I have a question about Jehovah's Witnesses?

Question

My husband's aunt is a Jehovah's Witness. She refuses to come to family get-togethers, birthdays, etc. She says they don't believe in giving gifts and such, but she also says it is against her religion to have her picture taken. Can anyone tell me how true that is? And if it is, what is the reason behind it? Thanks!

Answer 1

I WAS a JW when I was smaller. Although they dont believe in celebrating Bdays and other holidays, it is NOT true that they cant have thier pics taken. My parents are still JWs and thier house is full of pics of the whole family. She lied to you for some reason. Maybe she just doesnt like to get her pic taken.

Answer 2

I worked closely with a family of Jehovah's Witnesses and have never heard of the prohibition on picture-taking before. Are you sure your aunt hasn't just gained some weight and doesn't want her pic taken? :-)

The rest is correct. No b-day, Christmas, etc. celebrations because JW's don't celebrate holidays. However, I noticed that some JW's really, really celebrate the things they're allowed to, such as graduations. The family I knew had Christmas-size blowouts for graduations.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I was raised Jehovah's Witness and while it is true that they don't celebrate Birthdays and Christmas, it doesn't mean that they can't give out gifts (just not for birthdays they can give them anytime they want) and the whole not being able to have her picture taken, that's a new one for me. Never heard of it and my family's been in that religion since my grandmother converted back in the '60s. (I left it when I was 18)

So other than the celebrating holidays and birthdays i have no idea what your Aunt is talking about. I hate to say it but sounds like she'd lying.

Answer 4

Hi. Sounds like a communication breakdown somewhere along the way. Either that or the Aunt is still learning, and SEVERLY mistaken. While we do not celebrate things we feel are Pagan in nature, there is NOTHING wrong with parties. Case in point Jesus' first recorded miracle was at a wedding PARTY. We do give gifts, just not in conjunction with things we feel are wrong, ie, Unchristian.

As for the Pictures, sadly I know many who LOVE taking pictures. I personally HATE photographs, they make me quesy, not sure why. However there is nothing against Photography in the Bible, that I am aware of.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

The observance of man made holidays I'm sure you already knew, so all you are doing is repeating a question that is getting old. As for pictures, I rather doubt she said that. I imagine what she said is that she could not have her picture taken for distribution as a part of a family holiday card.

The claim above that her individual Kingdom hall may have come up with this is also not true, as that kind of thing happens in Christendom, not in the witnesses. Individual Kingdom Halls don't remain that for very long, as they grow and split to create new congregations. Since everyone is taught the same, its easy to do with their own set of elders. There is no one individual who tells everyone else what to believe or not. Not even the Governing Board remains in their positions for long.

Answer 6

There is surely some failure to accurately represent the actual beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Of course they participate in family get-togethers.
Of course they give and accept gifts.
Of course they use photography (has the questioner never seen Witness publications or their website?).

An individual Jehovah's Witness may not enjoy associating with his particular family, but that is a private matter rather than a religious one. Similarly, an individual Witness may feel herself to be un-photogenic, but hers is a personal decision and not a religious one.

What is odd is that only a very young child among Jehovah's Witnesses would typically feel comfortable with the uninteresting alibi "it's against my religion". A typical Witness would look for every opportunity to share the bible principles involved in his decisions.

Answer 7

I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

It is true we do not celebrate birthdays for Scriptural reasons. We do give gifts all the time for different occasions and for no occasions occasionally, but not in association with birthdays and holidays.

As for attending family get togethers, that is something each individual Witness of Jehovah must decide for himself.

As far as the taking of our picture, I've never heard of that before. Perhaps I could answer that if I knew what she looked like.

To see some of our basic beliefs and the Scriptural reasoning behind them, check out the first link below. It leads to a brochure called "Jehovah's Witnesses—Who Are They? What Do They Believe?"

Answer 8

well the whole picture thing is a total lie. Jehovah Witness's can be rude, think that they are better then everyone else, and push their families that are not Jehovah Witness's out of their lives. They will lie and blame everything that they don't want to to on their "religion" such as the picture thing -others in that religion have their picture taken all the time

Answer 9

She's got to be kidding about the picture thing. That's completely NOT true. Maybe it's a cultural thing for her, or she just doesn't want her picture taken. Either way, not a religious fact for JW's - just open a Watchtower or Awake! magazine - there's plenty of pictures.

Answer 10

I have quite a number of relatives who are JWs (most of whom are baptized into the faith) and I have never heard this one. I'm not sure this is a mainstream JW teaching. My best guess is a strict, legalistic view of the first commandment -- this prohibits the making of an image of any living creature. Of course, the first commandment goes on to prohibit worship of these images.