1) There is no way that shepherds would be in the fields tending their flocks this time of year. Believe it or not, it gets cold in the middle east in winter, IN FACT, Lebanon has a ski resort town.
2) The day we celebrate as Christmas was chosen by the Roman Emperor Constantine so that all Roman religions had feasts on the same day, a High Holy day for the god Mithra.
3) The christmas tree was originally part of a Germanic pagen winter festival, as was the yule log.
4) Christmas tree decorations came from a druid holy day.
5) A minor detail, Christ was probably born in late March, or April, the normal time of the year for grazing flocks in the fields.
6) The whole idea of having families return to ancestral homes for a census did not happen, besides the only people who a Roman Emperor would want counted would be Roman citizens. "Client" or conquered peoples paid taxes as dictated by the local governor.
Besides, Joseph and Mary probably already lived in Bethlehem since the city of Nazareth did not show up until a couple of years after Christ was born.
7) The massacre of children, allegedly ordered by Herod has no historic facts to back it up. When you consider the amount of archaeological sites in the holy land, someone would have discovered evidence of a wholesale slaughter of newborns.
8) There is strong evidence that Jesus was married, all of it is IN THE BIBLE. None of the evidence is falsified, but based entirely on Jewish customs at the time of his life.
8a) Jesus' first miracle, the water to wine at the marriage feast. (John 2:1-11) First of all, Mary, the mother of Jesus was in authority over the servants (in other words, the wedding was at the home of Mary and Joseph)
8b) The governor of the feast, (i.e the father of the groom) called the bridegroom and said 'you have saved the best wine for last.')
8c) Please note, Jesus said to Mary, 'my time has not yet come' yet he had already begun to gather disciples. Thus, the only possible reference he could be making is that it was not time for him to be called to the feast, as the bride groom.
8d)The resurrection of Lazarus is the most compelling evidence of Jesus being married.
Please note, that when a Jewish woman is sitting Shiva, or mourning for a dead family member, only her father or her husband can summon her from the home, otherwise she must stay indoors.
Jesus called Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha from the home, and she went to him, and subsequently to the tomb.
Mary immediately obeyed.
8c) Jesus taught in the synagogue, something only a married man could do. An unmarried man at the time would have been an oddity.
Finally, at no time did Jesus break any of the laws of Moses, see Deuteronomy.
9) Jesus being married and having a family would not have lowered his sacrifice on the cross, it would have elevated it.
Add to this that the early Christians believed Jesus to have had a wife and family until around the time of the Council of Nicea when the bible was codified.
The teachings of the Arian church, led by Arius were condemned as heretical, a large number of new testament books were condemned as agnostic, and a minority of 300 bishops made the decisions for all of Christianity for the next 2000 years.
By the way, part of the reason for the meeting was that Constantine demanded that the teachings of the Christian church be standardized... or else. (the or else was the 300 bishops would have fatal cases of iron poisoning at the point of a sword)
And so, the bishops saw a way to consolidate their control over the church, came up with the Nicean creed to satisfy Constantine, and went merrily on their way.
By the way, the Nicean Creed is the first written example of double talk in history. It looks good, but says absolutely nothing concrete.
Now with all that said, I do not condemn christians nor the christian faith, since I believe in Christ, God and the Holy Spirit, as well as the spirit of all living things.
However, 2000 years of Dogma sticks in my throat.
Happy Holidays to everyone, of all faiths.
PS:
The kissing under the mistletoe is another druid costume, although the druids did much more than just kiss.
