Theos-Talk Archives (June 1998 Message tt00247)

W. Dallas TenBroeck <dalval@nwc.net> writes
>Seriously, look into the antecedents of a date like the Year ONE.
>I mean of the Christian era.  None of the Church councils were
>able to determine a year ONE, so the chose a BIRTHDAY for Jesus
>from a range that went from November to march and finally chose
>Dec. 25th as it was generally celebrated in all pagan faiths as
>"the Birth of the Sun."

This didn't happen until around 400 ce (common era).  Prior to that it
was January 6th or 7th.  All Rome's doing, this Dec. 25th thing.
>
>Next, is the selected year ONE (selected in retrospect) actually
>the beginning ?

The general scholarly consensus is that Jesus was born around 4 bce
(before the common era) - so he arrived before his birthday!

>  Is it the birth of Jesus that is significant, or
>when he began his "ministry," or when he died -- and there are
>significant differences in regard to that too--I mean the dates.

None of these is significant at all, except as a method of remembrance.
If anything about him is of importance, it is the "ministry" itself, plus the
resurrection, which is basically a "Look guys, I'm still around, even
though I got myself killed!"  A demonstration of survival.

As in my time I've met quite a few "dead" folk, Jesus' story has kind of
lost its edge .... and his "teaching" ministry is only his presentation of a
form of "ancient wisdom."

Alan :-)
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