OUT OF CONTEXT

I have a friend at work, whom I have been able to share my faith with. She claims to be a Christian with a Catholic background. She admits to having very little knowledge of the Bible and has never read it in its entiety; only a verse here and there. She does not have assurance about her salvation and admits that she doubts parts of the Bible and the Christian faith. She also admits to rarely going to church and believing things she sees in movies and on television.

Amoungst our most recent conversations, she was telling me of a belief, that she has, that Christians worship an idol, the Christmas tree. When I questioned her about why she believes this, she insisted that the Christmas tree is forbidden in Scripture. I told her that I had never heard this claim before. She continued by sharing that her evidence for her claim is found in Jeremiah 10:1-4. It reads:
1Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2Thus says the Lord,
"Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens
Although the nations are terrified by them;
3For the customs of the peoples are delusion;
Because it is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
4"They decorate it with silver and with gold;
They fasten it with nails and with hammers
So that it will not totter."

Of course, if you just read these four verses without reading the chapter before or the remainder of chapter 10, you could easily start to wonder if having a Christmas tree is wrong. This is a perfect example of how people take certain Bible verses out of context to try and prove Christianity and the Bible wrong.

It must give a non-believer sheer joy to hear of something or some claim as this, to give them something to boast about. Instances like this are so unfortunate as my friend was very excited when she presented this claim of hers to me. Soon after a brief, and certainly not complete, how to study the Bible, I was able to explain to her the meaning of the text as intended by the author.

I also explained to her that Satan uses Scripture, in a distorted way, to put doubt in our minds about Scripture. Don't ever doubt that. If he can get us to focus our minds and attention on certain verses, that by themselves, may get us to rethink and doubt our faith and what is being taught from the pulpit, then he will win. Satan is always trying to get usto take verses out of context and give it a complete different meaning than the author intended.

So, in conclusion, always study your Bible. Do not merely read a verse or two. Read it. Study it. Meditate on it. Pray over it.
If there is ever anything you read in Scripture you do not understand or have a question about, pray! Pray that the Holy Spirit will give you guidance and understanding as you read and study the Bible. Also, there are a number of reliable resources available, such as commmentaries and Bible dictionaries.

If you are wondering if this text we read from Jeremiah 10 is talking about a Christmas tree or not, well, it's NOT. It was not my intention to fully explain the text to you. But, if you will, at the very minimum, read chapter 10 in its entirety, you should be able to understand what is being discussed in verses 1-4.