| Christian Apologetics A forum to discuss the systematic defense of the Christian belief system with other Christians. |
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View Poll Results: Do you believe the Christmas Tree is a form of Idolatry? | |
Yes.
|     | 13 | 16.88% | |
No.
|    | 64 | 83.12% |
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17th November 2008, 01:34 PM
|  | charity crocheter
     
| | Join Date: 20th February 2004 Location: East Tenn.
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Reps: 47,869,504,486,311 (power: 47,869,504,497) | | Originally Posted by gjpogiatzis  the Bible implicitly condemns Christmas trees in the Bible in Jeremiah 10:2-6, for it highly resembles one of the ancient idols worshipped by the Jews, the tree cut out of the forest, decked with silver & gold, & fastened with nails. See my website "PRIMARY PROOF OF THE BIBLE" (type that in Google search engine) for a discussion of the tree & how even Santa Claus are inventions of Satan Claws to turn you away from Christ & His Word (the website even shows how the Bible demonstrates God's foreknowledge of 9/11, for instance in the destruction of the Tower of Babylon the tallest building in the world in the first 9 verses of Genesis 11 at the time when there is a world language). Conspiracy theories and devils under every doily. Sorry, I've got more important things to do.
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"If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." Galations 5:15
"...a vice does not lose its nature, though it becomes ever so fashionable" -John Wesley
"To study too much in retreat can become an inexcusable indulgence. It behooves us to share what we have learned, to practice in administering to others what we have gathered from our experience with books" -the Brother Superior of the Glauxian Brothers of the Northern Kingdoms |
17th November 2008, 01:51 PM
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 | | Join Date: 19th September 2008
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Reps: 10 (power: 0) | | Originally Posted by Yarddog There is nothing in these verses having to do anything with the Christmas tree. An idol, made out of wood and adorn with silver and gold and fasten with nails so they may dangle has no connection with the Christmas tree.
Jeremiah 10
1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the LORD: Learn not the customs of the nations, and have no fear of the signs of the heavens, though the nations fear them. 3 For the cult idols of the nations are nothing, wood cut from the forest, Wrought by craftsmen with the adze, 4 adorned with silver and gold. With nails and hammers they are fastened, that they may not totter. 5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, they cannot speak; They must be carried about, for they cannot walk. Fear them not, they can do no harm, neither is it in their power to do good. 6 No one is like you, O LORD, great are you, great and mighty is your name. 7 Who would not fear you, King of the nations, for it is your due! Among all the wisest of the nations, and in all their domain, there is none like you. 8 One and all they are dumb and senseless, these idols they teach about are wooden: An idol is an object made to be worshipped. It is a God in the minds of those doing the worshipping. A Christmas tree is a decoration used during the Christmas season when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It is God whom Christians worship, not a decorated tree.
Yarddog
Those verses do have to do with the Christmas tree, for that tree is an idol which people worship (highly adore) because of how pretty it looks, just like all the other people/things I mention on my website "PRIMARY PROOF OF THE BIBLE" including the Beatles (whose rise is predicted in Revelation 9, as is shown on my website) & Elvis. We need to worship God alone.  |
17th November 2008, 01:54 PM
|  | elman
69
| | Join Date: 19th December 2003 Location: Texas
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Reps: 220,956,897,910 (power: 220,956,920) | | 1. The first Christmas tree was found in the garden.
Genesis is a story told for the purposes of teaching things to us about the spiritual realm. No mention of Christmas tree. 2. It is a form of idolatry.
Not unless you are bowing and praying to it. 3. It is closely associated with paganism.
Not a problem. 4. Satan uses it as a force of evil.
Satan is not real and no tree is evil. Only humans are evil when they are unloving toward each other. 5. The Bible doesn’t support its use.
Neither it nor automobiles. 6. The origin of Hanukkah threw the tree out of the temple.
different tree and so what? 7. When you put a clean thing with an unclean thing, you get dirty.
It is only the pine needles and you can clean them up.
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I believe in a loving Creator who created us for the purpose of being capable of receiving and responding to the love of the Creator. Our first gift of life is temporary. If we attempt to fulfill our purpose of loving others, we have the hope of receiving a second gift of eternal life. There is no pain in the after life. If we do not receive the second gift, we are simply left with the first gift and will not exist after we die. |
17th November 2008, 02:29 PM
|  | Junior Member
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| | Join Date: 25th June 2008 Location: Louisville, Ky
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Reps: 67,409,741,442,894 (power: 67,409,741,445) | | Originally Posted by gjpogiatzis Those verses do have to do with the Christmas tree, for that tree is an idol which people worship (highly adore) because of how pretty it looks, just like all the other people/things I mention on my website "PRIMARY PROOF OF THE BIBLE" including the Beatles (whose rise is predicted in Revelation 9, as is shown on my website) & Elvis. We need to worship God alone.
What occurs in your mind is not not what is occurring in most peoples minds when they put up Christmas trees. They will not be judged by what you mistakenly preceive.
The Christmas tree was never intended to be a god as what Jeremiah 10 was referring to. It is a decoration and in no way fits into those verses, unless, a specific individual decides to worship it.
I, for one, have and will put up a Christmas tree during the Christmas season. I will not, in any way, worship that tree. I am sure most people will agree that they only worship God, during Christmas and all other holidays which some people decide to toss in false accusations of idol worship.
Yarddog |
17th November 2008, 02:41 PM
| | charity crocheter
| | Join Date: 20th February 2004 Location: East Tenn.
