what's up with your religion? i heard you beat your children and you don't celebrate birthdays.... what the heck? please explain. i don't want to be ignorant. :D
2007-08-06 06:15:38 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
That's insane. JWs do NOT beat their children. The Bible says that discipline should be delivered in such a way that your child will later see how appropriate it was.—Ephesians 6:4; Hebrews 12:9-11, and we adhere to those scriptures.
We don't celebrate b-days because the only two birthdays the Bible does mention were for rulers who were enemies of God (Genesis 40:20-22; Matthew 14:6-11), so we see how the Bible does not paint a positive picture of this tradition. And the scriptures contain no indication that any of God’s faithful servants celebrated birthdays. Another reason is they avoid celebrating birthdays because such observances bestow undue importance on the individual.
2007-08-06 06:26:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Jehovah's Witnesses obey secular and biblical law with regard to child-rearing. Where secular law forbids corporal punishment, Jehovah's Witnesses do not use it. Otherwise, each parent is simply expected to provide loving, consistent discipline, with an emphasis on correcting rather than merely punishing wrongdoing. In family matters, as in all matters, Jehovah's Witnesses believe strongly in God Jehovah and in his Son Jesus Christ, and work to please them.
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.
Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20050101a/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_11.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20001215/article_01.htm
2007-08-06 17:23:50 · answer #2 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Our children: nothing could be further from the truth! Jehovah's Witnesses love and view children as gifts from God! (Psalms 127:3.)
We appreciate your desire to learn the truth: since much inaccurate rumor and slander is heaped upon Jehovah's Witnesses.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays, because of their pagan origin.
“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.
If you would like further information & learn more - please get in touch with Jehovah's Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall. Or visit their official web site - http://www.watchtower.org
2007-08-06 13:35:52 · answer #3 · answered by Mr. Cal 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I'm not a Jehovah's Witness but have attended one of their meetings. Heard nothing about beating children but did see a bible rewritten according to their beliefs and was browbeaten by the JW and told that my beliefs as a Christian were wrong. Big surprise. My experience with JW is that I firmly tell door-to-door faith dealers that I am happy as a Christian and have no interest in converting.
I can see the idea of not celebrating birthdays and holidays in the commercial manner that we do, all the money spent on these things might be better spent elsewhere, but a family celebration of a loved one's birth? A true observance of Christmas as the day of Christ's birth? Those things are joyful events, and I believe God made us to enjoy life-wisely.
2007-08-06 13:36:58 · answer #4 · answered by fmckin1 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
It's true that we don't celebrate birthdays, but who told you that we beat our children?
Do you believe everything you're told?
2007-08-06 13:20:06 · answer #5 · answered by ? 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Beating? LOL - I been going all my life, and have no see one child get beaten.
Holidays? Well, most religious holidays have pagan backgrounds. Since Jesus was not born on Dec. 25th, who are you really celebrating for?
2007-08-06 13:30:29 · answer #6 · answered by VMO 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Beating children.....no.
Not celebrating b-days is correct.
2007-08-06 13:18:45 · answer #7 · answered by ?~GotLove~? 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Beating children?
What's wrong with that?
Maybe if Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton were beaten as children, they would be better today.
2007-08-06 15:00:00 · answer #8 · answered by sklemetti 3 · 1⤊ 3⤋