From The Ramparts

           This is just one of many inconsistencies and inaccuracies Craveri points out throughout his book. The other important fact we need to realize is December 25 held great significance in ancient times because it was directly related to the Sun, Sun gods and astronomy/astrology. "As with Easter, the early Christians did not celebrate Christmas. In fact, the first Christmas was celebrated in Rome in the fourth century. It’s not surprising, then, that everything surrounding Christmas has its roots in paganism and astrology. The list of sun gods throughout history is very long. The list above is hardly exhaustive. Why were all these sun gods born on December 25 after an immaculate conception? Again, we must look to an astronomic phenomenon as an explanation. December 25 is the winter solstice. The winter solstice is the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Birthday of the Invincible Sun). During the winter solstice, the, the sun remains at 23 degrees/27 minutes from the South Pole. Because the North Pole is facing away from the sun, it takes six months for full day light to reach it. Yet, it takes three days and three nights for the southern tip of the Earth to pass the sun and move toward the vernal equinox. To Earthbound eyes peering at the sky from the northern hemisphere, it seems as if the sun is dead because even at its zenith, it is very low and the days are very short and dark. This is what the women were weeping over in the Bible (Ezekiel 8:14-15), the death of Tammuz, a Babylonian/Sumerian/Mesopotamian sun god. After three days the sun begins to rise higher in the sky each day. At that time, the constellation Virgo (not to be confused with the sign Virgo) is at its brightest, so the sun appears to be born from a virgin. See the similarities between the Egyptian nativity scene and the constellation. This constellation was seen all over the world and is the reason why so many sun gods are born of a virgin." http://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/Christianity-is-a-Pagan-Religion-with-Deep-Roots-in-Astrology.

            For an in depth examination of these and other truths about ancient Sun gods/saviors read Black Historian John G Jackson's Christianity Before Christ. I am not sharing this information to debunk anyone's religion, undermine your theology, dogmas or embarrass anyone. I am sharing this information so you know humans have thought about the universe, the nature of existence, our place in it, our destiny and the deeper implications of "reality" for thousands of years.

           Throughout human history unscrupulous men and women have high jacked the deep philosophy/cosmology of the ancients and appropriated them for their own aggrandizement. Kings, wanna be rulers and potentates have used ancient wisdom and teachings to exalt themselves and their agenda over the masses. For example many of the Roman Emperors and early Catholic Church founders' motives were more secular, worldly and megalomaniacal than history suggests. They met in secret in informal and official councils, synods and used conspiratorial deliberations to forge a way to further their agenda and control the masses, propagate an orthodoxy and establish themselves as the leaders and overseers of their work. "In times of greater toleration, Christian leaders felt sufficiently secure to hold councils governing their see or metropolitan area. None of the councils of this period gathered representatives from all the Christian churches, or even from those throughout the Roman Empire. Only of a few are the written acts preserved. Most are known only from accounts in works of church historians and other writers. These include: the Council of Rome of 155, the Council of Rome of 193, the Council of Ephesus of 193 the Council of Carthage of 251,the Council of Iconium of 258^, the Council of Antioch of 264, the Council of Arabia of 246–247, the Council of Elvira of 306, the Council of Carthage of 311, the Synod of Neo-Caesarea of c. 314, the Council of Ancyra of 314, the Council of Arles of 314. Such councils began to appear only in the middle of the 2nd century, at first at local level, but from 175 onward they involved several communities together, with such activity particularly marked in Italy and Asia Minor. At the end of that century, it became the practice to inform other communities of the decisions taken at such assemblies. In the 3rd century, the meetings began to be held at regular intervals, a custom that appeared first in the Roman province of Africa. In the second half of that century, councils were held at Antioch that gathered representatives of Christianity throughout the Middle East, from the Black Sea to Egypt. These were a prelude to the holding of the first assembly of all bishops, the First Council of Nicaea, the event that marked the end of the period of the ancient pre-ecumenical councils.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_church_councils_(pre-ecumenical).