No birthdays doctrine destroyed (page 3)

carla

The Job thing won't work on a jw because after the celebration Job went and prayed for his children in case they might have sinned and jw's claim- 'see? it must have been a drunken feast or why would have to pray for them afterwards?' - nevermind that Job probably always prayed for his children as many do today at any time of day or night. Sorry I'm not looking up the script I will leave that to one of our more erudite posters to do. That's just the line my jw gave me about birthdays when I brought up Job. (tired of research at the moment just going on memory here)

Spook

With the purile historical and anthropological skills demonstrated time and again by the publishers of Watchtower it's a wonder they acknowledge anything from the past. If they bothered to think for a moment, they would realize that EVERYTHING we have is largely the result of previous religious, pagan, ethnic or political customs because that's what history is made of. You can certainly include the bible in that one. There are a couple of things in particular which always surprised me:

1. Why accept the traditional bible cannon. I would think JW's would give no credence to the cannon of the "whore of babylon." Why not fish through ancient texts, pick and choose, etc.? My only comment is that the religion obviously survives as a 2nd generation parasite off of previous orthodox missionary work and couldn't avoid criticism if they changed the cannon.

2. Why not produce "new revelations" specifically? The governing body teaches that they are a "channel." Why not make the same claims as the Papacy or the Mormons? They've done pretty well for themselves.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

After doing extensive research, I've found several other things of a non-Judeo-Christian origin that are going on among the JWs. Let me briefly mention 3 things that I believe should be brought to the attention of the GB for immediate correction:

1) Apparently of Zoroastrian origin and evidently first practiced by pagan Sythians and Achaemenid Persians, this custom was also introduced to China as early as 375 BC. Throughout the ages, it has mostly been unpopular throughout the world. During the Dark Ages of Catholic domination of Europe, there was a brief appearance in the twelfth century. However, in the sixteenth century, this custom reappeared with tremendous popularity in Europe and later spreading to other parts of the world right down to today. The word we use in English is of Gaelic origin, pointing out an undeniable link to the Celts and druidic religion. Abraham never did this. Jesus never did this. Paul never did this. So JWs should not... wear trousers. This custom clearly accentuates one's endowment, or lack of endowment in the groinal region. It also draws attention to the area of the buttocks as they bounce and sway while walking. Hubba hubba. What righthearted person would not agree that pants are an invention of the Devil? So, brothers, take off those pants right now and put on a dress like Jesus wore !

2) Let's go back to 3,000 BC. What was something practiced by the ancient Egyptian priests who were cursed and condemned by Jehovah? What was something advocated by the pagan Greek Alexander the Great in in the 4th century BC? All this at a time that Jehovah instructed his people not to do it? Shaving is clearly also an invention of Satan the "clean-shaven" devil. Brothers, let it grow and let it flow.

3) I am no "Hebrew Scholar", but as a JW that doesn't prevent me from trying to convince everyone else that I am. After an exhaustive research for the last 5 minutes, I've found that the Hebrew language doesn't seem to contain the letter 'F'. Logically, it would stand to reason that any righthearted, clear thinking, God pleasing person would yearn for the return to the perfect, original, non-'F-ing' Hebrew language. 'F' is clearly from Satan, and so it would be improper that a Christian would use that letter... starting now. With the removal of such an unworthy letter, words such as *ornication and *uck would no longer exist. It would stand to reason that since such words no longer exist, such conduct would no longer exist.

Now I ask... who can argue with my logic. So, stop wearing pants, stop shaving, and stop using the letter 'f'. Many of the bOrganizations pagan-problems would be solved, and the spritual paradise would be even paradisier.

lrkr

There seems to be a struggle back and forth on this and other JW traditions. A few years back there was a similar article saying that even though wedding rings had a pagan origin they were ok. Some took that to mean that toasting was also ok. And there were stories that members of the GB would toast on vacations. Then came the Questions from Readers that shut the door on that. Now this article comes out. I think that the old guard and the younglings are going back and forth.

oompa

I am with BillyBethel on this one...the word Birthday does not even have an F in it so it must be ok....I like how you think Billy....oompa

mkr32208

Can we get a scan please?

Hiddenwindow

I have given up. This believe, as many others do not depend on reasoning. It may even be said that the more reasons you have in favor of a given point, the less believable it is for regular Witnesses, since logic and reasoning are worldly methods of comprehending.

MissingLink

Nice research Billy. I guess to be as holy as I can I should strive to be totally _ucking hairy and pantsless. Better start drinking I guess.

R.Crusoe

Whichever first JW concocted the idea celebrations of ones birth are satanic was as spiritually deluded and self indulgent as any JW I ever spoke to that looked at me as if understanding something about my thinking that was completely false - and there have been a number of them!!!

That single human being set millions on a trail absent all manner of wholesome human interaction and celebration of life! That human looked for the refuse in a sea of life and decided to switch it to deep freeze!

Sadly they are dead and cannot be asked why - which empowers all ~~religions~~ human organisations to decide what they want to decide!

AlmostAtheist

>> Whichever first JW concocted the idea celebrations of ones birth are satanic was as spiritually deluded

Some have postulated that the "no birthdays" rule is more about separating JW's from their non-JW family than about any pagan/scriptural issues. Ray Franz's book shows that the governing body doesn't mind bending the truth if it means leading the flock to stay "safely" in the organization. So this would be a perfectly reasonable rule to put in place from that perspective. Holidays in general fall into the same category.

Dave

No birthdays doctrine destroyed

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