by CuriousAboutJW 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Hello,
I have a friend who is a Witness, and I wanted to send them a message on Tuesday, but I'm not entirely sure what to say. "Happy Memorial" doesn't seem quite right. What are some appropriate greetings to send on the day of the Memorial of Jesus Christ?
Also, how is the day of Memorial calculated or chosen? Why is it Tuesday the 4th instead of Friday the 7th ("Good Friday," when may other Christian denominations commemorate the death of Christ)?
Thank you
The idea of holidays is so negatively viewed that even on the one day they commemorate they do not regard it as one. They do not use special greetings or expressions. Its really just another day at church.
You do understand they actually go there to reject the body and blood of Christ? (as it is known in much of Christendom)
""You do understand they actually go there to reject the body and blood of Christ? ""
They just don't know what they are doing. That's why it's all the more dangerous. Cruel.
CuriousAboutJW, the Witnesses 'observe' the Memorial on the Jewish holiday of Passover (or of the the Passover Seeder?) on the Nisan 14th date of the Jewish religious lunar calendar, and as a result it does not fall on the same weekday each year. The early Jewish Christians (and some other Christians for at least a few centuries) also observed it on that day of the Jewish religious calendar. Other Christians chose to distance themselves from Judaism by a greater extent by observing it on what is called Good Friday.
According to the gospels Jesus instituted the observance on the Jewish Passover day of Nisan 14th (except that some scholars say that according to at least one gospel account the date was on Nisan 15th). In the USA the date of the WT's Memorial event typically is on the same day that USA calendars say the Jewish holiday of Passover is on.
Since the majority of JW don't partake of the emblems, the WT uses the word "observe" in regards to the event in the sense of "see" instead of the in the sense of "do". Most JWs don't do what Jesus said to do in regards to the event, namely to partake of the emblems (to drink the "fruit of the vine" and eat the unleavened bread). Instead they merely see the emblems (and hear a talk about them) and pass them onto another JW.
Why is it Tuesday the 4th instead of Friday the 7th ("Good Friday," when may other Christian denominations commemorate the death of Christ)?
Easter is a "Moveable Feast" so it will always fall on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. There is a readily available formula to calculate this.
As explained above JW's Memorial is calculated similarly to the Passover in most years.
George
Suggestions:
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartodecimanism which says in part the following. "Quartodecimanism (from the Vulgate Latin quarta decima in Leviticus 23:5,[1]
meaning fourteenth) is the name given to the practice of celebrating
the death of Christ on the day of Passover on the 14th of Nisan
according to the biblical dating, being on whatever day of the week. The
Quartodeciman controversy in the Church was over the question of
celebrating Easter on the first day of the week, Sunday, or at the same time as the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.[2] "
Happy memorial! Always look on the happy side of life !
