Birthday boy...
Today I am 31, yes: the shortest day of the year, as my Mum is fond of telling me, was the "longest day of her life". I feel that much closer to my deathday, and I'll celebrate that about as much as I celebrate today, that is, I won't. Now the reason I wont may be obvious to you who have been following this narrative, but it may not: it is not clear to me why I did not mark the day out as special. I think though it's (by way of illustration) like the situation some refugees may find themselves in, who flee their country due to war or famine to settle in their new country and end up not returning even when it's OK and safe to do so: my parents escaped from this crumbling and doomed world (maybe it is, maybe it isn't) into the arms of the Jehovah's Witness religion, and part of the belief system of this brand of Christianity in which I was raised involves not celebrating Birthdays.
Now it IS a trivial thing, granted, and this is shown in the fact that I have no desire to celebrate it, to return to the land of my parents (who fled when I was too young to remember that land), having got used to NOT celebrating it. There are no religious grounds for not doing so, you understand, and to be truthful, there never WAS any Biblical grounds for not doing so. The only bad effect I suppose it's had on me when I was a child is the cumulative effect of this and other beliefs that made me "different", and my (taught and encouraged) attitude to "worldly" people: these two things, my beliefs and my attitude, made me feel superior (how can you not feel this way when you are taught that THEY, the non-witnesses, are all going to die at Armageddon and you will survive?) to my fellow school children, although these feelings were masked in genuine (I believed) humility. And so I could never really make friends with them (and was encouraged not to).
I find this disgusting now of course, much worse than the celebration or non-celebration of a holiday, and even if I allow my Daughter to be brought up in the witness belief system NOT celebrating this and other holidays, I won't let her adopt the "superior" attitude I had.
The reason most (all?) people celebrate their Birthday is because that's what people have ALWAYS done and it's what people do NOW, and that's never a reason to do something, especially if it's wrong. Yet what's wrong with celebrating it?! I can understand the witnesses view on Christmas a little bit more (more on that in a few days) but the reasons given for abstaining from birthdays have NEVER convinced me. Do they convince you? Only if you have a closed mind on the subject, I promise you. Here are the reasons, from a Watchtower of October 15, 1999:
"...The Bible directs us to commemorate the date of Jesus' death, not the anniversary of his or anyone else's birth. Doing so accords with Ecclesiastes 7:1 and the fact that how a faithful person's life turns out is more important than the day of his birth. The Bible has no record that any faithful servant celebrated his birthday. It records birthday celebrations of pagans, linking these occasions with cruel acts. Let us get the background of those birthday anniversaries.
The first is the birthday of the Pharaoh in Joseph's day. (Genesis 40:20-23) In this regard, the article on birthdays in Hastings' encyclopediaædia of Religion and Ethics begins: "The custom of commemorating the day of birth is connected, in its form, with the reckoning of time, and, in its content, with certain primitive religious principles." Later, the encyclopedia quotes Egyptologist Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, who wrote: "Every Egyptian attached much importance to the day, and even to the hour of his birth; and it is probable that, as in Persia, each individual kept his birthday with great rejoicings, welcoming his friends with all the amusements of society, and a more than usual profusion of the delicacies of the table."
Another birthday celebration mentioned in the Bible is Herod's, at which John the Baptist was beheaded. (Matthew 14:6-10) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1979 edition) provides this insight: "The pre-Hellenistic Greeks celebrated the birthdays of gods and prominent men. G[ree]k genéthlia designated these celebrations, while genésia meant a celebration commemorative of the birthday of a deceased important individual. In 2 Macc[abees] 6:7 we find reference to a monthly genéthlia of Antiochus IV, during which the Jews were forced to partake of the sacrifices. . . . When Herod celebrated his birthday he was acting in accord with a Hellenistic custom; there is no evidence for the celebration of birthdays in Israel in pre-Hellenistic times."
Admittedly, true Christians today are not preoccupied with the roots and possible ancient religious connections of every practice or custom, but neither are they inclined to ignore pointed indications that do exist in God's Word. This includes that the only birthday celebrations of Biblical record are of pagans and linked to instances of cruelty. Hence, the Scriptures clearly place birthday celebrations in a negative light, a fact that sincere Christians do not disregard.
