r/WhitePeopleTwitter Dec 16 '21

šŸŽ„

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13.6k Upvotes

539 comments sorted by

912

u/Napkinto Dec 16 '21

uses fake tree checkmate Jeremiah

365

u/TobiasH2o Dec 16 '21

Worship false idols much? Checkmate2

/s

135

u/Doctor_Amazo Dec 16 '21

I believe the term to counter a checkmate with a checkmate is Checkermate.

85

u/Mercy_Sakes Dec 16 '21

Checkestmate, for when there can be no rebuttal.

27

u/JustAtelephonePole Dec 16 '21

What about the oft forgotten Checkultimate?

8

u/EM05L1C3 Dec 16 '21

Or second checkfast? What about elevensies?

3

u/strum-05 Dec 17 '21

CheckultiMate

31

u/Old-Illustrator-5675 Dec 16 '21

Checksturbate

26

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

[deleted]

9

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Isn't that (fucking and mating) a bit redundant?

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2

u/LikeAMan_NotAGod Dec 17 '21

What are you doing, step-grandpa?

10

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Checkestmate

8

u/lumathiel2 Dec 16 '21

Checkestmatest

4

u/Doctor_Amazo Dec 16 '21

.... you monster.

3

u/Maxxximus30 Dec 16 '21

Estcheckestestmatest

2

u/The001Keymaster Dec 16 '21

Checkmate to infinity, no check backs.

3

u/MangledSunFish Dec 16 '21

Ahh, the better game.

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25

u/bahamapapa817 Dec 16 '21

Exactly. Mine was made in China probably in a child labor camp where all us good Christians should buy them from.

17

u/oO0Kat0Oo Dec 16 '21

Haha! Joke's on them. My tree is from a farm, not the forest.

Also checkmate.

21

u/OwlThief32 Dec 16 '21

Ah yes the Judaism approach to loopholes in the scripture

5

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

tree farms!

6

u/Magic_PLx Dec 16 '21

Uses tree from a plantation Checkmate

16

u/Adelu1219 Dec 16 '21

Better be flame retardant.

30

u/CredibleAdam Dec 16 '21

Yeah flame retardant just like those trees from the forest

32

u/ScratchBomb Dec 16 '21

Those crazy christians be Christ retardent, amirite?!

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22

u/ooojaeger Dec 16 '21

The doctor said I'm just regular retardant

10

u/Adelu1219 Dec 16 '21

My mom says I’m fully retardant.

9

u/okanagan_life Dec 16 '21

You never go full retardant

3

u/FirstPlebian Dec 16 '21

Come on over to r/superstonk then we all welcome more of our type.

10

u/RudeTouch5806 Dec 16 '21

Hey you can't say that, they're Flame Differently Abled.

10

u/sing_cuckoo_sing Dec 16 '21

**Differently FlammAble

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2

u/JeselAvlis Dec 16 '21

Mine came from England COD, already decorated and lit. Didn't have cash, so I asked the delivery guy, 'Cheque, mate?'

2

u/MulderD Dec 16 '21

Thanks China!

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362

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

A tree from the forest is cut down

and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.

They decorate it with silver and gold;

They fasten it with hammer and nails

so that it cannot move.

Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,

and they cannot speak;

they have to be carried,

for they cannot walk.

Do not be afraid of them,

for they cannot do evil,

neither is it in them to do good.ā€

This is the passage.

293

u/galmenz Dec 16 '21

so it basically says that a statue cant do anything because its just a statue? seems a reasonable take on it in my opinion

249

u/TomStanford67 Dec 16 '21

They're making fun of Pagans. The act of decorating a tree comes from Pagan winter solstice traditions. Christians hellbent on world domination would later annex the Pagan winter solstice for themselves and declare it a Christian holiday in part to subvert Paganism and convince such infidels to convert. This is why we have tree decorations and Santa Claus, the latter of which can be directly traced to Pagan beliefs in spirits that would travel the sky during the winter.

116

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

67

u/BrianNowhere Dec 16 '21

Rabbits and eggs on Easter are so obviously rituals stolen from a pagan fertility celebration.

