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Does the Watchtower Society this year celebrate the Memorial or the Fast of Esther?


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Just thought I'd weigh in. I read through the entire exchange on Saturnalia with Ann as it was happening, before and after various edits and deletions and commentary about those edits and deletions. I believe that Ann is being very accurate in the way she described it when she says:

You rehashed Hislopian misconceptions, tried to pass off fiction and fable as historical fact, and copy-pasted any old bits of nonsense off the internet in a vain attempt to add weight to sensationalist, unverified claims about ancient Christmas practice.

In fact, she might be being just a bit too generous and kind with that characterization.

Other than that, I agree that the date is not as important as the Memorial itself. The scriptures speak about passing and partaking of the bread and wine, but they are quite vague even about how often. The evidence shows that many early Christians preferred yearly, and this makes the most sense. Even the original Passover could be celebrated a month late according to the Mosaic Law.

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I would agree, but the Org likes to pride itself on getting the date and time 'just right.' If it's not important to have The Most Important Day of the Year on the right day, then why not use western 

Just thought I'd weigh in. I read through the entire exchange on Saturnalia with Ann as it was happening, before and after various edits and deletions and commentary about those edits and deletions. I

Seems the practice (since the 4th Century) of adding an extra month, Adar1, every so often to realign the Jewish lunar calendar with the solar calendar puts the modern Jewish calendar out of sync with

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2 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

The evidence shows that many early Christians preferred yearly, and this makes the most sense


Hi from Greece Insider, and thank you for your reply, here the time is 19:00. Can you please give me something more solid? I want to prove to some eastern Orthodox Christians that Memorial should be celebrated annually. They say that the first Christians was taking from bread and wine every week on Sunday... or whenever they had meetings.

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Dear JWtheologian I made this question that you just took part.... but I made a question... I didn't post anything (this is not a blog)... but to my question has been given the name "post" and transported from the QUESTIONS section here to the "Parking Lot for Controversial Posts". If I knew that my question would be transferred here I would never make it. In this section we read:"Only enter this section if you feel strong enough spiritually to defend yourself biblically. As you probably are aware, not everyone on Facebook, Twitter and the Internet is nice and civilized. Some are rather rude. You are hereby forewarned".
Isn't rude to transport questions that you feel is "Controversial" ?
So all the other questions that remained where they were from the beginning were not "Controversial" ?
Dear JWtheologian I believe that some people don't like to listen the truth and they even try to hide it... are you one of those people?
I even had to make new account in order to be able to answer to some of my own questions...
weird if you want "people to have the ACTUAL FACTS"

1 hour ago, JWTheologian said:

people can have the ACTUAL FACTS. Lol

 

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I would expect no less from a staunch supporter of ANN, JWinsider. However, half-truth and lies don’t make a factual answer. Something you should be familiar with yourself, since you also agree with ANN on the UN NGO DPI fabrication, by reading between the lines and misinterpreting the WTS intended purpose. “Just to continue access to the UN Library” Anything else is just embedded rhetoric. Now I’m being generous. If people want to actually learn about the truth surrounding scripture? The WTS has done that to the best of its ability. Fractal fallacies dreamt by opposers isn’t research. I would say, the majority of things posted on the internet are FALSE and FABRICATED to look good for others to criticize. I would venture to say, an active witness with over 30 years of bible truth, has just begun to understand scripture. It takes a life time of dedication to achieve half of what the Apostles learned from Christ. That’s why Theology is NOT just one factor but many levels of understanding. Something the GB has done very well.

 

And thank you JWinsider for seeing my latter point at least. It’s always a pleasure.

 

Dear JWtheologian I believe that some people don't like to listen the truth and they even try to hide it... are you one of those people?

 

Not at all GD. I enjoy reading the truth. People that are disassociated but pretend to be an active witness does not qualify as written truth. Something you are correct about. The day someone other than brothers and Ex-Witnesses show me something new here? Then, just like GB Jackson told the ARC, We are always interested in new research to see it does or does not harmonize with scripture. Meanwhile, about 99.3 % have been wrong with understanding scripture. Especially ex-bethelites. Lol!

