Roman festival of Saturnalia and Sol Invictus were pagan winter solstice celebrations
Christmas was timed to coincide with these festivals
No doubt. When I was shown the scriptural timeline, I had no problem tossing the man made timeline aside. Same with the “Christmas” tree. It so thoroughly resembles the description found in Jeremiah 10:1-5.
It’s interesting that God would command his people to not learn the ways of the heathen, and then people go right out and do it anyway. Folks will use any excuse to justify the tree, even concerned that somebody’s feelings might be hurt.
Does God have feelings? Duh!
My daughter in law’s parents invited my wife and I for Thanksgiving last year. The next day they asked us to tag along while they picked out a tree. We went three places, trying to find the least “flawed” tree. The husband, knowing that we don’t bother with one, whispered to me, “y’all are lucky that you don’t have to do all this”. I just said, “Godliness with contentment is great gain”. (He had never read, or even heard of the passage in Jeremiah.)
The tree is to help people feel religious. God has already made his feelings known.