I am curious. I have heard that Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays. I am interested in knowing why. Please site sources. Also, is the reason for not celebrating Christmas the same? (being that some people celebrate it as Christs birthday)..
This is a serious question, so please, those who like to be jerks about things, don't bother answering. Thanks.
2007-05-09 18:05:59 · 30 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
They believe that holidays are pagan,
In his book The Trouble With Christmas, author Tom Flynn set out conclusions reached after years spent researching Christmas: "An enormous number of traditions we now associate with Christmas have their roots in pre-Christian pagan religious traditions. Some of these have social, sexual, or cosmological connotations that might lead educated, culturally sensitive moderns to discard the traditions once they have understood their roots more clearly."—Page 19.
After presenting a mass of supporting information, Flynn returns to the basic point: "One of the great ironies of Christmas is how little of its content is truly Christian. Once we dispose of the pre-Christian elements, most of what remains is post-Christian, rather than authentically Christian, in origin."—Page 155.
2007-05-09 18:53:30 · answer #1 · answered by karma 3 · 7⤊ 7⤋
A well character with a natural middle taught catholic on the grounds that start, could they be destroyed. I dont consider they could be you understand. Mainly given that if you happen to appear at it this manner, what number of well natural individuals ought to there were earlier than the witnesses. (Im no longer knocking the witnesses however the present company simplest got here into being within the 1800s) Why will have to they be destroyed in the event that they hadnt been given the possibility to grasp the reality? It states relatively obviously there will probably be a resurrection of each the righteous and unrighteous (Acts 24:15).. and that that those who in no way knew Gods approach could accept a threat for the period of Christs one thousand 12 months reign to be taught it. Revelation 20 People who shouldnt die in armageddon would possibly die as a result of explanations that can't be managed, but when they do then they'll be resurrected and in the event that they didnt recognise the correct approach they'll accept the threat to be taught it. The wages sin will pay is demise, so you might have paid off the salary off sin if you happen to die. And you get the threat of accepting Gods approach. Romans 6:23 Also with the moment side of your query, in the event that they had been trully repentant then sure Im certain God could forgive them. But they couldnt simply fake and check out to idiot God, they quite could truly deep of their hearts ought to be sorry. Acts 26:18
2016-09-05 13:43:08 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Bible is silent against celebrating birthdays. Romans 14:1,5-6 sets the principle for us. Whether you choose to celebrate your birthday or not, is your own personal affair. I believe birthdays are great time markers in history. We can tell how many years it took to put the whole Bible together simply by looking at the birthdays of people in the Bible! Celebrating birthdays is celebrating life. Who would not like to give God thanks for seeing another year on earth? Some shamefully have to mumble out of embarassment for not knowing how old they are; but, celebrating our birthdays adds a special moment in life that welcomes and waits for the next. I don't believe the Bible would have so many geneologies if birthdays was not celebrated. The idea of celebrating your birthday is not the problem; the problem is how you choose to celebrate. If you're going out to get wasted and have premarital sex, than you're going contrary to God's will. Your birthday now becomes a curse for you and those around you.
As for Christmas? It's origin is unfortunately and plainly PAGAN. It has nothing to do with Christ what so ever. December 25 indeed is a birth of a pagan god call TAMMUZ. Hanging someone upon a tree was the idea of giving a sacrifice to that god.
Christmas has become so popular in our world that people seem to be ignorant of this fact. I do not have a problem if some body wishes me a merry christmas. And I do not have a problem to wish them a merry christmas either. I don't even have a problem with some one inviting me for a christmas dinner. I just don't make a big deal about it anymore. I will not worry about giving someone a gift. And I will not condemn them if they celebrate it either. Why? Because God has a day to bring to light to each one of us what is truth and what isn't. I can simply share what I know and leave the decision up to them and God.
2007-05-10 05:56:25 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
-Origin of Birthdays
Then where did birthday celebrations come from? The astonishing answer is from the pagan practice of astrology! Thousands of years ago, when men looked up into the night sky and charted the stars, they invented calendars and calculated the birth dates, to the very hour, of kings, rulers and their successors. These ancient pagan astrologers meticulously examined horoscopes and birthday omens because they believed that the fate of the rich and powerful might affect an entire society. Even to this day, men have been putting their trust in horoscopes instead of God.
Modern birthday parties and celebrations by children take their form mainly from Germany, where the birthday child received gifts, chose a menu and received a candle-ringed butter or jam cake. The lighted candles for the cake may have originated from the birthday of the Greek moon goddess Artemis. Pagan worshippers honored her every month with moon-shaped honey cakes. Because the moon glows with light, the cakes were decorated with lighted candles.
Saying “happy birthday” to friends and loved ones was society’s superstitious way of protecting them from evil spirits. Birthday thumps, bumps, pinches, etc., were said to bring luck and send away evil spirits. Party snappers, horns and other noisemakers were also intended to scare off bad-luck spirits.
It should now be clear that birthdays are not only unbiblical, they are pagan. JWs will not have anything to do with pagan practices or celebrations.
"Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed by them. For the customs of the people are vain” (Jer. 10:2, 3).
