Question regarding the memorial

by grewupjw1969 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  james_woods

  Excuse the above reference to "sidereal", rather than "lunar".

  I was reading something about science.
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  AnnOMaly

  A lunar month always begins with the new moon, making the fourteenth day the one on which the full moon will occur.

  Not always on the 14th day. Full moon can occur anywhere from day 13 to 16 due to variations in its orbit.

  ... Passover beginning on the 19th of April.

  Passover begins at sundown April 18 this year.
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  rebel8

  So the JW's are correct in celebrating it on the days that they do?

  I think if you look it up in the OT, it's supposed to be calculated based on the date barley was harvested, or something like that. If that's true, no, the dubs are incorrect.

  Me, I just check my Grape Nuts to see how things are progressing.
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  WontLeave

  The date seems to be very important. For thousands of years, Jews slaughtered the Passover lamb on the day Jesus would eventually die. I can't see how the religious leaders didn't notice that connection.

  Similarly, Pentacost was the Jewish Shavuot - the first day the Jews could bring the first fruits to the Temple. This is also the day when the first Christian congregation was identified and consecrated.

  The Jewish holiday of Passover for 2011 begins Tuesday, 19 April 2011 - that is, sunset on Monday 18. The lamb would be slaughtered the preceding Jewish day (hours before the feast at sundown), Nisan 14 - our Sunday/Monday, 17/18. This would have Jesus dying (2-3pm the next afternoon) right about the time the Jews were slaughtering their Passover lambs.
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  Quendi

  AnnOMaly, thanks for your input. My calendapr puts the start of Passover as sundown on the 19th, but that may be the author's error. Many thanks as well to WontLeave.

  Quendi
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  thetrueone

  I've got my grape juice and Ritz crackers ready, since the event occurs the same time as the hockey play-offs

  I Will have to partake during the game tomorrow night.......... Jesus will understand

  I hear he's a hockey nut as well.
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  WontLeave

  Please disregard my previous post. Hearing year after year "Nisan 14", I assumed that to be correct. How can they get a detail wrong, when they make such a big deal about it? This is why I refuse to read the literature: It plants seeds in your head that can linger for years.

  The sheep should prove to be sound, a male, a year old, for YOU. YOU may pick from the young rams or from the goats. And it must continue under safeguard by YOU until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole congregation of the assembly of Israel must slaughter it between the two evenings. And they must take some of the blood and splash it upon the two doorposts and the upper part of the doorway belonging to the houses in which they will eat it. “‘And they must eat the flesh on this night. - Exo 12:5-8

  Now on the first day of unfermented cakes, when they customarily sacrificed the passover [victim], his disciples said to him: “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the passover?” - Mark 14:12

  After evening had fallen he came with the twelve. Mark 14:17

  Since Jewish days were sundown to sundown, it would appear the Passover lamb would actually be slaughtered the day before Jesus died. This would mean Jesus did partake of the Passover meal on Nisan 15, not 14. I'm not really sure why the Society chooses the previous day. Clearly, the Memorial should be on Passover: Nisan 15, not Nisan 14.