Expert: Mel and Guyna Horne - 12/1/2006

Question
My son in law says that according to the bible we should not have a Christmas tree? where would that be in the the bible?
Thanks
Brenda

Answer
Hi Brenda,
  
Jeremiah 10:2-4 describes going into the forest and selecting a tree, cutting it with an axe, using hammer and nails to fasten it so that it stands upright, and decorating it with silver and gold.
  "Thus says the Lord, Learn [Heb. "lamad" - learn, be taught, teach, train, instruct] not the way [Heb. "derek" - way, manner, journey, path, habit, course of life] of the heathen [Heb. "gowy" -heathen, nations, Gentiles, animals], and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
For the customs [Heb. "chuqqah" -statutes, ordinances, customs, rites, "i.e. idolatry"] of the people are vain [Heb. "hebel", breath, hot air]: for one cuts 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."  

[All scriptures are from the KJV. Hebrew word definitions are from http://www.blueletterbible.org ]

 Verses 5-7 contrast having "fear" (Heb. "yare" - reverence, in awe of, respect, honor, fear) of God versus "fear" (-reverence, respect, honor) of the decorated tree as an idol or as a representative of false gods, or as representing worship of the true God or Christ.
 "They [the decorated trees] are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them [the trees]; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
  Forasmuch as there is none like unto you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.
 Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you does it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto you."

 Verse 8 "But they [all the wise men of the nations, v.7 above] are altogether brutish [Heb. "baar" -to be stupid, brutish, barbarous] and foolish [Heb. "kacal" - foolish, stupid] : the stock [Heb. "ets"- tree] is a doctrine of vanities [Heb. "hebel" -breath, hot air]."

 Verse 9 talks about expensive decorations of silver, gold, and expensive fabrics.
  Verses 10-12 contrasts false gods to the true God.
  Verses 14-15 talks about the foolishness of man in making graven images

 V. 14,  "Every man is brutish ["baar" -stupid] in his knowledge: every founder [Heb. "tsaraph" -one who refines or creates the idol] is confounded [Heb. "yabesh" -to dry up, wither, shame, be ashamed] by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood [Heb. "sheqer" -lie, deception, falsehood, deceit, fraud, wrong, deceitful], and there is no breath in them."
 V. 15, "They are vanity ["hebel" - hot air], and the work of errors [Heb. "tatua" -delusions, mockery]: in the time of their visitation [Heb. "p_quaddah" - punishment, judgment] they shall perish [Heb. "abad" - perish, die, be exterminated, blot out, cause to vanish]."

 Verse 20 talks about God's children abandoning him, "my children are gone forth of me, and they are not [Heb. "natah" - outstretched, turned away, pervert]:"
  "My tabernacle is spoiled, . . . there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.", a reference to the "tabernacle" in which God dwelled among the camp of Israel.  In other words, people who should know better, are not being responsive to God and that cuts them off and prevents him from coming near them.

 Why?
V. 21, "For the pastors [Heb. "ra'ah" - pastors, shepherds, {religious} rulers, {religious} teachers] are become brutish ["baar" -stupid], and have not sought the Lord: therefore they shall not prosper [Heb. "sakal" -have understanding, insight, wisdom comprehension], and all their flocks [Heb. "mir'iyth" -flock {congregation}] shall be scattered [Heb. "puwts" -scatter, disperse, dash to pieces]."

 Verse 23 says we should not rely on our own understanding.
 Verse 24 is an example of asking God for correction lest we become "nothing".

  Some attempt to justify adopting pagan customs and traditions by claiming that they are "capturing traditions for Christ". There is no scripture that supports this concept. Rather there are scriptures giving principles that show that God does not approve of imitating or adopting any pagan superstitions and traditions.
  
  Deu. 4:2 "You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish [anything] from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you."
  Deu. 12:32 "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it."
  Rev. 22:18-19 "For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

 Some attempt to justify ignoring the scriptures in Jeremiah by saying that since Christ was not yet born, Jeremiah was not talking about a "Christmas tree". What God inspired Jeremiah to write was a prohibition of "the way of the heathen" (Jer. 10:2), which includes the origins of the modern "Christ's mass".
 Modern pagans still celebrate the original "holidays":
 "On about December 21st of each year, Aborigines, academics, astroarchaeologists, Atheists, Celts, Druids, historians, Native Americans, Pagans, Shamans, Wiccans, Witches, etc., the world over will be celebrating the world's oldest holiday, the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere, the Winter Solstice."

 For the orgins of "Christmas" and related traditions, see:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas
http://www.religioustolerance.org/winter_solstice.htm

  On a related subject, Christ was born in the fall of the year, when the shepherds could still be "abiding in the fields" with their flocks (Luke 2:8). Winters in Israel involve cold, rain, snow and ice. Shepherds pastured their flocks from April to October, but during the rainy months, took them home and sheltered them.

  "Keeping watch-by night.] Or, as in the margin, keeping the watches of the night, i.e. each one keeping a watch (which ordinarily consisted of three hours) in his turn. The reason why they watched them in the field appears to have been, either to preserve the sheep from beasts of prey, such as wolves, foxes, &c., or from freebooting banditti, with which all the land of Judea was at that time much infested. It was a custom among the Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts, about the passover, and bring them home at the commencement of the first rain: during the time they were out, the shepherds watched them night and day. As the passover occurred in the spring, and the first rain began early in the month of Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October and November, we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole of the summer.
And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could he have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground the nativity in December should be given up. The feeding of the flocks by night in the fields is a chronological fact, which casts considerable light upon this disputed point. See the quotations from the Talmudists in Lightfoot."
(Adam Clarke's Commentary on Luke 2:8)

  "But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24).

   We hope that this helps. If you have further questions, feel free to write anytime.
   Sincerely,
   Mel and Guyna

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