Are Christians hypocrites when they celebrate Christmas? Does Jeremiah 10 forbid a Christmas tree? What else?

Question

Is Jesus calling us hypocrites when He said: Matthew 15:3 Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 6. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. 7. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8. This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Does this include going to church on Sunday contrary to the fourth commandment seventh day sabbath? Are we worshipping the beast or the devil when we disobey God? Who started all these pagan customs? How did they get into the church? Are they evil? sin? Aren't we still Christians if we partake of these little white lies? Can we still go to heaven? Revelation 18:4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins.
Jesus died for our sins, can't we continue to sin?

Answer 1

The Christmas Tree and Mistletoe

One of the symbols of the life found in the celebration of saturnalia, was the use of evergreens. These plants which stayed green all year long, were often used in different cultures as symbols of life and rebirth. They were sometime decorated as a form of worship in some cultures in religious ceremonies dealing with fertility.
Mistletoe was considered a curative plant and was used in many ancient medicine recipes. The Celts even believed that the plant, which is a parasite that lives on trees, contained the soul of the tree it lived on. The Druids used Mistletoe in their religious ceremonies. The Druid priests would cut it up and distribute it to the people who would place the cuttings over the doorways of their homes. This was supposed to protect the dwellers from various forms of evil.

the Christian free to celebrate a holiday that not only has pagan origins, but also is used by the unbelieving world a promotion of commercialism? In my opinion, it depends.
The Christians must hold his standard of righteousness and devotion to God above those of the world. The Old Testament says that we are to worship God in truth according to the dictates that He has established (Exodus 20:1-4; 24:12-31:18). Christmas was not established by God. In addition, there are no records at all of the early church celebrating the birth of Christ.
On the other hand, there are those who say we have freedom Christ and can celebrate any day we want to. Paul says, "All things are lawful, though not all are profitable" (1 Cor. 6:12).
Should we then participate in the celebration of a festival origins and exceeding commercialism?
It is my opinion that we are free to celebrate the day. This is why.
In the Bible in 1 Cor. 10:23-33, Paul speaks about meat sacrificed to idols. This meat was often sold in the meat market and the question arose, "Should a Christian each such meat?" Paul said in verse 25, "Eat anything that is sold in the meat market, without asking questions for conscience' sake." The origins of the meat were, essentially, pagan. Many animals were raised for the purpose of sacrificing to pagan deities and their meat was offered in the market place. In reference to this Paul said it was okay to eat the meat.
Then in verses 28-29 he says, "But if anyone should say to you, 'This is meat sacrificed to idols,' do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience' sake; 29I mean not your own conscience, but the other man's; for why is my freedom judged by another's conscience?" (NASB). Paul is saying that if you are with someone who might be stumbled by your eating meat that was sacrificed to idols, then don't eat it -- not because of you, but because of the other person. In other words, eating that meat won't affect you. The false gods are not real. They have no power.
1 Cor. 8:-7-9 echoes this idea. It says, "However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. 8But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. 9But take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." Though this passage requires a bit more examination, it still carries the sense of freedom. And, Jesus has definitely set us free.
However, if you are not comfortable with this conclusion and you don't want to celebrate Christmas, that is okay. You must answer to the Lord.

Sanctification

The Lord, through His sacrifice, has cleansed us of our sins. When we come in contact with Him, it was we who were cleansed. It is not Him who was made dirty. The woman with the issue of blood who touched Jesus (Mark 5:25-34) was made clean. It was not Jesus who was made dirty. Likewise Jesus touched the unclean lepers and cleansed them (Matt. 8:3). Jesus came in contact with many people and it was never Him who was dirtied. It was they who were cleansed.
I think this principle can be applied to Christmas. Yes, Christmas has pagan origins. Yes, it is a highly commercial time. Yes, many do not have their eyes on Jesus. But for the Christian it is a time to reflect upon the birth of our Lord and to celebrate. We are making the day holy.

Answer 2

The traditions spoken here did not include Christmas, although it is a pagan holiday. We are judged by the intent of our hearts. I don't think the intent is to worship anyone but our God and his son Jesus Christ. I think there is too much hype in all the shopping and gift giving, and the tree with lights is rather meaningless. It is also the wrong time of the year. Christ was born on Apr 6th. Shepherds do not watch the sheep at night in December in the holy land. The nights are too brisk and there is no food for them on the hill side. The grass dies in the winter in Jerusalem area. But it is a good thing to worship all year, and to worship the birth of Christ. I think it would be more important to worship the resurrection, which is the most important event of all time. That and when he took upon himself the sins of the world in the garden of gethsemanee when blood came out of every pore of his body. That is the most important time in our lives. The 2nd most important time was his resurrection. Millions have been in the grave for thousands of years and look forward to the general resurrection of all mankind.

