Can anyone prove that birthday celebrations are forbidden by God?

I know that there is no mention of any birthday celebrations in the Bible besides the two which were celebrated by non-believers. And it just so happened that on each of these events, someone died (one non-believer and one believer). But does it mean that just because the Bible mentions these two events, that all birthday celebrations are forbidden? If you consider the practice of shaving, who were the ones who instituted the practice of shaving? The only ones who shaved in the Bible were the pagans. In fact, the Law said that "you MUST NOT cut off the extremely of your beard." So using the same principle, we could conclude that the practice of shaving is just as pagan as the celebration of birthdays. Yet how are JWs who are not clean-shaven treated by the rest of the flock? How would someone who chooses to celebrate the anniversary of their child's birth just as they would the anniversary of their marriage be treated?

Can anyone explain to me logically why birthday celebrations are forbidden by God?

When under the same law that commands the stoning of adulterers there is no law given forbidding the celebration of one's birthday?

It is not to explained, only to obey without any logic...

Description of a Genetic Fallacy

A Genetic Logic Fallacy is a line of "reasoning" in which a percieved defect in the orign of a claim or thing is taken to be evidence that discredits the claim or thing itself. It is also a line of reasoning  in which the origin of a claim or thing is taken to be evidence for the claim or thing. This sort of "reasoning" takes on the following form:

1. The origin of a claim or thing is presented.

2. The claim is true (or false) or the thing is supported ( or discredited)

Key point: So, the Genetic Fallacy is committed whenever an idea is evaluated based upon irrelevant history, or one uses the origins of something to determine its claim of support or unsupport for something.

Example for Jehovah's Witnesses: The Bible records birthdays and the pagan people that celebrated these events. During those events bad things happened. Therefore birthdays are bad today and only pagans would do them. Christians or good people would not.

Example 2: Coca cola company originally put coccaine into their soda products. We all know this is a drug and harmful to us which one can become addicted. Anyone that wants to fight the war against drugs and keep people away from addictive substances should not drink Coca cola products regardless if they no longer contain any illegal substance. People working to maintain a drug free society today should not drink Coca cola products.

This can also be called Fallacy of origins.

For Christians we believe that God can and has the power to change pagan things into Holy things. Many Christian traditions started out from pagan origins however they can be transposed into a good thing.

Because there is no direct Scripture either that mentioned the forbidding of birthdays, the so-called theologians at the WT corporation feel the liberty to include this abstaining from birthdays based on a fallacy. It therefore becomes a man made tradition.

Peace, and hope that helps,

Makysm

FaithfulBrother asked,

does it mean that just because the Bible mentions these two events, that all birthday celebrations are forbidden?

You make a good point about lots of things, like shaving, having a pagan connection.  Almost everything has a pagan connection at some point in history.  Just because the 2 b'days in the Bible had a pagan connection is a pretty thin reason to ban all b'day celebrations.  After all, it was the murder that was the offensive act in both of those examples, and murder is wrong whether or not it's on someone's birthday.  To say that b'days are wrong based on nothing more than those 2 Bible examples is a making a giant leap that is unwarranted.

A few pagan based practices that JWs accept are,

-- Giving flowers at a funeral

-- Wearing wedding rings

-- Feeding cake at a wedding

-- Having a pinjata at a party

-- Wearing pants (Billy the Ex-Bethelite has a funny presentation on this site about pants.)

-- Owning dogs (No positive remarks made about dogs in the Bible)

-- And now, shaving

Interestingly, Watchtower has a double standard when it comes to pagan based observances.  In some instances they are condemned, but in other instances they are allowed using this reasoning...

(Awake 9-22-03 p23, 24)
“A main concern is, not what the practice meant hundreds of years ago, but how it is viewed today in your area.  Understandably, opinions may vary from one place to another.  Hence, it is wise to avoid turning such matters into big issues.”

Yet Watchtower turns b'day celebrations into a very big issue, even though they are perfectly acceptable today, and have no meaning other than to commemorate the day of the birth of a child, which is as harmless as observing the day of a wedding anniversary.

Does your conscience need prodding? ... or do you feel strong enough to decide for yourself?

When a Christian must decide whether or not to follow a certain custom, his main concern should be, What is God’s viewpoint as expressed in the Bible? In the past God condemned certain practices that may have been tolerated in some communities. These included child sacrifice, the misuse of blood, and various sexual practices. (Leviticus 17:13, 14; 18:1-30; Deuteronomy 18:10) Likewise, certain customs that are common today are clearly not in harmony with Bible principles. Among these are non-Biblical traditions connected with religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter or with superstitious practices related to spiritism.

