LDS Freedom Forum

Many believe that today April 6 is when Jesus was born.

https://www.lds.org/study/liahona/1983/ ... 6?lang=eng

Q. Do we know by revelation that Christ was born on April 6? If so, then why do we celebrate the traditional Christian Christmas?
Roger A. Hendrix, teacher support consultant, Church Educational System, Southern California; member of Palos Verdes California Stake presidency:

Through the years there have been varying thoughts on the fragmentary information we have on the subject. Elder James E. Talmage suggested the possibility in Jesus the Christ that the Savior was born on April 6, 1 B.C. He based his conclusion on the understanding that the Savior was born in the spring and in Doctrine and Covenants 20:1, which speaks of the Church being organized “one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh.” April 6 was the day of the formal organization of the Church.

On the other hand, Elder Hyrum M. Smith wrote in the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants Commentary: “The organization of the church in the year 1830 is hardly to be regarded as giving divine authority of the commonly accepted calendar. … All that this Revelation means to say is that the church was organized in the year commonly accepted as 1830, A.D.” and President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., in Our Lord of the Gospels stated that he could not yet propose any date as the true birth day of the Savior.

If one needed encouragement against becoming too involved in the issue, Elder Bruce R. McConkie noted in The Mortal Messiah: “We do not believe it is possible with the present state of our knowledge—including that which is known both in and out of the church—to state with finality when the natal day of the Lord Jesus actually occurred.”

Why then do we celebrate the traditional Christian Christmas?

Actually, according to historian Daniel Boorstin, Christmas in the early 1800’s was simply a time for “folksy conviviality” and not much more. It was this kind of Christmas that Joseph Smith and many New England Saints were familiar with in their day. In all likelihood, because Christmas was more of a folk holiday than a religious one, the early Saints probably would not even have thought of creating an alternate holiday.

Yet there is evidence that by mid-nineteenth century Christmas was beginning to take on religious significance. The Prophet was awakened around 1:00 A.M. on 25 December 1843 to the caroling of some members who were English immigrants. Apparently, Europeans in general had been transforming Christmas into a religious holiday, and these immigrants merely had brought that tradition with them to Nauvoo. The Prophet responded favorably to the occasion, recording that it “caused a thrill of pleasure to run through my soul … and I felt to thank my Heavenly Father for their visit, and blessed them in the name of the Lord.”

Today, Christmas is recognized around the world as a celebration of the Savior’s birth. It is appropriate that we join with our fellowmen in that celebration. In Mormon Doctrine, Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written: “The saints … join in the wholesome portions of the Christmas celebration. Christmas becomes to them an ideal opportunity to renew their search for the true doctrine of his birth as the Son of an Immortal Father, a fact that enabled him to work out the infinite and eternal atonement.”

With that understanding, what really matters is that we celebrate the birth of the Savior. It is not uncommon for secular or religious events to be celebrated on a day other than when they actually occurred. For example, people in Utah celebrate July 24 as the day the Pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. Actually, the first of the Saints arrived on July 21; July 24 was the day the prophet, Brigham Young, arrived.

Should revelation ever direct us to celebrate the birth of Jesus on a specific date, we would gladly do it. But until that occurs, the celebration of the traditional Christian Christmas with others in the world serves a most useful purpose.

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https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/04/resu ... n?lang=eng

Resurrection and Restoration

April is truly a historic month in which we commemorate two of the most important events in the history of mankind: the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the reestablishment of his church and kingdom here upon the earth in these, the latter days. Members of the Church also believe that Christ was born on April 6 in the year 1 B.C. (See D&C 20:1.)

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https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testa ... lang=eng#0

D&C 20:1
1 The rise of the Church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh, it being regularly organized and established agreeable to the laws of our country, by the will and commandments of God, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April—

http://www.ldsliving.com/Was-Jesus-Born ... id/s/80634

Was Jesus Born in December After All? (What Prophets & Apostles Have Said)
byJeffrey R. Chadwick, Adapted from "Dating the Birth of Christ"

It's likely that you've heard at least once in your life that Jesus was born on
April 6. But is that really a true doctrine? How do we know?

In his 1915 classic entitled Jesus the Christ, Elder James E. Talmage maintained that Jesus Christ was born on April 6 in the year 1 B.C. Talmage was apparently the first LDS writer to propose this particular date. Nearly a century has passed since his book appeared, and in that time it has become practically axiomatic among Latter-day Saints that Jesus was born on April 6 in that year. But was He? Here is what prophets and apostles have said regarding the date Christ was born.

