From: herbertwarmstrong@cog-web-svc.com   
      
   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   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)