Merry Christmas!

Hello!
Merry Christmas everyone!

^{Isaiah 9:6} For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

JM

The History of Christmas

Hello Everyone!
 My friend Spencer Rothfuss and I are partnering up  to write a mini series on Christmas. He has written a post about the meaning of Christmas, while I have written this post about the history of Christmas, the holiday and the actual timing of Jesus Christ's birth. Here is a link to Spencer's blog post.



 Scholars debate exactly when Jesus was born. However, there are several clues which can help us determine, with relative accuracy, the year of Jesus' birth. In Matthew, Herod the Great plays a major role in what happens after Jesus' birth. Because he was alive when Jesus was born, and we know when his reign ended, we can use that to figure out when Jesus was actually born. Herod's reign ended in 4 B.C., the Bible says that right after this, Mary, Joseph and Jesus returned from Egypt. So the latest that he could have been born was 4 B.C. The earliest can be determined by looking at verses one and two of Luke: 2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register. While we don't know much about Quirinius, we do know that his rule began during 6 B.C., and the census which Mary and Joseph went to was after he had taken the throne. So, it is safe to assume that the earliest Jesus was born was probably around 6 B.C.  Now, everyone has seen the Christmas snow globes with the stable and the manger surrounded by snow. But, it's pretty clear that Jesus was NOT born in December. If he was born in December, why were there shepherds out in the fields? Why were people housed in barns? It would have been much, much too cold for these things. But the dagger for the winter being the birth month is the fact that, historically, Roman censuses were not taken during the winter months!  It appears that the early Church did not actually celebrate Christmas. They saw Easter as the only important holiday, as that was the day that Jesus rose from the dead. However, when Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor came to the throne, things changed. It is believed that that is when the first Christmas celebration came about. By the fourth century, we find references to two dates that were widely recognized—and now also celebrated—as Jesus’ birthday: December 25 in the western Roman Empire and January 6 in the East (especially in Egypt and Asia Minor). The modern Armenian Church continues to celebrate Christmas on January 6; for most Christians, however, December 25 would prevail, while January 6 eventually came to be known as the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem. The period between became the holiday season later known as the 12 days of Christmas. Christmas was celebrated as a time of wild feasting and celebration. It was so wild, that the Puritan colony of Massachusetts banned it. However, during the mid to late 1800s, a reformation took place. Writers and speakers called for an 'un-commercialized' Christmas. It was during this time,  the tradition of giving gifts was formed. That was how the Christmas that we know was formed. 

So what year and month was Jesus born on? Well let’s break down some quick numbers. We know that Elizabeth, (John the Baptist’s mother and Mary’s cousin) was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Jesus was conceived (Luke 1:24-36). We also know that John’s father Zacharias was a priest serving in the Temple just before John was conceived. Therefore, all we need to do is figure out when Zacharias served his term as a priest, add 15 months, and we have an approximate date! John's father, Zacharias, was a priest serving in the Jerusalem temple during the course of Abijah (Luke 1:5). Historical calculations show this course of service corresponded to June 13-19 in that year ( The Companion Bible, 1974, Appendix 179, p. 200).  Zacharias learned that he would have a child while he was serving as a temple priest.  (Luke 1:8-13). After he completed his service in Jerusalem and traveled home, Elizabeth learned that she would have a child. (verses 23-24). Adding nine months to that date brings us to the end of March as the most likely time for John's birth. Adding another six months (the difference in the ages between John and Jesus) brings us to the end of September as the likely time of Jesus' birth. So there you go! September is the likely birth month of Jesus! Now, some scholars also argue that it probably occurred in the Spring, due to the fact that the sheep were out in the fields. But I believe that the likely month was September. (This is just my opinion, not necessarily the truth. But from my research, I believe that September or October is the likely month.) 

 I hope that you all have a great Christmas and a happy New Year. And I ask you to always remember the 'Reason for the Season."

Thanks for reading.

