Thanksgiving is in the US, Canada, Phillipines, Guam, Liberia, German and Slavic lands etc. God began the annual harvest Festival of Booths or Festival of Ingathering celebrated in autumns by Israel. ( Lev 23:33, Deu 16:13) The New Testament notes Paul saying many gave thanks to God for having saved his life. (I Cor 1:11) Pilgrim colonists gave thanks for survival and bounty. The various British colonies in what is now America had Thanksgiving, George Washington made it a national holiday and Abraham Lincoln began regular celebration. How strange some claim it has no biblical basis or is a nationalistic American holiday!
Thanksgiving - If You Don't Celebrate It, Why??
by wanda 10 Replies latest jw friends
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stillajwexelder
because God does not want Witnesses to have any fun
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wanda
As said it is celebrated not just in the U.S. but numerous nations planetwide.
Also, it began as the Feastival of Booth/Ingathering in the Bible.
Watchtower claims it is nationalistic and unBiblical are barefaced lies.
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tetrapod.sapien
i just keep missing it. every year it comes and goes and i just kind of go, "damn. was that long weekend bender last week thanksgiving?"
i am all for turkey and good times. i'm a brown meat guy myself.
but as for giving thanks, i have to wonder what there is to give thanks for?
for the white man who came over here and commited a genocide? for we who brought our religions and our diseases? - well, okay, i'll give thanks for that if it gets me some turkey and grandma's gravy and stuffing. whatever.
TS
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AlmostAtheist
>> grandma's gravy and stuffing. whatever.
Give thanks to Grandma? The other day at dinner I told Zach to bow his head and we thanked Gina for the meal! He loved it!
Dave
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Mary
stillajwexelder said: because God does not want Witnesses to have any fun
LOL! Actually, it's because the Governing Body does not want Witnesses to have any fun. Didn't Jehovah give the Israelites a whole slew of holidays to celebrate? He did. There's nothing wrong with celebrating Thanksgiving and we celebrate it every year with my Witness parents and rest of my family. My mother always cooks a turkey with yummy dressing, yams, mashed potates and gravy as has for years. It just kills me how the Borg does not want you participating in ANYTHING that's fun. The rest of the Christian churches get to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Canada Day/Independence Day, Queen Victoria's Birthday (May 2-4 weekend here in Canada), and birthdays. The Jews, while not celebrating Christmas or Easter, still whoop it up with Hannukah, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kipper, The Festival of Succot, Passover, Shavuot, Purim, and a few other holidays, the Muslims have Rosh Hashanah (not sure what other celebrations they have throughout the year). And what do Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate? Absolutely nothing. Oh wait, I forgot. You go to the Memorial service once a year so you can hear about how great the Governing Body is , and how Jesus is NOT your personal Saviour , but if you try really, really hard, you might qualify for life on earth someday and then you get to pass around wine and bread without partaking of anything. Ya, the Witnesses really know how to celebrate. -
ICBehindtheCurtain
WE ARE CELEBRATING THIS YEAR! My close family some faders like us, and other non JW, are having a Thanksgiving Feast this week, YAYYYYY .
IC
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Country_Woman
In the Netherlands it is not celebrated - else I surely would do....
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Why Georgia
We aren't having the big dinner we usually have this year because #1 son came home with Chicken Pox.
So this year its just hubby, me, #1 & #2 most wonderful little boys in the world.
But a lot of JW's we know do celebrate the food part of thanksgiving although they would choke to admit it...they eat turkey because its on sale...and all those things go with turkey...but they aren't really celebrating even though a bunch of friends and family are together...LOL!
WG
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Jourles
The best smoked turkeys money can buy --- Greenberg