And there are more scriptures in the bible that speak negatively of dogs than there are birthdays. No one says having a dog is bad. The WT takes two scriptures and reads into them that birthdays are bad. The bible doesn't even tell you not to do birthdays. It's a man made rule that doesn't make sense. Wait till you have a child one day. Birthdays will become incredibly special.
Since leaving the truth, do you celebrate holidays, and does your participation in such bring you happiness?
by Stand for Pure Worship 102 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
144001
"While I'm thankful to have never participated in such holidays, I can't deny my curiosity about ex-JWs that do celebrate."
Why would you be "thankful" about never participating in holidays? And who would you thank for your failure to ever participate in holiday celebrations?
-
jam
I enjoy being part of the world. You know just being normal.
-
144001
Stand for Pure Worship,
The question you should ask yourself is why does the WTBTS ban events that bring families together, like holidays and birthday celebrations, while encourging shunning of disfellowshipped family members? You might also ask why the WTBTS demands so much of your time that the time you have available to spend with your family is severely limited?
-
Serenity_73
Yes Christmas is my favorite i don't believe in the meaning but after having a childhood without one i go all out every year. Presents , food ,decorations i love it and the way the shopping centres are all decorated.Birthday's and easter are great fun too.
-
cofty
Christmas is great. Just remember what it is supposed to be about - family, food, wine, beer, chocolate, games, log fires, walking off too much food and old movies.
-
Bruja-del-Sol
Celebrating holidays is something I like for the special family time... Easter with lots of egg painting with our adult children who still like that since they never had it when they were young, Christmas with all the candles, lights and a beautifully decorated christmas tree in the house... I really like it, but on the other hand it's not an obligation for me. Last year we didn't celebrate Christmas because of our emigration to Spain and I didn't really feel like I missed something. And Birthdays are sort of a burden, since I always forget about them, and I still don't like celebrating my own. It's not part of my 'system'... it makes me feel akward, never learned how one should act/react on your own birthday. The only time I celebrated my birthday with a party, was when I turned 40. But I combined it with a house warming party, because we had just moved house. So the party was more about the house than me
-
SloppyJoe
My wife and I buy each other gifts for Christmas. Since I was born in I never celebrated any holiday until in my 30s. Celebrating christmas was absolutely fun. When you stop and think about giving gifts, it actually is very enjoyable to watch my wife's excitement as she was born in as well. I used to say how glad I was that I did not celebrate Christmas. All the gift buying and work it had to be. Turns out it is quite enjoyable.
I love celebrating our birthdays as well.
-
adamah
SFPW said-
I'm not judging you by asking this, just curious as the very thought of participating in worldly holidays is completely and utterly foreign to me.
Well of course: that's the entire point of being a JW, and it was to me, having been essentially been borne-in.
Do the holidays do anything for you?
Having it not been a part of my life, it took probably a decade or two to lose my JW attitude of feeling superior to those who participated in such Worldly celebrations, despite my knowing intellectually that it wasn't wrong, and I wasn't any better than the "Worldlies". That's merely JW rationalization to make excuses for forced to be apart and separate as a member of a sub-culture, where the holidays serve as just more subtle confirmation or reinforcement as a 'cultural marker' that you don't do as "they" do, and you look for evidence of those merely going thru the motions of celebrating holidays, or the family arguments, etc. It's like the "no flag salute", "no blood transfusion", etc. policies. Cultural markers, and nothing more.
Eventually I came to realize that holidays and family are what you make of them, where the meaning is what you invest into it, the relationships you create and maintain via such traditions. As such, everyone's holiday experience is vastly different, and there's no "typical" once you stop trying to stereotype others.
That's not an option available to you, though, if you're still in, since that's the price of belonging to a high-control group: there's a price you pay in terms of limited options that are simply 'off the table' for you, and sometimes it's better not waste time reflecting on what might've been in your life, since it takes courage and backbone to change things and live life on your terms, not the GB's. Granted, some family are still held inside, but there's nothing I can control, so it's their loss, too (although their presence is missed).
But as for me? I wouldn't have it any other way, and there's no going backwards....
Adam
-
blondie
I grew up in a "divided" house and Christmas came to our house. Special foods, decorated trees, practical gifts, visiting friends, caroling, but no church. Pretty much what I see among the neighbors and workmates. There is a group sing at a local theater. Just us and a few friends that have no family left or near. When I worked a 24 hour job, I would work the holiday shifts for 4 people so they could be with their families. Their families would bring in food and make a nice buffet and Santa came to us with gifts. I would sing songs for the children.
I think jws are hypocritical saying Jesus has been taken out of the season. When I read just about any WT publication, Jesus has been almost taken out of the picture.
No where in the NT do you find Jehovah's witnesses, only witnesses of Jesus.