1. The correct answer is e.
Jesus wasn't born on December 25. He was probably born sometime between Passover (early spring) and the first rains (early fall). That's when shepherds would have been out "keeping watch over their flock by night."
Originally, December 25 was a Roman celebration called Saturnalia. The annual festival encouraged drunkenness and all kinds of sexual immorality. The church leaders felt there should be a Christian alternative to this holiday. (After all, the kids were home from school with nothing to do!) So in A.D. 325, December 25 was chosen as the day to celebrate Christ's birth.
Finally, Christ was not born A.D. 0. Due to a calendar mix-up, His date of birth is between four and seven B.C. So we're not being heretical when we say that Jesus was probably born four years before Christ!
