Christmas, the Tree, Pagans and Faith

Christmas is right around the corner and every year we hear the same rhetoric. There is much opposition to this particular religious holiday from many people, secularist, atheist and others. Mainly from liberals that call for tolerance as long as it has nothing to do with Christianity,  Jesus or the Bible.

Christianity is under attack in this country and this year the same people come forward to speak out against the name of Christmas, the Christmas tree and other Christian symbols. To be honest, personally I do not believe that Christmas as we know it was celebrated by the early church or that the early church used a Christmas tree to commemorate the birth of Christ.

I can’t find anything in the Bible that teaches the believers to celebrate Christmas i.e. the birth of Christ as we traditionally do in many places around the world.  I do believe that it is a man-made holiday and that some aspects of it are rooted in ancient paganism, adopted by Constantine, who compromised with the world, mixing Christianity with Paganism.

Many books have been written about this subject and people have discussed this issue for many years. I don’t really care to go into too many details about this. Christmas has been a longstanding tradition and I’m not opposed to it.

Jesus wasn’t born on Dec 25th but since no one knows the exact date, the world settled on that date. The world celebrates Christmas and it has become nothing more than a commercial holiday,  especially over the last few decades.

I participate in the celebration of Christmas with the family and the exchange of gifts etc. and I do enjoy a decorated tree in my living room, but I firmly believe that the only Holidays the Lord cares about are His seven divine appointed Feast which are: Passover, Unleavened bread, First fruits, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles.  Three of the Feast are in the Spring and four in the fall. Some could argue that Jesus may have been born during the feast of Tabernacles.

Those are the Holidays that we should learn and care about. Whenever God has done great things, He has many times done them on His divine appointed times. Jesus was crucified on Passover, He was in the tomb for Unleavened bread and rose on First fruits. The Holy Spirit inaugurated the church age on Pentecost. I believe that the rapture will happen on the feast of trumpets, the world will be judged on Yom Kippur and God will dwell with us on the Feast of Tabernacles.

Once again we will celebrate Christmas this year almost like the world celebrates it, with the one difference that we think of Jesus Who became flesh, dwelled among us and took our sins and nailed them to the cross.  We believe in Him by faith. Many Christians have Christmas trees in their homes and many churches display them these days. I used to have a problem with seeing a Christmas tree in the church, but I’m over it now.

Then there are those who believe that the tree is a pagan symbol and that the Bible speaks about it in the book of Jeremiah chapter 10. Louis Farrakhan, who I would not consider to be a biblical Christian in light of various statements he has made over the years and his antisemitic views. Farrakhan has come out again addressing the Christmas tree and points to a passage in Jeremiah. Many people have used these passages over the years to supposedly prove that God is against a decorated Christmas tree.

That of course is absolute nonsense and those passages have nothing to do with a Christmas tree or any other Christmas decorations.  Here is another classic example showing how people use certain passages or verse to twist it in order to fit their agenda and ideology.

“For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.” Jeremiah 10:3-5

Those verses clearly talk about people cutting a piece of wood, to make idols that they bowed down to and worshiped. The Israelites turned their backs many times on the Lord and worshiped pagan idols, decorating them with gold and silver. Many idols had a human likeness. Instead of worshiping and praising the true and living God, they bowed down to a dead piece of wood.

That is one thing God does not like, man making idols and bow down to them. Israel was punished many times because the turned to idols and today we as the church i.e the bride of Christ, need to be careful not to make idols or worship something that is not real. Some people worship wealth,  material things and themselves. There are three things that we need to guard against, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life.

There is nothing wrong with having some nice things, as long as they do not come before God. The Christmas tree is not an idol and I have not seen anyone bowing down to the tree or worship the tree.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, a time to reflect and realize that God send His Son, Who humbled Himself and left Heaven to become one of us, God in the flesh.

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14.