Here is the first post I am writing, in an attempt to defeat the most common misconceptions and arguments against Christmas. One of the most common arguments that I have came across, is the idea that Jeremiah 10, forbids or rather talks about Christmas trees. Let's look at Jeremiah 10, and see what we can find shall we? I know I usually use the ESV, but I am going to use the KJV, this time, because that is the translation used in the arguments against Christmas.

Jeremiah 10:1-7

¹Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

²Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

 ³For 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.

 ⁴They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

 ⁵They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

 ⁶Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.

 ⁷Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.

Now at first glance, this might look like a Christmas tree, with all the talk about silver and gold. However, is it really talking about a Christmas tree? or for that matter, a tree of any type? Let's disect a few of the verses and see if we can find out. Starting with verse 2

"Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them."

The first thing we have to pay attention to is always context. If verse 4 talks about Christmas trees, then verse 2 must also talk about Christmas trees, unless there is some sort of transition that would point us to a subject change. So look at verse 2, does it apply to Christmas trees? Do people who have Christmas trees, pay attention to signs in Heaven? Do signs of Heaven have anything to do with Christmas trees and the practice of having one? My answer to all of the above is no. Let's continue to verse 3.  

"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."

Now we are getting warm right? surely this is the start of the talk on Christmas trees. But let's move on to verse 4 and see if we are continuing on the possible Christmas tree talk. Verse 4 is next

"They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not." 

getting warmer right? that sounds like a christmas tree doesn't it?  So far we have verses 3 and 4 giving a slight chance of describing Christmas tree, will the trend continue? Before we go to verse 5, is there anything in 3 and 4 that gives us the idea that he is changing topics? if not, then verse 5 must be talking about the same thing as 3 and 4 right? here is verse 5.

"They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

Wait a minute, something is wrong, when was the last time a Christmas tree talked? Verse 5 says it is speaks not, why is he talking about speaking, if we are talking about trees? The only time I know that a Christmas tree talks, is when you have too much spiked egg nog.  We don't usually think or believe or expect our Christmas tree to talk. This investigation is starting to get weird.  The very next few words, makes it even weirder. because we are now carrying our christmas tre, because it cannot go. I am assuming, that Jeremiah means on it's own. When was the last time you expected your Christmas tree to walk? When was the last time you carried your Christmas tree because it could not go?

Finally the last part of 5, makes this whole investigation really weird.  Because now Jeremiah has entered the realm of the movies on Sci Fi channel. He is talking about not being afraid of this Christmas tree because it cannot do evil, nor can it do good. Have you ever been afraid of your Christmas tree doing evil? have you expected it to do good?  So, for Jeremiah to be talking about Christmas tree, it would be a Christmas tree that is carried about because it cannot walk, it can't talk, and is not to be afraid of, because it can't do evil?

Can anyone say DUH!!!! I have never expected a christmas tree  to walk, talk, or kill me in my sleep with a knife from the kitchen. It makes no sense whatsoever for Jeremiah to be discussing these things because these are not things that Christmas trees are expected to do.

What makes more sense, is for Jeremiah to be discussing idols. idols  are supposed to be gods, gods are expected to walk, talk, and do evil or good. Christmas trees are not. the context of Jeremiah 10, makes no sense if these verses are Christmas trees.

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So if Jeremiah 10, does not forbid Christmas trees, are they Biblical?

I think they are useless, they don't really add anything to the celebration of Jesus' birth. I mean if Christmas is supposed to be about the birth of Jesus, Christmas trees, add nothing, more than looking nice. If you want something to put your gifts on or under, try a nice table, or manger scene.  The only logical argument against Christmas trees I have heard, is that Christmas trees are bad stewardship of resources. They are not a requirement to celebrate the birth of Christ,  but we chop them down, put them in our house, and after we killed a good tree, we toss it in the trash and get a new one next year. The point is what?

I do not believe the Bible forbids them, but I do not believe they are promoted by the Bible, or needed in order to celebrate Jesus, they are purely for show. Do we really need to kill a tree, for show?

As far back as I can remember, the day after, or a couple days after thanksgiving, my mom always made turkey soup, using the leftover bones and such from the thanksgiving meal.

Now I love most soup, chicken noodle is my favorite, but turkey soup is not all that bad either. Tomato soup with milkand some pasta is not bad either. Some soups that I don't like are split pea, and ministrone. I don't like ministrone mainly because my mom made it with garbonzo beans and I am not fond of them. Nine bean soup is another soup from my childhood that I wouldn't mind forgetting. It is exactly as it sounds, a soup with nine different types of beans in it. It kinda had this dark feel to it, I can remember my mom reading the Lord Of The Rings series to us, while we ate it, and thinking that such a dark soup needed a dark book like The Two Towers to go with it.

But enough about soup, what do you do with your turkey leftovers?

Yesterday was the annual Thanksgiving Dinner at the Church I go to. I was in the hallway talking to a young lady who attends the church when she can. The dinner part of the night was over, and the church had started to sing hymns, One of which was Come Thou Font of Every Blessing. One of the kids that I help teach in Sunday School, walks up to me in the hallway and interrupts me, asking how to spell the word Nebuchadnezzar. Which might seem like an odd qeustion, but we have been in the book of Daniel for the past 3 or 4 weeks, so I didn't think it was all that strange. Deciding to be difficult with him and make him use his brain, I told him to look up the spelling in the Book of daniel. He said okay, and that he was wondering, on the spelling, because it is mentioned in that song, he is now pointing inside the sanctuary where the words to "Come Thou font Of Every Blessing" are projected onto the screen, the Church was about to sing Verse 2 which reads as follows

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

I told him that the word was Ebenezer, not Nebuchadnezzar. He said okay, and started to leave. I asked him if he wanted to know what Ebenezer meant. He turned around and said sure.

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Many times in some of our hymns, we sing words that we may not actually agree with. I was in a discussion group of fellow Southern Baptists and some of them were 5 point Calvinists. They refused to sing the hymn "To God Be The Glory" because of the line "Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, And opened the life gate that all may go in." They objected to it, because it seemed not to promote the doctrine of "limited Atonement" that is held by Calvinists. Now, I have never been mistaken for a Calvinist, and I see nothing wrong with that line.  But I realized that I myself had sung that song, and had never thought of it as disagreeing with Limited Atonement.

The Hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" contains the lines

"Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle."

I have actually been told by more than one person, that the Lord Sabaoth, title in that song means "Lord Sabbath" or Lord Of The Sabbath" It doesn't by the way, but I bet that if you asked 15 people in your church, they wouldn't know the real meaning of the word.

Why do we blindly sing the words of the song, in an attempt to praise God, when we don't know what they mean. Can you really praise someone, when you have not a clue as to what you are saying? Let's go back to Come Thou Font Of Every Blessing,

I gave the kid the answer tonight, but I am not going to be so easy on my readers. Can anyone, reading this, provide the answer to what does the word "Ebenezer" mean? Bonus points if you can also give the meaning of "Lord Sabaoth"