Question:
Follow the bible? What about the evil Christmas trees?
Reptilia
2007-11-23 09:46:13 UTC
After reading another members post about Jeremiah 10...


"Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good."

I have to wonder! If you are to follow the bible, why is this little passage disgregarded?
35 answers:
anonymous
2007-11-23 09:54:23 UTC
I do follow the Bible and believe in Jesus.(not JW either) I don't disregard that passage. I don't celebrate the Pagan festival of Christmas AKA winter solstice AKA Festival to the sun god.



Most people ignore that passage because they don't want to give up their holidays due to the positive memories they have as a child of this time. It is hard for people to give up what has been pleasurable in the past.



We celebrate Hanukkah but we include Jesus in it. We really enjoy the time with family and playing dreydel. At least this was a holiday that didn't come from a foreign god.
organbuilder272
2007-11-23 10:11:55 UTC
Actually if you follow the bible you would sell your daughters and stone a misbehaving son to death. No one mentioned that.



Lets get to the christmas trees. These were introduced long after the original bible was written. When the new testament was written, Germany and Scandanavia were not known and the tree was part of a pagan ritual. That passage then, was added to the bible as a convenience for fundamentalists.



But since christmas and all the trappings, most of which are pagan, are convenient, good for business, are "Traditional" fundamentalists whould not dare to attack such an institution. Remember that what is good (Acceptable) for the fundies is good for everyone. As long as christmas brings people and money into their churches they will not move to remove the pagan rituals and symbols.



The tree, wreath, snow and a blond haired, blue eyed Jew whom they worship above god himself. Who ever heard of a blond jew with blue eyes with holes in his hands that defies roman practive of putting the nail through the wrist. It is all convenient.



By the way - the christmas tree and wreath was inducted into the christmas ritual by the catholic church so that pagans would be more willing to "Convert". The christians - who do not consider catholics being christians, stole the idea for their own convenience and profit. Talk about hypocrisy....



As for passages in the bible, they are selective in their application.
anonymous
2016-04-05 08:53:10 UTC
I do not know the shape or fruit of the tree in the Garden of Eden, which God told Adam and Eve not to eat. The Christmas Tree to me seems to represent the burning bush that Moses encountered in Midian where God spoke to him. In the First and Second Temple Sanctuaries in Jerusalem, pre 70AD, there was a golden lamp stand called a Menorah. The Jews believed the seven-branched candelabrum, represented the burning bush of the Lord and His seven divine spirits. Godspeed.
thundercatt9
2007-11-23 09:55:00 UTC
An important key to understanding any passage is to pay careful attention to its context. Verses 2 through 4 of Jeremiah 10 are part of a larger context. That larger context is verses 1 through 16. In these verses Jeremiah proclaims the Lord as the only God. "No one is like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. Who should not revere you, O King of the nations? This is your due.... The Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King.... God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding" (verses 6-7, 10, 12, NIV).



The gods that pagans worship are nothing compared to the Lord. Verses 8 and 9 speak of "worthless wooden idols" on which workmen place hammered silver and gold, and rich apparel.



Jeremiah is not condemning Christmas trees. He is condemning idolatry. The trees in Jeremiah 10 are cut down to carve them into worthless idols that will later be decorated with gold and silver. Jeremiah says nothing about Christmas trees. That custom originated in northern Europe, not in ancient Palestine.
Suzanne: YPA
2007-11-23 09:54:51 UTC
You're misapplying Scripture. This passage may sound like it pertains to Christmas trees, but in fact it does not. There are other passages in the Bible that clarify what God was REALLY referring to when He spoke through Jeremiah: idols that were fashioned into objects occuring in nature, which were then worshipped.



Isaiah 40:18 To whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare to Him?

19 The workman molds an image,

The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,

And the silversmith casts silver chains.

20 Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution

Chooses a tree that will not rot;

He seeks for himself a skillful workman

To prepare a carved image that will not totter.



So as long as a person doesn't worship the tree and worships God instead, everything is fine. AGAIN -- God is speaking about idolatry here, NOT Christmas trees, which aren't worshipped.



Col. 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
KryptonOne
2007-11-26 10:46:54 UTC
Christians disregard way more of the bible than this.



They pick and choose whatever fits what they want.



There is also a passage about not celebrating pagan holidays. So really they should throw out christmas, easter, and halloween altogether
Steve Husting
2007-11-23 12:00:44 UTC
You must consider the context. The trees in Jeremiah 10 were seen as deities, as gods, by the Israelites. God is telling the Jews not to follow the practices of idol worship.



"They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not:" These man-made idols cannot even speak to them, yet they worship them! "they must needs be borne, because they cannot go." These false idols need human help to move around! "Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good." The true God talks to them, moves with them, and does good to them. But the Israelites had turned against the true God who saved them.