 

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1 hour ago, Giannis Diamantis said:

Can you please give me something more solid? I want to prove to some eastern Orthodox Christians that Memorial should be celebrated annually. They say that the first Christians was taking from bread and wine every week on Sunday... or whenever they had meetings.

There are apparently only one scriptural and one traditional reason that many hold it weekly, but there are about ten reasons why others would choose annually instead. Some of these points were noted in the very earliest Watchtower magazines. Here's an example from 1894 (reprints, page 1624-5):

Some dear Christian people have even fallen into the error of commemorating this feast every first day of the week; because they have not noticed what the supper means in connection with the type which it displaces; and because they erroneously think that they find a precedent for their course in the expression of the New Testament, "On the first day of the week, when the disciples were come together to break bread." This does indeed show that breaking of bread every first day was the custom of the early disciples; but it does not prove that the Memorial Supper is meant.

 

Another reason is the confusion that had spread to other early forms of Christianity caused by the overlapping use of the bread and wine symbols into the weekly and additional ad hoc times for Mass in early Roman Catholic tradition.

 

There are no "solid" proofs that it was held annually, and some religions do this weekly or even quarterly. But there is more evidence that favors annually in early Christian tradition.

 

Before I quote evidence from outside the Bible (in another post) there are some relevant Biblical references. I'll take some time here because I think it's relevant to why Paul would use the expression, "as often as you eat" with reference to the Memorial in Corinthians.

(1 Corinthians 5:7, 8) 7 Clear away the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, inasmuch as you are free from ferment. For, indeed, Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. 8 So, then, let us keep the festival, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of badness and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

This is one of those passages that might use the idea to "keep the festival" in a completely allegorical sense. The seven-day festival of unleavened bread immediately followed Passover and the idea is apparently that: now that Jesus is sacrificed "once for all time" as Hebrews says, we keep the festival "once for all time" too.

(Hebrews 7:27) 27 Unlike those high priests, he does not need to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, because he did this once for all time when he offered himself up.

This is completely in line with Pau's words about the meaning of that sacrifice in our lives. Here, Paul speaks not of Jesus in particular but of a kind of spiritual death of his followers.

(Romans 6:6-10) 6 For we know that our old personality was nailed to the stake along with him in order for our sinful body to be made powerless, so that we should no longer go on being slaves to sin. 7 For the one who has died has been acquitted from his sin. 8 Moreover, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that Christ, now that he has been raised up from the dead, dies no more; death is no longer master over him. 10 For the death that he died, he died with reference to sin once for all time, but the life that he lives, he lives with reference to God.

So, someone could get the idea that Paul was only concerned about how we lived our life why all these scriptures that make it look like Paul didn't care so much for the out

(Romans 14:5) 5 One man judges one day as above another; another judges one day the same as all others; let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.

(Galatians 4:4-11) 4 But when the full limit of the time arrived, God sent his Son, who was born of a woman and who was under law, 5 that he might release by purchase those under law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 Now because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, and it cries out: “Abba, Father!” 7 . . . . 9 But now that you have come to know God or, rather, have come to be known by God, how is it that you are turning back again to the weak and beggarly elementary things and want to slave for them over again? 10 You are scrupulously observing days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

Yet, although Paul often referred to walking by faith not by sight, and how our actions, conduct and life were much more important than symbols, he still supported the symbols. He supported the symbol of baptism right there in the same context as 1 Cor 5 quoted above, and we all know Paul promoted the repetition of the symbols of the Memorial. Jesus didn't just say "do this," he said "keep doing this." Likewise, Paul didn't just say "do this," he said "as often as you do it." Baptism was not a symbol we would keep repeating; we'd do it once for all time. Memorial would be repeated often.

(1 Corinthians 11:26) 26 For as often as YOU eat this loaf and drink this cup, YOU keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives.

Changed in the NWT, 2013:

(1 Corinthians 11:26) 26 For whenever you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he comes.

So it doesn't say annually, it doesn't even hint at it. Perhaps Paul didn't care how scrupulously it was observed, and only wanted it done orderly, or else he could have easily given more instructions.