Answer 3

i just have a comment: many people admire and adore the Christmas tree during this season and they are caught up in the idea of Christmas .many give out of obligation, also a great amount of the people believe that it is a time to make merry and enjoy yourself , some perceive this holiday to be one that drunkenness and being high on drugs is acceptable behavior. Most recognize that basically this season has always been a family holiday , a time when everyone wants to be home for the holidays. It is a time of happiness. Happiness is great but not at the expensive price that men will be required to pay for following the traditions of men.As Jesus taught about in Matthew 15.verse 8 and 9. I dont know everything and i dont want to put on like i do. But most of us know whats up with the tree, somebody gets one and has to hold it in a fixed stand and keep water in it lest it dry out to early and spoil the beauty that it brings once that the pretty lights and the tinsel have been put on it and all the family heirlome style figurines with all the rest of the decorations ,then the angel at the top of the tree. All this for the eyes of the beholders to admire .and appreciate. Then we get into santa claus , all the children are taught to believe and made to practice this lie that says that their actually exists such a person dressed in a red and white suit who rides a sleigh with reindeer and flys thru the sky so quick that you only see him for a second and hes gone delivering Christmas presents..Its a wonderful story with happiness and joy for everyone, so why knock it , because it is a lie and because that lie that has so very many caught up in its grasp. people believe in Christmas , do they believe in God?the truth is that Christmas has nothing to do with God, we dont know when Jesus Christ was born, besides that most when they celebrate Christmas are not trying to remember the Lords birthday as much as they are trying to enjoy the holiday themselves, so where are the gifts for the Savior,its his birthday isnt it?the positive side that i see to this holiday is that it does encourage people to reflect upon what their thoughts are concerning the Lord and when he was born .The bible does tell us a story about the Savior, about how he lived and how he died for all men and rose again and that we are to remember his death till he comes again. But this holiday is set up to remember his birth and it appears that with very many "celebrating christmas is partitime , a time for self indulgence to the extreme. But for those that follow Jesus ,his teachings are a way of life now and life eternal.

Answer 4

Well I think it depends on how you want to think about it.

Most likely, Dec 25 is not the birthday of Jesus. Considering that the bible talks of shepherds tending their flocks in the fields, it's pretty unlikely they'd be doing it in the dead of winter.

More likely the date was chosen because of pagan celebrations around the winter solstice. Saturnalia was celebrated at that time, and when Pope Julius declared Christmas at this time of year around 350 AD, he was most likely trying to tie the pagan tradition with the new Christian faith to make converting the pagans easier.

Also, considering the Babylonians has a feast celebrating the birth of the son (sun) of Isis at this time probably had some influence on the origins of the Roman holiday.

Many of the symbols we use for Christmas come from Celtic or Germanic pagan traditions. This includes the Christmas tree, and the idea of lighting candles and fires in the dark (In Celtic tradition fires were lit to guide the sun back from the darkest night of the year.)

Caroling was originally pagan, as was Mistletoe and many of the other greenery we use at this time.

It was banned by the Puritans in America because of the association with "heathen" traditions, and not resurrected again until the Victorian era.

So, getting away from all that and into my opinion, I would say that Christmas is what you make of it. If you celebrate and adapt these things as a Christian, with the intent to worship your belief in your way, then its a Christian holiday.

As a neo-pagan, I celebrate the season (I group solstice and Christmas together because in my family, Christmas isn't a religious holiday for us, but a family one.) I look at the traditions as both a preservation of ancient ways, and a blending of new ones, much like my day to day belief.

To me, the nativity is another version of the same types of ancient stories that the Feast of Horus was based around. But thats just how I look at it.

My Christian friends celebrate as the birth of their savior, and I respect that. I've never found it offensive or anti-Christian that they adapted older traditions to celebrate their faith.

I like the season myself because we celebrate together....yes our beliefs are different, and we understand the season differently, but we can find some common ground in the use of these traditions even if what we understand them to be is different.

Thats just my take on it.

Answer 5

You are practicing substitution theology. How wrong is that? You take that which applied only to Israel, and attempt to apply it to Christians and Christianity, contrary to Scripture. Paul and the apostles in Jerusalem in the first century church referred to what you are doing as a subversion of Christian's souls.

It is you who will be punished for sinning, teaching a false gospel; perverting the gospel of Christ.

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Answer 6

Yes. Christmas is a man made tradition. It has nothing to do with Jesus. God bless you for pointing it out, again.

Answer 7

Hypocrites? Certainly in the basic meaning of the word that they are not being adequately critical, but are accepting heathen blasphemy. The Savior died for my sins, but His name was (And is ) YAHOSHUA. "Christianity" is part of the "Babylon" that we are told to come out of.

Answer 8

Jeremiah 10 forbids worshiping a tree.
I have a wooden table in my home - sometimes I decorate it with flowers or candles. I am not worshiping my table.

Answer 9

Thus it sins to remember our Lord Jesus Christ???????????

Thus it sins to make a christmas tree and decorate it with gifts and give it to children in christmas time?????????????

Thus it sins to celebrate Christmas for for his Birth we are save????????????????????????????????????????

Clearly you are pointing your self as you said "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me."

Answer 10

Hello...Christians celebrate Christmas because it is the birth of Jesus...the only reason why we are here is because of Jesus so go and read your Bible.........a tree is just a tradations