by james_woods 37 Replies latest jw friends
It IS NOT wrong for Christians to celebrate Christmas. It doesn't matter Christmas has pagan origins or any other negative anti-Christian connotation the WTBTS gives to it, and here is why:
Colossians 2:16 says, "Therefore, do not let anyone judge you about what you eat and drink or about the observance of a festival or of the new moon or of a sabbath".
When you encroach upon the conscience of another Christian, you encroach upon the soveriegnty of God, Himself.
Colossians 2:16 says, "Therefore, do not let anyone judge you about what you eat and drink or about the observance of a festival or of the new moon or of a sabbath".
Weren't these writing by Paul relating to the festive observances conducted by the Hebrews and or the Christians ?
The Bible does state somewhere, cant remember where to be exact, concerning observing the traditions of ( other ) Nations ? ie. pagan festivities
What the bible doesn't say is that any pagan festival in its formation couldn't be mimicked toward Christianity and its own inherent beliefs.
I once saw an ex-JW on "The John Ankerberg Show." He explained it this way:
There are two reasons for everything - the "reason" they tell you AND the real reason. He stated that he believed the real reason JW's can't celebrate Christmas and birthdays, among other holidays, is that it takes time away from their "ministry" and allows for bonding with "worldly" family. Not celebrating can create hostility and misunderstanding among family members, thus motivating the JW non-celebrant to feel "persecuted" and to be more controlled by the borg.
I think he was probably right.
It's not a sin nor is it wrong. look up the meaning behind pinatas and then read the article below:
Piñatas I read with interest the article “The Piñata—An Ancient Tradition.” (September 22, 2003) It left me with some questions. The ties to false religion are well-documented. But the article seemed to take the position that as long as it doesn’t bother someone’s conscience, it is OK. What about birthdays and holidays such as Christmas?
JW's are two-faced bastards.
I wish I had never gotten involved in this cult/religion.
GTTM
The Watchtower logic for using the name Jehovah is that even though they know it's not the proper pronunciation of YHWH, is that it's the name that is widely accepted and it's better to use the wrong name than no name at all. So.... since we don't know when Jesus was born, why do we not use December 25th, since its widely accepted, and it's better to celebrate the birth of Christ on the wrong day than not to celebrate it at all?
Romans chapter 14 also says its ok to celebrate a holiday. I believe these holidays were dropped to make JWs different and to isolate the followers from the rest of their non believing family and friend's, that's how cults work.
Its always been a pressing agenda of the IBSA and the following JWS to intensionally point the wrong practices of main stream Christendom .
One can only speculate with that agenda had some influence for J Rutherford to denounce birthday celebrations including Christmas.
Its is known the Hebrews before Christ's appearance celebrated certain days as festivals.
Since this original pagan celebration focused upon celebrating the supposed birthdays of gods,
why would it be wrong for people to celebrate the birthday of the god of Christianity namely Jesus Christ ?
Christmas also parallels in some ways the arguments against celebrating birthdays - which is why allowing the individual's conscience to celebrate wedding anniversaries (effectively 'birthdays' of the wedding) is a rare breath of fresh air - although I think even the organization probably concluded it would have a fight on its hands if it banned the celebration of wedding anniversaries. Oh, BTW, great to see you here again, James. I'd missed your gritty but sensible posts.
The Corporation Jehovah is so jealous about having any of his worship go to any one but him and the corporation/Jehovah's organization that he even has his faithful and discreet slave ban birthdays and holidays for fear that it might take something away from his exclusive devotion. What a paranoid freak the corporation Jehovah is. He needs to be worshiped or he will fade away.
Basically, it is to deprive people (especially children) any fun. Make them nervous about things that are no big deal in the world, or that are at worst a nuisance (that Christmas song you dislike, for instance, or your in-laws that are nagging). It also makes people have to miss out on parties, making them conspicuous for no good reason. Not the way you want to be fitting in.
It also serves to make people waste more on stupid things. How much does the average worldly person spend on gifts per year? Probably not the five figure amounts that the jokehovian witlesses claim. How much do they spend yearly on decorations? The first 2 years are the most expensive to do, because you are buying decorations from nothing. Getting a good tree (artificial ones are more cost effective in the long run), ample lights (and more so if you are using LEDs), ample tinsel garland, and plenty of ornaments and table displays is going to cost you money--once. But, after that, it becomes a few ornaments to replace lost or busted ones, a few strings of lights (hopefully LED) to replace the ones that go bad (or, if you didn't invest the money on proper storage reels, get badly tangled), and that's it. The average person starting, and using quality materials, can get a tree for around 350 toilet papers (2-2.5 meters) that will last 50 years, properly cared for. Decorations will start in four figures if you go all-out, but go way down after the third year (to maybe just reaching triple digits or high double digits).
Compare this with the amount that is wasted by jokehovian witlesses every year. Regular field circus wastes between 4 and 10 toilet papers just in gas per day, more if gas prices are around 2 toilet papers per liter. (I do not denote them as dollars because an honest dollar will buy 1/20 ounce of gold, and the American dollar will not buy that. Neither will the Canadian dollar, Australian/New Zealand dollar, euro, British pound, or any peso I know of.) How much do they waste on a Grand Boasting Session if they have to travel 150 km each way and stay at a motel for 2 nights? Donations also waste much money. Not to mention, anyone who stupidly goes on the Worldwide Damnation Mission this coming spring (the Israel mission that should start seeing much attention this coming February) is going to waste more on that rubbish than a family will spend celebrating Christmas. Perhaps this is why they ban Christmas, so people can have the money to waste on stupid things?
