They better argue that one with the Dean of Westminster Abbey...The tree out the front is looking nice this year.
Does Jeremiah even mention Trees?
Darks is lurking somewhere
ov tht i hav no dowt. :)
Darks is lurking somewhere
ov tht i hav no dowt. :)
Found it: http://www.gci.org/church/holidays/trees
The King James Version reads: “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen.... For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”
Turning to translations other than the King James also helps our understanding. Where the King James reads “one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe” (verse 3), the New International Version says “they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.” The tool referred to in the passage is not a woodsman’s tool, but that of a wood carver. Most modern English translations agree with the NIV.
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 Judea.
Well yes he does... But keep in mind that when you divorce a text verse from its context you can make it say just about any old rubbish you want.. ;-)
Jeremiah chapter 10 has a discourse on idols - how they go out and cut down a tree and then craftsmen work on it and they use hammer and nails to stand it up and carry it all over the place and worship it as a god. The msnbc nutbag claimed that verse says Christmas trees are sinful and slammed Sarah Palin for posting family pictures around a - **gasp** - Christmas tree. And there are actually fools on that thread saying that msnbc was correct in its interpretation...