they refuse to celebrate any birthday, but just because the bible does not order us to celebrate the inception or the birth, what is so wrong with celebrating the birthday, symbolically, of Christ’s arrival, whether at inception or birth? JWs believe Christ was probably born closer to September, why do they not set aside an event to celebrate that? They seem to deprive themselves and their children from celebrating much of anything. I find this less than humble.
Jehovah’s Witnesses often reject birthdays as "pagan" and will therefore refuse to participate in them. In addition to this, Witnesses also reject birthdays because they claim that they are placed in an unfavourable light in the Bible. The Bible only mentions two instances of birthdays (at least explicitly). These are Genesis 40:20-22, and Matthew 14:6-10. Two pagan rulers are in view: Pharaoh and Herod.
Jehovah’s Witnesses argue that as negative things happened on these men’s birthdays, then all birthdays must be evil. This is clearly a case of guilt by association as far as the Watchtower is concerned. But is this really sound reasoning? What is the source of the evil in the Biblical accounts? The birthdays or the men (Pharaoh and Herod) themselves? Obviously, it is the men who did the evil. There is nothing to suggest that these men did evil because of their birthdays. These men did evil all the time not just on their birthdays. Also, in the Genesis account, Pharaoh also did some good by setting a man free!
Witnesses often argue that there is no mention of birthdays being celebrated by any of God’s servants in the Bible. Although there are no explicit references, it would appear that there is a possible implicit reference to birthday celebrations in Job (Job 1:4, 5). If this is talking about birthday celebrations, they seem to be being spoken of favourably. Job talks about Job’s sons each holding a feast on "his day". In Job 3:1-4, the same Hebrew word for "day" (yowm) is used when Job curses the "day" of his birth.
Another point worth considering is that of the vast amount of chronological data in the Bible, regarding the ages of people. Obviously, there can be no doubt that Jews and Christians were certainly keeping track of people’s ages. Just a couple of brief example: Moses was 40 when he was called and died at age 80 in the wilderness. There is even the recording of Jesus’ age, when He was 12 and visited Jerusalem with His parents (Luke 2:42). Are we really to conclude that the arrival of a persons birthday would produce no celebration, or emotional response at all? In the light of the fact that Christians were certainly keeping a record of people’s ages, one could easily imagine that such an occasion could well lead to some sort of celebration. What is an individuals definition of `celebration`?
There is nothing explicit in the Bible that that commands us to celebrate or not to celebrate birthdays. Rather, the Bible has given us a general guide on this issue when it says that we should each be convinced in our own minds (Rom. 14:5) as to the importance or non-importance of a particular day, and that it should be a matter for the conscience of the individual, between them and God, as to whether we celebrate that day or not. However, in contrast to all this, the Watchtower clearly enforces the non-celebration of certain days, to the point that a person’s standing before God Himself is in jeopardy, if a birthday is celebrated in any way. The sad thing about all of this is that it is the Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves who end up suffering, particularly their young people. Jehovah’s Witness children can be made to feel unnecessarily isolated from their class mates when they have to decline invitations to birthday parties, and non-Witness relatives can be unnecessarily offended by the refusal of JW relatives to send them birthday or Christmas cards.
God Bless!
they refuse to celebrate any birthday, but just because the bible does not order us to celebrate the inception or the birth, what is so wrong with celebrating the birthday, symbolically, of Christ’s arrival, whether at inception or birth? JWs believe Christ was probably born closer to September, why do they not set aside an event to celebrate that? They seem to deprive themselves and their children from celebrating much of anything. I find this less than humble.
Jehovah’s Witnesses often reject birthdays as "pagan" and will therefore refuse to participate in them. In addition to this, Witnesses also reject birthdays because they claim that they are placed in an unfavourable light in the Bible. The Bible only mentions two instances of birthdays (at least explicitly). These are Genesis 40:20-22, and Matthew 14:6-10. Two pagan rulers are in view: Pharaoh and Herod.