One of the arguments against using the scripture that where Paul said they broke bread weekly, is that there is no mention of wine in that passage:

(Acts 20:7) 7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to have a meal, Paul began addressing them, as he was going to depart the next day; and he prolonged his speech until midnight. . . . 11 He then went upstairs and began the meal and ate. He continued conversing for quite a while, until daybreak, and then he departed.

In addition it showed that Paul ate his meal that same night after he finished with the speech, after midnight, so it wasn't part of a formal ceremony. It was just a common practice for Christians to combine a meal with their meetings. So much, in fact that some were confusing the Lord's Evening Meal commemoration with meals that they should be having at home on that particular day.

(Acts 2:42) 42 And they continued devoting themselves to the teaching of the apostles, to associating together, to the taking of meals, and to prayers.

(1 Corinthians 11:20-34) 20 When you come together in one place, it is not really to eat the Lord’s Evening Meal. 21 For when you eat it, each one takes his own evening meal beforehand, so that one is hungry but another is intoxicated. 22 Do you not have houses for eating and drinking?. . . 33 Consequently, my brothers, when you come together to eat it, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that when you come together it is not for judgment.. . .

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12 hours ago, Giannis Diamantis said:

Can you please give me something more solid? I want to prove to some eastern Orthodox Christians that Memorial should be celebrated annually. They say that the first Christians was taking from bread and wine every week on Sunday... or whenever they had meetings.

So here's a kind of "part two" on the choice of an annual Memorial.

I'm not going to try to write up something completely fresh and new on this. I believe the Watchtower publications have done an excellent job researching this particular issue. I have a feeling that you would prefer to see non-Watchtower sources, so I'll pick and choose from some sources as I have found them through Internet searches. Normally, I'd try to do a more thorough job of explaining and defending. Making use of extra-Biblical quotations is a tricky business. Some give Eusebius a lot of credit, but he is evidently not credible in everything he says, and is three centuries removed. Yet, some of the early "second century" "Church Fathers" get a lot more credit than they deserve, too. Some of the later ones had more credibility in terms of scholarship and collected libraries for comparison. I tend to give more credit when two writers who are on opposite sides of an issue both admit to the same fact even where it doesn't help their argument. I can ignore their argument but accept the facts they agree on. If multiple early writers agree on something, and only later writers tend to disagree, this is important. But even here we have to be careful. So I'm not saying I agree completely with any of the non-Biblical sources I will quote. I'm only saying that they can add or subtract from supportive evidence to the proposal that the Memorial was more often done annually. 

Some of the practices of the early Christian congregation were the direct result of the fact that most of the first Christians were Jewish Christians, including the apostles. Also, the initial "headquarters" of the first congregation was at Jerusalem. So we can't always tell from the Bible accounts whether we are looking at a reference to a practice of Christians in general, Jewish Christians, or the Jewish nation around them. That's why it's interesting to see how matter-of-factly the Passover season was mentioned in Acts, for example, but we can't know if these festivals were expected to die out or not based on this alone:

 

(Acts 12:1-4) 12 About that time Herod the king began mistreating some of those of the congregation. 2 He put James the brother of John to death by the sword. 3 When he saw that it was pleasing to the Jews, he also went on to arrest Peter. (This was during the days of the Unleavened Bread.) 4 He seized him and put him in prison, turning him over to four shifts of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out before the people after the Passover.

(Acts 20:5-7) 5 These men went on ahead and were waiting for us in Troʹas; 6 but we put out to sea from Phi·lipʹpi after the days of the Unleavened Bread, and within five days we came to them in Troʹas, and there we spent seven days. 7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to have a meal, Paul began addressing them, as he was going to depart the next day; and he prolonged his speech until midnight. . . . 16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephʹe·sus so as not to spend any time in the province of Asia, for he was hurrying to get to Jerusalem on the day of the Festival of Pentecost if he possibly could.

Compare: (1 Corinthians 16:7, 8) . . .. 8 But I am remaining in Ephʹe·sus until the Festival of Pentecost,

The second example above (Acts 20:6) indicates a strong possibility that Paul himself observed the entire seven-day festival of the Passover season. But this could have been due to his Jewish background not his Christianity:

(1 Corinthians 9:20, 21) 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew in order to gain Jews; to those under law I became as under law, though I myself am not under law, in order to gain those under law. 21 To those without law I became as without law,. . .

