Birthdays - why not celebrated by the Jehovah Witness Religion?

Answer 1

Apparently they wish to stay 'forever young'.

Answer 2

As most people on here said, we do not celebrate anything that has a pagan origin. ““Touch nothing unclean” (Isaiah 52:11). We do celebrate other things, but like I said, we make sure that the customs associated with the celebration don’t have a pagan origin. As far as birthdays, the Bible doesn’t put birthdays under a favorable light. The only birthdays mentioned in the Bible are from two people who did not worship God, and in both, someone was killed (Gen. 40:20-22; Matt. 14:6-10). Also, the early Jews and Christians of Bible times did not view these celebrations as something good. “The various customs with which people today celebrate their birthdays have a long history. Their origins lie in the realm of magic and religion. The customs of offering congratulations, presenting gifts and celebrating—complete with lighted candles—in ancient times were meant to protect the birthday celebrant from the demons and to ensure his security for the coming year. . . . Down to the fourth century Christianity rejected the birthday celebration as a pagan custom.”—Schwäbische Zeitung (magazine supplement Zeit und Welt), April 3/4, 1981, p. 4. We do not want to insult God by celebrating something that has a pagan origin. So this is the reason we do not celebrate birthdays or similar holidays. If you have any more questions, feel free to email me :)

Answer 3

Birthdays: The only two birthday celebrations spoken of in the Bible were held by persons who did not worship Jehovah. (Genesis 40:20-22; Mark 6:21, 22, 24-27) The early Christians did not celebrate birthdays. The custom of celebrating birthdays comes from ancient false religions. True Christians give gifts and have good times together at other times during the year.

Learn More!
www.watchtower.org

Answer 4

Jehovah's Witnesses believe strongly in God Jehovah and in his Son Jesus Christ.

Regarding birthday celebrations, bible students are encouraged to consider:
: 0% of faithful biblical Jews celebrated birthdays
: 0% of first century Christians celebrated birthdays
: 100% of birthdays celebrated in the bible were by debauched enemies of God (See Mark 6:17-29; Gen 40:19-22)

Bible historians (M'Clintock, Strong, and others) have noted that faithful Jews of the bible did not celebrate birthdays, and that ancient pagan birthday celebrations were at least partially intended to honor the patron gods of the particular day.

By comparison with such paganisms, the bible does not even tell us the birthdates of Jesus or ANY of his apostles!

Since such celebrations are not required in true worship, and can easily become a distraction, so Jehovah's Witnesses focus their attention elsewhere. In particular, they are focussed on the preaching work which *IS* a requirement for Christians:

(Luke 10:1-17) [Jesus] the Lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come. 2 Then he began to say to them: “The harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few. Therefore beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.

Answer 5

JWs imitate the early Christians and the apostles. There is no record of any Christian who celebrted their own birthdays. Aside from that, birthdays are put on an unfavorable light in the Bible. Only pagans celebrated their birthdays in the Bible. You can give gifts to your kids and love ones anytime of the year, caring and loving the parents and kids are one of the qualities of a true Christian, that JWs endeavor to practice.

Edited:

Here's an excerpt from wikipedia about the history of birthdays.

It is thought that the large-scale celebration of birthdays in Europe began with the cult of Mithras, which originated in Persia but was spread by soldiers throughout the Roman Empire. Before this, such celebrations were not common; and, hence, practices from other contexts such as the Saturnalia were adapted for birthdays. Because many Roman soldiers took to Mithraism, it had a wide distribution and influence throughout the empire until it was supplanted by Christianity.


My comments:
If birthdays are to be celebrated and is favorable to God, how come nobody, no one of the faithful men of God celebrated it, even the birth of Christ was not celebrated annually by the apostles while the rest of non-Christians were celebrating their own birthdays during that time. Festivals for Jehovah were celebrated by the Jews, and even anniversaries. If something is not against the will of God, the Bible always give instructions so one can understand that that it is okay to use it. Example, money, it can be the root of all evil (1 tim6;10), but it also can be a protection (Ecc 7:12). But birthdays, it is always being celebrated only by pagans (just one side).

In Gen 40, pharaoh returned the chief of the cupbearers to his post of cupbearer but on pharaoh's birthday Joseph was forgotten and the cupbearer forgot him for sometime. Still with regards to God's faithful servant Joseph, nothing good has happened to him at pharaoh's birthday. It is only after two years that the cupbearer remembered Joseph and he also stated that during pharaoh's birthday and so on, he sinned by not remembering Joseph. See Gen 41:9. During pharaoh's birthday, a lot of sins were committed, first by hanging up the chief of the bakers and second by forgetting Joseph.

Answer 6

The origin of birthday celebrations are pagan.