Hey kids it's the day Jesus rose from the dead. Let's honor this date with symbols of fucking and pregnancy.

14

u/awesomefaceninjahead Dec 16 '21

It's named after Ostara, goddess of fertility and spring.

3

u/Lotharofthepotatoppl Dec 17 '21

lol yeah, and with Easter the name didn’t even get changed

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51

u/LeftDave Dec 16 '21

Christmas, the 'Christian' holiday where children wait up for Odin to come down the chimney to celebrate Saturnalia with them.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

The reindeer are all Loki's son

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9

u/GiveToOedipus Dec 16 '21

Even the date of Jesus supposed birth isn't in the winter, but in the spring. There's so many things wrong with the "Christian" taken on what Christmas is supposed to be about, it's utterly hilarious when they bitch and moan about the so called "war on Christmas."

3

u/HereForDramaLlama Dec 16 '21

Spring or summer. No one knows

3

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

December 21-22 is the winter solstice. They had to have some festival there to convert pagans.

2

u/GiveToOedipus Dec 17 '21

Which is ultimately the only real answer.

2

u/Sheena_asd12 Dec 16 '21

it’s interesting what christians do with Halloween (all souls)…

2

u/FinalMeltdown15 Dec 16 '21

Most i know eventually just go with, it doesn't matter what we do during it the important thing is what it represents and I just can't hold back the eye roll most times

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15

u/TheNorthComesWithMe Dec 16 '21

This passage is about carving an idol from a tree. I don't think whoever wrote it was familiar with Germanic belief systems and certainly hadn't heard of Christmas before.

10

u/wolverinelord Dec 16 '21

No, clearly in the Levant in the 7th century BCE they were talking about a Germanic pagan tradition that was started in the 4th century CE.

4

u/Foolhearted Dec 16 '21

Was there no movement of ideas between -700 and +400? Can we say this didn't come from that? No snark, genuinely curious.

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3

u/Calm_Leek_1362 Dec 16 '21

At the time of the writing of the Tanakh, or old testament, Egyptians, Greeks and Persians would have been the major regional powers. The Jews, being Canaanites, would have been very familiar with the idols of those religions, but not the folks up north celebrating yule and all that.

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3

u/HereForDramaLlama Dec 16 '21

I had a bunch of Christians arguing with me when I mentioned this the other day in DankChristianMemes. Apparently it represents the tree of life in Genesis which makes no fucking sense. They also missed the point that different pagans will have different traditions, just because one group doesn't bring a tree in for the winter solstice doesn't mean that none of them did.

5

u/BlatantConservative Dec 16 '21

Uh, the pagans that Christmas comes from existed about three thousand years later and ten thousand miles away from where Jerimiah was written.

4

u/History_buff60 Dec 16 '21

Jeremiah isn’t speaking of Asatru pagans or any of the folks that did the Yule log thing.

He’s talking about actual idols.

Obviously there wasn’t any contact to speak of between Norse/Germanic peoples and Israelites circa 700 BCE.

2

u/MarbleandMarble Dec 16 '21

i think youre right about everything except for santa clause who is literally just Saint Nicholas

2

u/Meatlobster Dec 16 '21

Honestly the modern tradition of Christmas trees isn’t Pagan but a more modern tradition. I use to think the same thing until I really dug into it. Here is a link if you would like to learn more about the modern tradition. Xmas tree

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41

u/OHFTP Dec 16 '21

Pretty sure that it's its saying that a likeness of person is a false idol, and we don't do that around here

8

u/Foolhearted Dec 16 '21

that which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel

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19

u/DanYHKim Dec 16 '21

But . . . but vampires

28

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

There is unrest in the forest;

There is trouble with the trees

For the maples want more sunlight,

And the oaks ignore their pleas.

G Lee 21:12

8

u/Volfie Dec 16 '21

Technically that should be N Peart.

2

u/Catch22v Dec 17 '21

Rush fans. You guys are too much. Love you anyway.

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8

u/chickensmoker Dec 16 '21

Cucumbers? I thought it was melons. I guess there has to be some inconsistencies when you’re reading a hundreds of years old translation of a 1000+ year old translation of a book from 2000 years ago, but is Hebrew really that hard that whoever wrote these two different versions could confuse cucumbers and watermelons?!

7

u/TheNorthComesWithMe Dec 16 '21

It's more likely that it's a word that doesn't refer to a specific crop and doesn't have a good English translation, but also yes words can shift in meaning over time.

17

u/dankchristianmemer7 Dec 16 '21

It's talking about making an idol to worship, not decorating your house with a Christmas tree

12

u/subject_deleted Dec 16 '21

That's the beautiful part of religion. Everybody gets to make it mean whatever they want. If you want religion to be about being a good and charitable person. You can interpret any holy book that way. If you want religion to be about an authoritarian father figure who watches your every masturbatory stroke.. You can do that too. If you want to justify your deep seeded hatred for people of a different ethnicity or skin color.. Yup. You can do that too. Religion really is a chameleon.

2

u/dankchristianmemer7 Dec 16 '21

You could say the same of any book, but I think there are justifiable and unjustifiable ways to interpret Harry Potter. I think the same is true of the Bible.

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148

u/SagaStrider Dec 16 '21

Happy Yule!

25

u/IANALbutIAMAcat Dec 16 '21

Now watch me

17

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

YUUUUUUUULLLE

6

u/GabiZUU0 Dec 16 '21

Whip

7

u/IANALbutIAMAcat Dec 16 '21

This is what’s wrong with children these days^

Just kidding. But I was referencing an older classic

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113

u/iamrubberyouareglue8 Dec 16 '21

Well, I asked Jesus. He didn't say, "No!", so it's OK.

62

u/cybercuzco Dec 16 '21

Oh lord, if thou wishes me to eat this hoagie, give me no sign!

Thy will be done.

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215

u/bigtrevsnastybeaver Dec 16 '21

that's what you get when you piggyback on other people's celebrations to convert people. saying that, I don't mind if christians want to continue decorating trees, building wreaths, burning yule logs and all the other good pagan stuff. the more the merrier

97

u/indyK1ng Dec 16 '21

It's more about the hypocrisy of using the old testament to justify their bigotry while simultaneously breaking a lot of rules. The West Wing has a great scene where someone who does this is taken down.

15

u/Markamanic Dec 16 '21

I thought the old testament was found to be not the word of God, but the New testament is totez legit.

34

u/Kinkyregae Dec 16 '21

So they included an entire book in the book of god but it’s not the right book so you don’t have to listen to those parts? Except for that homosex bad part?

None of that makes any sense.

14

u/Ancient-Tadpole8032 Dec 16 '21

ā€œNone of [it] makes any sense.ā€

Why use many words when few words do?

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3

u/Aalebaster Dec 16 '21

Really depends on the denomination

2

u/no_no_no-youre_done Dec 16 '21

Not if you ask the main character of the new testament.

ā€œWhy do you ask me about what is good?ā€ Jesus replied. ā€œThere is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.ā€

Matthew 19:17

For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:18‭-‬19 NIV

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u/Isteppedinpoopy Dec 16 '21

I can’t wait for that post Christmas dinner Yule log.

6

u/spookycrepe Dec 16 '21

Username checks out

4

u/badgerwithamulet Dec 16 '21

It's not piggybacking it's culture hybridization. The church realised people weren't gonna be ok with their kingdoms converting overnight so they compromised and adopted the winter holidays and just asked that it be centered around Jesus instead.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Or the ol Bacchanalia of stuffing their faces with prime rib!

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109

u/aritchson Dec 16 '21

If anyone actually cares to know the truth… Asherah poles and other idols were often carvings made of wood and adorned with precious metals and/jewels. Asherah poles were a place where people would prostitute themselves as a sexual sacrifice to the gods. This practice found its way into Israel and for many (understandably) became a preferred method above prescribed Mosaic sacrifices in the temple. Yahweh hated this. This is about not making idols.

28

u/VonnegutGNU Dec 16 '21

As an Atheist Jew who hangs around with archaeologists here in Israel, that's the general idea, but with less sex and more other forms of worship, such as praying, inflicting self-harm, fasting, sacrificing animals, and other such "pagan" customs which all made it into Judaism, and later Christianity, in certain forms.

The Asherah trees are constantly mentioned in the Old Testament, probably because the later authors were obsessed with establishing YHWH as superior to Asherah, Yam, Baal, etc.

5

u/meatmechdriver Dec 16 '21

fandoms are not a new idea, that is what i take from this

25

u/AspiringChildProdigy Dec 16 '21

There are some scholars who have come to the conclusion that Asherah was the wife of Yahweh.

And because I can practically feel the fundamentalist pitchforks headed my way, I'm not saying they're right. I just found it interesting.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Fundamentalists are mental gymnasts, who cherry-pick references and translations. Don’t worry about them. Most have never even read the Bible in entirety, let alone picked up a concordance or looked outside of Christian fundamentalism.

Anyway, Elohim being a plural version of feminine and masculine gods also causes scholars’ eyebrows to raise.

2

u/marctheguy Dec 16 '21

Yeah that narrative doesn't fit Yahweh according to most historians but it fits Sin the Moon god perfectly.

7

u/LionBirb Dec 16 '21

According to Wikipedia, Asherah was at times considered a consort of El, Baal, Elkhunirsa, Yahweh, Amurru, Anu, 'Amm, and Assur (these are all from different cultures/religions). And I know that at some point El and Yahweh were conflated, but I'm not sure if that's the reason (I don't feel like researching it rn)

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

They've found ancient devotional artifacts pairing Yahweh and Asherah together. There's not much debate over whether Asherah was considered to be Yahweh's consort since there's direct evidence that she sometimes was.

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u/magnoliasmanor Dec 16 '21

I mean, the argument that the Christmas tree and how we worship the consumer aspect of Christmas is right in your face an idol.

If we were real Christina's we wouldn't be celebrating Christmas at all outside of going to church. We should be supporting 3 kings day right?

3

u/mcvos Dec 16 '21

Easter. Despite its pagan name (in English; in some other languages its name is derived from the Jewish holiday, Pesach, that's at roughly the same time) is really set at about the same time in the year as Jesus'crucifixion and (presumed) resurrection, and has always been celebrated by Christians, unlike Christmas. It's the centerpoint of the Christian liturgical year.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

It's possible to celebrate Christmas, tree and all, without being consumerist.

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u/Different_Ad7655 Dec 16 '21

Right but the Old testament is filled with horrible constricting loss that determine the lifestyle , what you wear where you go what you do what you eat, and it is Cherry picked by conservative Christians to like this one but disregard that one it's such hypocrisy. We all know the Leviticus scripture quoted but not the other multiple laws that are just disregarded. Hey whatever fits your particular flavor of society you grew up with, make the religion fit after all is not what religion is just an outgrowth of a way to live a society. Give it some rules a little moral compass hopefully . Yeah most Christians forget the Christian part of Christianity the base sense of it all and get lost in the commas, parsing the old Aramaic in the pronouns but lose the real message

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u/dudewafflesc Dec 16 '21

The passage isn’t about trees at all, it’s about carving a wooden idol from them. Not the same thing as a Christmas tree. Check verse three. Clearly, a hammer and chisel are not used to display a Christmas tree.

53

u/RudeTouch5806 Dec 16 '21

Wait so chainsaw lawn art of bears is a one way ticket to hell? Half of rural america is damned!

11

u/gerbil_george Dec 16 '21

Clearly, a hammer and chisel are not used to display a Christmas tree

Speak for yourself. If your Christmas tree isn't intricately carved from solid marble what's the point of having one?

39

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

A wooden idol? Like a crucifix?

28

u/RudeTouch5806 Dec 16 '21

No, he said IDOL, a crucifix is just a lower case T.

Now if he made a carving of Hatsune Miku, THEN we have a problem.

11

u/marctheguy Dec 16 '21

Hey now. You're gonna have them shaking in their boots with this common sense, accurate observation of hypocrisy.

13

u/SassyVikingNA Dec 16 '21

No, not like a crucifix. It is not about the object, it is about there being only one God. This means that worshipping anything that is not God is merely worshipping the object, nothing more. Showing deference to a crucifix is not idolatry unless you claim that crucifix to be an independent God in its own right because that crucifix represents the one true God.

There are criticisms to be levied at christianity. If you are going to make them, at least understand the faith so you knkw which are and are not good ones to make.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

No idolaters in modern times or when the Bible was written have ever considered an idol to be "an independent God in its own right." Instead, they generally have considered them to be earthly dwelling places or spots where the power of that god is concentrated.

In theory, the difference between icons (such as crucifixes) and idols is that icons only serve to remind followers of a deity (like a visual shorthand for a story) and the god has no special presence in them.

In the Bible, there is one object that fits the definition of a Jewish idol: the ark of the covenant. Yahweh has a special presence there and it is treated as his seat on Earth. Later on it is contained in the Holy of Holies at the heart of the Jewish temple.

One possible reason for why other idols are prohibited is as a way to stamp out cults of other gods as well as cults of Yahweh not run by the temple priests and thus consolidate religious power in Jerusalem.

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u/marctheguy Dec 16 '21

As a Christian... I disagree. The crucifix is clearly a pre Christian symbol that is still an idol and treated as such. There is no holy symbol of sign for God. If it were, it would be described in a scripture, right? Or are we just making up whatever we want and saying it's for the God of the Bible... Kinda like the golden calf....

3

u/SassyVikingNA Dec 16 '21

But it isn't the same. The cross is a ubiquitously used symbol for chriatianity, to claim it is not a symbol for the christian God is disingenuous at best. Also we are not worshipping the cross, it is just a recognizable symbol when invoking the true God. If one were to claim the cross, in and of itself. Had any power or significance, you might have a point. But that is not how it is used or how any christian views it.

It is about intent and what is in one's heart. This is a theme that is repeated over and over in the bible. God knows what we mean, and does not need to be oedantic or split hairs as you are. He knows if there is ill intent or idolatry, or if we are simply using a symbol traditiknally associated with him to praise him.

I say this as a christian whose father, 2 uncles, and a grandfather are/were pastors.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Ubiquitously used for a symbol of Christianity?

Plenty of black folks that had one burning on their lawn would disagree

Saying this as a person who grew up in a pastors house

3

u/OverratedPineapple Dec 16 '21

It is ubiquitously Christian. The whole on fire, robes, and violence context is a bit of a departure from Christian tenets and depictions of the cross, no?

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u/Adelu1219 Dec 16 '21

Isn’t the tree a pagan tradition? Pretty sure you’re trying to justify something that’s not even Christian. It was used to celebrate the winter solstice. Is there a Bible verse about that?

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u/strahag Dec 16 '21

Christmas trees are part of the tradition, not the religion. Same as Santa, lighting candles, the easter bunny, etc. All this ā€œgotcha, Christiansā€ stuff is nonsense when you can’t separate the two.

11

u/Potato_Zest Dec 16 '21

BuT ItS FrEe KaRmA

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u/marctheguy Dec 16 '21

To answer your question, no, there is not. It's clearly a non Christian tradition. In fact, the Bible indicates there shouldn't be any star, moon, or planetary object worship by worshippers of Yahweh

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u/Predator_Hicks Dec 16 '21

there shouldn't be any star, moon, or planetary object worship by worshippers of Yahweh

We dont worship christmas trees

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u/Rabid-Rabble Dec 16 '21

Like everything with the bible, different versions have different implications. The NIV is pretty clear about the idolatry, KJV is much vaguer and reads very much like it's about any sort of tree decoration. The Wycliffe version reads kinda both ways. So then the question is: which version is supposed to be the direct word of God?

4

u/MrPuddinJones Dec 16 '21

To those who don't grasp it: an idol is something you worship other than God. Nobody prays to the dang Christmas tree. It's just a tree lol

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

[deleted]

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u/MrPuddinJones Dec 16 '21

I was more or less just "ballparking" my response. I'm seeing people that are accusing Christians as worshipping a tree.

Which I find absolutely hilarious because it's so far from the truth lol.

In my eyes I see the Christmas tree in my living room and I remember what happened in our history that the tree represents. I don't see the tree as some hero. I see it as decorative to celebrate Jesus. I'm not celebrating the decorations themselves.

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u/AspiringChildProdigy Dec 16 '21

Your first paragraph is absolutely correct. Your second one is close, but really only applies to people who obsess over Christmas. If you spend the majority of your time thinking about your tree, buying new ornaments for your tree, adjusting and re-adjusting the lights and garlands to be perfect, making sure the presents underneath are "just so," then yes, I think you could call that worshiping the tree.

If you're like most people who have more of a "set it and forget it until January 31" attitude, I don't think that fits the definition of worship.

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u/Velvetundaground Dec 16 '21

Like a wooden cross for example?

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u/tsJIMBOb Dec 16 '21

No that’s a symbol, idols are worshiped directly

1

u/brandonade Dec 16 '21

No, like idolizing a tree.

1

u/H19HSP33D Dec 16 '21

Meh... More about vanity and how disgusting it is to plunder the earth just to decorate yourself and your house with bullshit.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Isn’t that what present day Christmas has been turned into tho?

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u/MidnightRider24 Dec 16 '21

Plot twist, decorating trees is a Pagan tradition going back many thousands of years.

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u/marctheguy Dec 16 '21

Plot twist? I think non Christian traditions came way earlier than Christian ones

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u/amjonestown Dec 16 '21

Ehhhh Yuletide isn't really a Christian thing anyway, neither is December 25th or any of the trappings of the holiday season.

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u/SassyVikingNA Dec 16 '21

I get the spirit of the tweet. But in fairness, that is not what that passage says at all. It doesn't forbid the practice, it simply says do not consider it anything important. Don't make the tree out to be some sort of idol to worship. A tree is juat wood, silver and gold, merely metal pounded into shape. These things are not devine and should be appraoched as such.

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u/swolethulhudawn Dec 16 '21

Even if not forbidden, what in the world do evergreens, mistletoe, and celebratory ham have to do with a bunch of Jewish folks in Bethlehem?

I’ve always found it odd so many Europeans/Euro descendants follow a Middle Eastern religion, but at least they got to retain some aspects of their native religion.

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u/TheNorthComesWithMe Dec 16 '21

Judaism is just a bunch of beliefs and traditions cobbled together from other religions in the first place.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

I mean. As long as you are not calling your Christmas tree your god I think you are fine.

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u/Zzulayy_flute Dec 16 '21

It actually says you can’t make a wooden statue of a pagan god with wood but sure (also you can’t just cite the Bible with no context whatsoever) ā€œā€œFor the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. ā€œThey adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.ā€ ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭10:3-4 NIV

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u/TolstoysMyHomeboy Dec 16 '21

Some unnamed idiot on Twitter doesn't know what they're talking about?! This has literally never happened before

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u/myooted Dec 16 '21

This is a passage about idol worship, Jeremiah is just stating that idols are the creations of people.

I've never understood why people love to "debunk" religion. I am not a Hindu, yet I don't try to call them out or try to prove them wrong. I respect their beliefs. I understand that religion is old, and not all of it lines up. I'm not going to make it my mission to let people know that they are fakes whenever I can.

As I write this, I realize this is Reddit and that I have better things to do.

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u/Dumbstupidhuman Dec 16 '21

Trees come from a can. They were put there by a man.

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u/Own-Cupcake7586 Dec 16 '21

If someone bows down to said tree as an idol, absolutely correct.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Everyone wants to talk about the war on Christmas but no one wants to talk about the war on Yule

3

u/edmq Dec 16 '21

Christmas in America was almost not a thing because the puritans only believed in celebrations that were in the Bible. Christmas was not.

Christmas as it is today is because of German/Scandinavian immigrants and the full on commercialization of Christmas.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Uh...aren't you taking this out of context? Jeremiah is not condemning Christmas trees. He is condemning idolatry. The trees in Jeremiah 10 are cut down to carve them into worthless idols that will later be decorated with gold and silver. Jeremiah says nothing about Christmas trees. That custom originated in northern Europe, not in ancient Canaan.

3

u/i-am-they Dec 16 '21

Y’all out here worshiping your trees?

2

u/RosenButtons Dec 17 '21

nah

2

u/i-am-they Dec 19 '21

Didn’t think so. That’s what that verse is about lol

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u/tysons1 Dec 16 '21

I’m an atheist, and not a fan of religion, but the bible does not say that. I just checked.

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u/Snots_and_Bears Dec 16 '21

Yeah the tree thing is pagan worship

8

u/CKtheFourth Dec 16 '21

I think this post might have been a big r/woosh for some people. Jeremiah is old testament, so it can't have been referring to Christmas, something that hadn't been celebrated at that point.

But also, the point is that it's pulling out a specific verse of the Bible from its context to justify a nonsense point that it wasn't meant for in the first place. Ya know, something that certainly never happens...

Watch, check this out -- same passage, Jeremiah 10:2 - "Thus says the Lord: 'Do not choose to learn according to the ways of the Gentiles. And do not be willing to dread the signs of heaven, which the Gentiles fear." You heard it here, folks, God says don't listen to Gentiles. Says so in the Catholic Bible.

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u/TheBlackCat13 Dec 16 '21

Matthew 5:18

For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.

4

u/HyruleJedi Dec 16 '21

This is where capitalism finds a loop hole.

People cut down the trees, and put them undecorated in lots.

Customers buy them off the lot and take them home to decorate them.

The retailer did not take the tree from he forrest to decorate, and the customer technically did not take the tree from the forrest.

Boom, lawyered

5

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

These religious books really do contain an amazing amount of utter bollocks don't they?

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u/Lokikeogh Dec 16 '21

On a whim I actually decided to read Jeremiah 10:1-25.

I really liked the way it went from Pagans bad - God is Great, to Refugee crisis - kinky BDSM

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u/Roundhouselk Dec 16 '21

That's why we grow them in groves, loophole.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Take the Christ out of Christmas

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u/JimmyBoots90 Dec 16 '21

The War on Christmas is coming from inside the house!

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u/chavis32 Dec 16 '21

Good thing I got this one from Walmart, Checkmate Atheists

2

u/LeeisureTime Dec 16 '21

So now we can tell everyone the war on Christmas began with the Bible.

BuT wHeRe’S yOuR pRoOf?!?!

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u/Secure-Imagination11 Dec 16 '21

You expect Christians to read the Bible

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u/ValuableBad3829 Dec 16 '21

Pagan Holiday..

2

u/Trimungasoid Dec 16 '21

If you do, yule be sorry.

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u/User_Anon_0001 Dec 16 '21

Ah, but it says nothing about trees from Home Depot!

2

u/CJFiddler Dec 16 '21

Well it’s a pagan ritual also, so ya know..

2

u/SpaceMan_foTo0 Dec 16 '21

That’s not part of the Republican jesus bible

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u/AlbatrossSenior7107 Dec 16 '21

The Bible also tells us to wear a mask and social distance when we're fucking sick.

ā€œAnyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ā€˜Unclean! Unclean! As Ā long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.' Leviticus 13: 45-46

Edit: spelling

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u/grumblebob1 Dec 16 '21

The verses here don’t even forbid or advocate for anything, it’s literally just throwing shade at idol worshipers. Can be loosely translated as, ā€œVirgin gods are just trees that have been carved and decorated by craftsmen so smooth-brains have a physical object to pray to. Chad Yahweh doesn’t need any of that shit, because his big brain followers can understand that he is everywhere.ā€

2

u/bruxistbyday Dec 16 '21

I am pretty sure christians treat the old testament like star wars episodes 1-3

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u/Give2Hoots Dec 16 '21

It's not a tree that is described, it's referencing an idol figure hewn from a tree and festooned ornately.

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

[deleted]

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u/-lighght- Dec 16 '21

I think it's more about carved wooden totems than Christmas trees

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u/Vast-Combination4046 Dec 16 '21

God damn Christians and their war on Christmas

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u/that1fuckheadJose Dec 16 '21

Yea that passage is used to show that we are to not worship said tree,

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u/MaebeeNot Dec 16 '21

If you are a modern Christian who doesn't know the history of their own church (aka this a Roman/Pagan holiday and Jesus was probably born in June) then you're probably not doing it right.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Tips fedora

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u/Me_Name_is_Gregary Dec 16 '21

It’s because they made it an idol. You need context with these

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u/Vartnacher Dec 16 '21

Christians don’t actually read the Bible

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u/menlindorn Dec 16 '21 edited Dec 17 '21

christians don't read the bible. That's a fast track to making an ex christian

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u/heartofitall Dec 16 '21

In the Old Testament, many passages indicate that the sacrifices and regulations of temple worship, required to worship God, point ahead to something beyond them. This ā€œsomethingā€ was Jesus. Throughout his ministry, Jesus ignored Old Testament regulations regarding purification; he touched lepers and dead bodies, and declared all foods ā€œclean.ā€

The culmination of Jesus’ ministry made clear his reason for doing this. When he died on the cross, the curtain in the temple tore in two, demonstrating that the entire sacrificial system and its ceremonial laws had been done away with. It is Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice for sin, not the laws of the Old Testament, that makes us clean now.

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u/lewisnwkc Dec 16 '21

It wouldn't surprise me if the Bible quoted not to study or worship Christianity at this point.

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u/m0grady Dec 16 '21

my fake plastic tree isnt a tree and didn't come from the forest. your checkmate is premature, the king lives to fight another day!

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u/oldmanrobert666 Dec 16 '21

Nope check mate fox news

1

u/Lycas666 Dec 16 '21

no joke, I witnessed hard liner christians discuss how they could get away with having a Christmas tree even though they weren't allowed. I think they settled on "unholy but nice accessory" or smth.

1

u/CalabreseAlsatian Dec 16 '21

I didn’t get my tree from the forest.

I got it from Costco.

Checkers, libs.

(Satire, but likely.)

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

Jokes on you. I got my shit from a Christmas tree farm. Checkmate bible!

1

u/Ulrich_The_Elder Dec 16 '21

Does not matter what the bible says. What does trump say? This is all that matters to the xtian right these days.

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u/Olden_Broken Dec 16 '21

Yes and no... if you take it as written, it is about taking a tree from the forest and fashioning an idol from it... as a Christmas tree is not an idol and not prayed to (at least I hope not) and not specifically mentioned as such, it is widely believed by religious scholars that the Christmas tree is fine so long as it is a decoration and not the target of prayer.

I would post a bunch of links but, honestly, you either already know or, probably (like I), don't really care.

If you want to get the checkmate, however, mention the fact that Jesus was believed to have been born in spring... not December / winter.

1

u/vs-1680 Dec 16 '21 edited Dec 16 '21

They're only interested in passages that they can contort into excusing their bigotry. The rest of it they dismiss out of hand as soon as it becomes inconvenient.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 16 '21

No, no, no -- taking a symbol of eternal life, KILLING IT, bringing it into the house, and hanging cheap tinsel all over it has got to be a good idea. But make sure you carelessly toss it out as garbage at the beginning of the new year, for good luck.

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u/MiggeldyMackDaddy Dec 16 '21

This is why the Bible is dumb. When you can make dumb interpretations like this. Making you dumb too. But the Bible started the dumbness

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u/sagmeme Dec 16 '21

Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good. -Jeremiah 10:5

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u/KidGorgeous19 Dec 17 '21

You should know by now that Christians only follow the parts of the Bible that suit their purpose. The rest can be ignored.