I see your point and I dont know I know my family hated me for the three years I took it seriouly (love me some birthday cake). I never understood it since my college professor also pointed out that even rings are of pagan origin. I know I never celebrated christmas before but I will live it this year.
Pagan Origins
by brotherdan 46 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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ziddina
So-called "Pagan" religions pre-date the bible by thousands - and in some cases, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS...
Check out the actual age of the bible - only THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED YEARS...
There are religious texts on the walls of an Egyptian pyramid that are AT LEAST a thousand years OLDER...
And things go back from there...
Stonehenge is at least one thousand five hundred years OLDER than the bible. Maybe more; I don't have time to look it up right now, 'cause I've got to quit posting and mow the lawn...
Start looking around. You will be VERY SURPRISED at what you learn. Oh, and I don't give ANY credence to that bizarre 'logic' that claims that ALL older religions were "Satanic" attempts at misleading people....
I figure that, the true DEITY will be found in the OLDEST religion - not this "Johnny-come-lately" Middle Eastern male vol - VOLCANO 'god'...
Just to give you a 'heads up'...
Zid
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wasblind
The WTS traps people in a culture that is unrealistic,
if you ban some pagan things why not ban all?
such as using a calendar, and wedding rings etc. The only way to follow the
WTS rules to the letter is to not be alive at all. There was a JW in the news recently
who is suing her employer because she refused to dress as an elf, even though she was
hired to wrap gifts. Why take the job in the first place if you knew the job was connected
to holidays and birthdays? pagan things. Jehovah may not put more on us than we can bare
but the WTS does
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brotherdan
I really don't see the difference between an anniversary and a birthday. Anniversaries honor the marriage. Birthdays honor the birth. Gifts are given at anniversaries. Gifts are given at birthdays. I have sex on my anniversary and I have sex...er...well...my wife doesn't do birthdays, but I can still usually get some on my birthday.
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brotherdan
I guess I'm not the guy to talk to about this one. I'm a young earth supporter. So I don't hold the the dating of hundreds of thousands of years for men being on earth.
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Pistoff
Most scholars date the OT redaction to 5th century BCE, some say 4th.
That makes the writing less than 2,500 years old.
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debator
The bible is silent and condemns by it's silence. Birthdays were known biblically but neither the uncurrupted Jews (Herod took up pagan practises including birthdays) or early Christians celebrated Birthdays. If birthdays were okay why didn't they celebrate them?
The bible doesn't give us a date for Jesus's birth, why?
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brotherdan
Debator, the Bible is not silent on these things. Read JWoods post about Romans 14. Read it. Please. You are not to judge those that observe a holy day. Or any other type of day.
For example, one way that first century pagans worshiped their gods was to bring an animal to the temple, dedicate it to their diety, kill it, and eat it. Albert Barnes wrote that some of the animal that had been offered tot he idol was taken to the market and sold with the other meat. Was there a possibility that a Christian could purcahse and eat such meat without contamination? Yes. Paul said that meat offered to idols was "nothing". If it bothered anothers conscience, you were not to eat it in front of them. But it was not violating God's law to do so. Read 1 Cor 10.
The point is, a person does not become a sharer in paganism through contact with the item used in pagan worship. What really distinguishes the Christain from the unbeliever is the willingness to put the needs of others ahead of his or her own.
Debator, you mention the Bible's silence on birthdays as being condemnatory. What about the bible's silence on anniversaries and objects (i.e rings, veils, etc...) used in weddings? Is this not too condemnatory? How do you justify one pagan origin and not the other? You are such a hypocrite.
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brotherdan
Also Debator, can you show me 1 piece of historical evidence that the 1st century Christians DID NOT celebrate any type of birthday? And then can you show me 1 piece of historical evidence that the 1st century Christians DID celebrate any type of anniversary?
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exwhyzee
John the Baptist's head was served to Pharos daughter on a platter at her birthday celebration. Because of this, we never celebrated birthdays or used any type of platter, in our house...just to be on the safe side !
Wasn't wearing a "white" dress by a bride at her wedding and walking down the "asile" something that came out of Chrisendom? Same thing with singing songs "Hymns" at the meeting.