I cannot take credit for any of the gems below but I did want to polish and organize them. Much of the information was borrowed from this thread. If you can come up with any more, please post them.
- The Bible does not ban birthdays. Despite the fact that beheadings took place at both birthdays mentioned in the Bible, we are no where told NOT to celebrate them. This is important because the Bible is full of rules. God didn't leave anything to guesswork when laying out the laws for Israel. Birthdays were obviously a well-known custom at that time. If God was particular enough to dictate how the Israelites cut their hair, wore their clothes and cooked their meals, he would have made explicit a ban on birthdays.
- The Bible gives tacit consent for celebrating birthdays. Romans 14:5: "One [man] judges one day as above another; another [man] judges one day as all others; let each [man] be fully convinced in his own mind." And Colossians 2:16: "Therefore let no man judge YOU in eating and drinking or in respect of a festival or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath;" These Scriptures not only allow for individuals to choose which celebrations they will partake in, they make clear that no one has the right to dictate to another which celebrations they may partake in.
- The Bible does not need to tell us specifically that it's ok to celebrate birthdays. Do we have (or need) a Biblical command for everything that comes up in life? We are not commanded to commemorate wedding anniversaries, eat dessert, own pets or hold a checking account. Does not free will allow us to make decisions in regard to such matters?
- Whether or not the early Christians celebrated birthdays is irrelevant. We do not model our lives on what the early Christians did. Early Christians did not shave their beards. They did preach within Jewish synagogues. Just because something was or was not customary at that time has no bearing on its inherent rightness or wrongness.
- The Bible speaks poorly of other things that are allowable. Wearing make up, owning dogs, giving wedding gifts, haircuts and drinking are all associated in the Bible with tragic acts. Yet, none of these things are considered unacceptable for Christians. Why would birthdays not be held to the same standard?
- Other customs based on pagan tradition are allowable; wedding rings, wedding veils, piñatas, pot lucks, tombstones, wind chimes, breakfast cereal, neckties and kites to name a few. These things are no longer associated with the pagan customs that originated them-and neither are birthdays. No one today associates birthdays with paganism.
- Other customs with violent origins are allowable. Soccer originated with conquerors kicking around the severed heads of their enemies. The theater was grossly violent and often featured the tortured deaths of Christians. Today, soccer and the theater are different. The origins of these things were far more violent than the Biblical birthday beheadings. And their modern counterparts are more violent than modern birthdays. Yet, these things are considered acceptable for Christians. How much more so should birthday celebrations be.
- The good man Job commemorated the birthdays of his children. (Job 1:4,5; 3:1) Job was considered righteous. The only sin he was accused of was in thinking he was more righteous than God. Therefore, commemorating birthdays is not sinful.
- Life is a sacred gift from God and we should be thankful. God is obviously fond of regular commemoration. He commanded the memorial of the last supper to be commemorated. He also had ordered various celebrations throughout the year for the Israelites. We celebrate our marriages (another gift from God) yearly. No one likes a good party more than God. It is fitting to show our gratitude for his gift by celebrating it each year.
- Given the body of evidence above, salvation does not rest upon the decision to celebrate one's birthday. No one can say this better than Six of Nine, so I will repost what he said:
But what got my passions up, in opposition to the society, was that I realized that if A) birthdays aren't really a biblical matter at all, and B) we as Jehovah's Witnesses were going door to door offering people the only chance at real salvation....
then wtf was it ok for us to withold that salvation over something as non-biblical and trivial as birthdays??? The onus IS NOT on "worldly" people to see birthdays as "no big deal, just follow the 'faithful slave'", since the "faithful slave" doesn't have a logical coherent argument.
I looked around and thought "are we interested in saving lives, or not?" That's what it comes down to. JW's make a big deal about "stumbling". Well why don't they practice what they preach and stop "stumbling" worldly people away from Jehovah with their silly, non-biblical, contradicted by their own writings, birthday psuedo-doctrine?