Are Birthdays and Christmas celebrations really rooted in Evil????

by bk62 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  bk62

  During the last two months I've tried and tried to rationalize the JW view that, since these "Pagan holidays are not based upon the scriptures, they must not be practices by Christians". I've spent a lot of time thinking about this, and trying to come up with their motivation for these policies. They can't think that celebrating will actually hurt, yet they obviously can't honestly think the practice goes against the Bible.

  I thought it might just be another "control" for them to place on the flock - and a way to differentiate themselves from other faiths. Even that is weak though; would the disruption really be worth it?

  I think I've finally figured it out though. It's a way to tear families apart, and to pull the believers away from the rest of us. The believer, assuming this practice (or non-practice, as it may) to be correct, will try to convince other family members to practice the same beliefs. The result is quite simple - the JW's will either gain more converts (good for them), or will manage to drive the wedge even further between believers and the rest (also good for them). So when you have somebody in a situation such as mine (with a JH wife) they are forcing me to make a decision instead of letting me walk the fence.

  Please post your thoughts on this!

  Brian
• 

  bluesapphire

  BINGO! I came to this realization a while back as well. Either way they win.

  Or ---- they think they win. They are so short-sighted that they cannot see that in the long run, it drives people who might otherwise be interested in their religion to lose whatever interest they may have had. And it also drives those of us who may have walked the fence and still donated our $$$ to leave begrudged and that gives them bad publicity. How many would be on this forum if they hadn't been hurt? I don't think that many.

  It's like a corporation. Do something good and I might tell one or two friends. Do something bad and I'll tell everyone I know!

  It's not easy to give up your family and friends when you don't see any real good reason to do so. I think the JWs would have double their membership if the leadership wasn't so stupid!

  I always reason with people that Jesus himself advocated taking a pagan practice and "christianising" it. Baptism was an initiation rite practiced by pagan people for hundreds if not thousands of years before Christ made it a Christian initiation rite. Same goes for circumcision. What better examples can a person possibly have than Moses and Jesus? Unless of course you think the governing body of jehovah's witnesses are better examples. In that case, you can keep it!
• 

  Pleasuredome

  i've always believed that it's a way of getting more money in the contribution box. if you cant spend it on birthdays or Xmas, and you aint got time for leisure activities 'cos of meetings and study, you've got plenty of spare cash to throw away to the WTS.
• 

  robhic

  So when you have somebody in a situation such as mine (with a JH wife) they are forcing me to make a decision instead of letting me walk the fence.

  Not completely on topic, here, but I feel compelled to ask if you got married before or after your wife's conversion to JW? I wonder how so many folks seem to have JW spouses yet I have hit a brick wall in regard to this topic with a woman I am in love with who is a JW (since 2000 and has no other family in the organization) regarding the same.

  She is an "equally yoked or nothing" type person and I can't figure it. Allowing for personal choice I can see, but not agree with it. As a "policy" matter" this doesn't seem completely without exception. Did you get married to a JW woman? This is perplexing to me...
• 

  Francois

  Robhic, deliberately marrying a JW after you know the score is just like marrying someone with an active, chronic, mental disorder. Think about it.

  francois
• 

  anti-absolutist

  No!!!

  Brad
• 

  bk62

  Not completely on topic, here, but I feel compelled to ask if you got married before or after your wife's conversion to JW?

  In my case, I knew she wasn't Catholic, but had no idea to what faith she belonged. Even when I found out (before we were married) I wasn't too concerned for two reasons. First, because I had absolutely no idea what a Jehovah's Witness was. My flawed opinion was that, as long as she believed in God, who cares which religion she belonged to. Now I know better!! The other reason I wasn't concerned was because she (like I) wasn't active in her religion, so I felt like we would be able to look for a religion together at our leisure. Unfortunately her family and other witnesses have gotten their hook into her big-time, and now she's really serious about getting more involved.
• 

  Sentinel

  Good and Evil has always existed side by side, so obviously most everything we humans do has a connection in some way to the light and the dark, the good and the bad.

  We have a responsibility to ourselves to try to live closest to the good. It behooves us to educate ourselves on the facts and not take things for granted.
• 

  freedom96

  The WTS always has and always will slant the view towards their way of thinking. If enough research is done, we realize that most of what they teach is bullshit.

  They don't tell you that the bible does in fact talk of a couple other birthdays, by God loving people.

  Christmas was not a pagan holiday but in fact one set up to appose the pagan holiday taking place that day.

  They will tell you that some practices (such as wedding bands) are not bad because we must think about what the common thoughts are on such things. But other times, they will say that something started out bad, and we must avoid it. Same reasonings, but switched to their current thought process.
• 

  TresHappy

  Most everything has "pagan" origins. Then for us married folks, get rid of our wedding rings since they are pagan.