So we need to move to the history of the early Christian congregations, especially after Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 C.E. to get a better sense of what the Christians thought was proper after most of the Jewish references could have been considered obsolete. 

If you look up QUARTODECIMAN in the Oxford English Dictionary, you find the following:

A.A n. One of those early Christians who celebrated Easter on the day of the Jewish Passover (the 14th of Nisan), whether this was a Sunday or not.
   The practice (chiefly observed in Proconsular Asia) was condemned by the Council of Nice, a.d. 325.

The word means "FOURTEENTH" in Latin, and the same dictionary (OED unabridged volumes) shows that the Latin form of the word has been carried over into more recent English discussions of the same problem discussed in A.D. 325.

1624 Darcie Birth of Heresies viii. 31 The Phrygian Montanists condemne the Quartodecumans.    

1642 Hales Schism 7 Why might not it be lawful‥to celebrate Easter with the Quartodeciman.    

1709 J. Johnson Clergym. Vade M. ii. p. cxv, When Austin came first to this island, the Christians he found here were Quartodecimans.    

1883 P. Schaff Hist. Church II. xii. lxxxiii. 706 There is no evidence at all that the apostle John celebrated Easter with the Quarto-decimans.

 

The very fact that there could have been such an important long-standing discussion of the issue of an annual date related to Easter/Passover tells us that the original season for "Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday" was annual.

Here is one of many sites that discusses this: http://www.triumphpro.com/pas-early-church.htm

I assume it's from an Adventist perspective. The problems about the date in the early congregations included whether to have Passover on Nisan 15 or Nisan 14, and whether they make sure that Easter would fall a certain number of days after Nisan 14, or if it should fall on the SUNDAY after Nisan 14. This was an issue that would have been resolved in 70 A.D. if it were purely from the Jewish-Christian perspective.

Copying from the site I mentioned I will also be copying some of the emphasis and highlighting (and mistakes) from that same site, but the main points will get through:

Bacchiocchi asserts: "Moreover we know from the Quartodeciman's sources (i.e. those who kept Passover on Nisan 14 according to the Jewish reckoning), which APPARENTLY REPRESENT A DIRECT CONTINUATION OF THE CUSTOM OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, that the PASCHAL FE4ST WAS INDEED OBSERVED BY CHRISTIANS. Its celebration, however, did not take place on Sunday . . . but rather, as well stated by J. Jeremias, 'at the SAME TIME AS THE JEWISH PASSOVER, that is, on the night of the 15th of Nisan, and by the date rather than the day'" (From Sabbath to Sunday, p.81).

Notice these incredible words!  The Christians observed Passover at the very same night as the Jewish people -- that is, on the night of the 15th of Nisan!  This is the record of scholarly research.  This constitutes a powerful answer to those who attempt to observe Passover on the previous evening of the 14th of Nisan, that is, at the beginning of the 14th!  Bacchiocchi adds to this statement, by J. Jeremias: "In a passage we shall later examine, Epiphanius (ca. A.D. 315-403) suggests that until A.D. 135 CHRISTIANS EVERYWHERE OBSERVED PASSOVER ON THE JEWISH DATE, NAMELY, ON NISAN 15, irrespective of the day of the week" (ibid).

Three pages later in his book, Samuele Bacchiocchi asserts, "The . . . Passover . . . initially celebrated Christ's passion and was observed by the FIXED DATE OF NISAN 15 rather than on Sunday . . ." (p.84).

 

The book is referring to Epiphanius who wrote the following in his book Against Heresies. He spoke of these "Nazarenes" who had outlived Jerusalem's destruction and, although he calls them heretics, it shows what some Christians believed was required of them:

“The Nazarenes do not differ in any essential thing from them (meaning the Orthodox Jews), since they practice the customs and doctrines prescribed by Jewish Law; except that they believe in Christ.  They believe in the resurrection of the dead, and that the universe was created by God.  They preach that God is One, and that Jesus Christ is His Son.  They are very learned in the Hebrew language. They read the Law (meaning the Law of Moses)…. Therefore they differ…from the true Christians because they fulfill until now [such] Jewish rites as the circumcision, Sabbath and others.” [Epiphanius, “Against Heresies,” Panarion 29, 7, pp. 41, 402]

