Jehovah Witnesses Question About Family Birthdays?

Question

My grandmother is about to turn 80 years old and I want to have a big celebration for her. She's been very depressed and doesn't get to do many things. One of her favorite things is spending time with her beloved sister who happens to be a Jehovah Witness. I am told she does not celebrate birthdays.

Is it okay to invite her? Will her religion prevent her from attending? If so, are there any exceptions? Could she come to town during this time, but simply not attend the party? Maybe I could make arrangements for her to spend that day doing something else, but she could visit with my grandmother in the evening.

I know my grandmother would love to see her, but wouldn't want her to attend if it is against her beliefs, not that she would anyway. She is very devoted to her religion.

Any advice? Thank you.

Answer 1

Thank you for the polite question.
Is is OK to invite her??? Yes, It is a wonderful gesture and your right to do so:D
Will her religion prevent her from attending??? Well she of course has the choice one way or another. As Witnesses we view Birthday parties as unChristian, so I would say she would not want to participate in the B-Day process.
Your best bet is to contact her and ask her how she feels about your ideas and together the 2 of you can brainstorm.

PS It is so wonderful that both you and your grandmother show so much respect for the beliefs of others. You are very fortunate to have your grandmother. Cherish this time, mine died 16 months ago, and I would give/do most anything to have her back.

Answer 2

Having a large family on both sides there were always birthday parties we were invited to. When we learned what the bible said about birthdays we chose not to go.

We were hardly ever just invited over after that. They made a big deal about only inviting us for holidays. It put a rift in the closeness of the family. They felt that we had ruined their Christmas and New Years and all the rest so each time they got together they had a good laugh at our expense.

In conclusion, have your party with your beloved grandmother and invite her sister for a reunion with all of you, when the party is not a problem. Reunions are a wonderful way to spread your love around and keep the closeness we all desire.

You would not want to be responsible for making someone compromise their faith.

Answer 3

As a Witness, she would probably not feel comfortable attending a birthday party, even it she doesn't partcipate.

I would think that spending quite time together without everyone else around, catching upon things would be the best for both at their age. Why not have her come and visit a sometime after the birthday party. Don't tell your grandmother she's coming, let it be a surprise.

Answer 4

Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays (see below). In this regard, Witness beliefs are both religious and conscientious, and so individual Witnesses may have different opinions about what violates their consciences or is likely to displease heaven.

The specifics about exactly what details constitute "celebrating" a birthday are left to the individual conscience of each Witness to decide for himself. A Jehovah's Witness would never be congregationally disciplined just because he happened to be present where others are celebrating a birthday, but no Witness would ever want to give the appearance of compromising his religious principles.

Some non-Witness family members carefully and explicitly communicate a very specific START time and/or END time for the actual "birthday" party; then they inform Witness family and friends of those specific times, and invite the Witnesses to a SEPARATE "family reunion" (or simple visit) usually BEFORE the actual birthday celebration formally begins. A Witness who believes that his attendance would not confuse others or tend to seem like participation in a birthday celebration may be quite comfortable attending such a gathering.

Why do Jehovah's Witnesses reject birthday celebrations? They find it impossible to ignore these facts...
: 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

I think it is wonderful that you are willing to respect her beliefs! I think that is a wonderful idea to invite her into town and see if maybe she wants to spend some time OUTSIDE of the party. Chances are good that she will NOT attend the Birthday party because that would be condoning it and we as you know, do NOT celebrate birthdays. Maybe make arrangements for them to go to another meal together that is not birthday related.... Maybe breakfast the next morning and then spend a few hours together? Im sure she would love spending time with her family also, but not in exchange for her religious, Bible beliefs.

Again, you are a wonderful person for taking your familys beliefs into consideration.

Take care!

EDIT:
I wouldn't even ask her to attend the Birthday party. I would just tell her that you are having it but you know that she doesn't celebrate them and you don't want to put her in that situation. But you WOULD like to have her company, so maybe she can come into town and they can have breakfast or whatever situation you may arrange.

Answer 6

A Witness generally would not attend a birthday party - however there is nothing that would prevent her from coming and visiting, and just not attending the party. Making arrangements for her to do something else during the day would be very thoughtful.

Answer 7

Oh sure you could invite her. It's a conscious matter whether or not she will attend.
She may attend, but she probably won't have any birthday cake or sing along with the birthday song.
But again, it's up to her. It won't hurt to send her an invite and ask her is she will at least come to town.

She will appreciate the invite, and she would probably also love to spend time with her sister.

I say go ahead and ask her. Explain to her that you are willing to make other arrangements for her and whatnot.
I hope all goes well with the visit!

Answer 8

Invite her. Let the nature and extent of her visit be her decision. She will appreciate your hospitality even if she chooses not to attend. She and your grandmother seem to have a very good relationship so I'm certain they have worked through conflicts in the past and at this point understand one another.

Answer 9

If shes willing to take religion over her sister she shouldnt go

i sure wouldnt want her there



no offense to anyone but i wouldnt...


i have no probs with Witness peoples :P