Jesus' birthday bit un the Bible, only a guess.
Birthdays are Evil - so they said
by EverApostate 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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mentalclarity
As a born in I never celebrated my birthday and honestly I didn't think much about it. It's hard to miss something you didn't grow up with (this was the case for me). I was given the same reasons for not celebrating (the head chopping/early Christians didn't celebrate) and also the fact that we were the only religion that didn't celebrate now made me think how unique and separate from the other "bad" religions we were. It was a sign of a "true" christian. I never questioned this idea - I just went along with it not knowing any better.
I now know that birthdays are a time to celebrate life! One more year of life and the fact that we exist and our loved ones exist. I'm grateful to get to enjoy the presence of my friends and children and birthdays are a time to remember that. It's also a time to receive that recognition from others. You didn't have to "earn" it - you just have to be born. That's it. What's more unconditional than that?
And EverApostate - Happy belated birthday to you!
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stuckinarut2
Happy Birthday!
Did anyone have their heads chopped off at your party?
As witnesses, we were told that ONLY bad things like that happen at Bday parties!
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joe134cd
To be honest although I haven't walked in a KH now for 5 years. I still really can't be bothered with the Christmas / birthday thing. Not because I can't but I just can't be bothered with the effort. I woke up on the 25th December and breathed a sigh of relief that it was a day to truly relax. Ya for me.
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Sour Grapes
JW's will bring gifts to a baby shower to celebrate the coming birth of a child but once the child is born then it is pagan to celebrate the anniversary of the birth.
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James Mixon
Countries that do not celebrate birthdays, Islamic cultures don't celebrate birthdays, it's not a part of their tradition. If some do so, it is because of western influence. This is news to me, don't know if this is true I thought everyone celebrate their birth....
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Bangalore
Wedding rings are of pagan origin,but the WT does not forbid them.They basically pick and choose what pagan origin stuff to allow or not.
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smiddy3
Sour Grapes
However JW`s don`t seem to have a problem celebrating the pagan wedding anniversary or wedding ring connections do they.
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
When explaining it to normal people, I used to play up how it was really a personal thing because it went against my nature to glorify myself and put myself at center stage for everyone to buy gifts for. All I did was not die for 12 months.
The truth was, I was programmed to detest birthdays since infancy. I can't find the original 1978 version of this picture, but I recall the decapitation being far more graphic:
Then I went to @stuckinarut2 and @Unstuck's combined birthday and realized... I WANT A BIRTHDAY!!! I'll still probably have a no-gifts policy or something next year when I do my first proper birthday (I can't shake that feeling of being undeserving from my WT upbringing). The company in itself will be more than joyous to experience :).
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tor1500
Hi Sourgrapes,
What a great comment...so true...guess once the child is here, they are not going to continue to give them gifts...I find some JW's are just plain cheap & the org. fit their way of thinking...because our birthdays are the only days that belong to an individual...all the other holidays are about someone or something else...So if you are cheap and only care about yourself & can swallow a stupid story about not celebrating ones birthday because someone's head was chopped off on their birthday...fiddle sticks... What if on someones wedding day someone was killed & we know this to have happened...many newlyweds die right after the wedding, car accidents, etc, or have been killed on the way to their wedding...folks get killed daily...another stupid reason is that one makes a big deal of their birthday & so that makes them angry because someone else is in the limelight...remember JW's only do things to be seen...I do know this female she goes all out for birthdays...she may not have a lot of money but she finds it when it's time for anyone's birthday...she spends money she don't have...I notice some folks don't have enough money to get them through the month or week or even day, but will spend their last dime on holidays...to me that's not smart...most of the holidays are man made(make you go out and spend money you don't have)...but your birthday is yours..celebrate how you want..
I also liked the other comments....wonder what type of comments you gave as a witness...GREAT, I bet.
Tor