Consequently, while it is entirely a private matter if Christians choose to take note of their wedding anniversary, there are good reasons why mature Christians abstain from celebrating birthdays."
Well, there you go. Franz puts my thoughts on the matter better than I do, see if this makes sense to you (only read on if you are OK with reading ap*state material):
"Much is made of the pagan origin of [Birthdays]...yet any "pagan" significance these may have once had has long since disapeared...today we use the names of the days of the week and months of the year without the slightest thought to their "pagan origin"....most persons are unaware of their "pagan" source, this is similarly true of the various customs connected with many holidays. Whilst placing intense focus on the "pagan origin" factor, the Watchtower organization simply glosses over this in other areas, as in the use of wedding rings. Their own publication ("What has Religion done for Mankind?" p276,277) quotes cardinal Newman as saying "the ring in marriage" is among those things that are of "pagan origin, sanctified by their adoption into the Church" yet almost all witnesses use this ring...Persons amongst the witnesses have been disfellowshipped for celebrating birthdays. The core of the argument seems to be based upon the principle of guilt by association-that because only Pharoah and Herod are mentioned in the Scriptures as celebrating birthdays, and because these were wicked men, therefore the celebration of birthdays is wicked also. This is certainly a forced conclusion. If, as an illustration, the Scriptures had no reference to marriage feasts other than the marriage feasts held by two pagans or non-Christians (perhaps with some coincedental drunkenness or immorality occuring)-would that make marriage feasts something unfit for Christians? The Watchtower employs quotations about the absence of any Birthday celebrations by Jews or Christians...did [these Jews and Christians] celebrate wedding anniversaries? Would the fact that they didn't rule out our doing so today? Many witnesses do celebrate anniversaries. The idea advanced that Birthday celebrations are intrinsically an "idolizing" of the person is an unrealistic categorization. Couples who celebrate a wedding anniversary are not idolozing themselves nor idolizing their marriage. Like so many other things, it is the way in which things are done, the spirit shown, and this can vary widely. Nowhere in the scriptures is there disapproval of birthday celebrations per se. They are silent in that respect. It is a case of men presuming to know God's thinking and making judgements and rulings that God has not made...to attribute such grave seriousness to these matters as though of life and death importance goes beyond what Christian teaching authorizes."
Now it IS a trivial thing, granted, and this is shown in the fact that I have no desire to celebrate it, to return to the land of my parents (who fled when I was too young to remember that land), having got used to NOT celebrating it. There are no religious grounds for not doing so, you understand, and to be truthful, there never WAS any Biblical grounds for not doing so. The only bad effect I suppose it's had on me when I was a child is the cumulative effect of this and other beliefs that made me "different", and my (taught and encouraged) attitude to "worldly" people: these two things, my beliefs and my attitude, made me feel superior (how can you not feel this way when you are taught that THEY, the non-witnesses, are all going to die at Armageddon and you will survive?) to my fellow school children, although these feelings were masked in genuine (I believed) humility. And so I could never really make friends with them (and was encouraged not to).
I find this disgusting now of course, much worse than the celebration or non-celebration of a holiday, and even if I allow my Daughter to be brought up in the witness belief system NOT celebrating this and other holidays, I won't let her adopt the "superior" attitude I had.
The reason most (all?) people celebrate their Birthday is because that's what people have ALWAYS done and it's what people do NOW, and that's never a reason to do something, especially if it's wrong. Yet what's wrong with celebrating it?! I can understand the witnesses view on Christmas a little bit more (more on that in a few days) but the reasons given for abstaining from birthdays have NEVER convinced me. Do they convince you? Only if you have a closed mind on the subject, I promise you. Here are the reasons, from a Watchtower of October 15, 1999:
"...The Bible directs us to commemorate the date of Jesus' death, not the anniversary of his or anyone else's birth. Doing so accords with Ecclesiastes 7:1 and the fact that how a faithful person's life turns out is more important than the day of his birth. The Bible has no record that any faithful servant celebrated his birthday. It records birthday celebrations of pagans, linking these occasions with cruel acts. Let us get the background of those birthday anniversaries.
