PDF EDITORIAL:
Christmas Without The Tree?
When I learned that the Bible refers to the decorating of chopped down trees as a heathen practice and that God forbids it, this was one of the great shocks of my life, and yet I was strangely relieved at the same time.
I can hear somebody already – “What in the world are you talking about?! We’ve always had a tree in our house at Christmas time, and we ain’t gonna stop now no matter what you say! Who are YOU anyway?”
Oh, how endeared all of us have become to the Christmas tree!
This is not a matter of controversy or popularity, but simple trust and obedience; Is the tradition I’ve always known and love right, or is God’s Word right?
Can Christmas still be Christmas without the tree?
While very few preachers who actually teach this or dare to speak on the subject, the argument is not with me but with God Himself:
“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 wormkman, with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. Jeremiah 10:2-4″
Even though this scripture doesn’t use the literal words ‘Christmas tree’ the practice of chopping down trees, fastening them to stand upright and decorating them with silver and gold is exactly what we do at Christmas time.
Why would God forbid such a seemingly ‘harmless’ act? Aren’t we honoring God and the birth of Jesus with the Christmas tree?
The context of Jeremiah 10 can be found by reading the verses before and after this passage. It’s dealing with the heathen practice of worshiping created things rather than or in addition to the Creator Himself, which is idolatry.
Evidently, there is an acceptable and unacceptable way to honor Him, and tree worship displeases the Master.
It’s been over 15 years now since I stopped assembling Christmas trees in my home, and I’ve come to find that while many (including loved ones) think I’m a crazy oddball from a cultish religion, celebrating the birth of Jesus is not about what we do or don’t do because it’s all about Him and the things that He says are important to HIM.
There are many ways for families & friends to come together, and for children to have a great time celebrating the birth of God’s Son without disobeying God’s Word. People need to find their own way of doing this by way of their personal and loving relationship with Him.
One thing I do know for sure; it makes no sense to ‘honor’ God by doing something that He says is offensive to Him. Not knowing any better is one thing, but to know better and STILL disobey? That’s just like going to the King of Kings’ birthday party and flipping Him off to His face. Where is the honor in that? He’s been too good for me to treat Him that way!
If you google ‘tree worship’ you’ll find it’s a huge pagan practice even today. In Jeremiah 10 God forbids His people from doing the things tree worshippers do by saying “learn not the way of the heathen.”
I don’t expect people who don’t read or believe their Bibles to see this, but if tree worship matters to God enough for Him to warn His people against it, should it not matter to His people?
This is a matter of an individual’s personal conviction after having read the scripture, meditated on it, prayed, asked God, and heard back from God about it….
I can tell you right now, God is not like us: He is not going to contradict Himself by saying it was wrong then, but it’s not wrong now. God’s Word changes not.
Whether we acknowledge it, recognize it or not, bowing and kneeling before the tree (i.e. to receive gifts that tree did not provide) is indeed symbolic of false worship.
It’s good to know why we do a thing….. I agree, on the surface decorating trees seems harmless. Let’s consider a few more things:
In view of this tradition, did God tell us to commemorate the birth of His Son this way, and if He did not – why do we do it? By the way we adamantly adhere to this tradition, you’d think God commanded us to do these things, and we would suffer great judgment if we don’t do these things. 
So far in scripture I have not found where God tells us to commemorate the birth of His Son with trees the way we do, but I have found where He says NOT to set up and decorate trees the way unbelievers do….
And in that same passage of scripture He explained the origins of this widely accepted tradition as being a pagan practice of idolatry. The Bible says we are in the world but not of the world; we don’t do the same things unbelievers do. For some people that’s good enough.
But if not, even if we have ‘good intentions’ by setting up decorated trees in our homes, God told us in Romans 14:13-16 not to put a stumbling block in our brother’s way, and not to let our good be evil spoken of.
The ones who don’t know any better will get the wrong impression and when we as Believing Christians do things that violate scripture knowingly, it becomes ‘double-wrong’ because now we are setting others up for a fall. This is why I taught my children what the Bible says, and stopped setting up trees in my home.
If we do the same things the heathen do, where is our witness, and how are we distinguished from them? We can’t take something that God says is sin and re-define it into something good.
What better way for the devil to have Christians advocate disobedience to God?
Be Blessed!
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As for myself. I can take or leave the tree. I do not however see the Christmas Tree as we use it today as heathen. It may have been that at one time, when the heathen worshiped the tree. However, we do not worship the tree. We worship the God that made the tree. How many of you are guilty of saying the old phrase, “Knock On Wood”? Do I have your attention? That comes from the heathen believing that playful spirits lived in the tree and if you were had plans and were standing near a tree when you said it, the spirits would come out and go ahead of you and foil your plans. So, heathen would knock on the wood of the tree so the spirit within couldn’t hear what they were planning. Now, are you sinning because you are practicing a heathen ritual?
