Christmas Is Awesome...Refuting Some Issues About Paganism and Christmas

I was going to continue this week with the If book. We've only got a couple posts to go, and that's definitely worth some time!

But this last week, on three separate occasions, I came across messages from books and concerned believers about Christmas traditions and their connections with paganism. Yikes! That bummer bomb has been on my mind ever since, and I wanted to share my thoughts in the hopes that they might alleviate some fears and encourage some of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

My first response to all this is a big 'ole eye roll. Don't mess with my Christmas, people. Christmas? I'm a HUGE fan. Love me some Christmas.

And then my second response was one of compassion for people who genuinely want to serve God and honor Him completely. Their worries and concerns are born out of this correct sense of the purity of Jesus Christ, and the fact that worship of Him should not be sullied by anything that would hint of sin or disrespect. Yes, I do get that...

Here's the spoiler alert, dear friends...my conclusion is that everyone should keep Christmas well and use all the lovely traditional symbols they like. Whatsoever things are lovely, think on these things. Boom.

The Jeremiah 10 Argument About Christmas Trees and Forbidden Pagan Practice

Here's how this particular "pagan" argument went:

There's this author—I am not going to name him here because I haven’t read any of his books—that's been saying according to Jeremiah 10, we should not bring trees inside and decorate them.
Um...what?

I looked this up, and here is what the NKJV says:

"Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord:
'Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
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.'"(verses 2-5)

(By the way, if you look up verse 5 in the NIV—also the NLT—instead of palm tree, it says. "Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field." So if we want, we can start throwing harvest symbols around, too...haha...but we won't go there...)

What people are worried about is where God describes gentiles cutting down trees, then decorating them. The NIV and the NLT are descriptive—those versions say, "a craftsman shapes it with his chisel" before it is adorned with silver and gold.

Now, here is what the book author said...I don't have this book, by the way. I am passing along a quote from an article...and I do NOT think he is right in this statement:

"Even God-fearing Christians today don't realize they're doing the very opposite of God's instructions when they decorate trees with silver and gold and stand them up in their homes and churches every December. God personally says in the tenth chapter of Jeremiah not to do that precise heathen custom, and yet people have been tricked into decorating trees with all sorts of silver tinsel, gold garland and hanging ornaments, and they have no scriptural basis for it. For those interested in eternal life, we need to wake up and start obeying the instructions of our Maker, and stop all this pagan worthlessness."

Yikes! Holy cow. See the bummer bomb?

Is this fellow saying that all those years of Christmas tree traditions is just people practicing pagan customs? AND is he also saying that my eternal life with Jesus is in jeopardy because of it?

WHAT?

Let's break this down a bit...

1. First, that author is saying that Jeremiah 10 refers to our practice of bringing a tree inside and decorating it at Christmastime.

No. That is not what this section of scripture is referring to. I will refer you back to one of my first posts where I was laying the foundation of how we study the Bible: Study Premises Part 1: Our Approach for Reading the Bible. In that post, I quote Bible scholar Ron Rhodes, who stated, "Our goal must be exegesis (drawing the meaning out of the text) and not eisogesis (superimposing a meaning onto the text)."

Now, hear me out...evergreens in the house might have a pagan origin, and in my next post, I will talk about that. But in this case, we are looking specifically at Jeremiah 10 and what this author said.
When we look at the Jeremiah 10 passage and say, "Christmas trees" we have to remember that when Jeremiah wrote God's words, there was no such thing as a Christmas tree. Maybe we could make an argument about God knowing the future and all that, but it's really quite a stretch to coax that sort of interpretation out of this particular passage. When prophetic passages describe future events, the text tells us this. We can show this in many prophetic passages in the Bible. This is not one of those passages.

In this particular passage, God is describing what gentiles at that time were doing in their worship of pagan gods.

2. We see clearly that the text is referring to the creation of idols out of trees. The idol is going to be the thing that is worshiped. The tree is just the material.

And...

3. The text is actually telling us that the idols are nothing and God is powerful.

It's moments like this I wish I was myself a Hebrew scholar so I could properly look at the original language to talk about what the gentile was doing with that tree he cut down. (Maybe I will get to study Hebrew someday.) Translations are telling me the guy takes a chisel to it. Let's look at it in context of other scripture.

Isaiah 40—WHICH, by the way, also contains one of those uber-amazing sections of the Bible, a part that describes the Messiah hundreds of years before Christ came—says in verses 18-20, NKJV:

"To whom then will you liken God?
Or what likeness will you compare to Him?
The workman molds an image,
The goldsmith overspreads it with gold,
And the silversmith casts silver chains.
Whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution
Chooses a tree that will not rot;
He seeks for himself a skillful workman
To prepare a carved image that will not totter."

The tree is making an appearance here, as well, but in this case we can clearly see that a craftsman is carving an image out of it. There are some parallels here between the Jeremiah passages and the Isaiah passages:

• The tree is being used to create an image.
• The image can't stand on its own. Either it has to be propped up, or the wood has to be carved in such a way that the weight is supported.
• If you can afford it, you can use silver and gold to adorn it.

And here's the most important point...

• In both of these passages, in context, God is contrasting Himself with these images.

What are these images? Idols! What did these people do with them after they carve them? Maybe decorate them, but for sure, they worshiped them and prayed to them for things.

What's the point God is trying to make?

