diff --git a/lib/jekyll/post.rb b/lib/jekyll/post.rb
index 2db21fee..49839f6b 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/post.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/post.rb
@@ -61,14 +61,7 @@ module Jekyll
       end
 
       if data.key?('date')
-        begin
-          self.date = Time.parse(data["date"].to_s)
-        rescue ArgumentError
-            path = File.join(@dir || "", name)
-            msg  =  "Post '#{relative_path}' does not have a valid date in the YAML front matter.\n"
-            msg  << "Fix the date, or exclude the file or directory from being processed"
-            raise Errors::FatalException.new(msg)
-        end
+        self.date = Utils.parse_date(data["date"].to_s, "Post '#{relative_path}' does not have a valid date in the YAML front matter.")
       end
 
       populate_categories
@@ -168,14 +161,9 @@ module Jekyll
       m, cats, date, slug, ext = *name.match(MATCHER)
       self.categories ||= []
       self.categories += (cats || '').downcase.split('/')
-      self.date = Time.parse(date)
+      self.date = Utils.parse_date(date, "Post '#{relative_path}' does not have a valid date in the filename.")
       self.slug = slug
       self.ext = ext
-    rescue ArgumentError
-      path = File.join(@dir || "", name)
-      msg  =  "Post '#{relative_path}' does not have a valid date.\n"
-      msg  << "Fix the date, or exclude the file or directory from being processed"
-      raise Errors::FatalException.new(msg)
     end
 
     # The generated directory into which the post will be placed
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/site.rb b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
index 15bacb14..87b84f0e 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/site.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ module Jekyll
     #
     # Returns nothing
     def reset
-      self.time = (config['time'] ? Time.parse(config['time'].to_s) : Time.now)
+      self.time = (config['time'] ? Utils.parse_date(config['time'].to_s, "Invalid time in _config.yml.") : Time.now)
       self.layouts = {}
       self.posts = []
       self.pages = []
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/tags/post_url.rb b/lib/jekyll/tags/post_url.rb
index af366702..0f92df49 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/tags/post_url.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/tags/post_url.rb
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ module Jekyll
 
       def initialize(name)
         all, path, date, slug = *name.sub(/^\//, "").match(MATCHER)
-        raise ArgumentError.new("'#{name}' does not contain valid date and/or title") unless all
+        raise ArgumentError.new("'#{name}' does not contain valid date and/or title.") unless all
         @slug = path ? path + slug : slug
-        @date = Time.parse(date)
+        @date = Utils.parse_date(date, "'#{name}' does not contain valid date.")
       end
 
       def ==(other)
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/utils.rb b/lib/jekyll/utils.rb
index a3910d81..dc190297 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/utils.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/utils.rb
@@ -82,6 +82,19 @@ module Jekyll
         transform_keys(hash) { |key| key.to_s rescue key }
       end
 
+      # Parse a date/time and throw an error if invalid
+      #
+      # input - the date/time to parse
+      # msg - (optional) the error message to show the user
+      #
+      # Returns the parsed date if successful, throws a FatalException
+      # if not
+      def parse_date(input, msg = "Input could not be parsed.")
+        Time.parse(input)
+      rescue ArgumentError
+        raise Errors::FatalException.new("Invalid date '#{input}': " + msg)
+      end
+
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/test/test_utils.rb b/test/test_utils.rb
index de1ebba5..d4daa097 100644
--- a/test/test_utils.rb
+++ b/test/test_utils.rb
@@ -64,4 +64,37 @@ class TestUtils < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
   end
 
+  context "The \`Utils.parse_date\` method" do
+    should "parse a properly formatted date" do
+      assert Utils.parse_date("2014-08-02 14:43:06 PDT").is_a? Time
+    end
+
+    should "throw an error if the input contains no date data" do
+      assert_raise Jekyll::Errors::FatalException do
+        Utils.parse_date("Blah")
+      end
+    end
+
+    should "throw an error if the input is out of range" do
+      assert_raise Jekyll::Errors::FatalException do
+        Utils.parse_date("9999-99-99")
+      end
+    end
+
+    should "throw an error with the default message if no message is passed in" do
+      date = "Blah this is invalid"
+      assert_raise Jekyll::Errors::FatalException, "Invalid date '#{date}': Input could not be parsed." do
+        Utils.parse_date(date)
+      end
+    end
+
+    should "throw an error with the provided message if a message is passed in" do
+      date = "Blah this is invalid"
+      message = "Aaaah, the world has exploded!"
+      assert_raise Jekyll::Errors::FatalException, "Invalid date '#{date}': #{message}" do
+        Utils.parse_date(date, message)
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
 end