The first question that should be asked in regard to this subject is the following:
Is there a command anywhere in the Holy Scriptures that a human should cut a tree out of the forest,
set it up in one’s home at the time of the Winter Solstice, deck it with trinkets and various decorations,
and then place a star on its topmost part to show an association of the tree with the signs of the heavens?
And the statement of the apostle John to “keep yourselves from idols” (I John 5:21),
Indeed, because of the command of the apostle Paul in the New Testament that Christians ought to “flee idolatry” (I Corinthians 10:14)
The section of Scripture that evokes this debate is Jeremiah 10:1-5 and 8, 9.
Jeremiah is really talking about pagan “tree worship” that the Israelites of his time had taken up.
Palm tree (which is an evergreen like most Christmas trees today) was being decorated
with gold and silver spiral ribbons like those that come forth from the working of a lathe
and also with blue and purple cloth ribbons. Such trees were known as asherahs.
Indeed, the most ancient form of all pagan religion is simple “tree worship.”