It is apparent that the Watchtower Society has decided to follow Babylon the Great in its celebration of Jesus death and resurrection by following the "ecclesiastical Full Moon" rather than the "astonomical Full Moon".
The Date of Easter
Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.
Since the celebration of the Memorial is based on the Passover, which preceded Constantine and the Council of Nicaea, the Jews always use the "astronomical New Moon" after the "astronomical Vernal Equinox". The vernal equinox or first day of spring this year was this past Sunday March 20, 2005. The new moon of this phase was on March 10, 2005 which is prior to the vernal equinox or first day of spring.
In Exodus 12 Moses was told this would be the beginning of their year, which became Nisan 1 and 14 days later they would celebrate the Passover on Nisan 14. Nisan 1 was the new moon after the spring equinox. The new moon of this phase was prior to the spring eqinox and would not be the date chosen by Jews to celebrate the Passover.
Since March 20, 2005 is the date of the Spring Eqinox the first new moon after that date is April 8, 2005 with Passover falling on April 24 (beginning April 23 after 6:00pm), 2005. Checking any Jewish calendar you will see that today March 24 is Adar II 13 and that April 23, 2005 is Nisan 14. You may check the Hebrew Calendar at www.hebcal.com and use the Hebrew Date Converter to verify this information.
John 4:24 says our Father is a Spirit and those who worship him must worship in "spirit and truth". It is apparent that the WTBTS is not concerned with worship in truth.
For those of us who are no longer associated with the WTBTS, but still have a love of Jehovah and his Son, we can have a "true Memorial" of his death with simple red wine and unleavened bread in the privacy of our homes on April 23, 2005 after 6:00pm. We should also inform family and friends who are still in the WTBTS that the true celebration is next month and not tonight!
As I ponder years past and attending the Memorial at the Kingdom Hall and think of tonight when all will be singing, "Twas Nisan 14 when your glory was seen" that tonight is not Nisan 14. How many witnesses are even aware of this? I'm thankful to have been called out of darkness.
May Jehovah richly bless all of you!