In answer to questions 50 and 51 in “the Explanatory Christian Catechism of Christian Doctrine”, it is dogmatically and positively stated that Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem on Christmas Day, December 25.
This date had been accepted as Christ’s birthday all the years. No one bothers himself to ask to how the churches came about this date. In fact, the degree of confidence reposed in the pastors as preachers of truth and the fact that churchgoers feared to offend them, were enough to restrain anyone from raising any question on the issue. It is therefore understandable why the St. G. M. Urhobo met with stiff opposition and persecutions when he came out with boldness to contradict the teaching that Jesus Christ was born on December 25.
The stand of the GKS and GKM that Jesus Christ was born in October and not December has the backing of both the scriptures and history. Although the day, month or year is not positively sated chapter and verse in the Holy Bible, there are spiritual records including the Bible chronology and Jewish calendar to show that his birth took place in October.
John the Baptist was six months older than Jesus Christ. It was when Zacharias the priest was officiating in the temple the angel Gabriel announced to him that his prayer had been heard and that his wife Elizabeth would bear a son to be named John. This piece of news was a surprise to Zacharias. But because he expressed some doubt the angel told him that he would be dumb until the child would be born. Zacharias was a successor of Abijah who was one of the 24 priests appointed to perform sacred duties in the temple in the days of old. (1 Chronicles 24:1-10) Abijah was the eight and his course or turn was in the fourth month of the Jews called Thammuz. This month corresponds with the latter part of our June to early July. The Bible shows that from that July when Elisabeth became pregnant, Zacharias was dumb until she put to bed and the child’s name was announced.
It is further stated that the same angel was sent to Mary in the sixth month , December, to announce to her that she would conceive through the Holy Spirit and bear a son whose name would be Jesus. The angel told Mary that her cousin Elisabeth had conceived and that that was the sixth month with her. –Luke 1:26-38.
Mary who was struck by the news of Elisabeth conception set out and went straight to a town in the uplands of Judah to meet her. She stayed with Elisabeth for three months (January to March) and returned home. It was then in April Elisabeth put to bed. And so six months after (That is October) Mary herself gave birth to Jesus Christ. To make the point much clearer, it will be observed that when Mary in January went to Elisabeth, she was already pregnant. This was clearly indicated in the deliberation of Elisabeth which she made through the Holy Spirit. She blessed the “fruit of her womb” and respectfully addressed that young girl as “the mother of my Lord”. – Luke 1:41-44.
Under normal condition the span of foetal life, according to medical authorities, is 280 days – that is, nine months; any time in the tenth month he child could be born. It was so in the case of John the Baptist., (Luke 1:36, 56-57) And so counting Mary’s conception from January the ninth month would be September, then the tenth month October, Jesus Christ was born. For the fact that Jesus Christ died in April when the churches observe “Good Friday” and it is believed that he lived for thirty three and half years. It is evident that he was born in October. If he was born in December and six months, that is June, he was killed. It is common knowledge that his death did not take place in June (or Sivan) but in April which is the Jewish month of Abib or Nisan when they observed the Passover Feast.
What is more, the physical features of Palestine in regard to the climate lend support to the fact that Jesus Christ was not born in December. There were shepherds attending to their flocks in the open fields by night when he was born. This would not have been possible in December which usually was a time of winter. “The Oxford Encyclopedic Concordance” states that “there was snow on the mountains”. But October which is Tisri or Ethanim (1 Kings 8:2) was a time of normal weather that permitted outdoor activities.
Alexander Hislop in his distinguished work, The Two Babylons, wrote: “There is not a word in the scriptures about the precise day of His (Christ) birth…what is recorded there, implies that at what time so ever His birth took place, it could not have been on the 25th of December… The cold of the night, from December to February, is very piercing, and it was not the custom for the shepherds of Judea to watch their flocks in the open fields later than about the end of October. It is in the lastdegree incredible, then, that the birth of Christ could have taken place at the end of December.”
Among other arguments, Joseph Mede, adduced the following: At the birth of Christ every woman and child was to go be taxed at the city whereto they belonged, whither some had long Journeys; but the middle of winter was not fitting for such a business especially for women with child, and children to travel in. Therefore, Christ could not be born in the depth of winter…” Gill was quoted as stating in his commentary on Luke 2:8, thus: The firat rain falls in the month Marchesvan, which corresponds to the latter part of October and the former part of November… From when it appears that Christ must be born before the middle of October, since the first rain was not yet come.” (The Two Babylons, pages 91-92)
“No date is more unlikely for the birth of Christ than the 25th of December; but it was the birthday of Mithra….” This was stated by E. E. Kellett in his A Short History of Religions. And Professor Cecil John Cadoux, (M. A., D.D., D. Litt.) Professor of Church History at Manfield College, in his book The Life of Jesus, wrote: “There are no grounds for thinking that he (Jesus) was born in December.”
Furthermore, The Illustrated World Encyclopedia has this to say “Our Calendar, by which we reckon the days, months, and years, is dated from the first year after the birth of Jesus. We call this Christian Era. But as we study and read, we will learn that Jesus was not really born on the 25th of December…” (Vol. 5, page 1194)
There is no authentic history in existence that supports the teaching that Jesus Christ was born in December. Both the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches now admit that Jesus Christ was not actually born on December 25th, and that the date was notorious in history for pagan festivities.