agriculture used parthenogenesis to give birth to a fatherless mouse in April 2004.  In the same year, the monkey named Kayuga was also born by induced parthenogenesis.  The statistical estimate that a human being has ever been born by parthenogenesis, that is born from a virgin mother, is 1 in 12,000,000,000, possibly meaning only once among all  humans ever lived.  However, given that such a human would be getting only “XX” chromosomes, that is lacking a Y chromosome, the person would have to be a female – unless there might be some other unusual occurrence at conception. Dr. Aarathi Prasad has noted some rare, implausible and yet possible condition by which Mary could have given birth as a virgin.  One would be if she were a “genetic mosaic—the fusion of twins, one of which had a Y (chromosome).” When parthenogenesis is induced in mice and monkeys, it does not always cause abnormal development, but it more often does.  This is because the offspring get double the genes of its mother, and if she had any abnormal gene, that the offspring gets a double dose. Parthenogenesis also occurs naturally in some aphids, water fleas, nematodes, some bees, some Phasmida (walking sticks etc), some scorpions, and parasitic wasps.  It is also known to have occurred naturally among vertebrates, for example among some reptiles like pythons, fish, and on rare occasions birds, Komodo dragons, hammerhead- and blacktip sharks. As published March 10, 2009, Kathrin P. Lampert of the University of Bochum in Germany has noted that:   “isolated cases of parthenogenetic development have been reported in all vertebrate groups. Facultative parthenogenesis in vertebrates has only been found in captive animals but might simply have been overlooked in natural populations.  Even though its evolutionary impact is hard to determine and very likely varies depending on the ploidy restoration mechanisms and sex-determining mechanisms involved, facultative parthenogenesis is already discussed in conservation biology and medical research."   Human eggs spontaneously activate on their own all the time and no doubt some have entered the uterus, but there has never been a single case of a virginal human birth confirmed by any modern scientists or officials.  Even in religion and myths, it has been spoken of as an extremely unusual or miraculous occurrence.    Finally, it is interesting to note that the Dickey Amendment passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996 added parthenogenesis in with the rest of embryo research, thus putting it on ban.  However Scientists in the U.S. hope to get it deleted from the amendment listing because they believe it is an effective way to obtain embryonic stem cells for research to help possibly 100 million Americans.  So no doubt Christians and others will keep watching this closely.   Some have argued that the New Testament speaking of Mary being a virgin is a mistranslation, that the word given as “virgin” should actually read “young woman” or “maiden.”  However, Isaiah 7:14, which is in the Old Testament, also says, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”  To have “faith” is not to be “gullible,” but to have belief based upon solid footing.  Science appears to be giving those who have faith all the more reason for having it. REFERENCES Kathrin P. Lampert.  Evolutionary Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals, University of Bochum Universitätsstr. 150, D-44780 Bochum (Germany).  Tel. +49 234 322 5573, Fax +49 234 321 4114.  E-Mail kathrin.lampert@ruhr-uni-bochum.de Dr. Ann Kiesling, Harvard virologist. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3209/04-alternative.html Dr. Aarathi Prasad was born in 1975 and has a PhD in biology and worked in cancer genetics at Imperial College London. She now works at Sense About Science, a charity promoting evidence-based science in public discussion. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/01/09/the-science-of-virgin-birth/  “Virgin birth backs dads' role.”  ABC Science. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/04/22/1091904.htm “The Science of Virgin Birth.” « Live From CES: 3D HD TVs Powered by “They Live” Technology.  Weekly Science Blog Roundup.»  http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2004/04/22/1091904.htm “Female Shark Gets Pregnant on Her Own, No Male Required.”  Discover. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2008/10/10/female-shark-gets-pregnant-on-her-own-no-male-required/