2007-05-11 20:18:48 · answer #4 · answered by keiichi 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The main reason why JW don't do some celebrations is because of their origin most of these "Holydays" or customs are always related to a religion matter but not celebrated from the first Christians as you may find out any celebration origin you can find out at any encyclopedia like wikipedia.com so you can see in this religion nothing is made up. As you may start to look there is no one Christian in the Bible that use to celebrate their birthday because this customs were mainly celebrated by pagans and all of the traditions that are and were related with this custom are a religious form of worshiping idols or other pagan gods, tied to spiritsm, believe it or not. The main celebration above all should be the one from God's son like you observed and how would be possible that God forgot the most important birth date of all? Yes as you may search tirelessly, there is no where to find Jesus correct birth date since the Bible did not give an exact date, kind of odd dont you think? To remember Jesus we can start by doing what he told us to like the Bible says: "A name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one’s being born" (Eccle 7:1) For more info you can check more at www.watchtower.org ..Good Readings!
2007-05-09 19:20:56 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 1⤋
The reason is that the two occasions of birthday celebrations that are clearly recorded in the Bible - Pharoah in Joseph's day and Herod - were observed by men opposed to "God's people" and during each of which, someone was executed. Admittedly, not a good example.
On the other hand, they choose to ignore the "feast days" of Job's children. They claim that since the word for "birthday" wasn't used in that verse, (Job 1:4) that it meant something else. Well, maybe. (See Watchtowr, May 15, 1968) On the other hand, part of their rationale about birthdays is also that it gives "undue honor" to humans. Even if the feasts of Job's children weren't specifically birthdays, they were days specifically set aside for the individuals. Their logic collapses either way.
If you read up on the techniques of mind control and cult management, you see that part of it involves coming up with means to isolate the members from people on the "outside." If you can paint a simple, common practice such as birthdays as a bad thing, you can separate the cult members from those who have no problem in showing love and feeling special one day a year.
2007-05-11 06:26:22 · answer #6 · answered by Suzanne 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
The best answer I can personally think of is to put it this way...We honor the Creator and not the creation. The Bible says that the day of one's death is more important than the day of one's birth. What gain is there spiritually from celebrating birthdays of people? We give gifts to those we love whenever we choose. Jesus being the greatest man that ever lived, never told his followers to celebrate his birth, but rather to remember his death. As for Christmas besides the fact that Jesus was not born on that day, it is a holiday for merchants to line their pockets, the same as Easter, Valentines Day, well, Halloween...think of the money spent just on those holidays! The list goes on. Birthdays are really an extension of that same marketing strategy...something else to celebrate to make money for merchants. What did any person do on the day that they were born to make them worthy of such recognition? I can give gifts to those that I love, just because I love them. Also, think of the people who come from disadvantaged families and areas where birthday gifts could not be afforded, and the way one feels when they didn't receive any gifts...How sad it is for them. When gifts are expected and not received, is that really something good that is being promoted?
~wannaknow~
2007-05-11 05:40:16 · answer #7 · answered by wannaknow 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I don't have my Bible handy at the moment (I am um, in the restroom:D) but the only 2 references to B-Days in the Bible include murder and false religion. Also I was recently alerted to the fact that some B-Day activities are also pagan in nature.
As for Christmas. It is a Pagan holiday. It is not a matter of it being Christs birthday, as it is not.
2007-05-12 06:21:06 · answer #8 · answered by Ish Var Lan Salinger 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I was studying with the Jahovas Witnesses and my ex-girlfriend was one and I can tell you the reasons she explained to me. In the bible there are very few references to birthdays, and the ones made in the bible are actually negative. There is a story about someone being killed on his day of birth in the bible. The other reason is the way many people celebrate their birthdays with things such as candles on birthday cakes, as this has pagan origins. Hope this helps.
2007-05-09 19:09:28 · answer #9 · answered by Nick T 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I would say its what you make of it to be good or bad. I consider a birthday is celebrating ones existence (life) in this world. So Yahweh created the world and the universe and He created us the day we were born. That should be the day of rejoicing! I don't make my daughter's birth day to be selfish or anything that is not pleasing to Yeshuah. I make it to be a day that she gives out goodies and shares her cake with the neighbors. I don't make a party but I let her celebrate in that way. When passing out her goodies and cake then she tells the person that its her birthday and she wants to share her joy with that person. They have a big smile on their faces and wishes her well and compliments her. My daughter is satisfied with all that. She is a loving and generous child. Where we do our shopping she likes to bring her pretty stickers and pass it out to the workers, and it truly brightens their day. You can see it in their face. She even helps to bag the groceries!
I'm just telling a little of my child so you all know I DON'T teach her to be selfish or greedy. Thanks for letting me share.
Love and Peace
Update: Carol D. WHY are you a Ex-JW???
2007-05-10 05:35:53 · answer #10 · answered by Debs 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
bitrthdays
We don´t celebrate any kind of Holydays that have roots with pagan believe if you notice you will never see Jesus celbrating his birthday ,Why? for sure he knew Eclessiastes 7:1-2 that is the reason he never command to celebrate his birthday (is not December 25 it is Tisri 15 a jewish month between September and october it is in the bible) but he command to conmemorate his death (Luke 22:19) Abib (Nisan)14 that was the last April 2, check a jewish calendar.
2007-05-09 18:56:49 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 1⤋