Christmas tree - Good or bad

At the end of the day, whatever is not of faith is sin so if you can't celebrate Christmas without feeling or being convicted them dont. I think it is up to the individual and God.

it took me years after being saved to give up the tree and the materialism aspect of christmas. Our sanctification is a process, some may not be there yet. We all need to be gentle of where people are at though as we are one in Christ .

WrappedUpinHisLove3 said:

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Well none of us are qualified to preach then as none of us is without sin. We are not to sin wilfully but none of us are qualified except by the righteousness Jesus has imputed to us.

we have to wait until we are good enough to preach the gospel? It's a new one on me

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I believe we are initially and foundationally saved by God's grace through faith in Christ, but I believe Titus 2:11-12 when it says that this grace teaches us to deny ungodliness that we should live righteously, and godly in this present world.

WrappedUpinHisLove3 said:

At the end of the day, whatever is not of faith is sin so if you can't celebrate Christmas without feeling or being convicted them dont. I think it is up to the individual and God.

it took me years after being saved to give up the tree and the materialism aspect of christmas. Our sanctification is a process, some may not be there yet. We all need to be gentle of where people are at though as we are one in Christ .

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Yes, I am not expecting the new convert to get it the day they first accepted Christ. I do realize that it takes time for believers to mature in Christ to accept things like this.

Bible Highlighter said:

I believe we are initially and foundationally saved by God's grace through faith in Christ, but I believe Titus 2:11-12 when it says that this grace teaches us to deny ungodliness that we should live righteously, and godly in this present world.

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Oh yes, we should be using the salvation which is ours to glorify God , definitely. Our salvation is sure but we are saved unto doing good works .

Bible Highlighter said:

Yes, I am not expecting the new convert to get it the day they first accepted Christ. I do realize that it takes time for believers to mature in Christ to accept things like this.

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But you and i, we can pray for those people who don't yet have that conviction. To pray turnout brothers and sisters as at the end of the day we are united in Him. Quietly prayer and living a gentle quiet example accomplishes much

Isilwen said:

Wish I still had my grandfather's tree! It was a great tree. You actually had to put the branches into holes in the "trunk" instead of what they have today where it's on hinges and just falls down and you can never really fluff it to look nice. My grandfather's required very little fluff to make it look like a full tree.

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My grandmother's tree has a steel base with metal slats. The tree is divided into four sections. You slide them into the slats and you're done. It takes 10-15 minutes to put up.

I purchased my mother one like you described. The base was wood. I went to a Christmas tree store. The branches were green and white to simulate snowfall. I got it years ago and it was $229 after the holidays. Balsam Hill is your best bet for something good.

Yours in His Service,

~Bella

Bible Highlighter said:

I did not arrive on planet Earth yesterday. I used to celebrate Christmas, and I really enjoyed it.
But my enjoyment and God's enjoyment are two different things. Am I focused on what just makes me happy in this life, or am I concerned with making God happy?

Please research the pagan origins of Christmas on Google, and YouTube. At least know that is pagan. If after you see that is pagan, and you simply do not care, then go right ahead and knock yourself out. I do not want to do anything that my Lord would find offensive.

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So, if people here don't agree with you, they're offending God.

Okay.

Bible Highlighter said:

But nobody really does that. Nobody really celebrates and worships Christ on Christmas day.

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Really? NOBODY? Nobody? That's really the argument you want to stand on here?

Bible Highlighter said:

Christmas trees are widely associated with the Christian holiday, but their origins are far from the Christ-worshipping standards they represent today. Evergreens, plants that stay green year-round, have been celebrated in many cultures for hundreds of years but Americans were not always accepting of the tradition.

Christmas trees did begin as a pagan tradition as early as the fourth century C.E., according to ABC News. European pagans were largely responsible for dressing their homes with the branches of evergreen fir trees in order to bring color and light into their dull winters. But pagans weren't the only people to do this. Romans also used the branches for decoration during the festival of Saturnalia, which took place from December 17 to December 23 in honor of the God Saturn.

Because of their pagan roots, American settlers were not quick to jump on the Christmas tree trend. German settlers were the first to introduce the indoor evergreen to the new country, but it didn't go over smoothly, according to the History Channel.

Source:
Are Christmas trees pagan? Inside the decoration's American history

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And absolutely nothing you've stated here translates to a Christmas tree being an idol.

Bible Highlighter said:

I know people who go to church and sing songs, but is that true worship? Is just singing to God on Christmas the true worship of our Lord? How can it be when Christmas has many elements that are pagan? Do most Christians you know get excited to worship Christ on Christmas, or are they more for the gift exchange and the food, and the time off?

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How about speaking for yourself instead of everyone else?

I get excited to observe the miraculous, wondrous, glorious birth of Jesus.

With a Christmas tree.

Bible Highlighter said:

Yes, I am not expecting the new convert to get it the day they first accepted Christ. I do realize that it takes time for believers to mature in Christ to accept things like this.

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Ah, we poor, lost, deluded, immature believers! With our pagan idol trees! WOE TO US!

WrappedUpinHisLove3 said:

I do agree with that in a day-to-day if you are convicted that something is a sin for you then you shouldn't do it and you should stick with that regardless of what family or friends say.

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This is his problem though. His convictions become everyone's convictions in his mind. Whatever he is convicted of he extrapolates to everyone else.

He cannot separate that somethings that may be sin for him, may not be sin for someone else.