But what about customs that may once have been linked to questionable practices but that today are primarily viewed as social etiquette? For example, many popular wedding customs—including the exchanging of rings and the eating of cake—may have pagan origins. Does this mean that Christians are forbidden to observe such customs? Are Christians required to scrutinize meticulously each custom of the community to see whether somewhere or at some time it had negative connotations?

Paul points out that “where the spirit of Jehovah is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17; James 1:25) God wants us to use this freedom, not as an inducement for selfish cravings, but to train our perceptive powers to distinguish right from wrong. (Galatians 5:13; Hebrews 5:14; 1 Peter 2:16) Hence, in a matter where there is no clear violation of Bible principles, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not create a hard-and-fast rule. Instead, each Christian must weigh the circumstances at hand and make a personal decision.

g00 1/8 p. 27 - A Balanced View of Popular Customs

... to answer your question:  NO.

    Only by insinuation you will get a warped idea about God either favors or disfavors it.

To add to the list of 'oopses; that should be nono's... wearing neckties. I believe this is a military thing. Not mentioned in the bible.

I know that whenever I have brought up the fact that is not expressly forbidden or even discussed, I have also been met with the argument that birthdays "glorify and individual instead of God":

*** lv chap. 13 p. 151 par. 11 Celebrations That Displease God ***
11 Besides rejecting birthday customs on account of pagan and spiritistic roots, God’s servants of old likely rejected them on principle as well. Why? These were humble, modest men and women who did not view their arrival in the world as so important that it should be celebrated. (Micah 6:8; Luke 9:48) Rather, they glorified Jehovah and thanked him for the precious gift of life.

--->This Friday I plan on celebrating my very first B-day. 21 years old. However, I do not think of my being born as of such grand importance that I celebrate it for that reason.

EVERYONE, no matter who your are....has a birthday. If birthday's were only celebrated by the rich, kings, and president's, then that claim might have some relevance. But the fact that EVERYONE(besides JW's) celebrates their bdays shows that everyone is not a bunch of non-humble, immodest people, but a simple custom and tradition that is observed.

As others have pointed out, the Awake mentioned:

A main concern is, not what the practice meant hundreds of years ago, but how it is viewed today in your area.

----->I don't know anyone who practices astrology or any of the so-called "pagan customs" attached to bdays. I think they just like to seperate themselves from "the world" by having their own unique sets of rules.

God is silent on the matter. He doesn't forbid, condemn, discourage or anything about birthdays. The Bible tells two stories - separated by hundreds of years. One tells of how God's prophecy through Joseph came true and led to his eventual release from prison; the other tells us how John the Baptist met his end at the hands of a conniving woman with a grudge and a king who was backed into a corner. God makes no comment on the birthday celebration itself.

The weakness of the "reason" behind the birthday ban is shown by the fact that celebrating or attending a birthday is not a disfellowshiping ofense.

 I think they just like to seperate themselves from "the world" by having their own unique sets of rules.

It's called being a Cult.

Birthdays are not celebrated because the Leaders at the time said so, and the Leaders up and until today continue to say so.

No clear scriptural support, just illogical reasoning, and a picking & choosing of what is pagan to them and what pagan origins are okay.

Think About It

I have a feeling that one of the reasons Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate birthdays is that they are a custom that we would spend money on..... that could go into the Watchtower coffers.

The real reason birthdays are verboten is because it is a social construct that strengthens ties between family and friends. The no birthday rule isolates the individual from society - not in a huge way- but it all adds up.

Well Faithful brother.....is there birthday on the horizon for you?

The Elder(s) book doesn't state that it is a DF matter.  So I will wish you a HB.   

I think that one day 'B" days will be allowed ...the rationale in that publication mentioned on BITB's post makes a hint about that.  Or, maybe it was printed to allow the Mexicans to beat the hell out of that Panata, and to suck them in.  I can't really see the difference.

I can't see really the difference or harm in toasting glasses, as well.  But, the old timers have it ingrained in their minds.  You really have to be patient in this faith.

I can't prove that birthday celebrations are forbidden by god but this threw new light on the matter for me.

Book of Job Chapter One verse 1 There happened to be a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man proved to be blameless and upright, and fearing God and turning aside from bad. 2 And seven sons and three daughters came to be born to him. 3 And his livestock got to be seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels and five hundred spans of cattle and five hundred she-asses, along with a very large body of servants; and that man came to be the greatest of all the Orientals.

