Even though the birth of a baby has always been a cause for much joy, the Bible makes no reference to a birthday celebration for a servant of God.
Really?? Geeze, I seem to remember a bit of a celebration going on the day Jesus was born:
Luke 2: 8-14: "....And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Both events...are presented in a bad light---especially the latter which saw John the Baptizer beheaded.
Sooo, because something bad happens on a certain date, that's a reason to ban everyone in history from celebrating an event? And um, what exactly happened on Nissan 14? Wasn't Jesus beaten, whipped, mocked and finally executed? I'd say that's just about as bad as you can possibly get yet the Witnesses are ordered to 'celebrate' this event each and every year. So their argument that birthdays are evil because something bad happens, is utterly ridiculous.
By insisting that Christians cannot celebrate birthdays, the Society is showing that they are just as legalistic when it comes to interpreting the scriptures as what they accuse the Pharisees of. They do this by taking their man-made laws and make them equal with God's laws, or even above God's laws. In addition to their ban on birthdays, we can take their man-made law that says we cannot smoke. Nowhere in the Bible doesn't say we shouldn't smoke, it doesn't say you can't buy a lottery ticket and it does not forbid birthdays. But the WTS takes their own rules, and they make it binding on everyone whether they like it or not. That's a type of legalism. In other words they make things wrong that the Bible doesn't make wrong.
Ironically, there appears to be a link between the birthstones for each month of the year and the bible:
The birthstone seems to originate from Biblical times. The Breastplate of Aaron, referred to in Exodus 39:10-14:
- 10 Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it. In the first row there was a ruby, a topaz and a beryl;
- 11 in the second row a turquoise, a sapphire and an emerald;
- 12 in the third row a jacinth, an agate and an amethyst;
- 13 in the fourth row a chrysolite, an onyx and a jasper. They were mounted in gold filigree settings.
- 14 There were twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.
The precise list of birthstones however can be found in Revelation 21:19-20 where the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem are listed, in the order of the Roman calendar:
- 19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
- 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst
Now that's something you'll never see in the Revelation Climax book.