Why do Jehovah's Witnesses not celebrate Easter?

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses believe firmly in the death and resurrection of our lord and saviour, Jesus Christ. We believe that since his resurrection, he was raised to heavenly life, where he received his kingdom, and is now reigning as a mighty king on his heavenly throne. We also believe that based on Jesus sacrifice, obedient humans have a hope of eternal life.

However, we do not believe that the Easter holiday has anything to do with this. The word "Easter" does appear in some modern translations of the Bible, including the King James Version where it appears once at Acts 12:4. Howvere, a little research on the matter reveals that the Easter holiday did not come into existence until several hundred years after all the scriptures were fininshed, so this holiday would have been unknown to the Bible writers, therefore, it could not have been in the original Bible writings and was added by translators later.

Further research reveals that the holiday was actually pagan in origin. It was taken from pagan springtime fertility rites which included symbols such as the rabbit and the egg, both viewed as symbols of fertility by pagan adherants.

The Catholic Encyclopedia reports: "A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. . . . The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility."-(1913), Vol. V, p. 227.

The book The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, tells us: "What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, . . . as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. . . . Such is the history of Easter. The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now."-(New York, 1943), pp. 103, 107, 108.

How did this get accepted into the church? According to Jennifer Emick, a religious educator, "The answer lies in the ingenious way that the Christian church absorbed Pagan practices. After discovering that people were more reluctant to give up their holidays and festivals than their gods, they simply incorporated Pagan practices into Christian festivals. As recounted by the Venerable Bede, an early Christian writer, clever clerics copied Pagan practices and by doing so, made Christianity more palatable to pagan folk reluctant to give up their festivals for somber Christian practices."

While Jehovah's Witnesses rest their hope on the death and resurrection of Christ, we do not share in any Easter practices.

Answer 2

Easter is a pagan festival as any encyclopedia or Internet search will reveal. That is the simplest answer.

I would only like to add that NO, Jehovah's Witnesses Don't do ANY HOLIDAY'S and for the most part that is great, As Holiday's today are mainly all for Commercial Value at best. Besides, Rabbit's don't lay eggs and so on.

However, Since this is About the Christ, I will add... That I left the Jehovah's Witnesses because no matter "IF" You Believe in God [Jehovah] or the Son [Christ Jesus] it will not be of any benefit unless you accept their Organization on EARTH today.Jehovah God all through time had destroyed many Nations for their practice of IDOLATRY. Being GLUED to a Earthly Organization is IDOLATRY. It is no worse then hanging a Cross around ones Neck saying that it Reminds you of the Christ.

You HAVE TO ACCEPT their Organization or your not Qualified for Baptism. You can also research how the Baptism Questions Changed from once accepting the Christ, to now being a part of the Spirit Anointed Congregation.

Jesus died for ALL MANKIND and that the Only way to gain Everlasting Life is to Accept the Christ. However we are back to the original question about Easter. (1 time a year do the Witnesses acknowledge the Christ) Then after that give "Lip Service" later. But then you have to be of their Anointed Class to be called WORTHY and all "Others" must go through these Anointed to receive Christ's Salvation?

They changed the NAME of Christ to MICHAEL the Angel and then say that You cannot worship Angels, Only God. This is also important as the Term "Generation" was changed 6 times, Now you have the Leap-over Generation. Whereas before there was less then 8500 Anointed ones and now there is over 9000. Why is that Number Growing? This is because there will always have to be an Anointed CLASS on EARTH to be able to say that it is the Anointed that Direct the WORK today, If they all were to Die Off, Then the Spirit Anointed Congregation would no linger exist.

Something else to bear in mind, When a Jehovah's Witness offers you a FREE BIBLE Study, You really don't Study your Bible. You Study a BOOK which explains their belief's and upon understanding those Belief's you are then qualified for Baptism. A Quote from the Organization below:

*** w67 10/1 p. 587 par. 9 Finding Freedom with Jehovah's Visible Organization ***

As the canon of books of God's Word was expanded and the Christian Greek Scriptures were added to complete The Bible, each book was written directly to the Christian congregation or to a member of the Christian congregation in its behalf. Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible organization in mind.

Jesus always referred to the Scriptures by saying... IT IS WRITTEN, So The People of old READ their Bibles and like the Borean's they Examined their scriptures daily to PROVE if what Paul was saying was True. Paul commended them for that.Unlike the Organization that say's your "Pushing Ahead" for Your studying your bible without the use of one of their publicationto explain what they Interpret. Also important is the "New Light" How they change belief's that were once taught which would make those then said TRUTH'S, Now Falsehoods. So many were Baptized upon them Falsehoods and yet they were called Truth's.

You're allowed to CHANGE your Belief's from Mormon or Catholic etc. to Join the Witnesses, However... After that, if upon reading your Bible and your born along by holy spirit and you question any of their teachings after your baptism, You are then called an Apostate for your Independently Thinking. [BORG MENTALITY] Thus you will loose your entire family who are Witnesses as they cannot speak to you because you confess belief in GOD and Jesus Christ but NOT in their Organization which does not have the Power to Save, Only your Belief in the Christ does so.

