Is this something new? Scheduling conventions around the holiday season?
December 22, 2007
Holiday prime time for Witnesses' assembly
By JIM HAUG
Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- Organizing a convention the weekend before Christmas might seem like terrible timing, particularly among Christians.
But not for Jehovah's Witnesses, who don't celebrate Christmas and expect more than 1,200 participants today and Sunday when they host an assembly for Spanish-speaking congregations from across Central Florida. "When we set up our calendar for our conventions or assemblies, we don't mark off any holidays, period," said J.R. Brown, a national spokesman for the Witnesses. "We only observe one, and that's the memorial of Christ's death (in the spring)." The Jehovah's Witnesses have several reasons for not celebrating Christmas, he said. Scripture does not mandate it. While they believe Christ was God's son sent to Earth to redeem mankind, they don't believe Christ was God incarnate or a part of a godhead or trinity. From a close reading of the Bible, Jehovah's Witnesses doubt that Christ was born in December anyway. "Shepherds were sleeping in the fields with their flock (at the time of Christ's birth)," Brown noted. "You wouldn't do that in winter." The sect believes Dec. 25 was chosen by the Romans to coincide with pagan holidays and the celebration of the winter solstice. Michael Gilmour, a theology professor from Canada who has written about the denomination, said Jehovah's Witnesses also like to distance themselves from Christmas because of the holiday's "materialism and excess," Gilmour said. Rodney Stark, a sociology professor at Baylor University in Texas, doesn't believe all Jehovah's Witnesses are so literal about not celebrating during the holiday season. "They wink and tell each other, 'Happy New Year,' " Stark said. "We overestimate the authority of the church. They're smart not to crack down." The public is welcome to attend the meeting at the Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses on Tomoka Farms Road, but all sessions are in Spanish. Hernando Gomez, a local spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses, said the assembly is just a regular meeting scheduled twice a year. Incidentally, "Jehovia" is the Spanish translation for Jehovah, or their name for God, according to the Jehovah's Witnesses edition of the Spanish Bible. jim.haug@news-jrnl.comhttp://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/EastVolusia/evlEAST04122207.htmhttp://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/EastVolusia/evlEAST04122207.htm