Monday, September 29, 2008
Was Jesus born on April 6?
I just wrote the following for my "Answers to LDS-related questions" website:
http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/colton/personal/lds/questions.htm (It's in the "Some of my own personal opinions" section.)
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Was Jesus born on April 6?
Some Latter-day Saints believe so, but I doubt it, myself.
As near as I can tell, the belief comes from a single sentence in the LDS book of scripture, Doctrine and Covenants, from a revelation given to Joseph Smith on the founding day of the church, April 6, 1830. The revelation reads: "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" (D&C 20:1, emphasis added)
In the very well-known (to LDS) book, Jesus the Christ, author (and LDS apostle) James Talmage interprets this to mean that April 6, 1830 was exactly 1,830 years to the day since Jesus was born in the flesh: "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."
My view: I think Talmage was overstating things when he speaks for the church ("we believe that...") rather than just for himself. I personally interpret the D&C passage as merely being a flowery way of saying, "It is now the year of our Lord, 1830", which few people would claim means "exactly 1,830 years ago Jesus was born". Specifically, if it meant the former rather than the latter, than one would think there would be records of Joseph Smith himself teaching the April 6 doctrine. However, when I searched for statements by Smith to indicate he himself believed/taught that Jesus was born on April 6, I could find none.
While researching this after a recent discussion (summer 2008) on the topic at my local church, I came across this website that supports my own viewpoint: http://www.mormonfortress.com/april6b.html. Among other things, website author Michael Ash points out that recent LDS leaders have not necessarily interpreted D&C 20:1 the same way that Talmage did. Specifically, well-known LDS leader (and apostle) Bruce R. McConkie wrote, "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." (Mortal Messiah, Bookcraft, 1979, vol. 1 pg. 349 n. 2). That's my opinion--that we don't know the date of Jesus's birth. By the way, Ash has a couple of other good insights on the topic as well, so look at his page if you're interested.
For more of the opposite view, see this page by John Pratt, coincidentally a guy with whom I regularly play table tennis: http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/aprilsixth.html
http://www.physics.byu.edu/faculty/colton/personal/lds/questions.htm (It's in the "Some of my own personal opinions" section.)
___
Was Jesus born on April 6?
Some Latter-day Saints believe so, but I doubt it, myself.
As near as I can tell, the belief comes from a single sentence in the LDS book of scripture, Doctrine and Covenants, from a revelation given to Joseph Smith on the founding day of the church, April 6, 1830. The revelation reads: "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" (D&C 20:1, emphasis added)
In the very well-known (to LDS) book, Jesus the Christ, author (and LDS apostle) James Talmage interprets this to mean that April 6, 1830 was exactly 1,830 years to the day since Jesus was born in the flesh: "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."
My view: I think Talmage was overstating things when he speaks for the church ("we believe that...") rather than just for himself. I personally interpret the D&C passage as merely being a flowery way of saying, "It is now the year of our Lord, 1830", which few people would claim means "exactly 1,830 years ago Jesus was born". Specifically, if it meant the former rather than the latter, than one would think there would be records of Joseph Smith himself teaching the April 6 doctrine. However, when I searched for statements by Smith to indicate he himself believed/taught that Jesus was born on April 6, I could find none.
While researching this after a recent discussion (summer 2008) on the topic at my local church, I came across this website that supports my own viewpoint: http://www.mormonfortress.com/april6b.html. Among other things, website author Michael Ash points out that recent LDS leaders have not necessarily interpreted D&C 20:1 the same way that Talmage did. Specifically, well-known LDS leader (and apostle) Bruce R. McConkie wrote, "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." (Mortal Messiah, Bookcraft, 1979, vol. 1 pg. 349 n. 2). That's my opinion--that we don't know the date of Jesus's birth. By the way, Ash has a couple of other good insights on the topic as well, so look at his page if you're interested.
For more of the opposite view, see this page by John Pratt, coincidentally a guy with whom I regularly play table tennis: http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/aprilsixth.html
# posted by John Colton @ 5:01 PM 
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Whether or not he was born April 6 -- the fact that he WAS born is good enough for me. If I found out he was born August 16 12 b.c. or any other arbitrary day it wouldn't change my testimony that he is the Son of God, and my Savior.
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