tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2538057051911243767.post6004322463023808013..comments2024-03-23T23:55:50.572-04:00Comments on Bible Love Notes: The Anti-Christmas SpiritGail @ http://biblelovenotes.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17462629145629813283noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2538057051911243767.post-22016303010454584582023-08-11T11:26:31.166-04:002023-08-11T11:26:31.166-04:00Hi Jacqui, If you have no good reason to do it, an...Hi Jacqui, If you have no good reason to do it, and you don't connect it in any way with Christ's birth, then you shouldn't display one. But some people do connect their tree with Christ, and there are a great many reasons they do this, and you should be happy that they are using it to celebrate Christ's birth. Things that are meaningless to one person can have great meaning to another. Let me share a few reasons I associate the tree with Christ: <br /><br />1. Evergreen trees are a symbol of a productive, ever-green faith.<br />Jeremiah 17:7-8: "Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."(1)<br /><br />2. They're a symbol of a longing fulfilled when Christ came to save us.<br />Proverbs 13:12: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."<br /><br />3. They're a symbol of gracious words.<br />Proverbs 15:17: "Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit."<br /><br />4. They're a symbol of a righteous life in Christ. <br />Proverbs 11:30: "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives."<br /><br />5. They symbolize the tree of life.<br />The restoration of our ability to eat from the tree of life and spend eternity with the Lord (Genesis 2:9; Genesis 3:22; Revelation 2:7; Revelation 22:14; Revelation 22:1-5).<br />Gail @ http://biblelovenotes.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17462629145629813283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2538057051911243767.post-91459578484151713142023-08-03T14:10:34.890-04:002023-08-03T14:10:34.890-04:00I have no good reason displaying a Christmas tree ...I have no good reason displaying a Christmas tree in my lounge. I mean why should I display a Christmas tree in my house? What connection has a Christmas tree with Jesus Christ's birth? None! And for this reason I have stopped bringing it into my home. However I do love my display of lights and candles which represents God as a consuming fire (Hebrews 12v29), Jesus, the Light of the World (John8v12) and The Holy Spirit. Unfortunately I don't have a fireplace but I'd love that too - pondering on those verses while enjoying the beautiful flames, embers and warmth.Jacquihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13488583878107181541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2538057051911243767.post-60733881300985179842021-12-23T23:31:16.931-05:002021-12-23T23:31:16.931-05:00Hi Teresa,
You have regularly commented on my post...Hi Teresa,<br />You have regularly commented on my posts about Christmas. I think you may have left 10 or more comments, repeating the same arguments. I have carefully answered all of your claims in detail on other devotions, so I encourage you to go back and read those answers. Or you can read the articles I’ve written.<br />This article refutes all of your claims directly or through linked resources, but I’m pretty sure you don’t actually read the articles because you keep making the same claims.<br /><br />I thank you for not being rude like many who share your belief, but I don’t see a purpose in your repetitive comments. I have researched this thoroughly and my research shows your view to be inaccurate. Restating your view multiple times will not change the facts.<br /><br />But I want to make it clear that I respect your decision not to have a Christmas tree. We can make an idol of anything and when God reveals we are viewing something as an idol, we should do something about it. I think it is totally appropriate that you don’t have a Christmas tree, but most Christians do not view their tree as an idol and that is why God has not convicted most of us to get rid of our trees.<br /><br />But please don’t use the argument about Jeremiah 10 speaking about Christmas trees. That is clearly a false teaching which I fully explain in the article linked in this devotion (6 Ways to Determine if a Scripture is Used Correctly.) <br />Gail @ http://biblelovenotes.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17462629145629813283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2538057051911243767.post-53862512252651948712021-12-23T22:41:31.636-05:002021-12-23T22:41:31.636-05:00I don't have a problem celebrating the coming ...I don't have a problem celebrating the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, if that was the focal point. The Lord showed me a dream that I was stumped over a few years ago. It was an inflate-able witch in the middle of my living room and it kept getting bigger, taking up space making things cramped, yet I was accommodating it. I told my godly friend about it and she said that I needed to keep asking the Lord for the interpretation. Yes, as I was reading through the major prophets I stumbled upon the text in the NKJV that described a tree being decorated with gold etc. Did I think that it was describing our KrissMass trees? No, but I immediately thought of my dream that I'd had many months before. I believe that the Lord showed me that we have been making an idol of our holiday trees; they take preeminence in our living rooms, we bow before it to put gifts under it much like the Israelites did when they fornicated under (repeatedly said by our LORD) "under every green tree". The Lord doesn't want us to do anything that the nations do, not to copy them in any way, nor try to sanitize their practices in order to reach them. Instead, he wants us to be set apart for Him, come out from among them and be separate, instead of joining in their rituals of questionable origins. We don't need to celebrate His birth as much as celebrate "why" He came; to be the Lamb of God that atones for the sin of the world; Saviour from our sins through His blood. We have been distracted by these Catholic observances when in reality there are the feasts of the Lord that we disregard and we don't see how Jesus, who was Jewish, fulfills them. Instead we've been taught by the "church" that "we are separate from the messianic jews/Jews and have our own religion". In reality, there is a perfectly good holiday right around the same time as the catholicMass one; it is Hanukkah. Jesus is the Servant (lamp in the center) of the Hanukkiah menorah. He is the Light of the world.Teresa R.https://www.blogger.com/profile/01062347788776865999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2538057051911243767.post-34058754383651645082021-12-22T13:46:23.548-05:002021-12-22T13:46:23.548-05:00Thanks, Dawn! I always appreciate your feedback an...Thanks, Dawn! I always appreciate your feedback and insights.Gail @ http://biblelovenotes.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17462629145629813283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2538057051911243767.post-11772409425500028782021-12-22T02:42:32.770-05:002021-12-22T02:42:32.770-05:00This is so well-thought out and thorough. And it i...This is so well-thought out and thorough. And it is reasonable as well as biblically-compatible. There are many things we cannot know for sure about "origins" from so long ago. But the truth is, God still looks on the heart, and if something is not strictly forbidden for Christians, we can think it through before the Lord. The truth still remains that we must do all to the glory of God. Thanks, Gail.Dawn Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05957360355045353019noreply@blogger.com