But what Paul is really condemning here, in context, is a scrupulous observance of Jewish sacred days in order to obtain salvation. Galatians 4:8-11 is interpreted by JWs as forbidding the keeping of holidays. I have written about the origins of the Christmas tree custom, too. I dealt with this issue among many others, in my extensive refutation of Jehovah’s Witnesses back in 1987: To the contrary, the Bible gives much indication of holy days and the celebration of them. One may choose to not view Christmas trees, mistletoe, yule logs, etc… as religious icons, but it really can’t be argued that they do not derive from idol worship. It is religious symbology brought into Christianity from these ‘Pagan’ groups by the Catholic Church. It is well-known that Christmas was instituted by the Catholic Church as an appeasement to ‘converted Pagans’ (Pagan being a common catchall term, though not truly an accurate way to classify the many types of non-Judeo-Christian beliefs found in Europe and the surrounding areas.) The Christmas tree, as well as many other iconic representations of holiday observances, can then rightly be seen as idols. This was a command for a Holy Memorial – “Do this in memory of me.”įrom this perspective therefore, anything that is instituted by man as a ‘holy day’ becomes idolatry – especially when it is derived from non-biblical religions and worship. He told his followers to memorialize the day he gave his life with a symbolic breaking of bread and a glass of wine. God was very clear to the Israelites about days and weeks that were to be observed as ‘Holy’ (Holy Days = Holidays.) Jesus too was clear about Holy observances. In fact, it only offers vague clues as to the time of year that Jesus was born. The Bible does not command any such celebration as Christmas. Jehovah’s Witnesses look to the Bible for ‘truth in worship’. The scriptural understanding of idolatry, especially for Jehovah’s Witnesses, goes much deeper than just ‘worshiping the tree itself as an idol’.įor a worshiper of God (as found in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures,) the real idolatry comes from the replacing the type of worship of which God approves – again, as described in the Scriptures – with the ideas of men and demons. Green ( possibly a Jehovah’s Witness: he didn’t say) will be in blue. The following exchange came about in a combox on my blog, underneath the article, Christmas Trees as Idols?: Silly “Biblical” Arguments.
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