Is celebrating the 4th of July really wrong??

by Lady Liberty 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Lady Liberty
    Lady Liberty

    Good evening all...

    Well, like many of you I have, and am still doing my share of never ending research. Thought I would do a little research on the 4th of July and what its "roots" were. As a Witness, I had never given much thought to it except it was a nationalistic day to be patriotic, and it was a no no for us to participate in. Well, even though that maybe true today, the reason why it all began is here in this article below.

    All it is, is a celebration of the final draft of the Declaration of Independence from England. Whenever the document was read people celebrated. The next year, on the anniversary of that date, they rang bells, ships fired guns and they light candles and firecrackers. Here is the link and info. Quite frankly what JW would honestly tell you they don't value their freedom and their liberty because of the laws that were set forth that 4th of July not all that long ago. Bottom line is you can get as "into" the celebration as you want. Just because you celebrate the 4th because you are happy to have the freedoms we have, does not mean that you do not look to God to solve things. You can still give your allegence to him, but be grateful for the liberties we are allowed to have.

    Sincerely,

    Lady Liberty

    http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/unitssubjhol/a/4thofjuly.htm

    Celebrate Independence Day

    From Beverly Hernandez,
    Your Guide to Homeschooling.
    FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

    The History and Origin of Independence Day

    By the middle of the 1700s, the 13 colonies that made up part of England's empire in the New World were finding it difficult to be ruled by a king 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. They were tired of the taxes imposed upon them. But independence was a gradual and painful process. The colonists could not forget that they were British citizens and that they owed allegiance to King George III.

    A "tea party" and a "Massacre" were two events that hurried destiny. Along with general unrest these events united the colonists. In 1767 a tea company in India, owned by England, was losing money. To save the company, England levied a tax on tea sold in the colonies in 1773. Partly as a joke, Samuel Adams and other Bostonians dressed up as Indians and dumped a cargo of the India Company Tea into the Massachusetts Bay. King George III did not think it was funny, nor did he lift the tax on tea. In the Boston harbor, British soldiers were jeered and stoned by colonists who thought the soldiers had been sent to watch them. The soldiers fired into the crowd and killed a few citizens. The colonists exaggerated the number killed and called it a massacre.

    Virginia took the first step toward independence by voting to set up a committee to represent the colonies. This First Continental Congress met in September of 1774. They drew up a list of grievances against the crown which became the first draft of a document that would formally separate the colonies from England. George Washington took command of the Continental Army and began fighting the British in Massachusetts. For the next eight years, colonists fought fervently in the Revolutionary War.

    In the meantime, a war of words was being waged in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress presented & debated a second draft of the list of grievances, and John Hancock, the president of the Second Continental Congress, was the first to sign. The document, called the Declaration of Independence, was treasonous against the crown and the fifty-six men who signed it were in danger of being executed.

    Independence Day is celebrated on July 4 because that is the day when the Continental Congress adopted the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. From July 8, 1776, until the next month, the document was read publicly and people celebrated whenever they heard it. The next year, in Philadelphia, bells rang and ships fired guns, candles and firecrackers were lighted. But the War of Independence dragged on until 1783, and in that year, Independence Day was made an official holiday. 1941 Congress declared 4th of July a federal holiday.

    John Adams, a lawyer, the first Vice President and the Second President of the United States, was one of the members of the Second Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of Independence. He wrote to his wife, "I believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival... it ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other..."

    John Adams may have predicted the later Independence Day celebrations or perhaps he started traditions with his words. Every July fourth, Americans have a holiday from work. Communities have day-long picnics with favorite foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans and all the fixings. The afternoon activities would not be complete without lively music, a friendly baseball game, three-legged races and a pie-eating or watermelon-eating contests. Some cities have parades with people dressed as the original founding fathers who march in parades to the music of high school bands. At dusk, people in towns and cities gather to watch the fireworks display. Wherever Americans are around the globe, they will get together for a traditional 4th of July celebration!

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  • barry
    barry

    Yes celebrating on july the 4th is wrong, The night to celebrate with fireworks is june the 17th, the queens birthday. Poor old King George 111 never got over losing the colonies and all over a lame excuse of not wanting to pay there taxes. The colonies had just been freed from French oppression and England had the right to extract some compensation in taxes to offset the considerable cost of the war. Just remember folks June 17th the Queens birthday.

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  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    The main reason for celebrating the Fourth of July is to reflect on our constitution. It is this constitution, when properly upheld (and often these days it is not), makes this country a free country. People have fought and died for this right. And, even the Watchtower Society itself took advantage of it to secure freedom to scam the public on the grounds of freedom of religion.

    It is very true that this country is not being run the way it's supposed to be. We have way too many force-backed regulations and force-based taxes. The Fed effectively runs the economy, not supply and demand or free enterprise. We have regulations to protect drug company giants, the giant oil industry (why else has nuclear fusion gone nowhere?). We have regulations to protect the giant auto industry. We regulate our food, our health care, our vitamins, our right to produce and sell goods that would help society as a whole, and everything else. Note that this is NOT the country that we were in 1776! We are celebrating the original constitution, not the endless regulations and mismanagement of it.

    Watchtower Society: If you have a problem with this, remember that without that constitution, you would have been shut down! That constitution is what gave you the right to scam people in the name of religion--it was you guys that abused that protection by initiating the use of fraud in the name of God, under the protection of the First Amendment. Perhaps we should exclude the Watchtower Society from the protection of the constitution for banning observing this, if not for initiating the use of fraud in the name of religious freedom.

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  • 38 Years
    38 Years

    Funny how the WBTS threatens destruction and hates governments and being patriotic, but will use the court systems and any other government organization it can mooch to it's advantage.

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  • Mum
    Mum

    Right? Wrong? Incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.

    Anything can be overlooked and forgiven as long as you acknowledge that the Watchtower is the only source of "truth" and that the old guys in Brooklyn constitute Jehovah's sole "channel" (hmmmmm) of communication with his visible borganization; and, of course, that they, not Jesus, are the mediator for the lowly "great crowd." Well, until they flip flop on any or all of these "evidences" of their unique position of power (not likely).

    Proud to be an American,

    SandraC

    BTW, Hope your 4th was happy.

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  • White Dove
    White Dove

    I love the 4th of July for my freedom that others don't have like in the Muslim forced countries that hurt people and don't allow 1/2 of the population any sunlight. I will be even more thankful for my freedom when POT gets legalized again.

    Peace and love, Chenoa

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  • NotaNess
    NotaNess

    What is not allowed by JWs on the 4th of July? What are the guidelines?

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  • Hortensia
    Hortensia

    I was born in the US and am grateful I wasn't born in some repressive violent country. Unfortunately, I was raised in an oppressive miserable controlling organization. When I hum Stars and Stripes Forever really loud on the 4th of July, one of the things I am grateful for is freedom from the WTBTS

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