The idols themselves are WORTHLESS. No power. Look at Jeremiah 10:5, second part of that verse:

"Do not be afraid of them,
For they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”

So...

idol = nothing
God = everything

Boom. That is the message here.

The worship of pagan gods was evil...don't get me wrong. Those are demons that the people were worshiping, and in their worship, they were doing horribly evil, vile things like sacrificing babies.

But the idol itself was completely lifeless and worthless. God was making a point that supported His original commandment about idols: "You shall not make for yourself an idol..." (Exodus 20:4)
Dear friends, we MUST approach the Bible with whole-Bible context in mind.

The New Testament Provides Context for Christians—Liberty in Christ

Let's jump to the New Testament and see what we find there to help us understand this a little better.

I'm going to paraphrase 1 Corinthians 8 because there is a lot of text there, but please read it for yourself. In this section, Paul turns his attention to the issue of whether believers should eat food that has been sacrificed to idols. He first says that an idol is nothing and God is everything. Therefore, with this knowledge about the worthlessness of idols, you as a believer don't need to worry about it. Go ahead and eat it.

However, some believers don't have the strength of Paul's faith, and they have a hard time seeing this as inconsequential. So Paul says, let's not make a big deal out of this. If a brother or sister in Christ is having a hard time with this concept, let it go. They cannot eat that meat without it bothering them. And if they see you doing it, that might distress them. So you need to be careful, then, and love your brothers and sisters by not eating that meat in front of them. Don't let your "superior" faith and knowledge cause them pain. Instead, act in ways that are loving and kind to them.

Here is the Tracy translation for how this relates to the Christmas tree thing...if you are having a hard time with this, I am not going to hit you over the head with it. If it bothers you to drag a tree inside and decorate it, it's OK. Don't do it. It's totally a secondary issue. I just want you to have faith in Jesus!

Paul's writings about this also tell me that if I can freely eat meat sacrificed to an idol because an idol is worthless, if I want to have a Christmas tree in my house, even if I think it might be a tradition that has a pagan origin (we will get back to that in another post), I can go ahead and do it.

Remember, saints, that Jesus Christ saved us and gave us freedom and liberty. Read Romans 14...in that chapter, we see that there are things that are secondary issues—like what you eat or drink, or what you wear, or certain things that you do—that are not expressly forbidden as sin. Because you are liberated in Christ, you can do a lot of things and still be a redeemed soul, born again, saved!
The caution we see in several parts of the New Testament is that whatever you are doing or considering doing, make very sure that 1) it is not an explicit sin as described in the Word of God, and 2) it doesn't lead you down a path where you might be tempted or might hurt someone else.

Don't Overburden Fellow Believers—It's About Love

We know that when Jesus dealt with the religious leaders of His day, He was upset with them because they unnecessarily burdened the people with regulations that really didn't matter that much. God was (and is) interested in our hearts. Are we submitted before Him? Are we faithful to Him? Do we strive to give Him the glory He deserves? Do we love Him and act like it?

Jesus was concerned for the people, and He was watching certain religious leaders pounding them with regulations, but neglecting to show them the goodness and love and glory of God. Jesus came in part to liberate us from these unnecessary burdens and how us how high, how wide, how deep the love of God is!

Oh, my friend! He loves you! His eye is on the sparrow, but you...YOU are in his heart! Do you think He gives a hill of beans about whether or not you put decorations on a Christmas tree? What He cares about is whether you are worshipping worthless things, or whether you are worshipping Him.

God made that tree. God made the silver and the gold. If you are observing Christmas because you are thankful that Jesus came into the world, and you are doing slap-happy traditions to show your joy...why in the world would that be a bad thing?

If you keep Christmas solely in your heart and avoid all the trappings and traditions because that is how you personally best honor Him and show Him your love and gratitude, then by all means...don't decorate!

The point...Jesus is all that matters. One way or another, do not overburden one another.

In my house, we instill joy in our kiddos by posing our toy elves every night so that the kiddos find them in all kinds of weird situations each morning. We instill joy in them by putting up happy, gorgeous decorations and hanging our stockings. We instill joy by making Christmas morning exciting and awesome and ripping open fun gifts. Then we tell them the source of all our joy is JESUS. We are having a month-long joy fest all because of JESUS! Because He is totally worth it! Our salvation through Him is everything to us, and we are practicing being joyful.

I have more to say on the subject of Christmas trees and paganism, but this is an awful lot of words. I will continue this in the next post. Tonight I will bask in the lights of my Christmas tree and give God thanks for the precious gift of His Son.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I may never fully be able to express the gratitude I have for the salvation you have given us. But I do thank you, Lord, for that gift. I honor that gift by celebrating and telling others about the love of Jesus.

Lord, for the reader of this blog post, I pray tremendous blessing. I pray that if they do not know you as Lord and savior, that they would come to you right now and repent of their sins and accept the free gift of forgiveness You offer. Lord, what people who do not believe in You or trust You do not know, is the richness of living a life submitted to You! You satisfy the deepest parts of us and give us a peace that passes all understanding. May that non-believer reach out to you today, right now, and be saved. May these words be a fragrant offering to you, a gift to You that results in what You most desire, to bring people to You.

Jesus, I love you. And I love the people You have made. May they know you. May they be joyful in you. May they honor you with their lives. I ask this in the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ...amen.

Merry Christmas, saints.