No Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter ! (Help) ?

by hubert 12 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Scully

  jgnat writes:

  If she tries to dismiss your arguments as silly, agree with her. It is silly to abstain from everything with a pagan origin.

  Yep. Things with a pagan origin include the names of the calendar months and the days of the week. We recently found out that the name of the street I live on refers to a pagan version of heaven, should I move? In fact, a lot of the names of the streets around here refer to religious figures - Catholic saints in particular - so should I stop going to the shops on those streets due to the so-called false relgious connection??

  You can get downright ridiculous with this one and end up driving yourself mad over it.

  I would ask her what is - in her opinion - in the best interests of your family situation. The Bible also says to "Honour your father and your mother"; is asking her to enjoy a holiday meal with you such a horrible request that it deserves her dishonouring you and disrespecting your beliefs?? Maybe you can offer a kind of conciliatory gesture: if she wants you to respectfully attend (without being participants) any "special occasions" that JWs have (Memorial, Special Talks, Conventions), then you want her to respectfully attend your "special occasions" too. As long as she does not perform Acts of False Worship? in doing so, she isn't breaking any JW "rules".

  Love, Scully (still dredging through old threads to find that article)
• 

  Scully

  Finally!!

  WT 12/15/2001
  Questions from Readers
  How can a Christian wife balance loyalty to God with submission to her
  unbelieving husband if he shares in religious holiday activities?
  
  Her doing so will require wisdom and tact. But she is doing the right thing in
  striving to balance her two obligations. Jesus gave counsel about a parallel
  situation: "Pay back, therefore, Caesar's things to Caesar, but God's things to
  God." (Matthew 22:21) Granted, he was dealing with obligations to governments,
  to which Christians were later told to be in submission. (Romans 13:1) Yet, his
  counsel finds a parallel in a wife's balancing her obligation to her husband,
  even if he is an unbeliever.
  
  No one familiar with the Bible would deny that it stresses that a Christian's
  first obligation is to Almighty God, to be loyal to him at all times. (Acts
  5:29) Still, in many situations a true worshiper can accommodate the requests
  or demands of an unbeliever in authority while not sharing in a violation of
  God's elevated laws.
  
  We find an instructive example in the three Hebrews, as related in Daniel
  chapter 3. Their governmental superior, Nebuchadnezzar, decreed that they and
  others present themselves on the plain of Dura. Realizing that false worship
  was scheduled, the three Hebrews would likely have preferred to avoid being
  there. Perhaps Daniel was able to excuse himself, but these three could not.
  So they complied to the extent of appearing, but they would not - and did not -
  share in any wrong act. --Daniel 3:1-18.
  
  Similarly, around holiday times an unbelieving husband might request or demand
  that his Christian wife do something she would like to avoid. Consider some
  examples: He tells her to cook a certain food on the day he and others will
  celebrate a holiday. Or he demands that the family (including the wife) visit
  his relatives on that day for a meal or simply as a social call. Or even prior
  to the holiday, he might say that while his wife is out shopping, she must make
  some purchases for him - foods unique to the holiday, items to use as presents,
  or wrapping paper and cards to use with his gifts.
  
  Again, the Christian wife ought to be determined not to share in false
  religious acts, but what about such requests? He is the family head, and God's
  Word says: "You wives, continue in subjection to your husbands, as it is
  becoming in the Lord." (Colossians 3:18) In these cases, can she show wifely
  subjection while being loyal to God? She must decide how to balance obedience
  to her husband with her overriding obedience to Jehovah.
  
  At other times, her husband may ask her to cook a certain food, whether it is
  because it is his favorite or because he is used to having that meal in a
  particular season. She will desire to show love for him and recognition of his
  headship. Could she do so even if he made the request on the occasion of a
  holiday? Some Christian wives might be able to do so with a good conscience,
  simply considering it as a normal task of preparing the daily meal. Certainly
  no loyal Christian would attach any holiday significance to it, even if her
  husband did. Similarly, he might require her to be with him when he visits his
  relatives at various times each month or year. Could she do so even if it was
  the day of a holiday? Or would she normally be willing to purchase things at
  his request, without judging what he intends to do with the items she buys
  for him while doing her shopping?
  
  Of course, the Christian wife should think of others - the effect on them.
  (Philippians 2:4) She sould like to avoid giving any impression that she is
  linked to the holiday, just as the three Hebrews may likely have preferred that
  others not see them travelling to the plain of Dura. So she might tactfully
  try to reason with her husband to see if, out of consideration for her
  feelings, he might do certain holiday-related things for himself to accommodate
  a wife who loves and respects him. He might see the wisdom of not putting both
  of them in a potentially embarrassing situation if she would have to refuse to
  engage in false religious acts. Yes, calm discussion beforehand might lead to a
  peaceful solution. - Provers 22:3.
  
  In the final analysis, the faithful Christian wife must weigh the facts and
  then decide what to do. Obedience to God must come first, as it did with the
  three Hebrews. (1 Corinthians 10:31) But with that in mind, the individual
  Christian has to decide what noncompromising things can be done at the request
  of one having authority in the family or in the community.
• 

  hubert

  Thanks, Scully, for all that info. Wow! lots of stuff here to ingest.

  Hubert