Apologetics: We Need to Talk About Christmas Trees…

Now that it’s December, it’s time to start talking about controversies about this season. This month, I’ll mainly focus on who Jesus is, looking at what Muslims, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses think He is, but today, I want to talk about Christmas trees. Why Christmas trees? Because some people think that they’re pagan and Christians shouldn’t have them in their houses. While there is some truth to this as the use of evergreens was common in pagan rituals around the winter solstice, Christmas trees aren’t inherently pagan, nor does the Bible condemn having a random tree in house.

There are two main arguments for not having a Christmas tree as a Christian. The first is that the tradition of Christmas trees comes from old pagan festivals and beliefs. As I said before, there’s some truth to this. The Romans would decorate their houses with holly and evergreen boughs during Saturnalia and Germanic tribes valued them as symbols of eternal life and the return of spring. Even today, some neo-pagans and Wiccans use the Christmas tree as a way to celebrate Yule.

The second argument for not having a Christmas tree is Jeremiah 10:3-5. I recently countered this argument in a comment on one of my YouTube videos and basically, it’s talking about idolatry and making idols, but because of the way the text is worded, it could be misinterpreted to be talking about a Christmas tree. It says:

For the practices of the peoples are worthless;
    they cut a tree out of the forest,
    and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
⁴ They adorn it with silver and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so it will not totter.
⁵ Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field,
    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.”

Like I said, it sounds like Jeremiah is talking about Christmas trees, right? Well, no. It’s not.

If you read this verse in context, it’s clear that this is talking about idols and people making and worshiping idols. But even if you were just to look at these three verses, it’s still pretty obvious that it’s talking about making idols, with lines like, “ and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.” or “their idols cannot speak;”. Unless you’re making your Christmas tree an idol in your life, it’s totally fine to have. It’s not much different than having a house plant for a few months.

Moreover, there’s no historical precedent for pagan peoples bringing entire trees into their houses, much less decorating them. They left the trees outside or just stole some tree boughs. The practice that spawned Christmas trees as we know them comes from the Late Middle Ages (after Europe had been Christianized) when Germans and Scandinavians would put trees in their houses or outside their doors. Why they started doing this, I’m not entirely sure, but they did. It wasn’t until the 1600s that Protestant Germans for whatever reason decided to start decorating their trees. It then spread to the U.S. likely through Hessian troops or German immigrants. It’s a relatively new practice that doesn’t really seem to have strong ties to paganism. As Jim Gaffigan puts it:

So, if you’re a Christian, it’s totally fine to have a Christmas tree in your house. Just don’t make it an idol, don’t accidentally set it on fire if you’re using real candles, don’t let the cat near it, and you can eat the broken candy canes.

Until next time,

M.J.