“The various customs with which people today celebrate their birthdays have a long history. Their origins lie in the realm of magic and religion. The customs of offering congratulations, presenting gifts and celebrating—complete with lighted candles—in ancient times were meant to protect the birthday celebrant from the demons and to ensure his security for the coming year. . . . Down to the fourth century Christianity rejected the birthday celebration as a pagan custom.”—Schwäbische Zeitung (magazine supplement Zeit und Welt), April 3/4, 1981, p. 4.

“The Greeks believed that everyone had a protective spirit or daemon who attended his birth and watched over him in life. This spirit had a mystic relation with the god on whose birthday the individual was born. The Romans also subscribed to this idea. . . . This notion was carried down in human belief and is reflected in the guardian angel, the fairy godmother and the patron saint. . . . The custom of lighted candles on the cakes started with the Greeks. . . . Honey cakes round as the moon and lit with tapers were placed on the temple altars of [Artemis]. . . . Birthday candles, in folk belief, are endowed with special magic for granting wishes. . . . Lighted tapers and sacrificial fires have had a special mystic significance ever since man first set up altars to his gods. The birthday candles are thus an honor and tribute to the birthday child and bring good fortune. . . . Birthday greetings and wishes for happiness are an intrinsic part of this holiday. . . . Originally the idea was rooted in magic. . . . Birthday greetings have power for good or ill because one is closer to the spirit world on this day.”—The Lore of Birthdays (New York, 1952), Ralph and Adelin Linton, pp. 8, 18-20.
Wholesome gatherings of family and friends at other times to eat, drink, and rejoice are not objectionable.

Eccl. 3:12, 13: “There is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good during one’s life; and also that every man should eat and indeed drink and see good for all his hard work. It is the gift of God.” See also 1 Corinthians 10:31.

If you would like further accurate information, please contact Jehovah's Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall. Or visit their official web site - http://www.watchtower.org

Answer 7

There are two birthdays mentioned in the Bible.
Genesis 40; 20-22. Pharoah's birthday. It ended with the baker being hung up.
Matthew 14; 6-10...Herod's birthday. John the baptiser was killed for Salome's mother's pleasure.
both unfavourable reports.
Also Jesus expressed the sentiment/fact that the day of ones death is more important than the day of ones birth.
When you are born, you have achieved nothing.
by the day you die, your accomplishments can be either praised or condemned.

Answer 8

There are several different reasons, none of them very substantial. Here is just one.

One reason is that in the Bible, there are two birthdays recorded and since both men celebrating their birthdays were not worshipers of God, that is somehow perceived as a good reason for NOT celebrating. (Apparently if they had both drank tea, that would be sufficient reason to ban tea, also.). Also, at both these birthdays, a beheading took place. This is perceived as reflecting on the birthday itself, which is an unfounded conclusion. Beheadings were not a feature of birthday parties, not even by wicked pagan kings. It is nothing more than coincidence, but if you want to ‘read between the lines’, something may be made of it.

If one reads the accounts of the birthdays, the Bible writers in no way had anything negative to say about celebrating a birthday. The occasions in question were recorded because of important events that took place at those parties. The fact that it was a birthday party was of no relevance at all. The occasion could have been a wedding anniversary party or just a plain old party for no reason at all. Would it make sense to condemn anniversaries or parties in general or any other occasion because something bad happened at one, even though the reason for the gathering was entirely unrelated to the bad thing that happened?

Actually, the first birthday party that is recorded in the Bible is recorded to tell us about something GOOD that happened at that party. It was on the occasion of that party that Pharoah’s cupbearer was returned to his position and through him, Joseph eventually came to the attention of the Pharoah which resulted in Joseph being freed from prison. That is the reason why this event was recorded in the Bible - to tell us how Joseph came to the attention of the Pharoah. The rest of the story is simply additional details that would not even have made it into the Bible record if it were not for the fact that the Bible writer was writing about the events that transpired which caused Joseph to be called on to interpret the dream of Pharoah.

It should also be mentioned that although the baker was put to death, we are not informed as to whether or not this was an unjust execution. We are told that both the baker and the cupbearer had ‘sinned’ against Pharoah and it may well be that both were deserving of death under Pharoah’s laws. But happily the cupbearer was spared on the occasion of the birthday party.

Favorable? Unfavorable? Much depends on your point of view.

Answer 9

the explanation i was given,, was that the two birthdays mentioned in the Bible, something bad happened,,,,,, this was by a Jehovah's minister,,,,,, which to me seemed odd, that would be like viewing the news nowdays,,,, positive things dont always get recorded,,,,,but they also, i believe, dont celebrate any holidays

Answer 10

I guess you'll have to ask a Jehovah's Witness......you can't expect someone from another religion to answer it correctly. Wait until they beat down your door while you're in the shower....and then ask them. ;)