Since Christians already know there is only one God, they are free to decorate a tree in their rooms as a thing of beauty.
mw
2007-11-23 10:21:26 UTC
I posted that post



Yes it is speaking of ; comparison of God and idols

Christmas is idolized

The symbol we use to idolize it is The Tree



If in Jeremiahs time that custom didn't exist

where did he come up with it? A dream,a vision?



Jer 10:8 But they are brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of Vanities
YUHATEME
2007-11-23 09:59:57 UTC
Strong's Greek Lexicon Search Results



Result of search for "heathen":



1484. ethnos eth'-nos probably from 1486; a race (as of the same habit), i.e. a tribe; specially, a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually, by implication, pagan):--Gentile, heathen, nation, people.







1Cr 10:20 But I [say], that the things which the Gentiles (heathens) sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to Yahweh: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with demons.





1Cr 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of Yahweh, and the cup of demons: ye cannot be partakers of Yahweh's table, and of the table of demons.



Christmas is devil worship!



What The Bible Says About Pagan Holidays!



Yechetzqyah 16:2-3—

2 Son of man, make Yerusalem realize her abominations,

3 And say; This is what Father Yahweh says to Yerusalem: Your birth and your nativity are of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite."





Birth and Nativity?



The people of Israyl that Yechetzqyah was prophesying to were not Canaanites. Our father Abraham was a Mesopotamian from the land of Ur. He was speaking of God worship. The birth and nativity are as old as the history of the Holy Scriptures.



The father of this pagan God worship was Amorite. The Amorite means the high one. The First Dynasty of Babylon was Amorite. That Amorite—Babylonian dynasty fell to the Hittites when they conquered Babylon. The Hittites were the third most influential of ancient Peoples of the Middle East, rivaling the Egyptians and Mesopotamians. About 1550 B.C.E., the Hittites destroyed the Babylonian capital of the Great Amorite king, Hammurabi.



Unger's Bible Dictionary, page 493, tells us:



"Hittite religion is a grand medley of Egyptian and Babylonian deities. They transported Ishtar of Nineveh as far west as Asia Minor. Marduk, the patron god of Babylon, is said on one tablet to have gone to the land of the Hittites where he sat upon his throne for twenty-four years. With Egyptian deities they also assimilated the gods of Syria and Asia Minor. Hittites early dwelt in what later became prominent centers of early Christianity: Tarsus, Iconium, Lystra, etc. The famous Ephesian Diana may have been a Hittite Artemis. Hittite gods are frequently depicted astride the backs of animals or enthroned between them. However, they are not actually presented as animals. This was evidently the arrangement in Jeroboam's cultic calves at Dan and Bethel, with Jehovah invisibly enthroned. M.F.U."



As we have previously proven, the people throughout the known pagan world, including Babylon, Egypt, and Syria, all worshiped the sun and the moon through their Gods and Goddesses. Mother and child worship was prevalent. The rebirth of this child each year was manifested in the form of an evergreen tree.



Jer 2:20 ¶ For of old time I have broken thy yoke, [and] burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
johnkamfailee
2007-11-23 09:53:41 UTC
It will be a interested version of bible. Evil or holly are the standpoint of view. Those are not the reality. The reality is changing even the word reality is changing. If you can use evil to be enlightenmented, will be a good way to go but easily in the way of painful being karmas. Poison or medicine are the used of subject. If you don't know the use, medicine will be poison. If you know the use, poison will be medicine.

LAMOR AMITA
mary r
2007-11-23 10:02:00 UTC
This passage is speaking of the idols and images made from the wood, i.e. gods that the pagans worshipped. The passage is not referring to Christmas trees. The custom of Christmas trees is very young when compared to this passage.
anonymous
2007-11-23 09:53:19 UTC
Christmas for a time was a Christian holiday. Now, just as Christianity "stole" it from the Pagan ritual it originally was, modern secularism is taking it from the Christians. It is the natural order of things, and keeping parts of the Christian celebration in Christmas along with the tree will not be any less secular than keeping the tree is less Christian. It's part of being absorbed, some day Jesus will indeed take his proper place beside the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, and the Jack O'Lantern.
Chris Wirt
2013-11-15 07:46:00 UTC
Whether you have a Christmas tree in your house or not does not add to nor diminish God's love for you.



THINGS are not to be worshipped; only the living God as found in the Bible should be.



Things, objects, names, ideas that are not of God hold no sway whatsoever over those who are truly saved and are called to love, obey, and worship Him. If they did, then the power of Christ is at best a limited power. I do not believe in a limited God. His power is either total and indestructible or it is absolutely nothing.



True believers who put up a Christmas tree know for the most part the pagan origins of the tree. They also love God with all their heart soul and mind. And they are called to worship Him.



Even if He finds someone's attempt to worship Him detestable with bringing in pagan objects, He corrects those He loves but does not destroy them (read Ezekiel 5 as an example, but pay close attention to verse 9; read the whole passage in its context).



People who are upset about Christmas are correct in their Biblical studies and findings. However, I also believe with all my heart that is not all there is to it. Knowledge comes from a desire to know things. Knowledge is NOT power, as our society has been trained to believe. It is simply a tool. Wisdom comes from love, as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.



