only to you, it's a gimmick. Christ-mass is a word created TO BRING RELEVANCE to the birth of Christ which is in the word of God. I guess you have an issue with the word Trinity. is it a gimmick to celebrate your birthday? FYI, the acknowledgment of the birth of Christ is the is foundational truth and is the fulfillment of the very word of God which you have an issue with apparently. God said Foretold of HIS coming in Genesis, the prophet Isaiah, and Micah. But that is a gimmick? Church history and the word of God show differntly
The testimony of several is clear:
"As early as A.D 245,the Church father Origen was proclaiming it heathenish to celebrate Christ's birthday as if He were merely a
temporal ruler when His spiritual nature should be the main concern."(The Christmas Almanac,Gerard and Patricia Del Re)
"The Fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries,such as Clement of Alexandria,Origen and Epiphanius,contended that Christmas was a copy of a pagan celebration" (Encyclopedia Britannica,15th edition)
"Christians of Armenia and Syria accused the Christians of Rome of sun worship for celebrating Christmas on December 25th...Pope Leo the Great in the fifth century tried to remove certain practices at Christmas which He considered in no way different from sun worship."(Celebrations:The Complete Book of American Holidays,Robert Myers)
The practices were called,pagan,heathenish,sun worship.From whence did these come?They are nowhere supported by the word of God nor practiced by the people of God.
HOW VARIOUS GROUPS AND PERSONS VIEWED CHRISTMAS IN THE PAST:
MAYFIELD, Ky. (BP) -- Baptists of the South and the faith community of Southern Baptists after 1845 originally did not attach much significance to Christmas. The holiday is not recognized as a special day of worship in any of the historic Baptist confessions, allusions to it are rare in Baptist history volumes before the 1880s, and the holiday possessed an association with worldliness and even paganism in the minds of many Baptist ministers. Such opinions can still be found among some Baptists today who voice, "The New Testament does not command us to celebrate a festival commemorating the nativity."(“Southern Baptists have not always embraced Christmas”, by Stephen Douglas Wilson,Baptist Press.)
Historically, prior to the twentieth century, Christmas (much less Advent) was little discussed within Baptist congregations. Baptist historians have rarely addressed the manner in which Baptists viewed or observed the Christmas season. Leon McBeth’s The Baptist Heritage is one of few Baptist surveys (of any time period) to reference Christmas.Noting that Baptists of the eighteenth century viewed Christmas “as worldly and popish” (a view reflective of sixteenth century Puritanism), McBeth quotes Samuel Jones, a Baptist student at Isaac’s Eaton Hopewell Academy (the first Baptist educational institution in America) who wrote the following diary entry on December 25, 1757: “Christmas Day! But our school goes on as usual. The only difference was that we had two big turkeys for dinner. Mr. E(aton) told us that he did not observe Christmas as he was certain that our Savior was not born on the twenty-fifth or any other day in December.” (McBeth, 250) As for Jones, he personally believed that there was no harm in “celebrating some day in commemoration of such a great event.” (Hywel M. Davies, Transatlantic Brethren: Rev. Samuel Jones, 1735-1814, and His Friends, Baptists in Wales, Pennsylvania and Beyond. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1985, p. 82).(“Baptists and Christmas”,by Bruce T. Gourley, Baptist Studies Bulletin December 2010.)
"A broad element of English Christianity still considered Christmas celebration a pagan blasphemy. The Puritans, Baptists, Quakers, Presbyterians, Calvinists and other denominations brought this opposition to early New England and strong opposition to the holiday lasted in America until the middle of the 18th century."(USA TODAY article about Christmas,23,Dec.1983)
"I hold it to be one of the greatest absurdities under heaven to think that there is any religion in keeping of Christmas" (Spurgeon,taken from The New Park Street Pulpit and was originally preached on Sunday morning, December 23, 1855).
"When it can be proved that the observance of Christmas, Whitsuntide, and other Popish festivals was ever instituted by a divine statute, we also will attend to them, but not till then. It is as much our duty to reject the traditions of men, as to observe the ordinances of the Lord. We ask concerning every rite and rubric, 'Is this a law of the God of Jacob?' and if it be not clearly so, it is of no authority with us, who walk in Christian liberty." (Spurgeon, David on Psalm 81:4)
If the practice did not originate in the apostolic church and was so much disputed in later years ;then what is the origin of this practice?