2007-09-02 19:07:47 · 19 answers · asked by ML 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I went to school with one in elementary school, and they left the room when we would celebrate a birthday.
2007-09-02 19:14:32 · update #1
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.
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
2007-09-05 07:53:56 · answer #1 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
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.
Even Jesus Christ doesn't celebrate his birthday.
The real Jesus is often lost in Christmas celebrations. Why, there is no record that he ever even told the disciples his date of birth; nor is there any indication that his followers celebrated his birthday.
It was not Jesus' birth but his death—and its history-making significance—that he commanded his followers to commemorate. (Luke 22:19, 20) No, it was not as a helpless baby in a manger that Jesus wished to be remembered, for he is nothing of the kind now. More than 60 years after his execution, Jesus revealed himself in vision to the apostle John as a mighty King riding into battle. (Revelation 19:11-16) It is in that role, as Ruler of God's heavenly Kingdom, that we need to get to know Jesus today, for he is a King who will change the world
2007-09-02 21:07:05 · answer #2 · answered by ainospetit 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
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.
2007-09-02 19:16:12 · answer #3 · answered by I speak Truth 6 · 4⤊ 1⤋
not sure but it might be because in the bible the two accounts of a bday the head of a person was cut off and givin as a present also the people having the celebrations were not ones that followed gods word and also in the bible it talks about how no killing should go on...therefore since that went on at the birthday celebrations back then its just somehting they dont do...i know plenty of people jw's or not that dont celebrate them just for that reason.
2007-09-02 22:37:30 · answer #4 · answered by Sabre 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Browneyedgirl made good points!
But,
Jesus did attend a Wedding though (John 2), the fact that he did demonstrates that celebrating a bond of the two couples is *not* wrong.
It *would* be wrong for a Christian couple to celebrate a wedding anniversary and tie in pagan customs.
Sadly, it is what it is. The bible does *not* point out birthdays in a good light. And the only *fact* is that it mentions it, shows God's (Yahweh/Jehovah) point of view of it. (2 Tim 3:16)
Jesus rejected painkiller (or drugs) because he needed to be 100% aware of his decisions. Science has shown drugs alter an individual’s judgment and perception thus making it highly possible to make a wrong decision. Luke was a doctor, do you think he prescribed "drugs" or any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of illnesses? Of course he did!
A Christian should decide what drug he should intake for medicinal purposes. Again, the fact that Jesus didnt take painkillers doesnt mean we cant intake "drugs" for medicanal purposes. Jesus needed to be fully competent.
Analyzing Individuals reactions on justifying such celebrations even though scriptural reasoning has been ministered to them, seems quite plain that it’s all emotional. I ask then, why would God be so cruel as to omit such [quote] "celebrating an anniversary of a happy occasion"?
[Unquote]
Since the core of the of the whole birthday situation seems to be the fact it has pagan customs written all over it, why didn’t the Jews just decide to be innovative in celebrating birthdays in their *own* way, thus not offending the god of Israel? Again if they did do it, why would God (Yahweh/Jehovah) not even mention one of those joyous occasions in the bible?
*Millions* of human beings enjoy such celebration and yet God is so cruel not to write at least one good thing about it. Why God? Why...
The one of many defensive positions that people (including browneyedgirl) take shouldn’t be taking it out on a certain religious organization, it seems clear they should be taking it up with God!
There is much more to say but I wanted to be brief.
That’s it.
Take Care Everyone.
2007-09-06 08:05:30 · answer #5 · answered by YXM84 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hiya...
The World Book Encyclopedia says ¨the early Christians considered the celebration of anyones birth to be a Pagan custom¨.
The only birthday celebrations recorded in the Bible were that of two rulers who did not worship the true God.- Jehovah.
Birthday celebrations were also held in honor of pagan dieties , for example on May 24 the Romans celebrated the birth of Diana.
On the following day they observed the birthday of their sun god Apollo.
So it is clear from Bible accounts that the early Christians and Christ himself did not participate with the pagan traditions that were common at that time.
And neither should we.
In fact for us to have good clean worship that God is pleased with , we must abandon all traces of pagan worship and celebrations in our lives.
For more information plz feel free to email me.
2007-09-02 19:27:43 · answer #6 · answered by I♥U 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am not a Jehovah's Witness, but a Baptist (Christian). I asked a JW person this question and was told that they thought that celebrating a person's birthday was a form of idolatry (worshipping someone other than God). JW also do not celebrate Christmas bc it's Christ's birthday. I don't really understand this, but we do have religious freedom here so I'll go ahead and celebrate Christmas while the JW followers don't.
2007-09-02 19:20:08 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
I asked this also and got about 5 different reasons, none of which were very substantial because most of them are contradicted by other things they do.
For example, "Jesus didn't celebrate birthdays", yet they celebrate wedding anniversaries even though Jesus didn't.
Also, they say that the Bible is "negative" about birthdays. (The Bible barely mentions them, only as a matter of fact and detail - nothing positive OR negative.) Jesus however, rejected painkillers, (definitely negative), yet they don't seem to have a problem with that.
They say that only pagan kings celebrated birthdays in the Bible which is true, but so what? If there's nothing wrong in celebrating an anniversary of a happy occasion, the fact that an undesirable person also "does it" doesn't make it wrong in and of itself. Especially when it doesn't even have anything to do with religion. It's no more religious than combing your hair.
2007-09-05 11:48:13 · answer #8 · answered by browneyedgirl 3 · 1⤊ 3⤋
They think for one thing it exaults the individual, which is wrong. They also like to point out a couple birthday parties in the bible where bad things happened. Then they use a scripture that says the day of one's death is better than the day of one's being born. But it really comes down to they don't think it is right to exhault a person and make celebrations around that. Which I always found screwy because I know they celebrate wedding anniversaries and high school graduations and so on, so I'm not sure they think these things all the way through.
2007-09-02 19:15:36 · answer #9 · answered by CB 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
If I remember right... I heard years ago that they don't celebrate holidays and birthdays because they want to keep all honor with God (Jehovah). I believe they do not celebrate anything the pagans do.
2007-09-02 19:28:24 · answer #10 · answered by D.Huston 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