Well, I don't.....any more that I would call a child whose parents named her "Wednesday" would be calling on a false god.
As I said, we have to live in satan's world, as God permits, and the devil can call anything whatever he wishes, because its not permanent.
I am not worshipping a false god every day of the week any more than you are.
So why do you believe that people putting a tree up to honor Jesus birth is idolatry? All I know do not worship Saturnalia, or Bacchus with teh trappings of Christmas.
I already did explain biblically how celebrating Christ's birth is counter to what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.....
Here it is again....from the KJV.....
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
No you falsely applied a verse to what people are doing to honor Jesus!
Teh same apostle said this:
4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
God looks on the heart. The Watchtower has taught you to look just on the surface. You condemn someone honoring Jesus with a Christmas tree, but excuse yourself for nasming a false god on certain days, That is rank hypocrisy.
"come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.....
Spiritually "UNCLEAN" celebrations are still offensive to the God who was there when the pagans celebrated those very same things centuries ago under another name. Introducing pagan celebrations into Christianity did not "Christianize" the paganism, but "paganized" the Christianity.
So to you I guess pine trees are the source of evil.
Deuteronomy 18:9-12 gives us the answer....
"When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 11 or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee." (KJV)
Here Yahweh forbade any connection to things that involved spiritism or false worship. Spiritistic practices were an "abomination unto the Lord" and because of those very practices, the Canaanites were driven out of the land that God gifted to his people.
The reason why birthdays were not celebrated by the Jews is because of its association with spiritism...divination (the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means) The celebration of birthdays was to divine the future of the child born on a certain day under their astrological star signs. Horoscopes cast on the birthdate would then foretell what the child's life would turn out to be.
There was a cake with lighted tapers to ward of evil spirits, and there were the "wishes" and gifts that accompanied the celebration of the birthday
I really hope you are not saying those who observed times were celebrating birthdays? Even teh Watchtower cannot be that ignorant of history.
There is nothing in Gods Word to forbid or allow celebrating birthdays (though Job did) and the Jews celebrated at least one birthday- for bar or bat mitzvah! So if it is not forbidden it is left to individuals as Paul said in Romans 14 to decide before God themself!
The reason why birthdays were not celebrated by the Jews is because of its association with spiritism...divination (the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means) The celebration of birthdays was to divine the future of the child born on a certain day under their astrological star signs. Horoscopes cast on the birthdate would then foretell what the child's life would turn out to be.
There was a cake with lighted tapers to ward of evil spirits, and there were the "wishes" and gifts that accompanied the celebration of the birthday.
God's command was to stay away from all such celebrations. That is why we do....Jesus would not have celebrated his own birthday, let alone approve of what satan's world has done with what is thought by many to be a genuine "Christian" celebration. Most people know that Christ was not born on December 25th.....he was probably born in October....so where did December 25th come from?
I agree that Jesus was most likely born in late Sept. Early OCt. and Dec. 25th was given as a compromise by the nascent RCC. Early Christians would go and celebrate the pagan festival. They could come out of hiding and with symbols be able to greet each other.
But I await your historical proof that birthdays were designed for the practice of divination.
......and all the other stuff comes from Norse customs associated with the winter solstice. Christ was never IN Christmas.
Every day belongs to Jesus! God is not so terrfied that He cowers in fear if Jesus' followers honor Jesus on Dec. 25th! Once again you have been indoctrinated to look on the surface- God looks on the heart!
Why choose the birthday of a foreign god to honor Christ? Are we commanded to celebrate his birthday? Since Jews did not celebrate birthdays at all and the date of Jesus' birth is not known, who do you suppose wants you to dishonor the son by following paganism to celebrate something God's people were told NOT to do?
And we are not commanded to not celebrate. If one does it to honor God directly (and that means they are not worshipping materialism, saturnalia, bacchus or any other entity or thing, but rejoicing in the birth of the Lord Jesus) God will approve:
4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.You need to learn that it is not so much what we celebrate with, but to whom is the celebration directed to and for whose honor. All 365 days of the year belong to teh Lord and if I wish to dress up my home on one day to celelbrate God sending Emmanuel to earth to reddem me from my sins- neither you nor that lying organization has the right to condemn me for it.
If I worshipped the tree, or materialism or saturnalia or Bachus (over 99% of the world I believe do not even know who these characters are) then you have a case- otherwise you are just acting like a Pharisee! Looking to stay pure on the outside of the cup- but inside........