Thanks for your answer. However, I probably didn’t make my question clear enough. Perhaps this is nearer what I meant.

When other Christians engage in hermenuetical exegesis within a community of faith and come to a different conclusion from you, why is that? How can we objectively tell who is right?

You said these differences “should be settled easily through rational discussion”, but I made the point about the myriad of Christian sects to show that this doesn’t happen. It seems Christians reading from the same Bible are not converging on the truth, but diverging.

Thanks to you all for your patience and encouragement.

Thanks for your simple message summary. However, if I take that as true, I would not be conducting a hermeneutical exegesis within a community of faith. I’d be accepting the words of men – both yours and that the the original writer.

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Actually I don’t need to. Richard is very wise and I couldn’t agree with him more. Moreover, Eshu your questions are very searching. I hope and pray that you find the answers in Jesus.

Whenever we engage in exegesis, provided we recall that human beings are finite in their understanding and liable to err we are more likely to arrive at truth. The Bible can indeed be difficult to understand, the the essential message is simple:

“Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (cf. 1 Corinthians 15)

God bless!

Why is it that your words are much clearer and easier to understand than those of God?

…but of course human beings are finite in their understanding and liable to err.

But you, presumably, have got it right? :-)

1. Give thanks to God for Jesus, “Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.”

2. Read Questions 12-19, 35 & 36 of the Heidelberg Catechism.

3. Read the nativity narrative in the Gospels.

So does Jeremiah 10:2-4 imply that God is against Christmas trees? Well, no not really after all the context is disimilar. The issue in Jer. 10 is that of idolatry, the warning was about imitating the Babylonians by cuttig down treas to fashion as idols to worship. Hence verse 5 states

“Like a scarecrow in a melon patch,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
they can do no harm
nor can they do any good.”

This is reminiscent of Psalm 115 and Isaiah 40:18-20

With whom, then, will you compare God?
To what image will you liken him?
As for an idol, a metal worker casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and fashions silver chains for it.
People too poor to present such an offering
select wood that will not rot.
They look for a skilled worker
to set up an idol that will not topple.

What Jer. 10 does give us then, is not a warning against Christmas trees or even a warning against celebrating Christmas, but rather a warning about the perils (and stupidity) of idolatry and a solemn charge not to conform ourselves to the ways and customs of the World.

Indeed, Jer. 10 could be used as a pretext to not celebrating Christmas but we ought recall that ‘a text taken out of context is a pretext’. :-)

Thanks for the clarification.

Eshu, the Christian claim is that we know what is best for human beings by looking into the Scripture…

Which would be great if was obvious what God thinks. I think the minor disagreements here and the vast and increasing diversity of Christian beliefs shows that what God thinks is far from obvious.

For that reason alone, I’d say that if God’s intention was to communicate to everyone in a clear an unambiguous way, he has so far failed.

Anyway, back on topic, the reason I mentioned Jeremiah, was this quote:
“Jer 10:2 – 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.
Jer 10:3 – 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.
Jer 10:4 – They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”

Which seems to imply the Bible is against Christmas trees, if not Christmas/Yule as a whole.

Now of course we must eshew “convoluted theological arguments which do not apply to everyone” but we must also avoid painting an argument that we do not like as such in order to avoid it.

In the context of the OP, the question we ought ask is not “What do I think” but rather “What does God think”? Then when we know what the question is we can delve into the Bible and find out what God says on this issue.

You will of course note that Tim, Ed and I all agree that there is nothing inherent special about the 25th December and there is nothing inherently wrong about giving thanks for the incarnation upon such a date. We also all agree that it is important to discover what God’s will is in such a matter because we recognise that there is nothing more important than worshipping the God that redeemed us in a manner that is pleasing to him.

God bless!

You’re right to say that this is misleading as emotions do not generally show us objective truth.

By “common sense” I mean choosing what is best for human beings, without resorting to convoluted theological arguments which do not apply to everyone.