JM

Sources:

How December 25 Became Christmas By: Andrew McGowan 

The Companion Bible

Biblical Evidence Shows Jesus Christ Wasn't Born on Dec. 25 By: Good News Editor

Who's Who and What's What in the Bible for Kids By Stephen Miller

The Victor Journey Through the Bible By: V. Gilbert Beers

The ESV Study Bible

The Resurgence BLog: When was Jesus Born? By: Mark Driscoll

Our Street Really Needs a Snowplow

This is what I thought this morning after our 8 inches of snow that we got. In the end, my Uncle Tim brought a Bobcat tractor and cleared all the driveways and several of the streets. Thanks Uncle Tim!
Thanks to Briley Matthia for this piece of artwork. To see more, go to his site.
JM

Joshua Tatum and the 1883 Nickel

Hello! Have you ever heard the term, “Don’t Josh Me!”? Well, as it turns out, this saying was inspired by an interesting story involving coins.

For younger readers, and older readers who don’t know, the nickel, currently has an image of our third president,

Thomas Jefferson. 

(Top, left) However, this is not the only 

design in the nickel’s storied history. Before the current one, there was another image of Jefferson. (Top, right) Even before that, there was the well known “Buffalo Nickel”. (Bottom left) And even before that, over 100 years ago, there was the V Nickel. (Bottom, right)

V means five, representing five cents. The V Nickel

was first minted in 1883, however, for the first

several months,underneath the V, the word 'cents' was not there. Several 'entrepreneurs' saw a slight resemblance between the five dollar gold piece and the five cent piece. They started plating, covering in a thin sheet of gold, five cent pieces in gold and passing them as five dollar pieces. Now, I know that looking at these pictures below, they don’t look the same, but in a busy shop, at a glance, a gold plated nickel looks similar to a five dollar piece. 

Five Dollar Piece

A gold plated V Nickel

An 1883 No Cents

One such ‘entrepreneur’ was named Joshua Tatum. He was a deaf mute, (someone who can’t hear or talk) which is very important to the story. He plated nickels, and then would go to a cigar shop and point at a pack of five cent pack of cigars. When the clerk got them, he would then pay with a plated nickel. The clerk, if he didn’t notice the difference, would give him $4.95 in change. If he noticed the difference, he would give him no change. (at the time, it was NOT illegal to plate coins. It WAS illegal to tell someone that it was a five dollar piece, not a nickel) After several months of this, the police finally caught on and arrested him. Now, remember that he was a deaf mute, which meant he couldn’t talk or hear. When he was taken to court, his lawyer argued that, when he walked into the shop and signaled which cigars he wanted, he never actually spoke to the clerk. He had no way of telling him the clerk that his change was off and never actually tried to tell the clerk that the nickel was a five dollar piece. Therefore, the lawyer argued, he was actually innocent. Now, while the jury knew that he was passing them, and that he knew what he was doing. They realized that he was, by the letter of the laws, innocent. He was acquitted. The meaning of the term “Don’t Josh Me”, means don’t mess with me, or don’t try to fool me. As Josh Tatum did to shopkeepers back in 1883.

Now, while there are some who believe that this story is not true, I do. I would like to thank ‘Coins Magazine’ for much of the information from this article, Mr. Mitch Ernst, the President of the Omaha Coin Club for telling me more about this story and selling me a coin which is possibly an actual Josh nickel! I hope that you all have a great day!

JM

Scanning Old Photos

Hello Everyone!
 Recently, my Great Grandmother died. She was 96. She left many, many photos. Some are from as back as the early 1920's while some as new as this year. Recently, while my grandparents (My Dad's parents) have been in town, I have been scanning the pictures. I have been scanning them so that they will be digitized and we will (hopefully) have them forever. Also, my grandparents have them and they live in Arizona, which is an issue for those of us who like looking at them. Since Saturday, I have scanned some, 140 photos. I will share the oldest and the newest as well as a couple of my favorites in this post. Look for more periodically, as I work on scanning them all. Also, look for more posts on my Great Grandparents as I dig through all of the stuff. Thanks for reading!

My Great Grandma and her sister eating watermelon. (Note the Model T)

My Great Grandparents before they were married.

My Great Grandparents before my Great Grandpa went to war.

A Silhouette of my Great Grandma
from the 1934 World's Fair 

From Left to Right: My G. Grandma, My G.G.G. Grandma, My Grandpa,  My G.G. Grandma

My Great Grandma holding me.

My great Grandma at her 96th Birthday Party. 

JM