Posts: 5,452
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Reps: 47,869,504,486,311 (power: 47,869,504,497) | | Originally Posted by gjpogiatzis Those verses do have to do with the Christmas tree, for that tree is an idol which people worship (highly adore) because of how pretty it looks, just like all the other people/things I mention on my website "PRIMARY PROOF OF THE BIBLE" including the Beatles (whose rise is predicted in Revelation 9, as is shown on my website) & Elvis. We need to worship God alone. Revelation 9? I thought it was Revolution 9. 
Honestly, where do you get this stuff? Don't you have anything worthwhile to do?
PS.. I won't be putting up a tree this year, but only because it is our year to travel to another state for Christmas with the families. |
17th November 2008, 03:01 PM
| | It was for freedom that Christ set us free...
52
| | Join Date: 4th December 2003
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Reps: 1,737,363 (power: 1,743) | | | Well, our family just bought a new idol this weekend because the old one was looking shabby. Er, I mean Christmas tree (I always get them mixed up). Besides, without a tree, the presents would just sit there in the middle of the living room and everyone would trip over them.
Thanksgiving is our families time to get together exchange gifts and enjoy time together. On Christmas day, we have a dinner, free to all who will come. We do it especially for travelers away from home, college students who can't make it home or just anyone who is without family. We put out flyers and invite them to be part of our family.
We worship God and remember what Christ did for us, every single day of the year. Not just one or two or 52, everyday. |
17th November 2008, 03:34 PM
| | Regular Member
| | Join Date: 17th November 2008
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Reps: 1,726,403,466,190 (power: 1,726,403,468) | | Originally Posted by elman Not unless you are bowing and praying to (the xmas tree). Originally Posted by Nadiine If people worshipped THE tree, then yes, you'de have idolatry. Originally Posted by Yarddog I will not, in any way, worship that tree. Y'all seem to have failed to comprehend the gist of what I have posted. Are you aware of the difference between the literal and the metaphorical? I'm afraid that if you cannot see the metaphorical imagery, you are missing my point.
-- much more to follow --
Last edited by Eph4:26; 17th November 2008 at 03:46 PM.
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17th November 2008, 03:45 PM
| | Regular Member
| | Join Date: 17th November 2008
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Reps: 1,726,403,466,190 (power: 1,726,403,468) | | Originally Posted by Yarddog >>1. The first Christmas tree was found in the garden.
Where?
God made a law . . . .
Genesis 2:16 17 -- of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat - But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it.
Eve broke it.
And what was the real power that was promised to Eve by Satan when she committed sin?
Genesis 3:1
And (Satan) said to (Eve) . . .
Genesis 3:5
"For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Paul warns of the danger of such tree worship . . .
2 Cor 11:3
But I (Paul) am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity {of devotion} to Christ.
And what is the simplicity and devotion of Christ? The Gospel, which is the resurrection. Coming to life after dying.
Luke 9:23 -
And (Jesus) was saying to {them} all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
The battle between God and Satan is Death to Self vs. Fulfilling Self. The christmas tree, in my opinion, metaphorically represents the tree in the garden because it promises the lie of fulfilling self. |
17th November 2008, 03:50 PM
|  | Undercover Agent of Change
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Reps: 5,533,017,229,401,209 (power: 5,533,017,229,410) | | Originally Posted by Eph4:26 The 7 Deadly Sins Of The Christmas Tree
1. The first Christmas tree was found in the garden.
2. It is a form of idolatry.
3. It is closely associated with paganism.
4. Satan uses it as a force of evil.
5. The Bible doesn’t support its use.
6. The origin of Hanukkah threw the tree out of the temple.
7. When you put a clean thing with an unclean thing, you get dirty.
Right. Well, let me give you a defense for the use of the Christmas tree in and of itself:
- How was it found in the garden? How do you know this, and how is that a sin? Man was also in the garden, as were animals. Are we to avoid them as well?
- How is putting presents under a tree idolatry? How is the use of a tree for a practical and decorative purpose idolatry? How is the celebration of Jesus' birth sinful?
- Easter is also associated with pagan ideas. So is All Saint's Day and many other Christian holidays. Does that mean we should not celebrate them? Just because something CAN be used in a way that defies God's laws does not mean that something should be avoided- usually the sinful ways you can use them is to be avoided.
- Satan uses MANY things for evil. Are we to avoid everything Satan can use to get at people simply because he uses it?
- The Bible also does not support the use of laptops, planes, overhead projectors, swords, knives, guns, stun guns, electricity, phones, or any other modern conveniences we have today. Does that make them sinful as well?
- We're Christians, not Jews. Why should we conform to Jewish tradition?
- Jesus took care of the cleanliness laws on the cross. And where does it say in the Law that Christmas trees are unclean? How are things 'unclean' equal to things that are 'sin'?
In short, I fail to see what is so sinful about a tradition that can bring families together.
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17th November 2008, 04:10 PM
| | charity crocheter
| | Join Date: 20th February 2004 Location: East Tenn.
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Reps: 47,869,504,486,311 (power: 47,869,504,497) | | Originally Posted by Eph4:26 Y'all seem to have failed to comprehend the gist of what I have posted. Are you aware of the difference between the literal and the metaphorical? I'm afraid that if you cannot see the metaphorical imagery, you are missing my point.
-- much more to follow -- Maybe the fault lies not with our comprehension, but with your metaphor. Therefore, we did not miss the point - you missed the target.
__________________
"If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." Galations 5:15
"...a vice does not lose its nature, though it becomes ever so fashionable" -John Wesley
"To study too much in retreat can become an inexcusable indulgence. It behooves us to share what we have learned, to practice in administering to others what we have gathered from our experience with books" -the Brother Superior of the Glauxian Brothers of the Northern Kingdoms | | |
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