Lets look at their proof text
Jeremiah 10 (Contemporary English Version)
The LORD Talks about Idols
1The LORD said:
Listen to me,
you people of Israel.
2Don’t follow the customs
of those nations
who become frightened
when they see
something strange
happen in the sky.
3Their religion is worthless!
** They chop down a tree,
carve the wood into an idol,
4 cover it with silver and gold,
and then nail it down
so it won’t fall over. ** 5 An idol is no better
than a scarecrow.
It can’t speak,
and it has to be carried,
because it can’t walk.
Why worship an idol
that can’t help or harm you?
In verse 3-4 the Hebrew literally is saying that, the pagans cut down a tree ( it does not say pine tree ), a craftsman fashions it into an idol, it is OVERLAID with precious metals. This is not a Christmas tree, it is an idol.
Now lets look at the King James translation,
Jeremiah 10:3-4 (King James Version)
For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest,
the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
If you don’t read this text carefully, you can see a Christmas tree in the passage. But, “the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe” gives it away as being an idol being made.
The verses that the concerned readers repeatedly cite are 10:2-4: “Do not learn the ways of the nations . . . For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.” “Aha!” these readers say. “Jeremiah is talking about the Christmas tree!” But closer examination reveals that he certainly is not!
First, there is the immediate context of this passage. The very next verse, 10:5, goes on to say, “Like a scarecrow in a melon patch, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good.” **This passage and the passages that follow make it crystal clear that the “decorated tree” that Jeremiah was talking about in 10:3-4, was a tree that was cut down and made into an idol, a very common custom in the ancient world. **10:8-10 also confirms this, where the wooden idols are contrasted with the LORD, who is the true and living God. Keil and Delitsch, the well-respected Old Testament commentary, confirms this interpretation that the trees in question were idols that were then worshiped (C. F. Keil and F. Delitsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, “Jeremiah, Lamentations,” vol 8 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eeerdmans Publishing Company, 1980), 196-199).
Second, when we search the rest of the Old Testament, we find …
orlutheran.com/html/jer10.html
