Originally Posted By: AndyinAL
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.
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.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
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.
I don't follow pagan traditions. I celebrate my faith daily. If you study the Bible and the timeline surrounding the birth of Jesus you see that he was born in September. December 25th is a pagan holiday that was celebrated before the birth of Jesus.
I would argue that this is basically true to maybe quite not in the details, Saturnalia was celebrated from mid to late December from early in Roman times and then there was a new festival in honor of Soli Invicto (the Unconquered Sun) starting in the late 3rd century that was celebrated on December 25th.
I have seen it suggested by some historians that early Christians may have chosen to celebrate at the same time as their pagan neighbors to avoid rousing suspicion, but I doubt that this is more than supposition.
We put up our 7' tall fake green tree with built in lights just after Thanksgiving, our daughter was dead set against not buying a real tree for each Xmas but my wife and I were just DONE with that as of about 2-3 years ago.
