My friend's family is a Jehovah Witness and they won't allow her to celebrate her birthday ..... why ? She's been crying all day in class because her parents won't let her have a birthday party and I don't think it's fair . I mean it is her birthday so why can't she celebrate it ? Why can't she have fun on the day that she was born ?
2007-11-02 09:22:19 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
"There's more to the story than you know!" doesn't answer my question !
2007-11-02 09:33:19 · update #1
"they don't celebrate any holidays.
and she's going to have to deal with it until she's old enough to move out and have her own religious views." doesn't answer my question either *LiLy* !
2007-11-02 09:36:48 · update #2
"There's more to the story than you know!" doesn't answer my question Mercedes !
2007-11-02 09:47:08 · update #3
i can see how.. from your point of view your probably confused.. birthdays seem like a harmless fun thing.. and maybe it is fun and who really cares if she has some cake that day right? but jehvoahs wittnesses strongly believe in understanding what they are doing.. do you truely understand what gods viewpoint is on celebrating birthdays? did you know that the only two birthday celebrations spoken of in the Bible were held by people who did not worship god?
Genesis 40:20 -Now on the third day it turned out to be Phar´aoh’s birthday, and he proceeded to make a feast for all his servants and to lift up the head of the chief of the cupbearers and the head of the chief of the bakers in the midst of his servants.
Mark 6:21- But a convenient day came along when Herod spread an evening meal on his birthday for his top-ranking men and the military commanders and the foremost ones of Gal´i·lee. 22 And the daughter of this very He·ro´di·as came in and danced and pleased Herod and those reclining with him. The king said to the maiden: “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”
do you know what king herod asked for????
john the baptists head on a plater..
you can see how the bible truely doesn't shine a postive light on this subject. obviously.
not even jesus expecs us to celebrate his birth
which is most of the reason we do not celebrate christmas.
Jesus specifically commanded his followers to commemorate the day of his death in remembrance of him. (Luke 22:19)19 Also, he took a loaf, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying: “This means my body which is to be given in YOUR behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me.”
The Bible contains no such command to celebrate Jesus' birthday, nor, for that matter, any other person's birthday.
2007-11-02 09:45:34 · answer #1 · answered by Kyrstin 4 · 4⤊ 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
2007-11-02 15:30:28 · answer #2 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Presumably the girl in question is rather young. She can probably tell you why, or you could ask her family.
I will tell you that as Christians, we choose not to celebrate B-Days, as, among other things, they often include various pagan rituals. Also the Bible makes mention of only 2 Birthdays, both were part of pagan worship and murder.
No this doesn't mean we don't like parties, giving or getting gifts.
2007-11-02 15:21:47 · answer #3 · answered by Ish Var Lan Salinger 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Birthdays are not allowed by the Watchtower because two pagan rulers in the Bible killed people on their birthdays. The Pharaoh of Egypt killed his baker (Gen 40:20) and King Herod killed John the Baptist. (Matt 14:6). Is the actions of two wicked rulers sufficient enough proof that God condemns the celebration of birthdays? Is there any evidence in the Bible that proves that a Christian who celebrates a birthday is worthy of eternal death? It is apparent that the forbidding of birthdays did not make it into the ten commandments nor is it listed in the sins that God hates in the New Testament. Don't you think that God would have commented directly on the sin of celebrating birthdays if he provided such a harsh punishment as eternal death?
2007-11-02 09:30:40 · answer #4 · answered by TigerLily 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
It's better you get it from the horse's mouth.
About your friend crying, I wouldn't let MY daughter do anything I knew was wrong, no matter how hard she cried.
But why don't we celebrate birthdays?
Birthday
Definition: The day of one’s birth or the anniversary of that day. In some places the anniversary of one’s birth, especially that of a child, is celebrated with a party and the giving of gifts. Not a Biblical practice.
Do Bible references to birthday celebrations put them in a favorable light? The Bible makes only two references to such celebrations:
Gen. 40:20-22: “Now on the third day it turned out to be Pharaoh’s birthday, and he proceeded to make a feast . . . Accordingly he returned the chief of the cupbearers to his post of cupbearer . . . But the chief of the bakers he hung up.”
Matt. 14:6-10: “When Herod’s birthday was being celebrated the daughter of Herodias danced at it and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Then she, under her mother’s coaching, said: ‘Give me here upon a platter the head of John the Baptist.’ . . . He sent and had John beheaded in the prison.”
Everything that is in the Bible is there for a reason. (2 Tim. 3:16, 17) Jehovah’s Witnesses take note that God’s Word reports unfavorably about birthday celebrations and so shun these.
How did early Christians and Jews of Bible times view birthday celebrations?
“The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period in general.”—The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries (New York, 1848), Augustus Neander (translated by Henry John Rose), p. 190.
“The later Hebrews looked on the celebration of birthdays as a part of idolatrous worship, a view which would be abundantly confirmed by what they saw of the common observances associated with these days.”—The Imperial Bible-Dictionary (London, 1874), edited by Patrick Fairbairn, Vol. I, p. 225.
What is the origin of popular customs associated with birthday celebrations?
“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.
Wholesome gatherings of family and friends at other times to eat, drink, and rejoice are not objectionable
Eccl. 3:12, 13: “There is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good during one’s life; and also that every man should eat and indeed drink and see good for all his hard work. It is the gift of God.”
See also 1 Corinthians 10:31.
2007-11-02 09:44:05 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
It is generally recognized that Christmas, Easter, Birthdays and Halloween were pagan festivals that were grafted into the Catholic Church and Christendom and slightly modified to appear as Christian celebrations.
2007-11-03 10:16:27 · answer #6 · answered by keiichi 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
John "the Baptist" Head was Put ON a Platter BECAUSE of a Birthday Celebration !
Need I SAY MORE ???
2007-11-02 09:59:02 · answer #7 · answered by bye-bye 1 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
they don't celebrate any holidays.
and she's going to have to deal with it until she's old enough to move out and have her own religious views.
2007-11-02 09:26:13 · answer #8 · answered by *LiLy* 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
jw are antiJesus so they just don't have anything to do with Jesus' b-d
2015-04-20 05:04:56 · answer #9 · answered by Olive Garden 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Jehovah witnesses here L.V.N. celibate their children's birthday. I have talked to them at fast food place,s. Their children playing with my children. I am not saying they all do
2007-11-02 09:51:19 · answer #10 · answered by WAIGHT 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