As Christmas passes, I find myself dealing with yet another objection to Christianity. After all to throw doubt into the existence of Jesus would diminish Christian belief.
One of my atheist friends love to point out every Christmas that Jesus was not born on December 25th. This proves strong doubt that Jesus existed since his birth date is unknown. Furthermore, the Christian Romans set aside the date to coincide with the winter festival. Therefore 25th December was chosen for cultural and political purposes, and therefore not an accurate dating.
A red herring
Let's relook his line of logic:1. Jesus's birthday was made to coincide with the Winter Festival and was not the actual date that Jesus was born on.
2. Since Jesus's birthday is unknown, we cannot be sure that Jesus was born
3. Therefore if we cannot be sure whether he was born, we cannot be sure Jesus exist.
Immediately, you should spot the error. Whether 25th December was the actual date is irrelevant to the truth of Jesus's birth.
To give an analogy, let's say I am unsure when my grandmother was born. This does not change the fact that my grandmother was born.
This fallacy (false logic) is also known as a red herring. In other words, the objection is irrelevant to the point made.
So when was Jesus born exactly?
No one really knows. According to Wikipedia, it could be September or October.
Conclusion
Whenever Jesus's exact birthday was, we can know that he was born.
