Friday, December 16, 2011

So What about the Christmas Tree? Yes or No?


So What about the Christmas Tree? Yes or No? 

"Honey, should be put up a Christmas tree this year?" ... Husband: "I don't know. Is it morally wrong to do so?" ... What does the Bible say? ... For Seventh-day Adventists, does Ellen White give any spiritual counsel of the subject? The answers may be closer to the truth than at first suspected. Below, examine and decide for yourself as to whether you will buy a Christmas tree for your home and/or church this Holiday Season! Never forget that Jesus is the reason for the season!

~ Pr. Sal Garcia

Here are two links:

http://www.equip.org/bible_answers/should-christians-celebrate-christmas-?msource=EC111216WKLY&tr=y&auid=10017442

http://www.amazingfacts.org/free-stuff/online-library/ctl/viewmedia/mid/447/iid/59/lng/en/7/baptized-paganism/sc/r.aspx

And here are a few (there are at least 13) Ellen White quotes:

The Adventist Home, Page 482



The Review and Herald

December 11, 1879

The Holidays

We are now nearing the close of another year, and shall we not make these festal days opportunities in which to bring to God our offerings? I cannot say sacrifices, for we shall only be rendering to God that which is his already, and which he has only intrusted to us till he shall call for it. God would be well pleased if on Christmas, each church would have a Christmas tree on which shall be hung offerings, great and small, for these houses of worship. Letters of inquiry have come to us asking, Shall we have a Christmas tree? will it not be like the world? We answer, You can make it like the world if you have a disposition to do so, or you can make it as unlike the world as possible. There is no particular sin in selecting a fragrant evergreen, and placing it in our churches; but the sin lies in the motive which prompts to action, and the use which is made of the gifts placed upon the tree.

The tree may be as tall and its branches as wide as shall best suit the occasion; but let its boughs be laden with the golden and silver fruit of your beneficence, and present this to Him as your Christmastree be applied toward removing the debts from our houses of worship at Battle Creek, Mich., and Oakland, Cal. gift. Let your donations be sanctified by prayer, and let the fruit upon this consecrated
A word to the wise is sufficient.
E. G. W.

The Review and Herald

December 9, 1884

Christmas is Coming


Christmas is coming. May you all have wisdom to make it a precious season. Let the older church members unite, heart and soul, with their children in this innocent amusement and recreation, in devising ways and means to show true respect to Jesus by bringing to him gifts and offerings. Let every one remember the claims of God. His cause cannot go forward without your aid. Let the gifts you have usually bestowed upon one another be placed in the Lord’s treasury. I present before you, my brethren and sisters, an object, the European mission. In every church let your smaller offerings be placed upon your Christmas tree. Let the precious emblem, “ever green,” suggest the holy work of God and his beneficence to us; and the loving heart-work will be to save other souls who are in darkness. Let your works be in accordance with your faith. I heard Eld. Butler read a touching letter a few days since from Eld. Whitney, of Europe. The good work is going forward there, but it ought to have been done six years ago. Let not this work be hindered. Let it advance. If all, both old and young, will forego giving presents to one another, and forego the selfish outlay of means in these coming holidays, there would be in heaven a most precious record of self-denial for Christ’s sake.

Every tree in Satan’s garden hangs laden with the fruits of vanity, pride, self-importance, evil desire, extravagance,—all poisoned fruit, but very gratifying to the carnal heart. Let the several churches present to God Christmas trees in every church; and then let them hang thereon the fruits of beneficence and gratitude,—offerings coming from willing hearts and hands, fruits that God will accept as an expression of our faith and our great love to him for the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. Let the evergreen be laden with fruit, rich, and pure, and holy, acceptable to God. Shall we not have such a Christmas as Heaven can approve? Thousands of dollars are needlessly spent every year in gifts to each other. That is means lost to God, lost to his cause. It pleases the vanity, encourages pride, creates all kinds of dissatisfaction, murmuring, and complaints, because perhaps the gifts are not just what was desired, not of the high value wanted or expected. Christmas is not observed as its name implies it should be. Man has forsaken God in almost everything, and has turned the attention to self. He has left the pure springs of living waters which flow from the throne of God, and hewn out to himself broken cisterns, which can hold no water. God gave man a probation that he might be fitted for heaven. He was to look upward to God, who was to be the soul’s adoration; but talent, skill, and inventive powers are all exercised to make self the supreme object of attention. Man has withdrawn his gaze from Deity, and fastened his eyes upon the finite, the earthly, the corruptible.

The Signs of the Times

December 8, 1887

Christmas Gifts for Christ


Let your Christmas tree be dedicated to God, and let its boughs be laden with offerings for Christ. Do not give as though it were a task, doling out your donations with a niggardly hand. Good works are no drudgery. In giving to us his Son, God has poured out to us all Heaven in one gift. Let us with an overflowing heart, with gratitude and joy because of Christ’s matchless love, bring him our offerings. Teach your children by your own example the blessedness of doing for Christ. Train them to go on errands of love for him, and in all their gifts to remember the gracious Giver.

If there are any who are in need of food or comfortable clothing, they should be remembered; we are not to neglect Christ in the person of his saints. But let us be constantly seeking to make God and his cause first in our thoughts and plans.

Ellen G. White in Europe 1885-1887, By D. A. Delafield, Page 253 (WRITTEN BY A BIOGRAPHER, BUT INCLUDES EGW STATEMENT ON XMAS TREES)


Crowd Gathers in Large Baptist Church









Her teaching was positive. The counsels were practical and dealt with the everyday issues the church must meet in its pilgrimage through this world.


Conclusion:
I hope that whether you decide to put up a Christmas tree in your home or church this holiday season, that nothing will overshadow the reason for giving. We give (and love), because He first gave His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ for us. Blessings!

~ Pr. Sal Garcia

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