4 And his sons went and held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day; and they sent and invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them

This sounds to me like a Birthday Party!

Dear Amelia, like you I, and many others read that to be a record of birthday celebrations, and more tellingly, set in the part of the Job story that shows Yaweh's approval of the man and what he is doing, and showing the family of Job going about there normal life before that rat satan got involved.

The WT's wriggling, disingenuous explanation for why these are not birthday celebrations and ones approved by Jehovah at that, is to say the least pathetic.

Don't bother to look it up. you will be sick.

This whole thing goes back to Rutherford's wish that JW's be different, it really didn't matter if scripture really backed the difference, it was there as a marketing tool, the one true religion had to have things that marked it as different from the other 2000 plus sects of Christendom.

Hence countless children have missed out, including my own, on a normal happy childhood. 

I weep (right now actually, as I write) for what I did not give my kids, may any active Witness reading this not make the same mistake, your children's early years are gone in a flash, you cannot get them back.

John the Baptist is said to celebrate his birthday in the bible.

He was not a pagan.  !

Can anyone explain to me logically why birthday celebrations are forbidden by God?

The WTS. created this doctrine on their own because it was realized that birthdays of pagan kings were celebrated

and as a expression to distinguish themselves separate from any pagan traditions.

Irregardless celebrating birthdays in today's modern secular thinking is seen as an expression of love and respect for the person.

Not as an act of worship or reverence toward a pagan king.

Jesus's own commandant is to love one another as his greatest commandant.

Unfortunately as in so many times the men of the WTS. Corporation disregard Jesus and his words spoken in the bible. 

.

stillstuckcruz  >>  "glorify an individual instead of God"



...well, so is taking pictures with GB members. Now what?

Amelia Ashton  >>  Job 1:1-4 (...) This sounds to me like a Birthday Party!

When they have no explanation / clue in justifying it biblically, then the festivity supposedly was just a happening. Evidently and unquestionably the week-long birthday celebration is a type of partying the geriatrics of the GB would never understand. Nor would they ever fathom each son having a birthday party, inviting each other over to celebrate.  Remember: They are doomsday oriented! No fun.

Persons who think so sometimes point to Job 1:4 and Hosea 7:5. The first of these texts mentions Job’s seven sons holding “a banquet at the house of each one on his own day.” The second tells of Israelite princes ‘sickening themselves because of wine’ at a festival “on the day of our king.” Were these festive occasions birthday parties? Evidently not. Professor G. Margoliouth writes in Hastings’ Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics: “The occasion of the feasting referred to in Job 14f. is not clear. As the seven days appear to have been consecutive, they could hardly have been birthdays.” “The mention of the ‘day of our king’ in Hos 7:5 may quite naturally be taken to refer to the anniversary of the king’s accession to the throne.”

g76 7/8 p. 27 - What About Celebrating Birthdays?


When Job’s sons “held a banquet at the house of each one on his own day” it should not be supposed that they were celebrating their birthdays. (Job 1:4) “Day” in this verse translates the Hebrew word yohm and refers to a period of time from sunrise to sunset. On the other hand, “birthday” is a compound of the two Hebrew words yohm (day) and hul·le′dheth. The distinction between “day” and one’s birthday may be noted in Genesis 40:20, where both expressions appear: “Now on the third day [yohm] it turned out to be Pharaoh’s birthday [literally, “the day (yohm) of the birth (hul·le′dheth) of Pharaoh”].” So it is certain that Job 1:4 does not refer to a birthday, as is unquestionably the case at Genesis 40:20. It would seem that Job’s seven sons held a family gathering (possibly a spring or harvest festival) and as the feasting made the week-long circuit, each son hosted the banquet in his own house “on his own day.”

it-1 p. 319 - Birthday

The WBTS loves to use "principles" when they can't find Biblical proof for their doctrine. The usual birthday arguement went something like this, "Well because bad things happened at these birthdays, birthdays must be bad."OK, if you want to use that as an arguement then any 2 Bible events that had a bad outcome must also be bad. ( Principles have to be used consistently or they're useless.) So Lot's kids had a large dinner party & were all KILLED. Jesus had a large dinner party (Last Supper) & he was CRUCIFIED. Consequently, we must conclude that LARGE DINNER PARTIES are the work of the devil. Have fun with this, as there are many examples in the Bible.