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Mormon View Christ's Birth

Um... probably this is common knowledge but I just thought I would mention that...

1. Christ was born on April 6th (see D&C 20:1)
2. December 25th originated from Roman customs (Caesar's birthday)
3. There were not 'three' wise men, but in fact the scriptures do not actually say how many there were.

If you have any little insights you can feel free to list them here or take the Christmas Quiz!

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Anyone who has read Elder Talmadge's 'Jesus, The Christ' would know the truth of your post. Since so many know these facts and I assume the 1st Presidency knows them as well, why does the LDS Church still go through the motions of Christmas? Personally, I believe any time or date is the right date to remember our Saviour's birth, atonement and resurrection and the importance to us of all three.  One sister in our Ward wrote to the 1st Presidency in Salt Lake City Re. this very subject. Her letter was returned to the Bishop of the Ward with a curt note attached that answered none of her questions about this.  She has taken it upon herself to not attend Church from Dec. 15th to the 1st week in January in a kind of silent protest on the matter.  Apparently, everyone would rather continue to celebrate the birth of the Saviour on the wrong day and month.  Was Elder Talmadge Wrong about the Saviour's Birth day?  Anyone have any thoughts about this?

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I don't think Elder Talmage was wrong. I could not understand Nephiproject why did you ask that since the date of the birth of Christ is in D & C 20:1. That's way before Elder Talmage was even born. Can you please explain me why you meant?.
Personally, I don't see anything wrong with a date whether is on Dec 25th or April 6th. I believe the Church rather to celebrate on Dc 25th to join all christians in this celebrations. Common sense will say that a lot of people already think that mormons are not christians, now you tell them that we celebrate the birth of Christ on April 6th and they will think we are nuts. It seems to me is more a way to keep the image of the Church intact. What do you all think?

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Personally, I don't see anything wrong with a date whether is on Dec 25th or April 6th. I believe the Church rather to celebrate on Dc 25th to join all christians in this celebrations.

Thoughts on Christmas - old thread now, but some views on it:
See a similar thread:

https://www.bordeglobal.com/cgi-bin2/yabb/Y...;num=1038963853

Birth Christs View Mormon

I think you've hit the nail squarely on the head. We LDS want to 'get along' and 'be accepted' by other Christian Faiths when in fact we know better than to indulge in paganistic customs. I personally think it weakens the church somewhat.  I brought up elder Talmadge's Book because it's so comprehensive, well-written and inspired.  

Mormon View Christ's Birth

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We LDS want to 'get along' and 'be accepted' by other Christian Faiths when in fact we know better than to indulge in paganistic customs. I personally think it weakens the church somewhat.

Well, I don't personally believes it weakens the church somewhat. I don't think it affects the church in any way actually. We don't want to become Jehovah Witnesses after all.  It's true we want to get along with other churches but I don't think it's the reason that we celebrate Christmas on Dec 25th. I think is more for the new members and those who don't know much about the Church, so when they join they don't have to change that as part of their membership. The church makes a lot of emphasis on the Family, I think it will bring a lot of trouble to the new people and old ones too if we celebrate christmas in a different date.

Mormon View Christ's Birth

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We LDS want to 'get along' and 'be accepted' by other Christian Faiths when in fact we know better than to indulge in paganistic customs. I personally think it weakens the church somewhat.

I don't know if using the word 'weaken' is such a good word. Pres. Hinckley during Christmas time always uses words like, "We join the world in celebrating the birth of Jesus'. I cannot imagine the prophet would want to join in a 'pagan' holiday if he thought it would weaken the Church of the Saviour to whom we celebrate. I think more importantly is that we celebrate Christ's birth each day by simply keeping His commandments, afterall that is what He has asked for... it is the gift He would like us to give to Him.

On the point of April 6th I believe that there should be more of an occassion on this day for Latter-Day Saints all over the world since so many significant events are had, BUT, who am I, one man with just an opinion. I am sure the leaders will know if such things would truly benefit us.

Lastly, I think LDS parents that teach children lies like Santa Claus does not help them to learn the importance of Christ's birth. Yes, we can teach the 'Spirit of Santa Claus' and what it means to give, but who gave more and who continues to give... Santa or Jesus?

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I have read all the posts in this thread and would like to add my thoughts.

First, I, personally don't see anything wrong with teaching my child about Santa.  I think I can separate Santa from the Savior.  Is it wrong to also tell them of the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy?  I think these are just harmless childhood memories and fun that we like to share with our children.

Now, as far as when christians celebrate the birth of the Savior.  I find it interesting that most christians really thing he was born on the 25th of December, yet the Catholic Church, which is the Church that started the entire celebration does not really believe that.   Now, I say the Catholic Church doesn't believe it, but most Catholics do.  Problem is that a lot of people aren't really taught doctrine, but rather just a general belief.

Now, let me share my understanding of why Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December by other Churches.  I can provide no references because this is knowledge I have gained over the years through my own personal study.  Any points I raise that you doubt, please feel free to research and share your findings.  This is just what my understanding as of today is.

There was/is a very large Pagan celebration around this time each year.  People really looked forward to it. It was the biggest celebration of the year.  When the early christian church wanted to pick a day to celebrate the Savior's birth, they wanted it to be the biggest of all celebrations.  They didn't want people to have some other holiday celebration at some other time of the year which meant more to them than Christmas.  I believe by this time no one knew when the Savior's actual birth date was.  A decision was made to have it be at the time of this solstice.  This way christians could be somewhat involved in this celebratory season by commemorating the Savior's birth and there wouldn't be a celebration that was more significant than his birth celebration to which they would look forward.  A good number of the Christmas traditions we follow today are actually Pagan in origin and have been modified to fit into our Christmas celebration.  As long as we recognize what they symbolize from a Christian celebratory point of view, I don't have a problem with this.  This allowed Christians to keep some of their family and childhood traditions while becoming christian.  I don't know if this should have been done then, but after all these years I have no problem with it today as long as my reason for whatever the symbol might be is not Pagan in nature.

Kind of goes along with a statement that President Hinckley likes to say about bringing with us what we have and seeing if the Church can't add to it.

I wonder if maybe we should have a greater focus on the Savior around April 6 than we do currently.  However, if this were necessary, I think it would have been revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith as part of the restoration.  He asked about which day the sabbath should be observed, seems to me if it was crucial which day we celebrated the Savior's birth then he would have inquired and been told about that as well.

As a side note, I have not observed a lot of emphasis on Christmas in any ward I have ever attended.  We have a Christmas party, but Santa comes to it.  On the Sunday closest to Christmas we usually have a special musical number and the talks center around the Savior but that is about it.  I know that my religious friends think it odd that we don't go to church on Christmas unless it happens to fall on a Sunday.