The site quoted makes more of this by merging something that Eusebius said to indicate that these Nazarenes had followed an unbroken version of their Jewish-Christian faith that had been based at Jerusalem up until 135 A.D.:

The early Church historian Eusebius writes of this period: "And thus, when the city had been emptied of the Jewish nation and had suffered the total destruction of its ancient inhabitants, it was colonized by a different race, and the Roman city which subsequently arose changed its name and was called Aelia, in honor of the emperor Aelius Adrian.  And as the Church there was now composed of Gentiles, the first one to assume the government of it after the bishops of the circumcision was Marcus" (NPNF 2nd, I, pp.177-178).

It was at this time, says Epiphanius, that the controversy over the correct date of the Passover, first arose.  He wrote, "The controversy arose [literally, "was stirred up"] after the exodus of the bishops of the circumcision [A.D. 135] and it has continued until our time." According to Epiphanius, the fifteen Judaeo-Christian bishops who had administered the Church in Jerusalem up to 135 A.D. had, up to that time, practiced the Quartodeciman Passover -- the Jewisb Passover.  They based this observance on a document known as the "Apostolic Constitutions." According to that document, the following commandment is given:  "You shall not change the calculation of time, but you shall CELEBRATE IT AT THE SAME TIME AS YOUR BRETHREN who came out from the circumcision. WITH THEM OBSERVE THE PASSOVER."  

 

The author of the page seems to forget that it was possible to remain TOO attached to Judaism during this period where the destruction of Jerusalem was an "end of a system of things" a "judgment" against that system, according to Jesus in Matthew 23 and 24. Read the counsel to the 7 congregations in Revelation 2 and 3 very carefully, and you can see that we shouldn't just accept this particular group of "Nazarenes" as the purest form of Christianity.

The site also makes too much of traditions that have passed through the writings of the early "church fathers" although the following several paragraphs do cite some relevant information about the Passover/Easter controversy.

 

Eusebius relates that Polycarp, a disciple of John, who had known several of the original apostles, strongly resisted the introduction of Easter in the place of Passover.  He visited Rome in 154 A.D. to discuss the growing heated controversy with Anicetus, the Roman bishop.  Polycarp was bishop of the Church of God at Smyrna.  He was baptized by John, the brother of James.  He held to the Passover as an institution handed down by John, the last living original apostle of Christ.

At the meeting nothing was resolved.  Eusebius records: "For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe it [the Passover] because he had always observed it with John the disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he associated; and neither did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it who said that he was bound to follow the customs of the presbyters before him."

Eusebius relates that Polycarp was later taken and executed "on a great sabbath day." T'he marginal note explains that the 'GREAT SABBATH DAY" was the Feast of Unleavened Bread!

Controversy Explodes Again

The controversy flared up again toward the end of the second century.  The two major protagonists of the controversy were Victor of Rome (A.D. 189-199) who championed the Easter-Sunday tradition, on one side, and Polycrates, the disciple of Polycarp, who was the bishop of Ephesus and representative of the Asian Churches, who strongly advocated the traditional Passover date of Nisan 14.  Victor attempted to "cut off whole cburches of God, who observed the tradition of an ancient custom," the true Passover, says Eusebius.

According to Eusebius (ca. 260-340 A.D.), Polycrates, claiming to possess the genuine apostolic tradition transmitted to him by the apostles Philip and John, refused to be frightened into submission by Victor's threats.

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyon from about 176 A.D., tried to intervene as peacemaker in the controversy.  He warned Pope Victor not to break the unity with "the many bishops of Asia and the East, who WITH THE JEWS CELEBRATED THE PASSOVER on the fourteenth day of the new moon" (NPNF, 2nd, III, p.370). In addition, Apollinarius, bishop of Hierapolis (ca.  A.D. 170), declared: "The 14th Nisan is the TRUE PASSOVER OF OUR LORD, the great Sacrifice; instead of the lamb, we have the Lamb of God" (Bacchiocchi, p.199, footnote).

