Birthdays

2021-09-02

If you ever examined the beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, you would notice that one of their strange doctrines is that they do not celebrate birthdays. They claim that they are of pagan origin and were not celebrated by early Christians or other saints of the past. They rightfully point out that heathen rulers had parties for their birthdays (Genesis 40:20; Matthew 14:6). Are these really the only evidence for birthdays in the Bible?

After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. And Job spake, and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived. (Job 3:1-3)

Job goes on even longer cursing a day that already happened, namely, the day he was born. Jeremiah did the same thing (Jeremiah 20:14). How can you curse a day that already happened? Did he have a time machine he planned on using to change the past? He clearly was saying that a day that would normally be marked with happiness year by year should be a day of gloom. He said this because of the immense misery through which he was going.

Let us continue with a little more mental gymnastics. Are we allowed to have a celebration for someone if it does not happen to be their birthday? Can we have a special day to tell someone that we love them, as long as it is not the anniversary of their birth? Is there something that magically happens because of what day something happens on?

You would need to believe that there are “magic days” out there, that if you celebrate them (or not celebrate them), you will experience God’s ill favor. This would make Jehovah’s Witnesses and like groups animists. In Galatia, they believed that celebrating certain days contributed to their acceptance to God, and Paul became worried about them:

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. (Galatians 4:10-11)

Otherwise, celebrating (or not celebrating) a day harms nobody:

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. (Romans 14:5)

It is fine to celebrate birthdays. It is an occasion to tell them that you love them.