19th Century Prophets & Apostles

During the 19th century, latter-day prophets from Joseph Smith to Lorenzo Snow evidently made no specific comments on the date of Jesus’s birth. Never did Joseph interpret the wording of Doctrine and Covenants 20:1 to suggest that April 6 should be regarded as the Savior’s birth date, although he said that it was “by the spirit of prophecy and revelation” that April 6 was pointed out to him as the precise day on which he “should proceed to organize” the Church of Jesus Christ in this dispensation. Similarly, as far as I have been able to ascertain, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow recorded no comments on the subject of Christ’s birth either.

One LDS apostle in the 1800s did offer a proposal for Jesus’s birth date that was different from the traditional Christian date of December 25. Elder Orson Pratt proposed the date of April 11 in the year 4 B.C. as the Savior’s birthday, based on his own calculation of the number of days between the signs of Jesus’s birth and death as described in the Book of Mormon. But Elder Pratt’s suggestion of April 11 never captured the imagination of the LDS public in his day and has been largely forgotten.

Elder B. H. Roberts, however, felt that the passage in Doctrine and Covenants 20:1 did support the year 1 B.C. as the year of Jesus’s birth. And the notion of Jesus having been born in the spring season was not uncommon among the Latter-day Saints in the late 1800s. In a 1901 Christmas message from the First Presidency, President Anthon H. Lund mentioned April as the month he preferred for the birth of the Savior.

20th Century Prophets & Apostles

During the 20th century, three different LDS apostles published major studies on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and in them offered models for the date of Jesus’s birth. The diversity of opinion in these three studies is of particular interest.

The first, as already mentioned, was Jesus the Christ by Elder James E. Talmage. This book was commissioned by the First Presidency, written in the Salt Lake Temple, and officially published by the Church, becoming the first systematic commentary on the life of Christ prepared by a Latter-day Saint authority. Talmage based his statement about Jesus’s birth date on the idea that D&C 20:1—which names Tuesday, April 6, 1830, as the date of the organization of the latter-day Church—means that exactly 1,830 years had passed (to the day) since the Savior’s birth. President Joseph F. Smith immediately endorsed Talmage’s book, while Elder Hyrum M. Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in his 1919 commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, expressed the view that D&C 20:1 only “means to say . . . that the Church was organized in the year commonly accepted as 1830, A.D.”A significant number of later general authorities, including Church Presidents Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, and Gordon B. Hinckley have commented on the April 6 date warmly and acceptingly but without explanation or greater specificity.

Elder Talmage had stated his position in words perhaps implying that this view or belief was obligatory on the entire membership of the Church: “We believe that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, April 6, B.C. 1.”

This statement notwithstanding, the two highest-ranking general authorities who subsequently published their writings on Jesus’s life and ministry took positions different from Elder Talmage’s. One of them was President J. Reuben Clark, who served as both First and Second Counselor in the First Presidency and published Our Lord of the Gospels in 1954. This book was reprinted as an official publication of the Church when it was released as a Melchizedek Priesthood manual for 1958.

In Our Lord of the Gospels, Clark pointed to the traditional early winter time frame for the date of Jesus’s birth. He explained: “I am not proposing any date as the true date. But in order to be as helpful to students as I could, I have taken as the date of the Savior’s birth the date now accepted by many scholars,—late 5 B.C. or early 4 B.C.”In the timetables he employed in his book, Clark listed his preferred time range for Jesus’s nativity as December of 5 B.C., and the time range of the Annunciation to Mary as nine months earlier in March of 5 B.C.While not insisting on a specific date (such as December 25), President Clark noted the historical strength of the early winter tradition.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie was the third general authority to prepare a systematic study of the life of Christ. Deseret Book Company published the four-volume series, The Mortal Messiah, beginning in 1979. In a lengthy study note appended to chapter 20 of the first volume (on the Savior’s nativity), McConkie discussed several models for dating the birth of Jesus. In contrast to Talmage, McConkie stated: “We do not believe it is possible with the present state of our knowledge—including that which is known both in and out of the Church—to state with finality when the natal day of the Lord Jesus actually occurred.” McConkie then reviewed the positions and reasoning of both Talmage and Clark with regard to Jesus’s birth date and stated that he would follow Clark’s course.