I think not. It is what is in your heart. The prophet Jeremiah was giving an example that displeases God. We top that tree with a Christian or Jewish Star in honor of God. You split hairs if you like. We have bigger sins to worry about here. I think of it as taking lemons and turning them into lemonaid. We have takent a heathen practice and given it new meaning. Meaning that worships our Great Lord. We honor him. Many of us use artifical trees as well. We are not cutting them down. It was the meaning of what that did at the time. It doesn’t meant that anymore. How many of you eat colored or candy Easter Eggs? That is another story. Just my opinion. When I get to heaven, this will make interesting conversation. Love, Blessings and prayers, Ejay
Thank you for your response. However, I’m not waiting till we get to heaven to discuss this.
This post was not written to condemn anybody, but to see who would be convicted by what the scriptures had to say on the subject. Most people (seminary trained pastors and preachers included) don’t even know about Jeremiah 10 and God’s forbidden practice of tree worship.
If God says something was a sin then, why would it NOT be a sin now? God and His Word change not, and we can sin and not know we are committing sin until God shows us. The question is “Now what?”
Tree worshipers still exist today and when God said “learn not the way of the heathen” He is clearly saying that He doesn’t want us to do the things that they do.
You said we have bigger sins to worry about, but the size of a sin according to our human standards is irrelevant. The first of the 10 commandments: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Idolatry is right at the top of the list with God.
Sin is sin, and if the sin of tree worship matters to God enough for Him to warn His people about it in the Bible, it’s supposed to matter to His people.
You said that we have taken a heathen practice and given it a new meaning, but When did God ever tell us to take heathen practices and give them new meaning?
How do we change something God says is wrong, and make it right? Even if we have ‘good intentions’ by setting up decorated trees in our homes, God told us in Romans 14:13-16 not to put a stumbling block in our brother’s way, and not to let our good be evil spoken of because the ones who don’t know any better will get the wrong impression.
You say that setting up trees in our homes doesn’t mean the same thing now as it did then – according to who? – Who determines the meaning of sin? Since when do WE define or re-define what God says is sin? God and His Word change not.
Do you know the spirit from which you have spoken? This is nothing but faulty humanism at it’s best. God’s Word changes not.
This is a matter of an individual’s personal conviction after having read the scripture, meditated on it, prayed, asked God, and heard back from God about it.
I can tell you right now, God is not like us: He is not going to contradict Himself by saying it was wrong then, but it’s not wrong now. God’s Word changes not.
If God’s Word does not convict an individual on any issue, nothing else will.
Ugh, I was trying to keep my mouth shut on this one, but I totally agree with Ejay – it’s splitting hairs.
Jesus made wine that was far more potent than even the stuff they started with at the beginning of the night, don’t you think people got completely smashed because of it? He knew that people would get more intoxicated than they should, but it was to bless those people who would enjoy the wine and not abuse it.
The point is that God gives us the resources we have to use our mind to decide how best to use them and honor God.
Same with the tree, we don’t kneel to a false god when we bring a tree in to the house, but it is today a part of a tradition that honors Christ, (or in some households – Santa, but that’s another issue).
I have heard the Jewish star is an occultic symbol. If it was a Swastika, I would be concerned because everyone associates that symbol with Naziism. No one thinks about magic or demon worship when they look at the Jewish star, they think of Israel, controversy and the Palestinians if they are at least a little bit informed.
I also would like to say that Easter is in my mind more important than Christmas (and Jesus’s birth was in the Spring, but so what?), and eggs and bunnies are symbols of fertility which have nothing to do with Christ. But I’m not going to make a big issue of that either, but use that day as a tool to tell people about Christ and if they’re interested, tell them about the false connection between Ishtar and Christ – if it comes up.
There is my dollar’s worth of opinion.
Thanks for your dollar’s worth of opinion Marcel
And thanks for your comments about Easter/Ishtar. I agree with you there and if you like, let’s deal with that in detail another time.
What I have found interesting in all of the responses I’ve gotten so far about the tree is that no one uses scripture to back their stance.
So far in scripture I have not found where God tells us to commemorate the birth of His Son with trees the way we do, but I have found where He says NOT to set up and decorate trees the way unbelievers do.
And in that same passage of scripture He explained the origins of this widely accepted tradition as being a pagan practice of idolatry.
How is this splitting hairs, and what are we supposed to do with that command “Learn not the way of the heathen” just ignore it?
If any tradition we hold dear even slightly resembles a practice that offends God, are you saying we should do it anyway?