For the record... on the
Jeremiah 10 issue...I stand less with the explanation of a woodsman cutting down a tree etc and more with the basic thought of the entire chapter. That being "Learn not the way of the heathen".
I don't feel that the specific instruction concerning the tree is cut and dried enough to use as a basis in the presence of those who do not believe and only serves as an argumental point for others to debate.
The fact that these practices came from the heathen and that, per scripture, are practices that the church never should have learned seems, to me, to be much more solid ground scripturally.
Because of the church's adaptation of these heathen practices our Christ is nearly unable to be discerned from the plethora of other "g"ods out there.
When God is celebrated in the manners in which He ordained His people to do so he stands out in the crowd.
How many "gods" were born on December 25th?
How many "gods" use the evergreen to symbolize their eternal nature?
How many "gods" are remembered with a yule (which means solstice) log the night before the raising of the evergreen?
How many "gods" are remembered in the spring with fertility symbols like the egg & rabbit?
Our failure to heed our Gods instruction have made our one and only Christ and King to be one among a million. His Kingship above all has become a kinship among many.
Indeed... our God has, once again, proved His wisdom to be higher than our own.