by Elsewhere 30 Replies latest jw friends
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20071215/article_01.htm
Do you find it acceptable that a religious leader would give a seemingly Christian meaning to events and symbols whose roots go back to ancient paganism? As to the proper course, the Scriptures admonish true Christians: “What fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness?”—2 Corinthians 6:14-17.
Yet at the same time they promote the use of Wedding Rings, which are of Pagan origin.
How about the pagan names for the days of the week?
Or what about anniversaries? or even the pagan history and background of "ritual washings" ie: baptizims?
Since Pagans were the first to start writing, what about writing and since numerology and certain numbers having special meanings started from Pagans, what about that?
Lets not forget Brides dressing in white and lets also not forget that the very first people to go preaching door-to-door were Pagans, of course that was more like Hut-to-hut ;)
Of course the WTS provides double talk about "acceptable" pagan practices (Awake 1/8/2000 p 27):
When a Christian must decide whether or not to follow a certain custom, his main concern should be, What is God’s viewpoint as expressed in the Bible? Likewise, certain customs that are common today are clearly not in harmony with Bible principles. Among these are non-Biblical traditions connected with religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter or with superstitious practices related to spiritism.
But what about customs that may once have been linked to questionable practices but that today are primarily viewed as social etiquette? For example, many popular wedding customs—including the exchanging of rings and the eating of cake—may have pagan origins. Does this mean that Christians are forbidden to observe such customs? Are Christians required to scrutinize meticulously each custom of the community to see whether somewhere or at some time it had negative connotations?
Paul points out that “where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17; James 1:25) God wants us to use this freedom, not as an inducement for selfish cravings, but to train our perceptive powers to distinguish right from wrong. (Galatians 5:13; Hebrews 5:14; 1 Peter 2:16) Hence, in a matter where there is no clear violation of Bible principles, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not create a hard-and-fast rule. Instead, each Christian must weigh the circumstances at hand and make a personal decision.
Thanksgiving is a pagan holiday, because it was invented by the Quakers. Ironically, the Quakers themselves refused to celebrate Christmas because they thought it was pagan and Catholic.
Let me help you with that timber in your eye there, brother...
Ironically, the WTS also used to teach that excommunication (Disfellowshipping) is of Pagan Origin.
See the last page of: http://www.outofthecocoon.net/PDF/Shun_A4LetterWord.pdf
Lets be honest here, is there anything that is NOT of Pagan origin ??
And wedding bands have ZERO to do with social etiquette, seriously now.
Typical excuse for using months named after pagan gods:
*** it-2 p. 1065 Tammuz, II ***The postexilic name given to the fourth Jewish lunar month of the sacred calendar, but the tenth of the secular calendar. Thus, in the Targum of Jonathan the expression "the tenth month" at Genesis 8:5 is rendered "the month Tammuz." Tammuz was the name of a Babylonian deity. (Eze 8:14) The Bible record does not apply this name to the fourth month but merely refers to the month by its numerical order. (Eze 1:1) The name does appear, however, in the Jewish Mishnah (Ta?anit 4:6) and other postexilic works. The use of the pagan name Tammuz as applying to the fourth month, as well as the use of the other postexilic names, may have been only a matter of convenience among the Jews. It should be remembered that they were then a subjugated people, obliged to deal with and report to the foreign powers dominating them, and in view of this it is no strange thing if they utilized the names of the months employed by these foreign powers. The Gregorian calendar used today has months named after the gods Janus and Mars, and the goddess Juno, as well as for Julius and Augustus Caesar, yet it continues to be used by Christians who are subject to "the superior authorities."—Ro 13:1.
"...yet it continues to be used by Christians who are subject to "the superior authorities."—Ro 13:1."
So this is like double double speak? Or triple speak? Because we have the first point that celebrating Christmas because it has pagan origins isn't allowed, followed by using a calendar of pagan origins IS allowed all because we're subject to superior authorities BUT (additional double speak) if someone tries to make you vote or join the army, you should go to jail and ignore those superior authories. Am I reading that wrong? Hmmmmmm...