It seems clear from the different approaches presented in these three studies that there is no authoritative agreement or position on the issue of the birth date of Christ that must be regarded as binding on the membership of the Church. But in the last century, much new information has come to light about the New Testament, and new data from archeological and historical sources, combined with a reexamination of the scriptural accounts involved, suggest that the April 6 dating should be reconsidered.
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Elder James E. Talmage and the Birth Date of Jesus Christ
By Ronald P. Millett · October 30, 2012

1 - JamesETalmage

John Pratt’s latest Meridian article “Jubilee Witness” on the 29 Jubilee periods from the crossing of the River Jordan to the birth day of Jesus Christ is another example of how new research into ancient calendars supports the traditional LDS birth date of Jesus on April 6, 1 BC.[1] Even though some other General Authorities and LDS scholars have not agreed with the inspiration he professed, Elder James E. Talmage’s powerful statements in the main text of Jesus the Christ, published in 1915, have made this date the default LDS date for Christ’s birth.

2 - Jesus the Christ“Jesus the Christ” : Elder James E. Talmage’s classic work on the life of Christ written in the Salt Lake Temple was published in 1915.

Elder Talmage states: “We believe April 6th to be the birthday of Jesus Christ as indicated in a revelation of the present dispensation already cited (D&C 20:1), in which that day is made without qualification the completion of the one thousand eight hundred and thirtieth year since the coming of the Lord in the flesh. This acceptance is admittedly based on faith in modern revelation, and in no wise is set forth as the result of chronological research or analysis. We believe that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, April 6, B.C. 1.”[2]

Prophets and Apostles Statements Since Elder Talmage

3 - Clark - Our Lord of the Gospels“Our Lord of the Gospels” : President J. Reuben Clark classic work on the life of Christ was published in 1954.

President J. Reuben Clark included this explanation of the birthday of Christ in the preface to his work “Our Lord of the Gospels” published in 1954 and used as a Sunday School lesson manual. He says that many scholars “fix the date of the Savior’s birth at the end of 5 b.c., or the beginning or early part of 4 b.c. …. I am not proposing any date as the true date. But in order to be as helpful to students as I could, I have taken as the date of the Savior’s birth the date now accepted by many scholars, -late 5 b.c. or early 4 b.c.”[3]

4 - Mortal Messiah V1“The Mortal Messiah” : Four of the volumes of Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s six volume Messiah series address the mortal life of Jesus Christ in this classic work published in 1980.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie agreed with President Clark and used a long footnote in his widely read book “The Mortal Messiah” (first published in 1980) for an extensive explanation of his views on the birth day of Jesus Christ. “We do not believe it is possible with the present state of our knowledge – including that which is known both in and out of the Church – to state with finality when the natal day of the Lord Jesus actually occurred. Elder James E. Talmage takes the view that he was born on April 6, 1 b.c., basing his conclusions on D&C 20:1. … [and here Elder McConkie quotes Edersheim’s work on the life of Christ] ‘The first and most certain date is that of the death of Herod the Great. Our Lord was born before the death of Herod, and, as we judge from the Gospel-history, very shortly before that event. Now the year of Herod’s death has been ascertained with, we may say, absolute certainty, as shortly before the Passover … about the 12th of April of the year 4 before Christ. … the birth of Christ could not have possibly occurred after the beginning of February 4 b.c.’ (Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah 2:704.)”[4]

5 - Spencer W. Kimball.JPG President Spencer W. Kimball commented on the birthday of Christ in General Conference on April 6, 1980.

President Spencer W. Kimball talked about the birth of Christ during the Sesquicentennial celebration of the organization of the Church during General Conference on April 6, 1980. He said: “My brothers and sisters, today we not only celebrate the Sesquicentennial of the organization of the Church, but also the greatest event in human history since the birth of Christ on this day 1,980 years ago. Today is Easter Sunday.”[5]

President Harold B. Lee made a similar statement on April 6, 1973, and “noted that that day was ‘the anniversary of the birth of the Savior’ and then quoted Doctrine and Covenants 20:1 as a reference.”[6]

