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This
message will take the form of a simulated discussion between
a Jehovah's Witness named Joe and a Christian named
Chris.
Chris: Joe
can you explain to me why Jehovah's Witnesses do not
celebrate Christmas?
Joe: Sure,
Chris. Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas
because we do not participate in pagan celebrations, and we
know that Jesus was not born on December 25.
Chris: Why
do you call Christmas a pagan celebration? Certainly
celebrating God's gift of his son would not qualify as a
pagan celebration.
Joe:
December 25 is the date of the winter solstice and Christmas
originated at a time when the cult of the sun was strong at
Rome.
Chris: So
what you are saying is that Christians celebrated a pagan
celebration and just continued to do so by changing its
name.
Joe: That's
right, Chris.
Chris: Were
you aware that this is not what the Watchtower originally
taught was the origin of Christmas?
Joe: What
do you mean?
Chris: In The Time is at Hand, Vol. 2 of the Studies in the Scriptures on page 61 it discusses the date of the birth of Christ. It says "...we could not be certain that the exact day might not be in September about the 27th, but October 1st, B.C. is about correct. Nine months back of that date would bring us to about Christmas time, 3 B.C., as the date at which our Lord laid aside the glory which he had with the Father before the world was made and the taking of or changing to human nature began. It seems probable that this was the origin of the celebration of December 25th as Christmas Day. Some writers on Church history claim, even, that Christmas Day was originally celebrated as the date of the annunciation by Gabriel to the virgin Mary." Joe, the Watchtower at one time agreed with Church history that the origin of Christmas was the celebration of the gift of God's son from his conception. Just because this conception happened around a pagan celebration does not make it pagan. If celebrating the gift of God's son is so wrong, how come God allowed the celebration for so long before the Watchtower ever declared it wrong?
Joe: I know
that the Watchtower used to celebrate Christmas but when
they learned that it was tied into paganism, they stopped
celebrating it.
Chris: In
the December 15, 1903 Watchtower, Charles Russell wrote
concerning Christmas that even though he did not agree with
the date which he said wasn't important, he said "..we may
properly enough join with all whose hearts are in the
attitude of love and appreciation toward God and toward the
Saviour." Both Charles Russell and Joseph Rutherford your
first and second presidents celebrated Christmas and even
encouraged others to participate in the celebration and to
give Watchtower books as gifts. All this was at a time when
the Watchtower says that Jesus was inspecting all churches
to see which he would pick as the only "faithful and wise
servant". How is it that celebrating the gift of God's son
was alright back then but now is such a bad
thing that a person can lose his everlasting
life? How is it that God allowed Christians for
almost two thousand years to honor the gift of his Son and
then suddenly changed his mind?
Joe: I'm
not sure how to answer you. I know that I used to celebrate
Christmas as a small child before my family became Witnesses
and I never thought it was wrong then. But now I have
learned things like the wise men were dupes of Satan, led by
a Satanic star. The whole Christmas scene was led by Satan
not God.
Chris: I
would be interested in talking with you about the star of
Bethlehem and the wise men. Could we get together next week
to discuss this?
Joe:
Sure.
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