(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Christmas is filled with traditions that help us reinforce our celebration of the birth of Christ. For example, you have the distribution of gifts that really symbolize the greatest gift that has ever been given to us by God through Jesus Christ. You have the fact that we teach our church members, our family and children, that it's more blessed to give than to receive. We've seen the ancient hymns in church or out caroling that really emphasize the fact that the Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. Then you have other traditions that really complement Christmas such as the Christmas tree or putting up a Christmas wreath, feasting, being with family or even decorating the home with scriptures pertaining to the birth of Christ and even setting up Christmas lights. These are all traditions that are completely fine and even enjoyable to practice. But then there are other traditions that people think complement Christmas but are actually sinful according to the Bible, such as the nativity scene. Throughout the Christmas season you'll often have businesses, churches and homes that will often construct a literal nativity scene. And of course a nativity scene is referring to the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. It's often a centerpiece graven image that includes Mary and Joseph, the angel, you have the wise men and the shepherd's livestock all looking upon baby Jesus. And although this tradition may seem harmless and just completely innocent, it's actually unbiblical and sinful and even forbidden according to the Bible. Now before I get into the actual scriptures, let me start off by saying that the most common nativity scene is not only sinful but even inaccurate. And the reason I say that is because the nativity scene often includes the wise men along with the shepherds looking upon Jesus. Now this scene actually never took place in the Bible. You see the events surrounding the nativity scene can actually be read in the first two chapters of the book of Matthew and the book of Luke. And in Luke chapter 2 you have the angel coming to the shepherds that were abiding in the field by night. He says unto them, Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. So the shepherds were actually there on the day that Jesus Christ was made flesh, that the Word of God was made flesh, where he was born. They actually looked upon baby Jesus whereas the wise men didn't behold Jesus Christ until about two years after And of course in Matthew chapter 2 you have the story of the wise men coming from the east to Bethlehem to seek for Jesus. They ask Herod, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? Of course Herod is troubled by this but he sends them forth and commands them to go and seek forth diligently for the young child. They follow the star that they saw in the east until it stands over the young child. They bring Jesus Christ gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And then being warned in the dream they go back to their own country another way. King Herod of course realizing that he was mocked at the wise men sends forth his soldiers to kill all the children from two years old and under in hopes that he would kill Jesus. And of course the implication there is that Jesus Christ was probably approximately about two years old when this took place. So when we look at the nativity scene that people prop up you see the wise men along with the shepherds it's obviously an event that never really took place. They're actually about two years apart from one another. But aside from the fact that the nativity scene is inaccurate it's also sinful. The Bible says in Exodus chapter 20 verse number 4, Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. So according to the Bible we shouldn't make any graven image out of wood or of stone of anything that is in heaven or anything that is in earth or anything that is in the sea under the earth. But more explicitly Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 16 says this, Lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flyeth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth, and lest thou lift up thine eyes into heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. So according to the Bible we shouldn't make any graven image or any similitude of the Godhead but not just of the Godhead even of celestial bodies in heaven or things that are in the earth such as males or females. Well the nativity scene violates all of that because you have Mary and Joseph, the males and females, you have the wise men, you have the shepherds, but it even says here that we shouldn't make any likeness of any beasts, right? And you often see manger scenes, nativity scenes with livestock surrounding baby Jesus, but probably the worst part of the nativity scene is the fact that there's a similitude of Jesus Christ who is of the Godhead, a graven carved image of Jesus Christ who is part of the Godhead. Folks according to the Bible that's called idolatry and the Bible says to flee from idolatry. The Bible says little children keep yourselves from idols and the reality is this is though a lot of people think that the nativity scene is simply innocent, it's not harming anyone, you know the reality is is that it's a violation of clear scriptures and we need to make sure that we worship God on his terms and not our own. We can still celebrate Christmas without being idolatrous, without violating clear scriptures that are clearly laid out in the Word of God. We can talk about the nativity scene, read about it, preach about it without actually constructing one. We don't want to make the Word of God of none effect through traditions that completely contradict the Word of God. Merry Christmas. Hey thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed the video. If you want to see more content like this make sure you subscribe to the channel if you haven't already, hit the like button and hit the notification and the bell, put a comment in the section below and if you hate this video since we can't dislike videos no more on YouTube make sure you put a comment in the section below letting me know how much you hate me and the video and the content that I'm putting out, alright? God bless and have a great one.