Elder Talmage’s Statement Remains a Standard

The statements of the apostles and prophets on the subject of Christ’s birth day are certainly mixed. One reason Elder Talmage’s view remains a standard interpretation in the Church in my opinion is that the main statements not supporting his view were made many years after the publication of “Jesus the Christ.” Also, neither President Clark nor Elder McConkie included their criticism of Elder Talmage’s conclusion in the main text of their books, also on the life of Christ. I believe that the support for the traditional April 6, 1 BC date amid this lack of agreement also includes recognition of the special inspiration throughout Elder Talmage’s classic work on the life of Christ written by assignment from the First Presidency in the Salt Lake Temple, his reputation as a world renown scientist and scholar, plus that the work was endorsed and copyrighted by the President of the Church when it was published.[7]

With full knowledge of the issues involved shown in the text and his extensive footnotes, the status of Biblical scholarly research and their various proposed dates, Elder Talmage boldly proclaimed “based on faith in modern revelation” that “We believe that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, April 6, B.C. 1.” Not all of the prophets or apostles since that time have verified that same inspiration, but there is no doubt that Elder Talmage believed that he had received specific inspiration to interpret D&C 20:1 as indicating the exact birth date of Jesus Christ.

6 - Articles of Faith“Articles of Faith” : Elder James E. Talmage’s classic work on Joseph Smith’s statements on the beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Starting this statement with the words “we believe” is also significant because of Elder Talmage’s classic work “The Articles of Faith” published in 1899, shortly after his term as President of the University of Utah.
[8] Elder Talmage doubtless did not use that significant phrase “we believe” lightly in describing the birth date of Jesus Christ, knowing its impact as the subject and the verb of all but one of the 13 key statements of religious beliefs written by Joseph Smith.

Gateway to Ancient Calendars

Elder Talmage’s forceful statement plus support from modern Prophets for his declaration, I believe, keeps the birth day of Christ from being locked into a 4-6 BC time frame accepted by most scholars and also some other General Authorities. The April 6, 1 BC date remains a credible date for further research and investigation thanks to Elder Talmage, despite the consensus opinion that Herod the Great died in 4 BC.

The new theory of ancient calendars proposed by John Pratt and the witness of Christ found to be contained in these interlocking sacred dates now provides a new dimension to study the question of the birth date of Christ.

Quoting from John Pratt’s new “Jubilee Witness” article already cited: “My research has proposed that the birth of Jesus Christ occurred on the evening preceding Thu 6Apr 1BC. This date was not arrived at by depending on the testimony of any modern religious leaders or traditions. It was found by counting backwards from the better established date of the Resurrection on Sun 3 Apr AD 33, as well as using many other sacred calendars. It has already been proposed in an earlier article that Christ was born in a jubilee year in order to fulfill the symbolism of jubilee.”

With Frequent Lunar Eclipses, Why the One in 4 BC?

John Pratt also wrote a landmark article in 1990 for The Planetarian, which is the principal periodical for all the planetariums around the country.[9] The most popular show each year was at Christmas time about the Star of Bethlehem.

One of the key historical observations has been that Jesus was born before King Herod died and his death reportedly occurred shortly after a lunar eclipse-the only one mentioned in all of Josephus’ work. The eclipse of March, 4 BC, visible only to those who were up at midnight, has long been held to be a strong proof of Herod’s death date. Pratt argued that the eclipse has been misidentified and actually does not fit the historical record. Instead he proposed that the correct eclipse was a widely viewed one that occurred just after sunset, late in December, 1 B.C. He went on to show that all of the historic data can indeed be reconciled with a birth date for Christ on Passover in 1 B.C. (which happened to fall on April 6th that year). His article, “Yet Another Eclipse for Herod” is found here.

7 - herod eclipse 1 BC “The proposed eclipse visible in Jerusalem right at sunset. The lunar eclipse of Dec. 29, 1 B.C. as it would have been seen from Jericho rising in the east at an altitude of 3 about 20 minutes after sunset.”[10]

James E. Talmage: Importance of April 6, B.C. 1

I see this ongoing research into the actual birth day of Jesus Christ as modern ramifications that came from Elder James E. Talmage’s words written in the Salt Lake Temple declaring: “We believe that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, April 6, B.C. 1.”

[1] John Pratt, “Jubilee Witness,” Meridian Magazine, October 17, 2012.

