Astronomy records offer possible explanations for the "star" the Magi followed including: when Jupiter (the King's planet) encountered Saturn (the shield of Palestine) in Pisces (ephocal events) and was then joined by Mars in February 6BC; a comet that appeared near the constellation Capricorn in March and April 5BC; and a tailess comet (which was possibly a nova) that appeared in constellation Aquila during March and April 4BC.
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Christmas: How it All Started, part 3
When Did the Magi (Wise Men) Visit?
The Magi were priests and astrologers and high ranking Persian officials, and their understanding of the importance of the birth of Jesus may have been because they were descendants of the ten tribes of Israel that were taken into exile in 722BC and never re-grouped. The Bible doesn't say anywhere that there were "three wise men"! This is an assumption based on the bringing of the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but the delegation of Magi could have consisted of at least ten or twelve men, representing the various tribes of Israel, and an armed guard. Their journey from Persia to Jerusalem, to Bethlehem, and eventually to Jesus could have taken months. The story of the Magi's visit to Jesus is told in chapter two of Matthew's gospel. It says the Magi visited the "young child" Jesus at a "house", and that based on the information the Magi gave, King Herod ordered the murder of all boys in the Bethlehem area who were "two years old and under". Therefore, it is possible that actually the Magi visited Jesus up to two years after he was born, and did not see him when he was the baby in the manger (see www.ensignmessage.com/archives/moreaboutmagi.html )
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
The Magi were priests and astrologers and high ranking Persian officials, and their understanding of the importance of the birth of Jesus may have been because they were descendants of the ten tribes of Israel that were taken into exile in 722BC and never re-grouped. The Bible doesn't say anywhere that there were "three wise men"! This is an assumption based on the bringing of the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but the delegation of Magi could have consisted of at least ten or twelve men, representing the various tribes of Israel, and an armed guard. Their journey from Persia to Jerusalem, to Bethlehem, and eventually to Jesus could have taken months. The story of the Magi's visit to Jesus is told in chapter two of Matthew's gospel. It says the Magi visited the "young child" Jesus at a "house", and that based on the information the Magi gave, King Herod ordered the murder of all boys in the Bethlehem area who were "two years old and under". Therefore, it is possible that actually the Magi visited Jesus up to two years after he was born, and did not see him when he was the baby in the manger (see www.ensignmessage.com/archives/moreaboutmagi.html )
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Christmas: How it all Started, part 2
What Month?
Cold rains and occasional snow are common in Judea in the winter months of December to February, and it is very cold at night. The fact that Mary and Joseph were journeying to sign the census and that shepherds were tending their flocks out on the open hillside suggests September or October, as it was not practical to ask people to travel for a census in winter when the roads were wet and muddy -there is evidence of an earlier census being held at the same time as The Feast of Tabernacles- and sheep were not kept out in the open in winter either. It has also been suggested (see www.wildolive.co.uk) that September/October fits in with the timing of John the Baptist's conception and birth according to the date of his father's duty at the temple (as a member of the eighth division he would have served around June) and Mary's visit to John's mother, Elizabeth (see chapter one of Luke's gospel). Another possibility is that Jesus was born in March or April, but this idea is based largely on the astronomical evidence and the assumption that the Magi or "wise men" visited Jesus as soon as he was born, which is debatable, and some guess work that as the Jewish festival of Passover was held in April and many families would have come together to celebrate, this would have been an excellent time for a census (but see comment on census above).
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Cold rains and occasional snow are common in Judea in the winter months of December to February, and it is very cold at night. The fact that Mary and Joseph were journeying to sign the census and that shepherds were tending their flocks out on the open hillside suggests September or October, as it was not practical to ask people to travel for a census in winter when the roads were wet and muddy -there is evidence of an earlier census being held at the same time as The Feast of Tabernacles- and sheep were not kept out in the open in winter either. It has also been suggested (see www.wildolive.co.uk) that September/October fits in with the timing of John the Baptist's conception and birth according to the date of his father's duty at the temple (as a member of the eighth division he would have served around June) and Mary's visit to John's mother, Elizabeth (see chapter one of Luke's gospel). Another possibility is that Jesus was born in March or April, but this idea is based largely on the astronomical evidence and the assumption that the Magi or "wise men" visited Jesus as soon as he was born, which is debatable, and some guess work that as the Jewish festival of Passover was held in April and many families would have come together to celebrate, this would have been an excellent time for a census (but see comment on census above).
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Friday, 11 November 2011
Christmas: How It All Started
The easy answer is that Christmas Day is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The complicated answer is that Jesus wasn't actually born on the 25th of December, or in the year 1AD, and that most of the traditions of Christmas had very little to do with Jesus!
