Holidays

LittleToe

I was recently PMed about celebrating holidays, and thought it might be worthwhile posting a thread about it, even though it has been covered many times before. The explanation I give below is a mini-refutation of the ills of enjoying such "decadence": Please feel free to add comments, though if it must be an essay please keep it short enough to be readable without the need to go to the restroom for a bladder-bursting break!!!

"There is no new thing under the sun" Eccl.1:9.

If paganism can be called a distinct religion (given that it has as many amorphous guises as Christian denominations), then it already did everything and tried everything, not really leaving an awful lot for any subsequent religion to uniquely call its own. To that end you pretty much can't do anything in life without being fairly sure the so-called "pagans" did it first and gave thanks to God[dess] for it. Particular types of food, sex acts, religious rituals, the list goes on. Personally I like hot-cross buns, but they hold no symbolic influence over me.

"He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks." Rom.14:6.

What is your motive when celebrating a given holiday? If it is simply to enjoy the occasion (with or without whatever trappings you choose to include) and give thanks to God[dess] for the enjoyment of it, where's the quandry? I especially think that kids benefit all the more for a little excitement and "ritual" in their lives. Holidays are just the kind of occasions to give them that. The only reason we really think twice about it, as exJWs, is because a bunch of killjoys put it all in a negative light for us and suggested we HAVE to look into the minutea of any celebration for paranoid fear that there might be something wrong in it. Blow that for a game of soldiers! If they can accept a wedding band, with all its pagan connotations (should you choose to acknowledge them) then why are they "straining out the gnat and gulping down the camel"? Personally I fight such psychological barriers to examine whether or not my response is a genuine one or imposed through years of conditioning. Many folks struggle with a similar (but when you treally think about it, totally stupid) thing about entering a building just because it bears a title "church". It's a very real issue, and can be debilitating, but that doesn't make it any less daft.

When it comes to holidays, I honestly don't think God is that small-minded. From what I read, Jesus certainly wasn't...

LittleToe

I suspect the PM may have been inspired by this thread:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/122663/1.ashx

Nonetheless, IMHO it's a good topic to get out of our respective systems...

fullofdoubtnow

Hi LT,

I've been thinking about Christmas a bit lately. I kind of celebrated it last year, mainly thanks to Trev, but I'd only been out of the org for a couple of months, and that ingrained sense of it being "wrong" to celebrate a holiday, obviously the result of 25 years of being told how sinful it was to enjoy such occasions, was still very much in the forefront of my mind then. Almost a year on from that, those sort of thoughts have been pushed to the back of my mind, if they're still there at all, and I know I'm going to enjoy this year much more.

I doubt it'll be a particularly religious celebration, I haven't, and at the moment don't feel the need to, associated with any other religion since quitting the org, apart from attending church once, a few weeks ago, to support an ex jw friend. To be truthful. I'm very wary of taking up any kind of belief again after all those years as a jw. It won't be a big booze up either, neither Trev or myself drink much, so we'll probably just have a special dinner, with my mum and our friend Marion here, and watch all the old films on tv, or post on JWD if anyone else is posting. We might have a bottle or two of shiraz here, but no more than that.

I think New Year will be more of a celebration for Trev and I, as it will be our first anniversary of living together, I actually moved in here on January 1st, but that won't be a booze up either.

Linda

LittleToe

Most of the holidays have been secularised, anyhow. It doesn't matter if your a humanist or atheist, as you can still enjoy them.

Congrats on all your forthcoming anniversaries. It was nice to meet Trev, albeit only briefly

katiekitten

I like celebrating christmas because I enjoy a meal with friends.

I do feel very strongly that having not had to celebrate it for such a long time I only want to do the bits I enjoy. Im going to cherry pick and not do the bits that I hate (like feeling obliged to buy presents for people I dont like just because they have bought me one).

I love the decorations tho. Really love dressing up the house. Thats my favourite bit.

greendawn

It's the strange psychology of the JWs and it was Rutherford rather than Russell that saw paganism everywhere even in medical science. What really matters is the spirit behind the act and not the act itself. Only the JWs view negatively Christmas when it is a celebration of the birth of the saviour and the spirit of goodwill that was expressed at his birth. I can't see where they find the pagan spirit.

Dansk

((((((((((ROSS))))))))

The only reason we really think twice about it, as exJWs, is because a bunch of killjoys put it all in a negative light for us and suggested we HAVE to look into the minutea of any celebration for paranoid fear that there might be something wrong in it.

I don't think twice about it at all! If you want to celebrate a holiday, I'll celebrate it with you!

I love Christmas because I'm a BIG kid! I love giving pressies and opening my own. I love the Christmas films and the spirit Christmas engenders. In the words of the song "Oh, I wish it could be Christmas every day." That's how I feel. People, in general, seem so much friendlier at that time of year.

Ian

kid-A

Most of the holidays have been secularised, anyhow. It doesn't matter if your a humanist or atheist, as you can still enjoy them.

Exactly. The JW ban on all things enjoyable serves as just another cynical control mechanism. Suck all the fun and leisure out of life and one becomes numb enough to accept the garbage that the WTS is constantly throwing at the R+F.

Regardless of the origins of western holidays, all can and should enjoy them, if not for oneself, then at least for one's children. I am often bitter thinking about the fun of x-mas, Easter, Halloween, Valentine's day, etc etc. that I missed out on as a kid, while I had to stand by and watch my "worldly" friends enjoy the festivities and parties from which I had to exclude my lonely self. As soon as I completely faded and moved out of the JW homestead, I feverishly started making up for lost time by celebrating ALL the "pagan" holidays with my "worldly" friends and paramours.... ...my only regret is that my nieces and nephews still trapped in the borg will be denied much of the magic of childhood, that every child has a right to.....

daystar

LT, do you see it as Greendawn does, that the pagan "spirit" of the Winter Solstice (Christmas) has been completely supplanted by the Christian accoutrements?

Or is the influence still there, by and large?

Clam

Hehe as I opened this post "You've got to fight for your right to Party" was playing on the radio.

Many things for me come down to "am I doing harm to others?" Celebrating holidays, (religious holidays or not) is good for us and often brings us together in collective pursuits. I'm so happy at Christmas to see my children thriving on the magical atmosphere and it's a time of the year for me to reflect on the blessings I have. Materialism tends to swamp our modern day religious holidays, but it's not too hard to step back from that. I do feel sorry for the JW kids in my family at Christmas time especially, but then they've always got the Memorial to look forward to.

Holidays

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