The first is the birthday of the Pharaoh in Joseph's day. (Genesis 40:20-23) In this regard, the article on birthdays in Hastings' encyclopediaædia of Religion and Ethics begins: "The custom of commemorating the day of birth is connected, in its form, with the reckoning of time, and, in its content, with certain primitive religious principles." Later, the encyclopedia quotes Egyptologist Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, who wrote: "Every Egyptian attached much importance to the day, and even to the hour of his birth; and it is probable that, as in Persia, each individual kept his birthday with great rejoicings, welcoming his friends with all the amusements of society, and a more than usual profusion of the delicacies of the table."
Another birthday celebration mentioned in the Bible is Herod's, at which John the Baptist was beheaded. (Matthew 14:6-10) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1979 edition) provides this insight: "The pre-Hellenistic Greeks celebrated the birthdays of gods and prominent men. G[ree]k genéthlia designated these celebrations, while genésia meant a celebration commemorative of the birthday of a deceased important individual. In 2 Macc[abees] 6:7 we find reference to a monthly genéthlia of Antiochus IV, during which the Jews were forced to partake of the sacrifices. . . . When Herod celebrated his birthday he was acting in accord with a Hellenistic custom; there is no evidence for the celebration of birthdays in Israel in pre-Hellenistic times."
Admittedly, true Christians today are not preoccupied with the roots and possible ancient religious connections of every practice or custom, but neither are they inclined to ignore pointed indications that do exist in God's Word. This includes that the only birthday celebrations of Biblical record are of pagans and linked to instances of cruelty. Hence, the Scriptures clearly place birthday celebrations in a negative light, a fact that sincere Christians do not disregard.
Consequently, while it is entirely a private matter if Christians choose to take note of their wedding anniversary, there are good reasons why mature Christians abstain from celebrating birthdays."
Well, there you go. Franz puts my thoughts on the matter better than I do, see if this makes sense to you (only read on if you are OK with reading ap*state material):
"Much is made of the pagan origin of [Birthdays]...yet any "pagan" significance these may have once had has long since disapeared...today we use the names of the days of the week and months of the year without the slightest thought to their "pagan origin"....most persons are unaware of their "pagan" source, this is similarly true of the various customs connected with many holidays. Whilst placing intense focus on the "pagan origin" factor, the Watchtower organization simply glosses over this in other areas, as in the use of wedding rings. Their own publication ("What has Religion done for Mankind?" p276,277) quotes cardinal Newman as saying "the ring in marriage" is among those things that are of "pagan origin, sanctified by their adoption into the Church" yet almost all witnesses use this ring...Persons amongst the witnesses have been disfellowshipped for celebrating birthdays. The core of the argument seems to be based upon the principle of guilt by association-that because only Pharoah and Herod are mentioned in the Scriptures as celebrating birthdays, and because these were wicked men, therefore the celebration of birthdays is wicked also. This is certainly a forced conclusion. If, as an illustration, the Scriptures had no reference to marriage feasts other than the marriage feasts held by two pagans or non-Christians (perhaps with some coincedental drunkenness or immorality occuring)-would that make marriage feasts something unfit for Christians? The Watchtower employs quotations about the absence of any Birthday celebrations by Jews or Christians...did [these Jews and Christians] celebrate wedding anniversaries? Would the fact that they didn't rule out our doing so today? Many witnesses do celebrate anniversaries. The idea advanced that Birthday celebrations are intrinsically an "idolizing" of the person is an unrealistic categorization. Couples who celebrate a wedding anniversary are not idolozing themselves nor idolizing their marriage. Like so many other things, it is the way in which things are done, the spirit shown, and this can vary widely. Nowhere in the scriptures is there disapproval of birthday celebrations per se. They are silent in that respect. It is a case of men presuming to know God's thinking and making judgements and rulings that God has not made...to attribute such grave seriousness to these matters as though of life and death importance goes beyond what Christian teaching authorizes."
posted by John Doran-Armstrong at 7:03 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home