Question: I was listening to talk radio tonight and they were mentioning nativity scenes not being allowed in a public place here by the country. My question to you is what are the scriptures that show Jesus was born in the autumn?

Leland

Answer: Dear Leland,

There are no biblical passages that prove Jesus’ birth at any time of the year. There are those who make a case for the spring, fall, and winter – none in the summer that I know of. Some of those (though not all) who make a case for the spring and fall do so simply because they do not want to have the actual birth of Jesus anywhere near Dec. 25.

While I am not current with all of the arguments, I believe that the fall time is based upon the time when John the Baptist would have been conceived – as we know that John was a number of months older (six) than Jesus. Some believe that they can discern this because John’s father was Zechariah the priest (Luke 1:5). Zechariah was of the "priestly division of Abijah". Zechariah was serving as a priest when his wife Elizabeth conceived, and some believe that it is possible to determine exactly when that would have been.

This is not agreed upon by all – but if it is true, and if the calendar has remained unchanged (which it has not) – or at least relatively unchanged (some may argue for that) then it may be (notice the number of presumptions in this argument) that Jesus was born in the fall.

Of course, virtually all Christians freely admit that no one knows WHEN he was born – that is not the point. THAT he was born (and we presume that it would have been on one of our present 365 days per year calendar) is the point.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht