Finally, what about the Christ mas tree? It, too, has a pagan an cestry. Tree worship was common in Scandinavian countries. When they became Christians they made the sacred evergreen part of their Christian festival of Christmas. Some say it was in the eighth cen tury in Germany when Bonaface, an English missionary to Germany, took the Gospel to a certain group of people. He found them offering sacrifices to their sacred oak. He replaced the custom with a fir tree adorned in honor of Christ. Now, it really does not make much dif ference where the custom origin ated. If you want to decorate your home with a tree, do it with the full Biblical significance of a tree in your mind. Four times in the Word of God the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of as having been cruci fied on a tree. It was from a tree that they made the manger where, as a Babe, our Saviour was laid. It was from a tree they made the cruel cross upon which our Lord was hung. Because of His death and resurrection our sins have been taken away and through faith we can have eternal life. The first Christmas tree had no tinsel or ornaments. It was just blood which flowed from the veins of the Son of God. This was sufficient to atone for the sins of the world. You can experience its benefits this Christ mas if you will put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your per sonal Saviour. He died on that tree in your place. He paid the penalty for your sins. Will you trust Him? Dr. Strauss is Pastor of Emmanuel Faith Community Church, Escon dido, California.
always a token of love and appreci ation. It is a give and take situation more than anything. I want to give gifts at Christmas because God has given me the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ my Lord. The wise- men did not give gifts to each oth er. They presented what they had to the Babe. Why do we not make this a time to give Him something special? We have developed a prac tice in our home of getting each member of the family together and each person giving a little bit to the work of the Lord. We usually choose one of our favorite mis sionaries to whom we send the money. This is in commemoration of our Saviour's birth as well as in commemoration of their efforts to spread the good news to the ends of the earth. The one custom I find very dif ficult to defend is that of Santa Claus. This does cloud the whole issue of Christmas. Why introduce a bearded, jolly man in red? I seek to enlighten our children as to where their gifts come from. Santa Claus is really a contradic tion for Saint Nicholas. He was a real bishop of the church in the forth century. He gained fame as a very generous man who gave gifts to other people. He was first adopted in the Netherlands as the patron saint of children. They cel ebrated this day on December 6th, putting their wooden shoes out filled with hay for his white horse. The hay is then removed and toys are inserted. Christmas in the Neth erlands is celebrated on December 25th as a Christian holiday. There are traditional services in churches with family gatherings. If one must honor a deceased bishop, some other day should be chosen.
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