Memorial on full moon?

by Aphrodite 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Aphrodite

  Talked to JW mother in Law about memorial, DF'd Hubby reckons it should be on full moon which was Friday, but it was held on wednesday.

  Mother in Law says "Well as Brother so&so pointed out to us, it is the full moon in the northern hemisphere, so we are only out by a few hours and anyone looking into the night sky would think its a full moon anyway."

  So they are saying they are having the memorial on the northern hemispheres full moon, BUT they actually had it just after sundown here which was well before sundown up there so in fact they held the memorial on Nisan 13. I just dont get it, is this normal, is it even true?
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  Nathan Natas

  I don't think there's a scriptural basis for all this passover time relativism.

  Jews celebrate the year on the basis of the local lunar calendar, not the lunar calendar based in Wehogan, Wisconsin, or anywhere else. Local means WHERE YOU ARE.

  Dubs don't follow the bible on anything else, and they always have great excuses (like, "it's insignificant") anytime they fail to keep to scriptural rules. The fact is that the Watchtower is their real bible, and that other book is a relic and a lure for the uninformed.
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  Leolaia

  According to Skycafe, the full moon occurred on April 13 at 7:40pm in Israel and 4:40pm in GMT. Sunset occurred at 7:06pm in Israel while it was still daytime in Britain, America, and elsewhere to the west. So if they were reckoning their calendar by Jerusalem time, the sundown-sundown day on which the full moon occurs would have been Thursday-Friday, whereas in the USA and much of Europe it would have been Wednesday-Thursday. So it was done at the right time in the USA at least, going by local time zones....
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  Poztate

  So if they were reckoning their calendar by Jerusalem time, the sundown-sundown day on which the full moon occurs would have been Thursday-Friday, whereas in the USA and much of Europe it would have been Wednesday-Thursday. So it was done at the right time in the USA at least, going by local time zones....

  So if I understand this correctly they celebrate memorial BASED on when it will be sundown in Jerusalem and how it will fall.Why then should it matter if it is after sundown where you celebrate the memorial as long as it was after sundown at Jerusalem? Is there two sets of rules at play here. Well......
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  heathen

  That's what I was wondering myself . Was there a new moon over Israel wednesday night or not? From my understanding this thing is supposed to happen the first new moon after the vernal equinox . It was a full moon here in texas or close to full and they did wait til after sundown but does that mean when they start the ritual that the new moon is over jerusalem ? I can't seem to find much on this on the web .
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  Leolaia

  Yeah, heathen is right...they reckon from the new moon (i.e. Nisan 1)...

  ***

  rs p. 269 par. 2 Memorial (Lord’s Evening Meal) ***

  Jehovah’s Witnesses observe the Memorial after sundown on Nisan 14, according to the reckoning of the Jewish calendar that was common in the first century. The Jewish day begins at sundown and extends until the following sundown. So Jesus died on the same Jewish calendar day that he instituted the Memorial. The beginning of the month of Nisan was the sunset after the new moon nearest the spring equinox became visible in Jerusalem. The Memorial date is 14 days thereafter.

  The vernal equinox occurred on March 20 at 8:26pm in Israel, and the first sliver of the new moon became visible after sundown on March 31st. Sundown would have been at 5:57pm (DST begins on April 2nd), and the moon was visible until 8:27pm when it set. That would have been Nisan 1 (according to the old observational method of reckoning lunar months), so Nisan 14 would be April 13th after sundown.
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  Honesty

  Was it supposed to be commemorated just once a year by people who refuse to eat and drink??

  1 Cor 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

  John 6:53-54 So Jesus said to them, “ I assure you : Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. Anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day
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  Poztate

  The beginning of the month of Nisan was the sunset after the new moon nearest the spring equinox became visible in Jerusalem. The Memorial date is 14 days thereafter.

  Do and did the Jews celebrate the passover this way or did it depend on regional time changes?? Are the JW"s doing something different just so their memorial will fall on the same night all around the world?/
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  Elsewhere

  Mother in Law says "Well as Brother so&so pointed out to us, it is the full moon in the northern hemisphere

  The full moon occurs for the entire planet, not just for a certain hemisphere.
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  Leolaia

  The modern Jewish lunisolar calendar is a systematic fixed calendar that makes use of astronomical cycles. See for instance:

  http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm

  The JW method of reckoning is supposedly based on older observational methodology but it is not at all clear that such a method was still used in the first century. The lunar calendar used in the first century was based on the Hellenistic calendar of Syria (most probably imposed by Antiochus IV), which stuck even during the Hasmonean period when the older priestly solar calendar fell into disuse (except among the Essenes who continued to use a revised version of it). I don't know what methodology the Hasmoneans and Syrians used, but it may well have differed from what the Jews used before the Babylonian Exile....especially since the Seleucids had some rather competent astronomers...