Bèlla said:

My grandmother's tree has a steel base with metal slats. The tree is divided into four sections. You slide them into the slats and you're done. It takes 10-15 minutes to put up.

I purchased my mother one like you described. The base was wood. I went to a Christmas tree store. The branches were green and white to simulate snowfall. I got it years ago and it was $229 after the holidays. Balsam Hill is your best bet for something good.

Yours in His Service,

~Bella

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Thank you! I will take a look.

Kav said:

So I wanted to know what everyone here thinks about it. (Sorry this was a long one)

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Hello! Just my perspective. From the date given in the book of Luke for Zechariah being in the temple it's possible to work out when Jesus was born. It equates to the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles in September, which makes sense given that Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the prophets. I don't believe that any of the Old Testament Feasts are in December.

How the Western World came to celebrate Jesus birthday on 25th December could probably be debated for a long long time with no end in sight.

There is a Pagan mid winter festival in December, the Feast of Yule. Many of it's features have been directly incorporated into the modern Christmas experience. There are many features of Christmas which have nothing to do with Jesus or the bible, flying reindeer for example.

It's also complicated that many if not most of the people who celebrate the Christmas Festival annually have no interest in Jesus or Christianity. It is a festival now associated with consumerism and excess, the 'Christian' elements of which have been steadily elbowed out over many years.

At Christmas I believe Church attendance increases slightly, as does alcohol abuse, DUI, domestic violence complaints and the number of very long and outdated movies on TV. As sadly does the suicide rate.

Christmas Trees seem to be a popular feature of Christmas, the origins of which churches and Christians can't agree on. It clearly isn't a feature of worship encouraged in the bible.

Some people say the church deliberately incorporated elements of paganism into such festivals to make Christianity more palatable to pagan communities as the church became a state church. A history perhaps churches can't agree on, but there may be some clear anecdotal evidence that it is true in some of what I mentioned above.

So perhaps 25 December is just a popular traditional festival with no biblical authority.

Some Christians perhaps enjoy it and have happy memories of it, some perhaps find it objectionable. Personally I would say that no-one should be compelled to celebrate or not to celebrate it. Follow your conscience. Everyone will give an account of themselves to God one day.

For those who think it's a Pagan festival that should be repented of, I think it's too ingrained in Western Church culture now to be thrown out.

But I would say to remember that although Christmas is a happy time for many, for others it is a very miserable time. For lonely, poor or depressed people it can be a living hell. So we must remember our Lord's instruction, whatever we did for the least of these we did for him.

God Bless

Bèlla said:

Balsam Hill is your best bet for something good.

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No luck. All they have are hinged. The hooked ones seem to be going out of style because no one wants to take the time to put them up as they take longer. I prefer to take my time with them and do it branch by branch as I get it to look the way I want it to.

Been looking on Google too and not really seeing anything. There was one company, but they are all sold out.

Isilwen said:

No luck. All they have are hinged. The hooked ones seem to be going out of style because no one wants to take the time to put them up as they take longer. I prefer to take my time with them and do it branch by branch as I get it to look the way I want it to.

Been looking on Google too and not really seeing anything. There was one company, but they are all sold out.

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I grew up with the old hook trees, too! Such memories

Kav said:

So back in 2010/2011 I was seeking God about whether it was okay to have a Christmas tree put up or not. I would see Christmas trees put up in the church that I was attending at the time, so I figured it was okay and didn’t think anything of it, until one day someone said something about it maybe offending people, and that’s what made me wonder.

I was praying one night asking God about it, and as I was ending my prayer, I heard a voice that said, “Idolatry”. (I’ve never told anybody but my husband, mom, and a friend b/c ppl would probably think I’m nuts or not believe that God spoke to me).
I have read in the bible about how they would cut down trees and carve out images/idols and adorn them w/ gold and things to worship. So I have not been putting a Christmas Tree up since God spoke to me that night.

I have now been seeking him about the same thing b/c I have heard/read from different pastors and Christians that it is not wrong to have a Christmas Tree.
So I wanted to know what everyone here thinks about it. (Sorry this was a long one)

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Stick to what you heard God tell you during prayer. "Idolatry"

tampasteve said:

Are you worshiping the tree? If you are not then it is not an idol. They are merely a cultural article of a holiday. They don't carry any real religious significance any longer, except for maybe the star or angel on top. If you are not comfortable having one based on their original pagan significance then that is fine, but they are not idols and we don't worship them.

But if you are throwing out things based on an original pagan origin then there are many aspects of the faith that have been influenced or developed from pagans that will need to be addressed. Those things had their meaning changed and adapted to a Christian motif, which helped convert pagans to Christianity. They don't hold their original pagan meanings or influences any longer.

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Unfortunate for those who are caught in the trap of using Christmas trees or any other object in their worship of G-d, scripture is clear that we aren't to worship G-d in the ways of the nations who served theirs, but rather we are seek out G-d and His ways:

Deuteronomy 12:4
You must not worship the Lord your God in their way.

Clearly the prohibition here is not just talking about worshipping trees, but far beyond to even using them in the worship of G-d; or for that matter, any ways of worship of other gods may not be used in the worship of G-d, unless G-d himself proscribes it. So even the approach by some missionaries to turn pagan means of worship into means of worshipping G-d, is forbidden, and such will have to have be held to account in the World to Come for doing so.

One of my fave things to do at Christmas is decorate our tree!