From Newsgroup: alt.bible.prophecy

How--when did Christmas originate?

Does Christmas really celebrate the birthday of Christ? Was Jesus born
on December 25th?

Did the original apostles, who knew Jesus personally and were taught by
Him, celebrate His birthday on December 25th? Did they celebrate it at all?

If Christmas is the chief of the Christian holidays, why do so many non-Christians observe it? Do you know?

Why do people exchange presents with family members, friends, relatives,
at Christmas time? Was it because the wise men presented gifts to the Christ-child? The answer may surprise you.

Most people have "supposed" a lot of things about Christmas that are not
true. But let's quit "supposing" and get the facts!

What Encyclopedias Say

The word "Christmas" means "Mass of Christ," or, as it came to be
shortened, "Christ-Mass." It came to non-Christians and Protestants from
the Roman Catholic Church. And where did they get it? Not from the New Testament--Not from the Bible--Not from the original apostles who were personally instructed by Christ--but it gravitated in the fourth century
into the Roman Church from paganism.

Since the celebration of Christmas has come to the world from the Roman Catholic Church, and has no authority but that of the Roman Catholic
Church, let us examine the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 edition,
published by that church. Under the heading "Christmas," you will find:

"Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church...the
first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." "Pagan customs centering
around the January calends gravitated to Christmas."

And in the same encyclopedia, under the heading "Natal Day," we find
that the early Catholic father, Origen, acknowledged this truth: "... In
the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his birthday. It is only sinners [like Pharaoh and Herod] who
make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this
world" (emphasis ours).

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1946 edition, has this: "Christmas (i.e., the
Mass of Christ)....Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church.... " It was not instituted by Christ or the apostles, or by
Bible authority. It was picked up afterward from paganism. The
Encyclopedia Americana, 1944 edition, says: "Christmas....It was,
according to many authorities, not celebrated in the first centuries of
the Christian church, as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate
the death of remarkable persons rather than their birth.... " (The "Communion," which is instituted by New Testament Bible authority, is a memorial of the death of Christ.)"... A feast was established in memory
of this event [Christ's birth] in the fourth century. In the fifth
century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the
day of the old Rom,an feast of the birth of Sol, as no certain knowledge
of the day of Christ's birth existed."

Now notice! These recognized historical authorities show Christmas was
not observed by Christians for the first two or three hundred years--a
period longer than the entire history of the United States as a nation!
It got into the Western, or Roman, Church, by the fourth century A.D. It
was not until the fifth century that the Roman Church ordered it to be celebrated as an official Christian festival!...


Title: The Plain Truth About Christmas
Author: Herbert W Armstrong
Date: 1952, 1972, 1974
Type: Booklet
Type Media: PDF

https://cog-hwa.org/pub/bb/xmas.pdf
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