by blondie 53 Replies latest watchtower bible
Blondis is asking for help. Where does it state that if a JW celebrates a brithday that it is a disfellowshipping offense. I have searched and searched. Is it in one of those secret pubs or BOE letters? If so, do you remember which one? Is it one of those obscurely applied principles?
I know why Christmas, Easter, Halloween, are...false religious customs....but a brithday is not a religous custom.
Blondie
4. Birthdays: The only two birthday celebrations spoken of in the Bible were held by persons who did not worship Jehovah. ( Genesis 40:20-22 ; Mark 6:21, 22 , 24-27 ) The early Christians did not celebrate birthdays. The custom of celebrating birthdays comes from ancient false religions. True Christians give gifts and have good times together at other times during the year.
http://www.watchtower.org/library/rq/article_11.htm
Sincerely,
District Overbeer
Frankly I never thought it was a DFing offense, even as an elder, and had similar converstations with other elders about it. I always taught it was a custom, because 1st century christians didn't celebrate birthdays, we didn't. And that like wearing a beard, if you did celebrate birthdays you would not get priviledges.
That being said I'll check the elders book.
I always thought you wouldn't be DF'd but I have been told by ex-JWs that they have been or a family member has been. It wouldn't be the first time that a JC DF'd someone outside the scriptural requirements of the WTS.
Blondie
I had always heard that it was not a DF'ing offense either...
just my 2 cents...
No Apologies
They can disfellowship for just about anything they want!
In the 70's a local elder expressed that he felt that birthday celebrations was NOT a dfing offense. Some elders disagreed and sent a letter to the Society. Bottom line: it's NOT a dfing offense and the elder was reprimanded for making this a public view. 30 yrs. later he is 80 years old and disfellowshipped and still speaks in an "apostate" fashion.
Celebrating Christmas as a DF offense is in the elder book. I saw that one.............not sure about birthdays but it probably is too.
Glad your looking Blondie...I have asked another adept researcher if he has ever come across the original words used to condemn birthday's, seeing as it had been very popular...should be in the literature of the late twenties...
I'm thinking originally it was probably condemned as creature worship
Birthday celebrations were shunned from Rutherford. Russell used to have a birthday book of some sort, as I recall.
