How do you feel about birthdays and Christmas now?

by Chariklo 20 Replies latest jw friends

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  Chariklo

  I wonder...for those of you who were brought up as a JW or who have been "in" for many years, how do you feel about birthdays and Christmas and celebrations in general now?

  The indoctrination/brainwashing is very strong. Once you are out, or, perhaps, still in but totally disillusioned and sure that it is all a Lie, not The Truth, do you find that you are determined to celebrate like mad to make up for what you missed, or do you find you have a lingering sense of guilt, however irrational you may now think it is?

  Or do you still find you simply can't bring yourself to observe and celebrwate birthdays and other such occasions?

  These musings come after my celebration of my own birthday yesterday, of course. No wild parties, but a very happy day indeed for me, and this year cards displayed with great pleasure on the mantelpiece, whereas for the last two years I've had them hidden in a pile in case the Bible Study Sister came round and inspected. Which she did. Regularly.
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  Phizzy

  I love birthdays....... other peoples ! I love giving presents, though it is difficult knowing what to get for some people, they seem to have everything already !

  I have always loved Christmas time, our family always got together, but no taint of the "Pagan" of course, we now get together with our non-JW family and can add present giving.

  It is to my chagrin that we cannot go the whole hog, Christmas lights festooning the house, a bloody great 50ft illuminated Santa etc etc, as tasteless as you like, I would love to do it, but the first Elder to drive past would 'phone another to have a look and Wham ! you know what.

  I love both celebrations, and as a total non-believer have no guilt about the (limited) celebrating we do, only limited by when the booze runs out actually.

  The only one I don't bother with is the upcoming Haloween, if it were likely that kiddies would knock on the door I would happily give them sweets or whatever, but we live in an out of town location, dark and spooky ! so they don't knock.

  Belated Happy Birthday to you dear lady !
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  Chariklo

  Phizzy, are you in or out? I always felt that you were out, but it sounds as if you're not.

  Oh, and thanks, by the way! Lots of birthday cake left still! Have a big piece!
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  Phizzy

  I've been out for a number of years Thank God (says Atheist me), but I am officially only inactive, and as I have a very extended family still in the JW/WT Governing Body worshipping Cult, I wish to remain with that status for a while.

  I feel I am making (slow) progress with one of my young relatives, who would not be able to or probably willing to speak with me/us if I were DA'd or DF'd so I want to keep the path to my door open to them.

  Where I live, though rural, is a rat run (good name for it) for the rat Elders who live not far away when they go to Town, hence no Chrissy lights outside Dammit !

  But yea, out for good and happy as I never was when I was in ! It is great to know the real Truth.

  Thanks for the cake, tasty !
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  mrsjones5

  I'm a born-in and I never bought the birthday/Christmas malarkey. Birthdays and Christmas are guilt free for me.
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  LouBelle

  I went OTT with christmas and birthdays! I could finally celebrate whatever I wanted and I had fun doing it. For me I do a BIG birthday party every couple of years, I theme it, I have my friends over and we have an absolute blast. The last one was when I was 34 and it was an awesome mad hatters tea party with tequila as the tea.

  The next one is planned for next year - I'm going pirate!
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  trebor

  Excited about and love Birthdays and Christmas. We have been celebrating all the holidays since leaving the Watchtower in Spring 2008. 30+ years born into the cult and cult mentality, glad to be free of the Watchtower and celebrating the life we have to share whenever possible.
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  wha happened?

  I wasn't born in so I celebrated them until I was 24.

  Birthdays are cool, but Baa humbug on Christmas
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  Badfish

  I was born-in but was never convinced that birthdays were wrong. I never saw the difference in celebrating the anniversary of events such as weddings and the anniversary of one's birth.

  Birthdays are not a religious celebration, but Christmas is. So in my opinion, it should come down to your own religious beliefs when it comes to celebrating Christmas.

  I think the Witnesses are right about the obvious pagan origins of Christmas and its traditions. So if you still believe in Jesus, you might or might not have some concern about the pagan traditions of Christmas. Or if you don't believe in Jesus, then why are you even celebrating his birthday in the first place?

  But even though I saw and believed that the origins of Christmas were pagan while I was still living under my Witness parents' roof, I still believed it should be a concience matter rather than a disfellowshipping matter as to whether each person chose to celebrate it. After all, the bible says this right from the Witnesses own NWT:

  " Welcome the [man] having weaknesses in [his] faith, but not to make decisions on inward questionings. One [man] has faith to eat everything, but the [man] who is weak eats vegetables. Let the one eating not look down on the one not eating, and let the one not eating not judge the one eating, for God has welcomed that one. Who are you to judge the house servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for Jehovah can make him stand.

  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. He who observes the day observes it to Jehovah. Also, he who eats, eats to Jehovah, for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat does not eat to Jehovah, and yet gives thanks to God." (Romans 14:1-6)
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  WTWizard

  I feel that, since Jehovah let me down first, I "owe" him that I let him down in return. And that means worshiping the sun--and Satan--by going the whole 9 yards. And Halloween, too--decorating the hallway in my apartment building, professional quality (the landlord remarked that it was professional quality, not just "near-professional" as I mentioned). I am equipped to do a job that borders on true professional, and I now have fun decking the hallway for Halloween and Christmas.

  And I don't give a fxxx if Brother Hounder shows up. There is an expressway behind my own apartment, also decorated to the nines, and if Brother Hounder is so worried about my Christmas decorations that show from the expressway, let him be the one to drive into a tree. It won't be my problem. And if the witlesses are so stupid as to show up in field circus while I am decorating, too bad--no one is interested, and they are not getting any sympathy (and, if they do get in, I will tell them that, if they keep bothering me about the Christmas decorations, I will go in and get my Ouija board and start a ritual to Satan. And, so what if I get disfellowshipped--so long as I maximize the amount of time and energy I waste on them and maximize the bad energy they get as a result.

  I also have plenty of Christmas music. Last year, I found about 15 new ones that were subsequently played at work--and I already have a bead on another 15 that could well be added this year. I believe that the whole thing is good for the soul--decorating the tree, the shopping and gift-giving (including decorating the hallway so other tenants can enjoy the scene), baking and enjoying oneself, the music, the TV specials, and so on. Whether you add the Jesus thing or not (I simply view the sun as my "Christ"), it is meant to be enjoyed in so many different ways. The more ways you can enjoy Christmas (except drink-driving, which I do not advocate), the merrier.