The bible condemns Christmas trees!

[josephpalazzo]

Thus says the Lord: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.

Jeremiah 10:2-4 (ESV)

Clearly, the bible condemns cutting christmas trees and decorating them.

[GrinningYMIR]

Of course it does, Christmas was a pagan holiday the Christians co-opted!

Of course the bible also condemns gays, non worship, and if your a Mormon, the exploration of space.

[stromboli]

I believe you could also include the making of a wreath in that, since it fits the description.

[mykcob4]

For the lord said go forth and tell the children that he cometh on the eve of the winter and he shall bring gifts to the faithful for they are deserving or not but not to dismay for the coal he bringth with warm the soul.
And they went out with no alms but they made a promise to pay for they bought gifts for all in his name, and they took the word to those that would not here, and they made those without faith to bow at the pain of the sword.
For when the day came they rejoiced in their larceny and the deceit in their hearts rose and claim that they spake with the lord. And they sayeth that the lord commanded to reject the nature of their ways. The Lord sayeth to hold rituals above all else. The lord sayeth command thy children to fear me and to obey or I shall send tornados for the men that lay with men. I shall raise the seas for those that vote. I shall shake the ground with violence if you of color yearn to be free. For I am a god of and for the whites. I am a man that lords over women. And you shall love my war and my hate and make it your own. You will spread my hate and call it love and those that question you shall be called devil and die by your hand.
For I am the lord god almighty.

[stromboli]

For the lord said go forth and tell the children that he cometh on the eve of the winter and he shall bring gifts to the faithful for they are deserving or not but not to dismay for the coal he bringth with warm the soul.
And they went out with no alms but they made a promise to pay for they bought gifts for all in his name, and they took the word to those that would not here, and they made those without faith to bow at the pain of the sword.
For when the day came they rejoiced in their larceny and the deceit in their hearts rose and claim that they spake with the lord. And they sayeth that the lord commanded to reject the nature of their ways. The Lord sayeth to hold rituals above all else. The lord sayeth command thy children to fear me and to obey or I shall send tornados for the men that lay with men. I shall raise the seas for those that vote. I shall shake the ground with violence if you of color yearn to be free. For I am a god of and for the whites. I am a man that lords over women. And you shall love my war and my hate and make it your own. You will spread my hate and call it love and those that question you shall be called devil and die by your hand.
For I am the lord god almighty.

Good stuff. Rewrite the whole book.

[leo]

Thus says the Lord: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.

Jeremiah 10:2-4 (ESV)

Clearly, the bible condemns cutting christmas trees and decorating them.

Hilarious shit.

[Solitary]

Eve says: Jeremiah is not condemning Christmas trees. He is condemning idolatry. The trees in Jeremiah 10 are cut down to carve them into worthless idols that will later be decorated with gold and silver. Jeremiah says nothing about Christmas trees. That custom originated in northern Europe, not in ancient Palestine.
Dumb atheists!  :P

[Mister Agenda]

I have to agree with Solitary on this. You don't have to work on a Christmas tree with an axe after it's been chopped down. Jeremiah is talking about wooden idols.

[josephpalazzo]

Eve says: Jeremiah is not condemning Christmas trees. He is condemning idolatry. The trees in Jeremiah 10 are cut down to carve them into worthless idols that will later be decorated with gold and silver. Jeremiah says nothing about Christmas trees. That custom originated in northern Europe, not in ancient Palestine.
Dumb atheists!  :P

Wrong interpretation, Eve. It says, "They decorate it (the tree) with silver and gold; they fasten it (the tree) with hammer and nails so that it (the tree) cannot move. Ha, that is a description of a christmas tree, and you know it, you dummy,  .

[AllPurposeAtheist]

What about plastic trees held in place by a clamp and plain old gravity? Surely god hates gravity as well! :shock:

[Solitary]

What about plastic trees held in place by a clamp and plain old gravity? Surely god hates gravity as well! :shock:

That's only because you don't understand the gravity of the situation. :P  :roll:    Solitary

[josephpalazzo]

What about plastic trees held in place by a clamp and plain old gravity? Surely god hates gravity as well! :shock:

That's only because you don't understand the gravity of the situation. :P  :roll:    Solitary

But GR says that gravity is the result of curved spacetime. Does that mean your situation has curves?!?  :P

[ApostateLois]

Christmas trees didn't exist that far back. The first recorded instance of one is from 1510, in Latvia. (Link.) And if you read the entire chapter of Jeremiah 10, you will see that they are, in fact, talking about idolatry.

Jer. 10:5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
    because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
    they can do no harm
    nor can they do any good."


 8  They are all senseless and foolish;
    they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish
    and gold from Uphaz.
What the craftsman and goldsmith have made
    is then dressed in blue and purple—
    all made by skilled workers.

Hate to play devil's advocate here, but Eve is right; this isn't about putting tinsel on evergreen trees for a winter celebration (the season is not even mentioned), it's about carving trees into idols and adorning them with silver and gold, and dressing them in clothes. Christmas trees do have pagan origins, and for that reason some Christian sects still abhor Christmas as just another pagan ritual, but the Bible doesn't have anything to say about it. There is a general admonition to not worship God as the heathens do, and that would probably include Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. But Christians don't really care about the Old Testament, anyway...except for the part about homos.

[brandta5]

I never knew that. That's quite interesting.