Why dont Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate christmas?

Answer 1

ANSWERChristmas is not actually the celebration of Jesus birth. It is actually a pagan celebration to the sun god. It was the early Catholic Church about 400 years after Jesus died that took the pagan celebration, changed the name to "Christ's Mass," and called it "Christian." We have a problem with that, because we believe as The Bible says at 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, that God will not have anything to do with what is associated with unclean worship. So, we do not engage in celebrations that come from pagan sources.

We do not celebrate Jesus birthday, or birthdays in general because of the pagan sources that birthday celebrations also come from. Jesus and the disciples and even the first Christians did not celebrate birthdays. They regarded them as pagan. Birthday celebrations actually originated in pagan religion. They were celebrated as a way to appease the god of the astrological sign that a person was born under. Even the "birthday wish" was made to that pagan god or goddess. Since these gods of the constalations are rival gods to the true GOD, ancient Jews and early Christians did not engage in birthday celebrations for fear that t would violate GOD's law on exclusive worship and devotion to HIM.(Exodus 20:3) Likewise today, JW's follow this same line of reasoning. We do not want to compromise our devotion and worship to the only one a true GOD, Jehovah.

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The New Catholic Encyclopedia states:

"The date of Christ's birth is not known. The Gospels indicate neither the day nor the month. According to the hypothesis suggested by H. Usener and accepted by most scholars today, the birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian), because on this day, as the sun began its return to northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithra celebrated the "dies natalis Solis Invicti" (birthday of the invincible sun). On Dec. 25, 274 A.D., Aurelian had proclaimed the sun-god principal patron of the empire and dedicated a temple to him in the Campus Martius. {(1967), Vol. III, p. 656}. So, the date Dec. 25 was chosen to coincide with Sun worship.

As an illustration: Suppose a crowd come to a gentleman's home saying they are there to celebrate his birthday. He doesn't favor the celebration of birthdays. He doesn't like to see people overeat or get drunk or engage in loose conduct. But some of them do all those things, and they bring presents for everyone there except him! On top of all that, they pick the birthday of one of the man's enemies as the date for the celebration. How would the man feel? How would you feel? Would you want to be a party to it? Jehovah's Witnesses follow the Bible completely, taking into consideration how God feels about false worship and how Jesus taught us to live our lives. This is exactly what is being done by Christmas celebrations.

Addition: The reason Christianity adopted Christmas was because their efforts to convert the pagans were failing. So they adopted their winter celebration, put Christ in the center and there you go- Christmas

Answer 2

December 25th is not Jesus' birthday, rather it's the date of a pagan celebration. They believe the date of 25th of December was in fact the adoption from ancient Roman celebrations. Jehovah's Witnesses do not feel this honors Christ in any way.

M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopœdia : "The observance of Christmas is not of divine appointment, nor is it of N[ew] T[estament] origin. The day of Christ's birth cannot be ascertained from the N[ew] T[estament], or, indeed, from any other source. ...light and . . . the day devoted to the invincible sun, as well as the day after the Saturnalia, was adopted by the church as Christmas, the nativity of Christ, to counteract the effects of these festivals."

The bible gives the indidcation that Jesus was not, in fact, born in December. In Luke 2:8 the verse reads, "There were also in that country shepards living out of doors and keeping watches in the night over their flocks." Do you think the shepherds would be out tending to their flock in the dead of winter when it's freezing cold? They would have to be indoors where it's warm and dry.

Another good reason is that Jesus actually told us to commemorate his death, not his birth. On the night before Jesus arrest, he and his apostles gathered for the Evening Meal where they broke bread and passed wine. Luke 22:19 says (after the bread and wine), "...keep doing this in remembrance of me."

Answer 3

Christmas is the celebration of Jesus birth on a day that is not when he was born. Even experts confirm Dec. 25 could not be Jesus birth date because the shepherds were sleeping outdoors tending their flocks (something they do mainly in spring). Also the traditions associated with the celebration are based on pagan and commercial ideas (look in any dictionary ). Many people view Christmas principally as a time to honor Jesus Christ Jehovah's Witnesses feel it's important to include Jesus in their life every day recognizing him as a king not a baby .

Answer 4

Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas due to it's pagan origins. The origin of Christmas goes back to the Roman Empire. Festivals honoring two pagan gods- the Roman Sol and the Persian Mithra were celebrated on Dec. 25, which was the winter Solstice. The pagan festivals became a "Christian" holiday in the year 350. This was the year that Pope Julius I declared Dec. 25 to be Christ's birthday. Historically, the Roman Saturnalian festivals began on Dec 17 and ended on Dec 24. They involved banqueting, feasting, heavy drinking, gift giving, and riotous behavior. Modern day Christmas has many parallels.

Additionally, Christ could not have been born on Dec. 25 since the Bible states at Luke 2:8 that shepherds were tending to their flocks at night and "living out of doors" at the time of Christ's birth. It would have been the cold, rainy season near Bethlehem on Dec. 25 and shepherds could not have been living out of doors. Christ was therefore not born on Dec. 25.

In reality, Christmas is a pagan rather than a Christian holiday.

Many though, feel that the origin of this holiday doesn't matter. But to illustrate, would you eat a piece of candy you found lying in the gutter, covered with dirt and garbage? Similarly, true Christians do everything in their power to avoid customs contaminated by false worship.

Answer 5

they do not celebrate Christmas nor birthdays that is their prerogative.