Adam@Home by Rob Harrell for December 09, 2009

Hey it’s a 50-50 decision between them. There’s a 50-50 chance she’ll even cosider his idea before she makes the final decision!

Everyone is equal. Some are more equal than others

My friend’s dad made them get an artificial tree, the whole family hates it, mostly cause it doesn’t smell like a tree so the house doesn’t smell like it usually does after you get a tree. Her dad insists that the artificial tree is better in every way. I suggested that when he starts in she hang pine scented air fresheners on the tree just to annoy him. She laughed.

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah warned the Israelites against decorating their homes with cut trees as the pagans did: “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. For the customs of the people are in 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 gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.” Jeremiah 10:2-4

poppy, nice take on Christmas trees, but other (many scholars would say more accurate) translations make it clear the trees are worked into idols. On the other hand, if a literalist wants to get rid of their tree based on that verse, I’m cool with that.

Well said Doc

One tradition i recall from my youth is the burning of a 12 hour bayberry candle starting at 9 PM on Christmas eve.

I’d rather have that than a Christmas tree

There are some Christians who think it’s wrong to celebrate Christmas and often use that passage from Jeremiah about trees to prove their point. But we don’t worship Christmas trees, there’s nothing wrong with decorating it and enjoying it. It’s no different than having any other decorations in your home. To those people I say bah humbug! LOL!

Some say the passage ascribed to Jeremiah 10:2-4 actually originated with: Kmart 2-4-1(AKA: blue light special.)

Bald 716: You burn a candle over night, unattended? Hmmm, not sure about that one.

If you are going into the religious side, i have a question. Why are people against Pagans? The religion is older than Christianity and is oriented around the turning of the seasons. It was for farmers and people that lived off the land to help them. They celebrated good harvests, fertility (important to farmers) and the renewal of the year. Why is that so horrible?

My son did an art project in the 70s for school. The goal was to create a fictional band and album cover. He came up with a band called The Pagans and the album was called “In gods we trust.”

back in the ‘60’s we used to do this on top of a Formica table in the middle of the kitchen, people were not so safety conscious then

cynicTech, “pagan” doesn’t refer to a particular religion, nor do pagans necessarily share any common articles of faith (so to speak).

The word pagan originally just meant “rural” or “rustic” and was used to describe people who lived in the country such as farmers. When Christianity first became popular and organized it was in the cities and urban areas. Since the new order of Christianity didn’t spread out to the rural areas until later, the word pagan became equated with non-Christian, and thus, to the Christians, became equated to heathen. In reality, Paganism only became a religion recently and only accounts for one set of non-Christian beliefs that were followed in pre-Christian times. So where originally a pagan was any country dweller, now a Pagan is a specific type of non-Christian. So in effect the Pagans have selected a group and belief system to embrace and discarded others that would have originally been included. Sounds like the founding of every other religion out there.

Why is it so important what anyone believes? The real meaning of Christmas/Yule/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Solstice/PickYourDay is to celebrate hope, light, peace, giving, sharing, family, friends, and community. No matter what you call it, how you celebrate it, what decorations you use, it doesn’t matter. Just share in the spirit of the season.

Happy Holidays to EVERYONE!

I’m with you, Magasek. If we can get the majority of people to find reasons to be nice to each other for just one month a year, I don’t particularly care what justification they use for it. (Twelve months a year would of course be better, but I’ll take what I can get.)

joe I am relieved you were able to enjoy a tree before childhood had passed you by. I appreciate your insights as it seems that hardship is one great teacher, as well as ignorance led by judgement. Thus the original position of the early frontier calling native americans idol worshipers for acknowledging the original animal spirits and the gifts they were created to share. Oh-oh..is that a smallpoxblanket being offered.?..No-whew ..just a case of whiskey! Real or fake..hmmm

magasek, thumbs up :)