Yesterday, December 24th 2010, a Jehovah Witness lady knocked on my door and I went out to chat with her. She gave me a book titled: "The Greatest Man who ever lived" and asked me to read the fourth paragraph of the first section bearing the title of the book. The paragraph read
By his dynamic teachings and by the way he lived in harmony with them, Jesus has powerfully affected the lives of people for nearly two thousand years. As one writer aptly expressed it: "All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully".
These qualities definitely amount to the divine or supernatural which undermines Jehovah Witnesses' attempt to portray Jesus as not God as seen in their propaganda and representation of Him in the above excerpt in lower case letters.
Secondly, assuming Jesus were not God (if this makes Jehovah Witnesses feel any better), is it still not normal that humanity sets aside a day to commemorate the birth and life of this great Human Being who sacrificed so much for mankind as the above excerpt clearly shows. If Jehovah Witnesses truly believe Jesus did for mankind what armies, navies, parliaments or kings ever did or would ever do, is it too much to gratefully acknowledge this by setting aside a special day to say "thank you". Are Jehovah Witnesses this ungrateful? Hello!!! What is their point or logic?
When we loose a loved one, we often pause sometimes to remember them, even if we don't express this openly or physically, it does happen in our consciousness and subconsciousness; even the Jehovah Witnesses. Do they celebrate birthdays, marriage anniversaries, childbirths, etc? So what is their point? Is it just a matter of church principle just to show them as "different" or as not part of the "grand narrative"? For heaven's sake religion is not fiction! I wish I could understand this manic hypocrisy and prosaic behavior! They do not celebrate the birth of Jesus whom they acknowledge did what no man would ever do, but celebrate the New Year...this is as ungrateful as it gets! I do celebrate Christmas, even in my little room, by pausing momentarily to tell this extraordinary MAN who's done all to me "THANK YOU LORD".
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I'm glad that you've taken the time to consider one of our books. I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses. :)
You said above, "If Jehovah Witnesses truly believe Jesus did for mankind what armies, navies, parliaments or kings ever did or would ever do, is it too much to gratefully acknowledge this by setting aside a special day to say 'thank you'."
Absolutely not; in fact we do set aside a special day for exactly that. But because we strive to follow Jesus not only in word but also in our deeds, we commemorate the one day he told his followers to observe for himself, and it wasn't the day of his birth.
If you turn to chapter 114 in that 'Greatest Man' book, you can read about it. *This* is the one annual event of which Jesus told his followers to "keep doing this in remembrance of me." (1 Cor. 11:24)
You further said, "They do not celebrate the birth of Jesus whom they acknowledge did what no man would ever do, but celebrate the New Year."
I'm happy I have the opportunity to clear up some of these misunderstandings. We do NOT celebrate the new year, nor any other holiday or even birthdays, all of which have many traditions and superstitions rooted in paganism.
To us, it seems hypocritical to celebrate Jesus Christ, the man who spoke only truth, by engaging in superstitions like stories about a magical Santa Claus. Sure, it may be done in fun, but would Jesus *really* have had anything to do with such things? The Bible candidly asks, "what sharing does light have with darkness?" (2 Cor. 6:14)
Many thanks!
Hey TJ, thanks for taking out time to comment on my blog.I must say I'm incredibly overwhelmed by the civility with which you defend your faith, considering the sensitive nature of religious issues and the violent emotions with which people often react to contrary religious ideas.
Your argument is completely valid and logical; I'm aware of the pagan origin of the the 25th of December as Christmas as well as some Christmas traditions, but I'm also aware of the logic in choosing this day and in carrying out these traditions. For the records, December 25 was not mentioned in the biblical narrative as the day Jesus was born, and, as such, we cannot be dogmatic about it one way or the other.
However, I still believe Christmas should be celebrated. Firstly, the birth of Jesus was a victory over evil; represented by King Herod. Secondly, the birth of Jesus was the beginning of the end of his mission to earth: to save mankind and reestablish that broken link between man and the Father; he could not have died on Calvary for us without being born! Therefore his birth is as important as his works and ultimate sacrifice: death on the cross. We cannot therefore celebrate only what he did and forget how He came to the world: His birth was the single greatest hope to man's salvation and so should be commemorated in some way.
Speculation as to the time of Jesus’ birth dates back to the 3rd century, when Hyppolytus (ca. 170-236) claimed that Jesus was born on December 25. The earliest mention of some sort of observance on that date is in the Philoclian Calendar, representing Roman practice, of the year 336. Later, John Chrysostom favored the same date of birth. The date eventually became the officially recognized date for Christmas in part because it coincided with the pagan festivals celebrating Saturnalia and the winter solstice. The church thereby offered people a Christian alternative to the pagan festivities and eventually reinterpreted many of their symbols and actions in ways acceptable to Christian faith and practice.What is important is not the origins of traditions, but their significance to us today as believers in the Son of God
The fact is that He was born, that He came into the world to atone for our sins, that He was resurrected to eternal life, and that He’s alive today. This is what we should celebrate, as we are told in the Old Testament in such passages as Zechariah 2:10: “'Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,' declares the LORD.” Further, the angel that announced the birth to the shepherds brought “good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). Surely here is the cause for celebration every day, not just once a year.
As for magical Santa Claus, he's just a symbol of the giving and sharing inspired by Jesus' birth and life. Is it really likely that when I give gifts to my loved ones at Christmas, the gifts will have less significance to either of us because some Druid somewhere in time offered a gift to his goat as part of some pagan ritual? No, we remember, as we should, the gifts given to the Christ-child by the Magi (Matthew 2:11). Jesus was the greatest gift ever given, and therefore His birth is worthy of celebration.
You could read some useful things by following this link: The Case for Christmas by Lee Strobel.
I very much appreciate the sincerity of your words and your obvious passion for the truth of God's Word. You may be interested to know the Jehovah's Witnesses did, many decades ago, celebrate Christmas with the same spirit of gratefulness that you are exhibiting. These are some of the issues we carefully considered that caused us to stop the practice:
-Is there any evidence that the first-century Christians observed and celebrated Christmas, or any birthdays for that matter?
-Was it not expected in the first-century that the church would soon experience a falling away and a great apostasy from the true teaching? (Matthew 13:24-30,36-43; 2 Thess. 2:3; 2 Timothy 4:3; 1 John 2:18)
-Ecclesiastes 7:1 relates that "A name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one’s being born." How should this principal guide Christians in view of Jesus' own command he spoke on the day of his death? (1 Cor. 11:24)
-Would the shepherds have been living outdoors on or around December 25th, right in the middle of the cold and rainy season in Bethlehem? (Luke 2:8)
-If December 25th was indeed selected because of its ties to the festival of Saturnalia and the observance of the winter solstice, and these events were especially known for their revelry, can it really be said that 'christianizing' them made them more Christian in nature, or did these festivals make the church more pagan?
-If Christmas traditions have many of their roots and even current practices in worldly things, would taking part in them compromise our stand to be "no part of the world" and to "get out from among them, and separate [ourselves] . . . and [to] quit touching the unclean thing"? (John 15:19; 2 Cor. 6:17)
-Would God really lead the Magi, who were practicers of astrology (which God condemned; compare Deut. 18:10-12), by a star so that they would first encounter King Herod, letting him know about the birth of 'the King of the Jews' so that he could attempt to murder him (and actually ended up committing infanticide), all for the purpose of them bringing the newborn a few gifts? Who really directed these men?
Thanks again for your time. :)
Post a Comment