Why do Jehovah's Witnesses view raising the glass and toasting the bride and groom at a wedding as a pagan ritual?

Answer 1

Usually when toasts are offered, a request or wish for happiness, good health, and a long life are accompanied by a clinking of glasses together. Jehovah's Witnesses do not share in toasting - not because they do not hope someone finds happiness and enjoys good health but - because of the background of the custom of toasting.

The Encyclopedia Britannica 1910, Volume 13, page 121 says that the custom was probably derived from an ancient religious rite of drinking to the gods and the dead. Greeks and Romans poured out libations to their gods at meals and ceremonial banquets, drinking to them and to the dead. It also mentions that these drinking customs were intimately associated with drinking to the health of living men. More recent sources agree that toasting is probably a way in which sacred liquids, like blood or wine, are offered to the gods in exchange for a wish, a prayer, or such words as "long life" or "to your health". The gesture of lifting the glass heavenward suggests a request or blessing from some god of luck. Isaiah 65:11 helps to make the reasoning that worshipers of Jehovah clearer.


It's well known that Jehovah's Witnesses do not participate in many gestures that most people perform (such as gestures made toward national emblems or flags). Their determination is to not make gestures, that are out of harmony with The Bible.