I had to think for years that some inside the Organization actually think that the Jehovah's Witnesses are the Authors of the BOOK OF LIFE?

Jehovah is a Jealous God, And it was He who said that every knee should bend and every mouth should openly acknowledge the Christ. You might recall where JESUS said, Many will say to ME, Did I not do this or that and yet Christ answers... I do not Know You. Where do Witnesses today Openly Preach in the Name of Christ Jesus whom the Scriptures sa NO WHERE does the Scriptures say that in Fleeing from Idolatry one must then Accept a Earthly Organization in place of the Christ.

There are many Beautiful Members in the Jehovah's Witnesses, But sadly of all the members they are NOT allowed to Question their Organization. This too is why their WT-CDRom only goes back to 1950 and why your not supposed to read anything that is not approved by their Organization. Personally, I will stand by my Belief in Jehovah God but through his Son as Jesus is my Savior, Not a Religion. God examines one's HEART not what Building they worship in.

I wish no ill will towards Jehovah's Witnesses. I just pray that as they sit in their meetings that they realize how the Importance of Jesus is far more important then being dedicated to a Earthly Organization in a world where all things will be Dissolved.

It is because of the origin of the Easter holiday. It does not come from Christianity. It originated in pagan fertility celebrations.

"The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us: "A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. . . . The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility."-(1913), Vol. V, p. 227.

Easter has also been linked to the worship of the Phoenician fertility goddess, Astarte, who had as her symbols the egg and the hare. Statues of Astarte have variously depicted her as having exaggerated sex organs or with a rabbit beside her and an egg in her hand. Sacred prostitution was part of her cult. In Canaan, the sex goddess was styled the wife of Baal. She was honored by drunken sex orgies, the worshipers believing that their sexual intercourse helped to bring about the full awakening and mating of Baal with his wife. Even child sacrifice was part of the ancient rituals to the fertility goddess. Archeological discoveries have found brightly colored urns containing the charred bones of little children. Their parents, commonly people of rank and title, sought the blessing of the gods on their wealth and influence. Some of the urns were found to contain the remains of several children of different ages, perhaps of the same family.

The Encyclopædia Britannica comments: "There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians."-(1910), Vol. VIII, p. 828.

In the book The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, we read: "What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, . . . as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. . . . Such is the history of Easter. The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now."-(New York, 1943), pp. 103, 107, 108."

At some point after the death of Jesus and the apostles, the church brought the Easter holiday into the church frtom pagan sources.They altered the meaning of the celebration, claimed now that it is a celebration of the ressurection of Christ, but the main elements of Easter including the rabbit and the egg were left in.

JW's feel that this violates the Bible command to not mix true religion with false religion. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) Therefore, Jehovah's Witnesses do not view Easter as a christian holiday.

Answer 3

It is because men made up holidays not god why can y'all show love and give gifts and have fun any day why it got to be a certain days Jehovah god don't show love a certain day god shows love all the time that's why god hate holidays because y'all have fun give gifts and show love a certain days and not all the time. Go to the bible call the

translations of the holy scriptures and go to Matthew chapter six verse two.

Another answer:It may not matter to others, but Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate anything that finds its origins in Pagan religions, under the guise of a Bible idea. Any encyclopedia will confirm Easter's pagan origins.

Please see LINK below. (-- you could also do a 'search' on that link. Simply type 'Easter' in the Search box.)

Answer 4

We do not celebrate Easter.

And in case you ask later about Christmas; we don't celebrate Christmas either.

Answer 2:

There is valid reasons why Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Easter or other mainstream holidays. John 4:23 says " Nevertheless the hour is coming and it is now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for indeed the Father is looking for ones lime these to worship him." With that said, Jehovah's Witnesses love Bible truth. As true Christians we know that certain celebrations are not pleasing to Jehovah God. For example, the roots of Christmas, celebrating birthdays, Easter, Halloween, toasting etc are not in the scriptures, but in ancient pagan festivals. All who worship God with spirit and truth avoid unscriptural celebrations and strive to be honest in every aspect of life.

Answer 5

No, Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Easter. Jehovah's Witnesses commemorate Jesus by observing a memorial every year that corresponds with the date of passover, when Jesus had his last meal with his apostles. This date is Nissan 14 and Jehovah's Witnesses show their love and respect for Jesus and his sacrifice every year on the anniversary of his death according to the lunar calendar of the Bible. Jesus asked that we commemorate his death, not his resurrection.

(Luke 22:19, 20) Also, he took a loaf, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying: "This means my body, which is to be given in your behalf. Keep doing this in remembrance of me." Also, he did the same with the cup after they had the evening meal, saying: "This cup means the new covenant by virtue of my blood, which is to be poured out in your behalf.

Answer 6

Jehovah's people do not believe in any celebrations that find their origins in ancient pagan practices under the guise of a Bible event. Easter is one of those.

Answer 7

No, Easter is a Christian holiday.