Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan
That's all well and good, but it simply shows that the Christian religion has in the case of the Christmas tree co-opted a symbol of pre-Christian religious practice. In fact, there is no biblical evidence to support Christmas "trees" as a symbol (coniferous trees being rather scarce in the middle east), or even Dec. 25th as the day Christ was born. It's likely that the date was chosen to coincide with festivals of other religions. I'd say the likelihood that Christ was actually born on what we now call Dec. 25th is about 1 in 365.
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That is all well and good. But I dont think that anyone who says the Christmas tree is a symbol of Christianity ever said that physically coniferous trees had to grow in the Middle East, that Jesus had to be born on December 25, whatever.
It is simply a symbol. And as far as I am concerned, December 25 is symbolic too. I mean, so many calendars have existed over the years and still exist. As far as I am concerned, you can change Christmas to December 27 and decorate the Christmas tree 2 days later, it is all symbolic and today is usually associated with Christianity. It might be very commercialized now, but all of these things are simply symbolic. Certain faiths go along with the "outside wrappings" but the wrappings themselves are merely symbolic.
Why is there so much hoopla and fuss over things that are merely symbolic of someone's belief system and culture? No one is challenging your right to believe how you wish, to put on whatever window dressings you wish, all they are saying is the Christmas tree is usually a symbolic object usually associated with Christianity.
And even the symbolic ways of remembering change. In many cases, unless you actually attend church, the vast majority no longer know the traditional Christmas carols, but they do know what they now consider traditional Christmas songs. What am I saying? Christianity, thru the excesses of commercialization, is now being taken out of what we used to call the "traditional" Christmas.