BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays, as they believe such celebrations are contrary to Bible principles. They consider birthday celebrations to be customs of pagan origin and unsupported by the Bible.
The only birthday celebrations mentioned in the Bible are Pharaoh’s and Herod’s Antipas celebrations, both of which resulted in executions. Jehovah’s Witnesses interpret this as the Bible portraying birthday celebrations in a negative light.
Jehovah’s Witnesses show support for their argument that former Christians did not celebrate birthdays, as this custom was not common for them.
What the Bible Teaches
Adam Clarke (The Adam Clarke Commentary, 1832) writes that Job 1:4’s text “every one his day” probably refers to a birthday party, meaning that each son had his own birthday and invited the other siblings. The Pulpit Commentary supports this view, noting that the same expression is used at Job 3:1 to refer to “the day of my birth,” suggesting that “his day” here also refers to the birthday. Several modern Bible translations reflect the same understanding by rendering the text so that it is clear that it is a matter of birthdays.
Jehovah’s Witnesses choose to interpret Job 1:4 as an ordinary celebration unrelated to birthdays. Their alternative explanation appears unbelievable because it seems to be largely guided by a predetermined desire to reject birthdays in general, rather than by the text itself and context. The explanation is based on a narrow linguistic objection and overlooks the fact that the same Hebrew expression is naturally used for the birthday elsewhere in the book of Job, as several independent Bible commentators point out.
The Bible likely has both positive and negative mentions of birthday celebrations.
The Bible does not explicitly prohibit the celebration of birthdays. Even if one were to reject Job 1:4, the absence of positive examples does not mean that the birthday celebration itself is wrong. The negative outcomes in the aforementioned birthday celebrations may be due to the circumstances, not the celebration itself.
Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that Christians from the time of Jesus down to the time of the apostles avoided birthday celebrations because of pagan origins. This is an assumption that has neither biblical nor historical support. There are no reliable sources that say that Christians refrained from celebrating birthdays. Jehovah’s Witnesses defend this by pointing out that some writers in the 200’s, such as Origen, were skeptical of birthday celebrations. However, this author’s views must be understood as a personal choice and not something that follows from the Bible.
NEW YEAR’S CELEBRATION
Jehovah’s Witnesses Teach
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not participate in New Year’s celebrations, believing that such celebrations are contrary to Bible principles. They consider the New Year’s celebration to be a custom of pagan origin.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the New Year’s celebration has its roots in the worship of Janus, the Roman god of transitions. The traditions included rituals of happiness and prosperity, which Jehovah’s Witnesses interpret as a form of spiritism. They also point out that excessive partying and focusing on material goals are often associated with New Year’s celebrations, and this is contrary to the Bible’s advice to live soberly and toward spiritual goals (Ephesians 5:15-18).
The Bible Teaches
The Bible follows the Jewish calendar and not the Gregorian calendar or, for example, the Buddhist calendar as today. In 3. Genesis 23:23-25 refers to the day of the sound of the trumpet, which marks the Jewish New Year. Under the Mosaic Law, Jews were required to keep this day holy as a day of remembrance. They should therefore take time off work and use the day for reflection.
In the Christian Greek Scriptures there is no mention of the New Year.
In contrast to the day of the trumpet sound under the law of Moses, modern New Year’s celebrations are essentially a secular celebration of the passage of time. For most people, it is not about religious worship but about ending a year and starting a new one. The content of the celebration varies, depending on where in the world you are.
The Bible does not command Christians to mark the New Year, but neither does it dissociate itself from celebration itself. Regardless of the type of celebration a Christian chooses to celebrate, it is his personal responsibility to ensure that the celebration does not turn into a debauchery that is contrary to the Bible. However, this is not an argument in itself for banning New Year’s celebrations or celebrations in general, but more a question of how the celebration is carried out.
TATTOO
Jehovah’s Witnesses Teach
Jehovah’s Witnesses advise against tattooing with reference to 3. Deuteronomy 19:28 which says:
You shall not scratch yourselves onyour body in mourning over someone who has died, and you shall not make tattoo marks on you. I am Jehovah.
Otherwise, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that tattooing is generally associated with pagan practices and appears as a kind of rebellion.
The Bible Teaches
The ban on tattooing in the 3. Genesis 19:28 was given to the Jews as part of the Mosaic Law. Jesus abolished the law of Moses (Romans 10:4). The ban therefore does not apply to Christians.
It is contrary to the Bible to require Christians to follow the rules of the Mosaic Law. For example, some Jewish Christians demanded that Gentiles be circumcised in order to observe the law of Moses (Acts 15:1, 5). The apostles rejected this, saying that they should put “no additional burden” on believers than a few basic commandments (Acts 15:28–29). Another example is when Peter would not eat with Gentiles for fear of the circumcised (Galatians 2:11–14). Another question concerned Jewish food (Colossians 2:16–17).
Whether or not a Christian wants to get a tattoo is a personal choice. It is not against Christian teaching to get tattooed.