[2] James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ : A Study of the Messiah and His Mission According to Holy Scriptures Both Ancient and Modern, 1915, p. 104, “copyright September 1915 by Joseph F. Smith, Trustee-in-trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, free ebook.

[3] Reuben Clark, Jr., Our Lord of the Gospels: A Harmony of the Gospels, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1954, pp. vi-vii ,

[4] Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah, 4 vols., Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1980-1986, pp. 349-50. RPM Note: With various errors that Josephus has been shown to have made in his histories, it would seem to be hyperbole by Edersheim to claim “absolute certainty” on Herod’s death date. Compare this to the much better certainty of both the Hebrew calendar date and dates in the Babylonian Chronicles for the starting of the siege of Jerusalem in 589 BC.

[5] Spencer W. Kimball, “Remarks and Dedication of the Fayette, New York, Buildings,” Ensign, May 1980, p. 54. The author cannot understand how this remark can be taken any other way but that President Kimball agrees with Elder Talmage’s interpretation and supports April 6, 1 BC as the birthday of Christ. However, here is a common explanation given by scholars for President Kimball’s and other similar statements: “A significant number of later General Authorities, including Church Presidents Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, and Gordon B. Hinckley, have commented on the April 6 date warmly and acceptingly but without explanation or greater specificity.”(page 8) “It would understandably appear that President Kimball’s attention was focused on the organization of the Church that day and hence solely on D&C 20:1.” (footnote 10) Jeffrey R. Chadwick, “Dating the Birth of Jesus Christ,” BYU Studies, December 2010. [emphasis added]

[6] John P. Pratt, “Dating the First Easter,” Ensign, June, 1985, pp. 59-68. Harold B. Lee’s quote from Ensign, July, 1973, p. 2.. RPM Note: Knowing of the extensive review, rewrite and approval process that John Pratt went through for several years (1982-1985) for this article to be approved for publication in the Ensign indicates to me significant support on the Ensign review committees for Elder Talmage’s proposed dates on the resurrection and birth of Christ.

[7] Utah Historical Encyclopedia, “James Edward Talmage,” 1994, ed. Allan Kent Powell. “James E. Talmage Teacher, Mining Geologist, Engineer, University President, Writer and Apostle” Brigham Young Academy / Brigham Young High School Alumni Association, 2012. “I am convinced that Elder Talmage’s life and his outstanding accomplishments were influenced to a marked degree by his experiences that he received from Dr. Karl G. Maeser. In this respect, I sincerely exhort each of you to remember that there may be many other “James Talmages” in our student body.” (from President Ernest L. Wilkinson). See also: Joseph F. Smith, Charles W. Penrose, and James E. Talmage, “Tidings of Comfort and Joy’ from the First Presidency,” in Messages of the First Presidency, 4:347, December 18, 1915. Endorsement from First Presidency of Jesus the Christ. See also: John R. Talmage, “Talmage Story: Life of James E. Talmage – Educator, Scientist, Apostle,” 2012.

[8] James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith: A Series of Lectures on the Principal Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Written by Appointment and Published by the Church.
, 1899

[9] John P. Pratt, “Yet Another Eclipse for Herod,” The Planetarium, vol 19, no. 4, Dec 1990, pp. 8-14. “So why did Josephus include Herod’s eclipse but no others? An obvious answer is that the eclipse was widely observed and then associated with the executions. If so, then the eclipse occurred in the early evening. Using this criterion, the eclipses of March 13, 4 B.C. and January 10, 1 B.C. are extremely unlikely because they both began the umbral phase more than six hours after sunset and hence would have only been seen by at most a few people. The eclipse of Sept 15, 5 B.C. began three hours after sunset, but that is also late.” [emphasis in original]

[10] John P. Pratt, “Yet Another Eclipse for Herod,” op. cit.

The Lord gave me a wonderful present on His birthday. So like Him.

There is no way Jesus was born on 6th April, and there is no revelation saying he was.
December 5BC is the most likely in my view.

Robin Hood wrote: ↑April 7th, 2019, 5:53 am There is no way Jesus was born on 6th April, and there is no revelation saying he was.
December 5BC is the most likely in my view.

As the second article I AM quoted tells, that is what President Clark and Elder McConkie thought too:

I AM wrote: ↑April 6th, 2019, 10:03 pmThis statement notwithstanding, the two highest-ranking general authorities who subsequently published their writings on Jesus’s life and ministry took positions different from Elder Talmage’s. One of them was President J. Reuben Clark, who served as both First and Second Counselor in the First Presidency and published Our Lord of the Gospels in 1954. This book was reprinted as an official publication of the Church when it was released as a Melchizedek Priesthood manual for 1958.

