Today is celebrated as Christmas, all around the world. December 25th is of course a seasonally convenient time for celebration, just after the Winter Solstice. Most Biblical scholars agree that Christ’s birth probably took place in the spring rather than in December. And his birth year was most likely in 4 BC. To clarify: The original year calculated by Dionysius Exiguus was in error. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote circa 70 AD about the reign of King Herod. He stated that Herod died 37 years after the Romans declared him King, and 34 years from the time he actually became King. So we can deduce a date of 4 BC. Bishop Ussher later corrected the error, but not before the BC/AD delineation had already been irreversibly established.
But regardless of the irregularity of calendars, the birth of Christ was and is cause for great celebration. May the love of Christ, our Savior be with you all. May your Christmas be Christ-centered and truly joyous.
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Today was also the birthday of my father, Donald Robert Rawles. (Born 1930, died 1985.) He is still greatly missed.
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In recognition of the holiday. I will not be posting any feature article–just a Quote of the Day.