Grateful for Small Mercies - WBTS and Christmas

Stephanus

It just dawned on me that the WBTS is doing humanity a great service by not observing Christmas and Birthdays! Wait, don't throw stuff at me yet - hear me out! Imagine if the JWs observed Christmas and Birthdays - what would they give as presents to their "wordly" relatives? That's right - Watchtower literature! Can you imagine the KM articles extolling the virtue of such gifts as one of eternal rather than fleeting value??

Maybe da Judge was a merciful SOB after all...

"You've got the brain of a four-year-old boy, and I'll bet he was glad to get rid of it."
- Groucho Marx

Prisca

hahaha.... good point! As JWs, we were often "encouraged" to give out literature as presents to non-JWs friends and family. What those friends must have thought of us!!?!?!

Frenchy

I remember going to a restaurant once with a large group of witnesses during an assembly. One guy left a truth book instead of a tip. I was embarrassed. Later we heard it mentioned from the platform that this was not the thing to do. I suppose he wasn't the only jerk to pull a stunt like that.

I'm still 'in' so I have to be careful about what I do. I have no desire to celebrate 'Christmas' because it's just as big a farce as the Society's crap anyway. Birthdays for the kids is something else, however.

BobsGirl

I remeber my mother always giving the Bible Stories to my "worldly" relatives children ..... their parents loved that !!!

BobsGirl

"May the work of your hands be a sign of gratitude and reverence to the human condition." - Mahatma Gandhi

voltaire

I was just reading in David Reed's book Confessions of a Jehovah's Witness Minister that Russell actually encouraged the Bible Students to give away sets of Studies in the Scriptures as Christmas gifts.

TR

Steph,

I wish 'jovahs did celebrate. It would mean more get togethers, possibly, with our 'hovah relatives and friends. Plus, any literature that I recieved could help keep my house warm during these cold winter months and cut down my heating bill.

Frenchy,

I have no desire to celebrate 'Christmas' because it's just as big a farce as the Society's crap anyway

I understand your view, however, for me Christmas brings back many good memories of times up until I became a dub at 23. The music, the decorations, going out and shopping for gifts, more of a willingness to get over hard feelings one may have had with others. Just a general good feeling for me, I guess.

TR

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
—Edmund Burke

joelbear

I agree with TR.

Christmas makes me feel good. The commercialism may be a farce, but the idea of giving and goodwill towards others is certainly Christian.

Yes yes, we are supposed to be that way all the time, but just like the society says, you have to go to all the meetings to be reminded of stuff and of how to behave, I look at Thanksgiving and Christmas as a time to be reminded of things that we should be doing and they are much more fun than meetings. Positive reinforcement works a lot better than negative reinforcement.

Joel

alliwannadoislive

yeah - agree with jolebare - mind you, how come's the meetings always seemed to go on for longer than christmas ? ...

Stephanus

I agree with you all - Christmas itself is a wonderful time of year and a great celebration. It was just the thought of Dubs giving out their literature and pretending that they were being generous that got to me! Remember, these are the people who believe that selling their stuff door to door is more charitable than feeding and clothing the poor!

"You've got the brain of a four-year-old boy, and I'll bet he was glad to get rid of it."
- Groucho Marx

Grateful for Small Mercies - WBTS and Christmas

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