Why do JW's only pick on Birthdays, Holidays, when so many other things are pagan

by Joliette 47 Replies latest jw friends

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  PSacramento

  While it is fien to suggest that people should have the Christmas feeling all year long, it doesn't change the fact that it is NOT the case, even more so with JW's.

  The tend to fall back on that tired and used view that people should behave a certain way ( like show love all the time and not just Valentine's day) all the time and not have a specififc day for that and yet, the JW's are notorious for NOT doing just that.

  When was the last time anyone here ever saw an act of goodwill and love for their fellow man from a JW?

  When was the last time anyone here ever saw a JW volunteer at a soup kitchen, homeless shelter or give to orphans ??

  Indeed.

  As for the Pagan background of special days, that is a sad and pathetic and highly hyporctitcal view as it has been shown over and over.

  Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour ( not the day he was born but that he was born).

  Birthdays are nothing but anniversaries and since anniversaries are acceptable it is just another example of hypocracy on the part of JW's.

  Fact is that NO ONE forces JW's to celebrate anything, and just as many people don't celebrate things and no one else cares, that shoudl be the thing to do with JW's.

  The problem lies with the JW's that will not let "sleeping dogs lie" and keep bringing up the same old tired and warn out and shown-to-be-BS crap to make themselves thing they are special, when in reality the only thing that makes them "special" ( read: sad and pathetic) is their hypocracy and martyr/persecution complex.
• 

  life is to short

  I quit you are so right about thumbing their noses at Jesus in regards to communion. I have made a non JW friend. Her mom is almost blind, and she has a brother who is a supper strong JW. Well the mom went to the memorial one year and she just told me last week how offended she was by them just passing the plate of bread and wine. She also thought they were empty because she is blind and she would not believe me that there really was bread and wine in the cup and plate but still I was taken back by how offended she was and it did make sense to me. She felt it was thumbing their noses at Jesus.

  This is why the GB do not want us making friends with non JW's because they cause us to look at what we are doing though others eyes and it some of what we do as JW's hateful or at least not respectful toward Jesus and Jehovah.

  LITS
• 

  Robert7

  Here's something interesting. The new elder's manual has a list of DF'd offences, but doesn't even MENTION the word "birthday". Is this not officially a Judicial Committee matter?

  Also, the new Elders manual says you can get DF'd for "celebrating false religious holidays. Not all holidays directly involve false religion and require judicial action". So what about Thanksgiving, Valentines Day, 4th of July, etc? May have 'pagan' origins, but no false relition.
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  james_woods

  Well, it might be good to remember that the Witnesses were not the first fundamentalist group to reject "Catholic" holidays such as Christmas and Easter. The Puritans, who started Thanksgiving, did this more than a century before Rutherford rediscovered this notion.

  Of course, the Witnesses decided to outlaw Thanksgiving too (the only "pure" Christian religious holiday as far as pagan linkage is concerned) - just because they did not think of it first.

  For a lot of the smallar "pagan" stuff, I think they are just throwing darts at a board to make these decisions. For example, wedding rings are given a pass, but wind chimes are definately questionable - especially if they have Chinese or Japanese engravings. Remember too, that the days of the week are somewhat pagan by nature of the names, but the Witnesses quickly gave up the crazy notion of making their own "kingdom calendar" with biblical names - it was practically laughed out of existence, so this type of "paganism" is considered OK now.
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  isaacaustin

  J-Woods...when you look at everything you see the Wt picks and chooses...picking what involves social interaction with others as objectionable.
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  PSacramento

  And yet, perhaps the most Pagan of all rituals, the water purfication rite, is not only accepted but put on a perverbial pedastal !
• 

  Heaven

  And to further what Mary said ( ) I am beginning to realize that there is a collective moronic, lack of knowledge in the Watchtower. Everyone HAS to check their brains at the front door including those at the very top. It's necessary for survival and to accept the crap that is constantly being regurgitated year after year.
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  Meeting Junkie No More

  This is purely conjecture on my part:

  The Witness religion, in hindsight, is all about 'us' being chosen, and the 'rest' being rejected by God. About the Witnesses being the 'true' and 'pure, unadulterated' religion of 'spirit and truth'; the rest of the world be damned. How do you inculcate this separation into a 'Witness's very being? By demonizing absolutely anything the majority does and finding something in it that can be brushstroked as objectionable. The very word 'pagan' has been imbued by the WT heirarchy as something so detestable that as soon as you label anything pagan, it becomes anathema.

  Vis-a-vis Christmas, ask your Mom 'Didn't the angels sing JOY to the WORLD?' King James Version: 'I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people'. Where is the joy on the part of Witnesses at Jesus' birth? The only joy Witnesses are supposed to have is being out in the ministry and most of that joy is forced, at best. There's more joy out of the donut and coffee at the end of the 2 hour mandatory door knocking session, I'd venture to say.

  So I concur with others that it must have something to do with their self-delusion about being 'set apart by God'...
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  james_woods

  J-Woods...when you look at everything you see the Wt picks and chooses...picking what involves social interaction with others as objectionable.

  Very true - but the cynic in me keeps saying that they also just hate seeing people have any fun.
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  isaacaustin

  J-Woods...when you look at everything you see the Wt picks and chooses...picking what involves social interaction with others as objectionable.

  Very true - but the cynic in me keeps saying that they also just hate seeing people have any fun. I agree there too. They do not want the members having too much fun on activities that are not slaving for the GB.