New and confused

afrothunder88

Hello peoples. My mommy let me join this forum. Her name on this is bittersweet. She is cool. My daddy doesn't want me on this. Lol. I just want to know why witnesses say you can't celebrate birthdays just cuz theres 2 instances in the bible where people were decapitated. I don't get it. But that's ok. I still tell people happy birthday when it is their birthday.lol. anyways i'm 14 and i dunno what i should do when i grow up. fortunately for me i dont go to many meetings becase of various excuses(lol). in fact right now my dad is at the meeting ww/ my 2 brothers. it is also my brothers b-day and i cannot even say happy birthday. ok please answer my question! thanks!

bittersweet

Hi guys,

This really is my son. He sees me on here a lot, and he wanted to join. When I am on chat here he always wants to talk to the people here. Thanks in advance to any responses to him.

SixofNine

Hey afro, welcome to the board.

anyways i'm 14 and i dunno what i should do when i grow up.

Maybe you could be a security expert for JW birthday parties. You motto could be: "I guarantee your kid won't lose his head at my large but well supervised gatherings".

It's all pretty silly, isn't it?

.

mattnoel

Hey Buddy,

Welcome to the board, I am just chatting with your Mum while I type this. The main thing to remember for when you grow up is - whenever a JW comes knocking at your door - HIDE ! and dont grow up as one. I did, am now 24 and probably the best thing I have ever got out of it is making some cool friends on this board - and of course having your mum send me hersheys and coffee !!

Hamas

Hey son,

How ya doing ?!

Welcome to the board,

SOMEBODY BETTER CALL THE DOCTOR!

Afro Thunder kicks ass. lol

Hamas

And....

In answer to your question:

Some old guy got his head chopped off once at a birthday so from that moment on all Birthdays are Pagan and from the Devil ! ( according to the Watchtower)

Say Hi to your daddy for me.

caligirl

Welcome to the forum! I have a stepson about your age who goes to meetings because of his Mom. You ask a very good question. It is one that I often wondered about myself when I was your age.( not that I am THAT much older than you!) And congratulations for following your own heart and mind on this issue and going with what you feel comfortable with! I can see that you are a thinking young man, and that is FANTASTIC!! I also think it is great that your Mom encourages you to ask questions and explore, and follow your heart

As far as my understanding went on the birthday issue from everything that was said, they used the following reasons ( there may be more, but this is what I remember being told) :

there are a few isolated examples of birthday celebrations that resulted in death, as you already pointed out. ( which are taken out of context and used to say birthdays are bad and that the examples would not be there if we were meant to view birthdays as harmless)
The bible says to commemorate Jesus' death, not his birth, which is apparently in someones mind extended to apply to everyone.
And of course the all important need to stand out as different from everyone else, means not observing holidays & birthdays like everyone else so that everyone can SEE you are different.
Observing a birthday is giving undue attention to an individual, which draws worship or glory away from Jehovah and is therefore wrong.

I am sure you have also already figured out that there is nothing in the bible that says observing birthdays is wrong, so no one can say that there is any scriptural wrong being committed by observing birthdays. I look at them as a time to show friends and family that they are special and how glad I am that they were born and that they are a part of my life.

Keep up the good questions!

afrothunder88

Thanks for all of your responses so far. I got to go soon cuz my dad is comin home from the meeting. But I'll check again later for anymore responses. Thanks again!

Cicatrix

Welcome Afrothunder,

I asked that very same question about a year ago. I was shown a couple of scriptures that I found very interesting.

The first was Job 1:4, which says (in the King James Version) "And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them."

The word "day" here in Hebrew is yowm. It is the same word that is used when Job curses the day of his birth, which of course would be Job's birthday. So it is more than likely that his sons were having a feast, or a party, on their birthdays!

Another scripture that I was shown was Romans 14:5-6, which says One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day a like. Let every man be fully persuaded IN HIS OWN MIND [I added the capitals for emphasis]. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth eat to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

Keep learning as much as you can, and looking at issues from different perspectives.As you can see from the verses above, the Bible can be used to support views different from what Jehovah's Witnesses teach.

Sincerely,

Cicatrix

DJ

Hi afrothunder,

It's nice to meet you. Your mama is right. IMO, they make a big deal about birthdays and say that it's evil because they are full of fear. We were never commanded not to celebrate a birthday....Jesus said that it is better to celebrate the day of our death rather than our birth. If He meant for us never to celebrate our birth, he would have said it right there. Instead, He gave us hope in the afterlife, didn't he? To me, life is a gift and I thank God for it and I try my best not to behead anybody. Our commanments are to love. Love does no wrong. Love even fulfills the law. To me, a birthday is loving. As a matter of fact, Job celebrated the birthday's of his children. (each on his own day) and I mentioned this to my jw sister one time but she yelled about how Job also cursed the day he was born......so she thinks that Job decided that birthdays were bad too. That is not what it says. Job cursed the day he was born because he was miserable from all of the awful things that happened in his life. He was angry and depressed as anyone would be if all that bad stuff happened to them. Job was saying that he wished he was never born.....it had nothing to do with a birthday party..Job was later blessed. Follow your heart afrothunder and follow love because love is from God. Perfect love casts out fear.

dj

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