Is Job 1:4 regarding a birthday party (page 2)

White Dove

This is all very interesting.

By the way, in my family six of us have birthdays in one month.

Whether Job's 'day' was his birthday or not seems to make little difference when you accept the Watchtower explanation for accepting other pagan based practices and obversences. Sending flowers to a funeral, wearing a wedding ring, and using a pinjata at a party are all acceptable to JWs even though they have pagan connections.

Concerning the pinjata, the Awake!, 9-22-03 p23, 24 said, "A main concern is, not what the practice meant hundreds of years ago, but how it is viewed today in your area."

If considering ‘how the practice is viewed in your area,‘ and whether or not the practice has ‘lost the original meaning it had hundreds of years ago’ are acceptable logic with one pagan practice, why can’t the same be applied to other practices that have lost their original meanings, like birthdays?

The number of birthday celebrations where someone is beheaded have gotten to be in the minority; at least where I live.

Darth Rutherford

ScenicViewer... Wow... I love that quote! That's perfect! Also enjoy the humor and logic:

"The number of birthday celebrations where someone is beheaded have gotten to be in the minority; at least where I live."

Thank you... I'm using it!

MrFreeze

Remember, God killed Job's children, so clearly he hates birthdays.

NVR2L8

In the first reference quoted by AnonJW we find the question: Did Job's children observe birthday? No...what is descibed in the verses may not be a birthday celebration...but should we automatically assume they didn't celebrate birthdays simply because it is not stated in the book of Job? Just because the book of Job doesn't state they did laundry, would we assume they never washed their clothes? If the book doesn't say that they bathed would we assume they didn't wash?

ScenicViewer

Very nice logic NVR2L8.

The two Biblical references to beheadings at birthday celebrations always seemed like a very thin reason to condemn all birthday observances. After all, it is the murders that were bad, no matter when they were committed. If birthdays were to be avoided then the Bible could have clearly said so, since they were practiced from early on.

To say something is a sin just because the Bible doesn't say it isn't seems like silly logic to me.

Farkel

I'm of the opinion that since Job did NOT get beheaded, it was definitely NOT a birthday celebration. God makes sure that one only gets boils and skin rot and loses all of his friends on days other than one's birthday party.

God doesn't permit boils and skin rot and loss of all friends, death of wives and all family members and other unspeakable horrors on birthdays. God only permits beheadings on birthday parties. God covers all bases, on days of birthday parties and on days of no birthday parties. Boils or beheadings, Bible God has it all covered.

God loves us, but not on birthdays where there is a party or on days of no birthday parties. Boils, skin rot and death of family members ARE NOT allowed on those days. Only beheadings are allowed on those days.

The is all Bible Based(tm). Ask Freddy. He knows what's best for us!

Farkel

MrFreeze,

:Remember, God killed Job's children, so clearly he hates birthdays.

This pisses me off. God simply cannot be trusted. He was supposed to BEHEAD someone on Job's birthday. He could have killed those people on some other day.

This crap begs the question: Job wasn't even a Jew. This is the oldest book in the Bible and the story predates Bible History(tm), does it not?. Why did Bible God make a bet with Satan over a Gentile and not a Jew and why does Bible God make bets with his asshole kids, anyway? What does Bible God have to prove to his kid who is obviously inferior to Him and couldn't possibly win a wager with the Creator of everything?

What if Job's first wife was the love of his life and his children were the best children a parent could have and the new wife and family Job got after he passed his bullshit test were a total nagging bitch and a bunch of miscreants?

Bible God(tm) won the bet with his kid, though, but Job got screwed. But God won his bet.

Farkel

JWStruggle

What a lot of this means is that the jury is still out right? We don't really know one way or the other if Job is supporting birthdays or not...But notice how the WT ref said: "Did Job’s children observe birthdays? No, they did not."

Even though the scriptures here are ambiguous they have to dogmatically assert that he didn't when we don't really know for sure.

MeanMrMustard

@ScenicViewer: That is a good quote.

I found this one. The writer starts out logically, but then backs away. The rest of the Questions from Readers article (after the snippet below) goes on to enumerate the normal JW arguments against a birthday celebration (the Bible mentions it in a bad light, and has pagan history) even though in the beginning of the article, the writer admits the history of a celebration is not necessarily what matters:

*** w92 9/1 p. 30 Questions From Readers ***
Questions From Readers
Do Jehovah’s Witnesses avoid celebrating birthdays because the practice had some religious meaning in ancient times?
Celebrating birthdays is rooted in superstition and false religion, but that is not the sole or prime reason why Jehovah’s Witnesses avoid the practice.
Some customs that were once religious in nature no longer are in many places. For example, the wedding ring once had religious significance, but in most places today, it no longer does. Hence, many true Christians accept the local custom of wearing a wedding ring to give evidence that a person is married. In such matters, what generally is influential is whether a practice is now linked to false religion.—See “Questions From Readers” in The Watchtower of January 15, 1972, and October 15, 1991.

The writer mentions other pagan customs (like wedding rings) that do not hold the same significance as they once did. And it is because of this that they are now acceptable. To be consistent, this should apply to every holiday.

MeanMrMustard

Is Job 1:4 regarding a birthday party

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