In the Old Testament, God would tell Israel not to do some of the things other nations were doing including shaving heads. God was telling them not to look or act like them.
Some people may believe that Christians shouldn't do things that Pagans did or that non-Christians did or fill in the blank. My personal belief is that it depends. I'm not going to say you can't drink coffee because Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Satan, Darth Vader, the cookie monster, vampires, Bill Gates, Fauci, Obama, Biden, etc, drank coffee.
But some people believe in trying not to wear what bad people wear. Well, not sure if bad is the right word. But whether we call it paganism or Hedonism or simply the Gentiles or whatever the case might be, people believe in not associating themselves with it. I understand where they are coming from.
The Bible may say things like don't get tattoos, earrings, piercings, etc. And I'm not going to tell people they can't get tattoos. I would agree the Bible probably told them not to do it. Now, does that mean we should not? Well, that is a good question. But I only bring that up to say that may be what is in the mind of some people. I'm not going to say they're right but I am going to say that is where they are coming from. They believe evergreen trees were used in pagan worship, rituals, etc.
An analogy might be a simple cup. So, if Hitler drank from a cup, does that mean I should not drink from a cup? Likewise, perhaps some trees were used in the past for paganism. Does that mean we can never use trees?
But some people believe, oddly enough, that they should keep trees from living inside their homes because of that.
I'm not saying they're right. I'm just saying that is where they're coming from.
The Bible also talks about meat offered up to idols. It says if you don't like that, then don't eat meat which was offered up to those gods. But if you don't care, then it's not a sin.
Perhaps the trees were offered up to Odin or Zeus or Ra or other gods. But perhaps it is not bad to have trees in houses.
I personally don't mind having trees in houses.
Like, I don't care. I celebrate Christmas. I don't personally think it's pagan.
But for the sake of argument, it depends.
Does that mean you are Catholic? It seems you don't believe in Eternal Security. Do you believe you have to work very hard to earn your salvation?
I like consumerism.
You mentioned a few things about the history of different religions and cults. On top of that, denominations, sects, etc. I used to study world religions and church history in Bible colleges going back to 2004. I can tell you that Catholicism came up later on. I can talk all day about this. They try to say they were always around. On top of that, the Pope, the Vatican City, their legion of thugs, for many centuries, these guys would run around the world burning books and other things. They would also confiscate millions of books, etc, over the years and hide them underneath the Vatican City. It's insane how much history they've been suppressing.
RE: Is Christmas a pagan celebration? (Part 4)