So let's start with the complicated origins of Christmas!
The Bible doesn't specifically say WHEN Jesus was born, but there is evidence to suggest it is likely to have been in September or October sometime between 7 and 4BC.
What Year?
It was over 500 years after the birth of Jesus that a monk called Dionysius Exiguus introduced a new way of numbering years, according to whether they were "before Christ" or "Anno Domini", meaning "in the year of the Lord", and another 200 years after that before another monk, called Bede, made it a popular way of recording a date. There were also discrepancies between when one year was considered to have ended and another begun; the 46BC Julian calendar and the 1582AD Gregorian calendar were attempts to resolve these differences and set a standard number of days per year, but with these complications you can imagine how a few years might get "lost" in the calculations, which explains why Jesus' birth is now reckoned to have been between the years 7 and 4 "Before Christ"!! It would be helpful if we could find a date in historical records for the census that led to Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem, but although this is estimated to have begun in 7BC, back then a census could take years to complete, so more vagueness! However, the date range 7-4BC does fits in with the reign of King Herod (remember his role in the Christmas story? - he's the bad guy), who died in 4BC.
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
So let's start with the complicated origins of Christmas!
The Bible doesn't specifically say WHEN Jesus was born, but there is evidence to suggest it is likely to have been in September or October sometime between 7 and 4BC.
What Year?
It was over 500 years after the birth of Jesus that a monk called Dionysius Exiguus introduced a new way of numbering years, according to whether they were "before Christ" or "Anno Domini", meaning "in the year of the Lord", and another 200 years after that before another monk, called Bede, made it a popular way of recording a date. There were also discrepancies between when one year was considered to have ended and another begun; the 46BC Julian calendar and the 1582AD Gregorian calendar were attempts to resolve these differences and set a standard number of days per year, but with these complications you can imagine how a few years might get "lost" in the calculations, which explains why Jesus' birth is now reckoned to have been between the years 7 and 4 "Before Christ"!! It would be helpful if we could find a date in historical records for the census that led to Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem, but although this is estimated to have begun in 7BC, back then a census could take years to complete, so more vagueness! However, the date range 7-4BC does fits in with the reign of King Herod (remember his role in the Christmas story? - he's the bad guy), who died in 4BC.
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Thursday, 10 November 2011
History of Christmas, part 4
The nativity play was invented to teach people about the birth of Jesus in an entertaining and easy to understand way and really helped with the Christianisation of the 25th December. Displacing the winter songs that were traditionally sung in public with carols telling stories with Christian Christmas themes was also effective in spreading the message of Jesus, especially after Francis of Assissi had some translated out of Latin into languages spoken by the average person!
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
History of Christmas, part 3
The 25th of December was chosen because that was the day, on or near the winter solstice, that all ancient religions celebrated the births of their various sun gods. These festivals included the use of incense, candles and decorating buildings with evergreens, gift giving, feasting and drinking. The church wanted to Christianise these practises, either to cover-over the fact that pagan religions were still out-stripping Christianity in popularity, or as a genuine attempt to win people over to Jesus.
The name "Christmas", taken from the Latin for "Mass of Christ", wasn't used in Britain until around 1043AD. As Christmas began to rival Easter as the most important Christian festival an extended period of preparation was added to the church calendar called "Advent" (taken from the Latin for "arrival").
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
The name "Christmas", taken from the Latin for "Mass of Christ", wasn't used in Britain until around 1043AD. As Christmas began to rival Easter as the most important Christian festival an extended period of preparation was added to the church calendar called "Advent" (taken from the Latin for "arrival").
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Sunday, 6 November 2011
History of Christmas, part 2
It is not known when exactly Jesus was born - not the day, or the month, or even the year! There have been several big changes made to how dates were recorded throughout history, and as a result of these confusions we now calculate that Jesus was born sometime between 7 and 4 BC ("before Christ"!). Also, we know that it is very unlikely Jesus was born in December because in the story of his birth given in the Bible it talks about sheep out on the open hillside and Mary and Joseph travelling to sign a census, things that would not take place in the wet and cold Judean winter months.
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
History of Christmas part 1
Logically, it would make sense if Christmas had existed since the birth of Jesus, or at least since the resurrection of Jesus and the founding of the early Christian church. But, oh no! That would be far too easy! The first Christians didn't celebrate the birthday of Jesus; birthdays weren't considered a big deal in Jewish or early Christian culture. It was over one hundred years after the birth of Jesus that the church first suggested a solemn, respectful feast should be observed in honour of Jesus' birthday, and not until Julius 1st -who was pope from 337 to 352AD- that the date of 25th December was set for this "Feast of the Nativity".
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK
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