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Originally Posted by Evangelical
First of all, God does not like His children learning the ways of the heathen and adopting their vain customs. Everybody knows that Christmas and Easter are vain - they only really exist so that the secular world can make money. It is altogether commercial. Businesses rely upon Christmas and Easter to make a large profit. Christ no where asked us to celebrate such things.
Secondly the decorating of trees is clearly prohibited.
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Jeremiah 10 is not talking about decorating trees, it's talking about creating/carving idols out of wood. At any rate the point is don't worship idols. An idol is anything that is an object of worship. If someone chooses to worship a tree, then it's an idol. By the same token, if a Christmas tree is not used as an object of worship, then I don't see any problem with it.
I don't think this thread needs to get sidetracked by a Christmas discussion so if you choose to not celebrate holidays like Christmas and Easter, that is your decision and I respect that.
What I have a problem with is these statements that you've made such as this one:
Every group that celebrates Easter and Christmas has received the pagan teachings. As far as I know this is the majority of denominations. You've attempted grouped the majority of denominations as people who have "received the pagan teachings." You've referenced a book by Frank Viola that supposedly makes the same claims. Do you know what all this leads to? When people look at things through this kind of lens, the vast majority of Christian are viewed under a cloud of suspicion, and a presumed acceptance of 'pagan' things becomes an excuse for not interacting or having fellowship with a large number of Christians.
This is exactly what Lee did. I know where this leads to, I've seen it with my own eyes. If that is the path you want to take, so be it, but I feel that idolatry and concern over 'pagan' things is something that we each must deal with on an individual basis. In other words, it shouldn't be a means by which others are judged.