Originally posted by robycop3:
From what I can find about Easter, it was first observed by Christians C. 155 AD, but not UNIVERSALLY observed throughout Christendom. It was durung Constantine's time, the late 300s, when some pseudo-Christians from the early RCC began to mix pagan spring-rite customs with the Resurrection observance to produce what we now call Easter.
These facts are well known by those that are interested in such things.
The RCC invented the formula for determining which day Easter comes in any given year so it would never fall on the same day as the Jews' Passover lamb meal. And, yes, "Easter" in the KJV's Acts 12:4 is WRONG.
And, every Christian should know this.
And the observance of Christmas isn't quite as evil as some people would make it. For thousands of years, people in the Northern hemisphere, especially in more northerly latitudes, have held winter-solstice rites. Not knowing the mechanics of the solar system, they supposed the sun was going away, to possibly never return. Once they saw the beginnings of the sun's return to a higher place in the sky, they celebrated. This practice was still carried out by the Romans in the form of Saturnalia. The early Christians believed this to be an abomination because it was to honor SATURN, and not GOD. However, more than a few early Christians observed what they believed was Jesus' birthday as a solemn day of prayer and meditation.
The early Christians believed the PERSIANS to be more open to conversion than the Romans were, and Dec.25 was a sacred day to both Roman and Persian of the Mithraic religion. Therefore, even in the lifetime of John, these Christians began to observe Christmas with a celebration minus the debaucheries of the Romans' Saturnalia, while importing Christmas trees & the exchanging of gifts into it. They sought togive a "clean" alternative to the wild Roman parties which were replete with drunkenness, dope use, and orgies. They knew the Persians would welcome this also. By 98 AD, most Christians observed Christmas, with the emphasis still on JESUS.
The Catholics soon took it over. In 137 AD, the Bishop of Rome(not yet called "Pope") ordered Jesus' birthday to be observed as a solemn feast/prayer meeting. In 350, Bishop of Rome Julius I decreed Dec.25 as Christ's birthday, and it has been thus observed ever since.
Actually, according to astronomical observations of the "Star of Bethlehem" from several nations, such as China, who knew nothing of Jesus' birth, we can place the time of His birth as September or October, 6 BC. There are several stars in the vicinity, which aren't ordinarily visible to the naked eye that could have become novae or recurring novae, not really bright enough to have attracted worldwide attention, but bright enough to have caught the attention of the "wise men" and astrologers of the day. (It is believed by many scholars that the magi were Persians or Chaldeans who'd had the knowledge God gave to Daniel passed down to them, and therefore knew jesus was to be King of the WHOLE EARTH, and not just Israel. Therefore, those magi WORSHIPPED him.)
The key clue? Luke's mention of the first census , and his mention of QUIRINIUS, a well-known, well-documented Roman official, Augustus Caesar's "right-hand man". Some scholars state that Quirinius wasn't governor of the Judea area until 6 AD, but they overlook the fact that he was MILITARY governor of the area...and therefore de-facto ruler...from 10 BC till late 7 BC. he had come with a large army to subdue a rebellious tribe, the Homanadensians, whom he wisely "subdued" by negotiations and offers of Roman citizenship, making them ALLIES, instead of enemies, or instead of destroying them. Quirinius stayed awhile to assist them in becoming Romans. it is known Herod The Great died in 4 BC shortly after a lunar eclipse, and that AFTER TWO YEARS IN EGYPT, Joseph & Mary were told to return to their land with Jesus. However, Herod's son Archelaus was now ruler, and he was no friend of the Jews, and would doubtlessly have sought Jesus' life, so they went to Nazareth, out of Arch's jurisdiction, where they'd lived before Jesus' birth( Luke 1:26), and settled, rather than returning to Bethlehem.
The Annunciation doubtlessly took place in 7 BC(6th month, according to Luke1:26) while Quirinius was still ruling the area, with Jesus' birth coming in 6 BC. (We do NOT know how long it was after the Annunciation before Mary became pregnant with Jesus.)
Therefore, I believe Jesus was born in the fall of 6 BC.
You quote well know information out there. I believe the same as you. I say in October, before the 15th day.
One more fact: By the time of Jesus' ministry, the Jews had altered the original Passover procedure to the point where most of them now PURCHASED the lambs used for the paschal meal, rather than selecting them from their own flocks, as most of them didn't have flocks any more. They often purchased their lamb on the day before Passover, rather than selecting it on the 10th day as they were commanded in Exodus. It's not known if JESUS had purchased a lamb on the 10th or not, but Scripture clearly tells us that Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem to observe it, rather than doing it in their own home, as was commanded in Exodus 12, and JESUS also participated thusly. It's apparent that GOD indeed allows some things to change with time. After all, it's GOD who allows man to advance in knowledge over time, a process He's greatly accelerated as He said, in the general time of "the end".
Your reasoning should then bring you to believe in the dispensations of God. Now we can get into the calendar you have been wanting to talk about.
Now that we have all the dull history outta the way, let's look at your calendar, a CATHOLIC invention. For over 1500 years, most of the nations that were once part of the Roman Empire had used the JULIAN calendar of 46 BC(actually made for Julius Caesar by the Greek Sosigenes), which was FAIRLY accurate. However, it has an error of 1 day every 128 years, which was causing probs for the RCC in calculating the date of easter. SO...Along came the GREGORIAN calendar, calculated by Neapolitan physician Aloysius Lilius about the beginning of the Council of Trent(1545-1563) which adopted it and sent instructions to Pope Gregory XIII to implement it. However, Greg was in no hurry, but he finally implemented it by a papal bull in February 1582.
There was no rush by the rest of the world to adopt this calendar, as many nations, including England, refused to adopt it because it was of RCC origin. However, as astronomers from these nations found it to be accurate, with an error of only one day every 3300 years, which was to be corrected with another leap year, they slowly began using it, with England & its colonies starting in 1752, with the last being Greece in 1924. THIS IS THE CALENDAY YOU'RE NOW USING...A CATHOLIC INVENTION!
I learned this in High School
Do you suggest we go back to using the 360-day Jewish calendar?
For what purpose?
I believe you're making a mountain out of a molehill, as JESUS HIMSELF went along with the changes in Israeli worship that had occurred between the time of Moses and His own earthly time. After all, it was HE who'd implemented most of'em over the preceeding 1500 years.
I really do believe it is you that is “piling it up”. When Jesus was born, and when He was crucified, and arose, the Jew observed their calendar and their time. And back that close to the time of these happenings, those people knew the exact dates. That’s how we know the “kingdom people” and the Christians did not observe Christ-mass, and Ishtar. The Holy Spirit would have had them included in His Word that He left for us. The keepers of the Word brought darkness, but God saw to it that the Word received the light, and took it from the hands of those that wished to conceal it from the world. If no who has never noticed, we are in a war.
God doesn’t want us to have these things in front of us, just as he wanted no pictures, drawings, paintings, or statues of His likeness. People would worship them, and days, and times. We are to worship Him in spirit, and not by sight, or in the name of days. But people are determined to have their way, so we do have pictures of Him, paintings, statues, and you name it, and we have days that we are told by man to worship.
When you accuse me of "leading another God", it shows us you're speaking from ignorance(lack of knowledge) and a biased opinion. May I suggest you read your Bible a little closer, with an overview of all Scripture in mind, and perhaps study a little history while you're at it?
