by FaithfulBrother 47 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I think they just like to seperate themselves from "the world" by having their own unique sets of rules.
It's called being a Cult.
Birthdays are not celebrated because the Leaders at the time said so, and the Leaders up and until today continue to say so.
No clear scriptural support, just illogical reasoning, and a picking & choosing of what is pagan to them and what pagan origins are okay.
Think About It
I have a feeling that one of the reasons Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate birthdays is that they are a custom that we would spend money on..... that could go into the Watchtower coffers.
The real reason birthdays are verboten is because it is a social construct that strengthens ties between family and friends. The no birthday rule isolates the individual from society - not in a huge way- but it all adds up.
Well Faithful brother.....is there birthday on the horizon for you?
The Elder(s) book doesn't state that it is a DF matter. So I will wish you a HB.
I think that one day 'B" days will be allowed ...the rationale in that publication mentioned on BITB's post makes a hint about that. Or, maybe it was printed to allow the Mexicans to beat the hell out of that Panata, and to suck them in. I can't really see the difference.
I can't see really the difference or harm in toasting glasses, as well. But, the old timers have it ingrained in their minds. You really have to be patient in this faith.
I can't prove that birthday celebrations are forbidden by god but this threw new light on the matter for me.
Book of Job Chapter One verse 1 There happened to be a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man proved to be blameless and upright, and fearing God and turning aside from bad. 2 And seven sons and three daughters came to be born to him. 3 And his livestock got to be seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels and five hundred spans of cattle and five hundred she-asses, along with a very large body of servants; and that man came to be the greatest of all the Orientals.
4 And his sons went and held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day; and they sent and invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them
This sounds to me like a Birthday Party!
Dear Amelia, like you I, and many others read that to be a record of birthday celebrations, and more tellingly, set in the part of the Job story that shows Yaweh's approval of the man and what he is doing, and showing the family of Job going about there normal life before that rat satan got involved.
The WT's wriggling, disingenuous explanation for why these are not birthday celebrations and ones approved by Jehovah at that, is to say the least pathetic.
Don't bother to look it up. you will be sick.
This whole thing goes back to Rutherford's wish that JW's be different, it really didn't matter if scripture really backed the difference, it was there as a marketing tool, the one true religion had to have things that marked it as different from the other 2000 plus sects of Christendom.
Hence countless children have missed out, including my own, on a normal happy childhood.
I weep (right now actually, as I write) for what I did not give my kids, may any active Witness reading this not make the same mistake, your children's early years are gone in a flash, you cannot get them back.
John the Baptist is said to celebrate his birthday in the bible.
He was not a pagan. !
Can anyone explain to me logically why birthday celebrations are forbidden by God?
The WTS. created this doctrine on their own because it was realized that birthdays of pagan kings were celebrated
and as a expression to distinguish themselves separate from any pagan traditions.
Irregardless celebrating birthdays in today's modern secular thinking is seen as an expression of love and respect for the person.
Not as an act of worship or reverence toward a pagan king.
Jesus's own commandant is to love one another as his greatest commandant.
Unfortunately as in so many times the men of the WTS. Corporation disregard Jesus and his words spoken in the bible.
.
stillstuckcruz >> "glorify an individual instead of God"
...well, so is taking pictures with GB members. Now what?
Amelia Ashton >> Job 1:1-4 (...) This sounds to me like a Birthday Party!
When they have no explanation / clue in justifying it biblically, then the festivity supposedly was just a happening. Evidently and unquestionably the week-long birthday celebration is a type of partying the geriatrics of the GB would never understand. Nor would they ever fathom each son having a birthday party, inviting each other over to celebrate. Remember: They are doomsday oriented! No fun.
Persons who think so sometimes point to Job 1:4 and Hosea 7:5. The first of these texts mentions Job’s seven sons holding “a banquet at the house of each one on his own day.” The second tells of Israelite princes ‘sickening themselves because of wine’ at a festival “on the day of our king.” Were these festive occasions birthday parties? Evidently not. Professor G. Margoliouth writes in Hastings’ Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics: “The occasion of the feasting referred to in Job 14f. is not clear. As the seven days appear to have been consecutive, they could hardly have been birthdays.” “The mention of the ‘day of our king’ in Hos 7:5 may quite naturally be taken to refer to the anniversary of the king’s accession to the throne.”
g76 7/8 p. 27 - What About Celebrating Birthdays?
When Job’s sons “held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day” it should not be supposed that they were celebrating their birthdays. (Job 1:4) “Day” in this verse translates the Hebrew word yohm and refers to a period of time from sunrise to sunset. On the other hand, “birthday” is a compound of the two Hebrew words yohm (day) and hul·le′dheth. The distinction between “day” and one’s birthday may be noted in Genesis 40:20, where both expressions appear: “Now on the third day [yohm] it turned out to be Pharaoh’s birthday [literally, “the day (yohm) of the birth (hul·le′dheth) of Pharaoh”].” So it is certain that Job 1:4 does not refer to a birthday, as is unquestionably the case at Genesis 40:20. It would seem that Job’s seven sons held a family gathering (possibly a spring or harvest festival) and as the feasting made the week-long circuit, each son hosted the banquet in his own house “on his own day.”
it-1 p. 319 - Birthday
The WBTS loves to use "principles" when they can't find Biblical proof for their doctrine. The usual birthday arguement went something like this, "Well because bad things happened at these birthdays, birthdays must be bad."OK, if you want to use that as an arguement then any 2 Bible events that had a bad outcome must also be bad. ( Principles have to be used consistently or they're useless.) So Lot's kids had a large dinner party & were all KILLED. Jesus had a large dinner party (Last Supper) & he was CRUCIFIED. Consequently, we must conclude that LARGE DINNER PARTIES are the work of the devil. Have fun with this, as there are many examples in the Bible.