In Our Lord of the Gospels, Clark pointed to the traditional early winter time frame for the date of Jesus’s birth. He explained: “I am not proposing any date as the true date. But in order to be as helpful to students as I could, I have taken as the date of the Savior’s birth the date now accepted by many scholars,—late 5 B.C. or early 4 B.C.”In the timetables he employed in his book, Clark listed his preferred time range for Jesus’s nativity as December of 5 B.C., and the time range of the Annunciation to Mary as nine months earlier in March of 5 B.C.While not insisting on a specific date (such as December 25), President Clark noted the historical strength of the early winter tradition.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie was the third general authority to prepare a systematic study of the life of Christ. Deseret Book Company published the four-volume series, The Mortal Messiah, beginning in 1979. In a lengthy study note appended to chapter 20 of the first volume (on the Savior’s nativity), McConkie discussed several models for dating the birth of Jesus. In contrast to Talmage, McConkie stated: “We do not believe it is possible with the present state of our knowledge—including that which is known both in and out of the Church—to state with finality when the natal day of the Lord Jesus actually occurred.” McConkie then reviewed the positions and reasoning of both Talmage and Clark with regard to Jesus’s birth date and stated that he would follow Clark’s course.

inho wrote: ↑April 7th, 2019, 6:46 am

Robin Hood wrote: ↑April 7th, 2019, 5:53 am There is no way Jesus was born on 6th April, and there is no revelation saying he was.
December 5BC is the most likely in my view.

As the second article I AM quoted tells, that is what President Clark and Elder McConkie thought too:

I AM wrote: ↑April 6th, 2019, 10:03 pmThis statement notwithstanding, the two highest-ranking general authorities who subsequently published their writings on Jesus’s life and ministry took positions different from Elder Talmage’s. One of them was President J. Reuben Clark, who served as both First and Second Counselor in the First Presidency and published Our Lord of the Gospels in 1954. This book was reprinted as an official publication of the Church when it was released as a Melchizedek Priesthood manual for 1958.

In Our Lord of the Gospels, Clark pointed to the traditional early winter time frame for the date of Jesus’s birth. He explained: “I am not proposing any date as the true date. But in order to be as helpful to students as I could, I have taken as the date of the Savior’s birth the date now accepted by many scholars,—late 5 B.C. or early 4 B.C.”In the timetables he employed in his book, Clark listed his preferred time range for Jesus’s nativity as December of 5 B.C., and the time range of the Annunciation to Mary as nine months earlier in March of 5 B.C.While not insisting on a specific date (such as December 25), President Clark noted the historical strength of the early winter tradition.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie was the third general authority to prepare a systematic study of the life of Christ. Deseret Book Company published the four-volume series, The Mortal Messiah, beginning in 1979. In a lengthy study note appended to chapter 20 of the first volume (on the Savior’s nativity), McConkie discussed several models for dating the birth of Jesus. In contrast to Talmage, McConkie stated: “We do not believe it is possible with the present state of our knowledge—including that which is known both in and out of the Church—to state with finality when the natal day of the Lord Jesus actually occurred.” McConkie then reviewed the positions and reasoning of both Talmage and Clark with regard to Jesus’s birth date and stated that he would follow Clark’s course.

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Many times Robin Hood just gives his views and questions the OP without even reading it or what others have said.

Alaris wrote: ↑April 6th, 2019, 10:10 pm The Lord gave me a wonderful present on His birthday. So like Him.

You've alluded to some special experiences during conference a couple times. Would love to hear more about them, if appropriate.

Robin Hood wrote: ↑April 7th, 2019, 5:53 am There is no way Jesus was born on 6th April, and there is no revelation saying he was.
December 5BC is the most likely in my view.

Multiple modern prophets have testified that he was...

endlessismyname wrote: ↑April 7th, 2019, 11:59 am

Alaris wrote: ↑April 6th, 2019, 10:10 pm The Lord gave me a wonderful present on His birthday. So like Him.

You've alluded to some special experiences during conference a couple times. Would love to hear more about them, if appropriate.

I'll send you a pm ...