Remember not just I Corinthians 8:1, but also verses 2 and 3 as well, for those of you who get really wrapped up in this issue (and no, this is not just about food offered to idols... it is a fundamental statement of faith and leadership).



I put up a tree in my house each year not to worship a foreign god, not even necessarily to worship Jesus but simply because I think it's pretty. I am aware of Odin's fir oak tree. No, the Christmas tree does NOT go back to Jeremiah 10 (PLEASE re-read that passage carefully, it is an explanation of how wooden idols are procured and made). I honestly believe that if you are truly saved, objects, names, words that are not of God cannot harm you. Many of you will think I am foolish and naïve for saying that. That is your choice.



Finally, for those of you who get upset at the celebration of Jesus' birth, consider the example of rejoicing, yes, celebration, of Jesus' birth from Simeone and Anna as found in Luke 2: 25-38, as well as John the Baptist's proclamation found in Chapter 3.



Celebrate Christmas in your own way. Choose not to celebrate it at all, if you wish. But do it from love and wisdom as well as knowledge. Allow others to do the same.



May God's peace be upon you all.
music iz my life
2007-11-23 09:53:55 UTC
i agree and that's why for the last 6 years since i learned the same thing i haven't put up a Christmas tree. also i don't celebrate Halloween .
anonymous
2007-11-23 10:18:22 UTC
It's not disregarded.I don't drag a tree into my house and put pagan trimmings on it.Nor do I celebrate any holidays .
synopsis
2007-11-23 09:51:39 UTC
nobody had christmas trees in jeremiah's time (they are a late eighteenth century central european development).



jeremiah was talking about something else. (it is not too hard to work out what if you read the passage with an open mind).



if you suppose jeremiah was granted a prophetic vision of christmas trees for the purpose of anathematising them: i think you may just have qualified for honorary christian status.
anonymous
2007-11-23 09:57:39 UTC
Who cares. I want a picture of you on my Christmas tree.
anonymous
2007-11-23 10:05:03 UTC
I guess they forgot to take that out of it when they changed the beliefs to accommodate society. Good question tho.
TTC
2007-11-23 10:20:23 UTC
Suzanne is right on the money! Misapplied scriptures can cause unnecessary bondage
loveChrist
2007-11-23 09:58:27 UTC
Christmas should be the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. I agree that Christmas trees started out from pagans as did the easter egg hunt, however, i don't think that the Almighty is offended that we decorate for the celebration of His birth...as long as we recognize that is what we are celebrating and give Him thanks and praise.
anonymous
2007-11-23 09:56:43 UTC
This is awful - you somehow left out the part about "the craftsman shapes it with his chisel" - did you read that and intentionally leave it out?

They are talking about carving a tree into a idol - nothing else. It is NOT about Christmas trees.

What is wrong with you?
wigginsray
2007-11-23 09:52:30 UTC
If you are treating the tree as an Idol, then it would be prohibited. Otherwise, it is of no consequence.



You could make a good argument that aren't really called to celebrate Christmas at all. We are called, however, to celebrate the Eucharist regularly.
anonymous
2007-11-23 09:51:38 UTC
The evil, bad, vile and abominable Christmas Tree eats bad little boys and girls if they don't regularly offer it presents. LOL.
The Nihilist
2007-11-23 10:06:02 UTC
interesting indeed. still there is the fact that there was worship of the tree, i really think that is the point here.



many people do not worship the tree they decorate.
Ms. Lady
2007-11-23 09:50:53 UTC
because of that....we don't have Christmas tree's. we make sure that we don't follow the pagan rituals. that's how it was when i was growing up and and that's how it is in my household.
anonymous
2007-11-23 09:51:05 UTC
That's Old Testament.



Read the New Testament which is the basis of Christianity.
anonymous
2007-11-23 09:49:22 UTC
Due to what it says in Jeremiah chapter ten I've never had a Christmas Tree in my house.



Pastor Art
MNgirl@thebeach
2007-11-23 09:53:54 UTC
What bible is that in?



Im pretty sure hes talking about the evil tiki huts...
DaddyBoy
2007-11-23 09:53:19 UTC
Good point...thanks.
anonymous
2007-11-23 11:20:54 UTC
That's scary.



I use a plastic one. Is that OK dear ?
Gyspy Soul
2007-11-23 09:53:39 UTC
I have not had a tree in my house for years, now that I read that...



I have to go get one!
Y!A P0int5 Wh0r3
2007-11-23 09:49:06 UTC
Good point!
freekin
2007-11-23 10:00:56 UTC
I don't know but you're hot!
darkdiva
2007-11-23 09:51:36 UTC
I wonder if you are following the bible, why you are dressed so provocatively for millions of people to get the wrong impression about what you're selling.
Ryan P
2007-11-23 09:50:48 UTC
Who cares.....but wow that is a cute picture of you!


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