Jehovah’s Witnesses argue that as negative things happened on these men’s birthdays, then all birthdays must be evil. This is clearly a case of guilt by association as far as the Watchtower is concerned. But is this really sound reasoning? What is the source of the evil in the Biblical accounts? The birthdays or the men (Pharaoh and Herod) themselves? Obviously, it is the men who did the evil. There is nothing to suggest that these men did evil because of their birthdays. These men did evil all the time not just on their birthdays. Also, in the Genesis account, Pharaoh also did some good by setting a man free!
Witnesses often argue that there is no mention of birthdays being celebrated by any of God’s servants in the Bible. Although there are no explicit references, it would appear that there is a possible implicit reference to birthday celebrations in Job (Job 1:4, 5). If this is talking about birthday celebrations, they seem to be being spoken of favourably. Job talks about Job’s sons each holding a feast on "his day". In Job 3:1-4, the same Hebrew word for "day" (yowm) is used when Job curses the "day" of his birth.
Another point worth considering is that of the vast amount of chronological data in the Bible, regarding the ages of people. Obviously, there can be no doubt that Jews and Christians were certainly keeping track of people’s ages. Just a couple of brief example: Moses was 40 when he was called and died at age 80 in the wilderness. There is even the recording of Jesus’ age, when He was 12 and visited Jerusalem with His parents (Luke 2:42). Are we really to conclude that the arrival of a persons birthday would produce no celebration, or emotional response at all? In the light of the fact that Christians were certainly keeping a record of people’s ages, one could easily imagine that such an occasion could well lead to some sort of celebration. What is an individuals definition of `celebration`?
There is nothing explicit in the Bible that that commands us to celebrate or not to celebrate birthdays. Rather, the Bible has given us a general guide on this issue when it says that we should each be convinced in our own minds (Rom. 14:5) as to the importance or non-importance of a particular day, and that it should be a matter for the conscience of the individual, between them and God, as to whether we celebrate that day or not. However, in contrast to all this, the Watchtower clearly enforces the non-celebration of certain days, to the point that a person’s standing before God Himself is in jeopardy, if a birthday is celebrated in any way. The sad thing about all of this is that it is the Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves who end up suffering, particularly their young people. Jehovah’s Witness children can be made to feel unnecessarily isolated from their class mates when they have to decline invitations to birthday parties, and non-Witness relatives can be unnecessarily offended by the refusal of JW relatives to send them birthday or Christmas cards.
God Bless!
22 April will be Earth day: this event is celebrated since 1970.
The purpose of this day is to remember our world is in danger (just recently ago a group of British scientist in the Artic, proved the North Pole ice will be all melted in the 2019, if we don’t do nothing about pollution!
So my question is: How do you gonna celebrate, like start doing something to help the environment?
(i’ll start go to work by bus)
I am going to and have started to recycle more. Also being more careful not to leave the faucet running while brushing my teeth, closing the refrigerator door, shutting off unneeded lights and getting more energy efficient bulbs. Some bulbs are really expensive so we buy one at a time when we can.
Little things do add up.
Happy Earth Day everyone!!!
22 April will be Earth day: this event is celebrated since 1970.
The purpose of this day is to remember our world is in danger (just recently ago a group of British scientist in the Artic, proved the North Pole ice will be all melted in the 2019, if we don’t do nothing about pollution!
So my question is: How do you gonna celebrate, like start doing something to help the environment?
(i’ll start go to work by bus)
I am going to and have started to recycle more. Also being more careful not to leave the faucet running while brushing my teeth, closing the refrigerator door, shutting off unneeded lights and getting more energy efficient bulbs. Some bulbs are really expensive so we buy one at a time when we can.
Little things do add up.
Happy Earth Day everyone!!!
4pm on Friday. Good article on it on the website below.
Besides Easter
general conference…4,5
easter
I’m a firm believer that you should take every opportunity to celebrate!
October 1 is World Vegetarian Day, and October is World Vegetarian Restaurant Month. How do you plan to celebrate these events?
http://vegdining.com/WorldVegetarianRestaurantMonth/
Well I had never heard of these events but I suppose going out to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant would be the thing to do.
are there any events in modern day that show how america is still independent?
There are celebrations every year all over the country.
are there any events in modern day that show how america is still independent?
There are celebrations every year all over the country.
are there any events in modern day that show how america is still independent?
There are celebrations every year all over the country.