However, around 400 A.D. those Christians who maintained the Jewish Passover ritual were strongly attacked by Severian, bishop of Gabala.  Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis (ca.  A.D. 315-403) declares that the "heresy," as he called it, of the Quartodeciman Passover was still rising up in the world in his own time.

Notice the words of Eusebius in his Church history:

"A question of no small importance arose at that time [the close of the second century].  For the parishes of Asia, as from an OLDER TRADITION, held that the FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE MOON, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, SHOULD BE OBSERVED AS THE FEAST OF THE SAVIOUR'S PASSOVER . . . the bishops of Asia, led by Polycrates, decided to HOLD TO THE OLD CUSTOM handed down to them.  He himself in a letter which he addressed to Victor and the Church of Rome, set forth in the following words the tradition which had come down to him.

'We observe the FXACT DA Y, neither adding, nor taking away.  For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise on the day of the Lord's coming, when he shall come with glory from heaven, and shall seek out,all the saints.  Among these are Philip, one of the twelve apostles . . . and, moreover, John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined on the bosom of the Lord . . . and Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and martyr . . . Those observed the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the gospel, DEVIATING IN NO RESPECT,' but following the rule of faith" (Ante-Nicean Fathers, vol. 8, pp.773-774).

Notice!  They observed scrupulously the EXACT DAY of the PASSOVER.  This means they observed it at the end of the 14th of Nisan, as all the Jews had for centuries.  They did not "add" to it by observing it a night early, or take away from it In fact, they deviated from the Jewish Passover time, calculation and date "in NO respect"! 

 

There were probably better places to get all this information. Someday, I'll try to sort through it myself a little better. But the main point is that there were hundreds of years when even the totally Gentile congregations continued to try to sort through the controversy over the proper choice of ANNUAL dates for the observance of the Passover (Paschal) season.

 

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21 hours ago, JWTheologian said:

Is it the Org, or you puffed up with pride? It seems you have forgotten ALL the Encyclopedia and book references I used to illustrate how wrong you were. That’s how you trend this reverse psychology manifestation technique.

Again, the link to the thread has been provided so readers can make up their own minds on how our exchange went down. If you remember, I checked and dismantled your encyclopedia and book references one-by-one. Your choices were so cuckoo that you even included a reference about Easter customs and one about the summertime Spanish bull running festival to support your assertions about Saturnalia! facepalm.gif

21 hours ago, JWTheologian said:

And now you have just proven another point when disassociated people as yourself find a need to show how wrong the WTS got its dates and time wrong, when all the time it was the original poster that got it wrong. Anyone can misrepresent the WTS literature, and its intended purpose. How about linking the thread that disproved your theory on Saturnalia that was DELETED by TheWorldNewsMedia in your behalf. So people can have the ACTUAL FACTS. Lol

Mysteriously deleted threads where you 'proved' I was wrong about Saturnalia? Hmm. It must be a diabolical conspiracy. ;) The only thread where I had a lengthy discussion with you about it was the one already linked to.

Other Christmas threads I commented on were here:

http://www.jw-archive.org/post/71038126433/some-interesting-material-from-the-december-15

http://www.jw-archive.org/post/135925203268/nimrod-linked-to-santa-claus-nimrod-was-first

 

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23 hours ago, Giannis Diamantis said:

Can you please give me something more solid? I want to prove to some eastern Orthodox Christians that Memorial should be celebrated annually. They say that the first Christians was taking from bread and wine every week on Sunday... or whenever they had meetings.

Here is a final part ("part three") of the comments mostly taken from the site I cited in the previous post. That site isn't the most organized, but I chose it due to the way it presents an interesting parallel that so many Christian denominations have faced when they consider whether they should follow the Jewish customs that informed the Memorial or follow the traditions that won out over the next two hundred years.

In fact, here is something the Watchtower mentioned when they accidentally announced an "Easter" season date instead of the "Passover" season date in the April 1913 Watchtower:

MEMORIAL CELEBRATION APRIL 20th

In our issue of February 1st the Memorial Celebration was noted for March 20th, after 6 P.M. This was an error. It should have been April 20th. The March date would have been right according to the Episcopalian and Catholic reckonings of the first full moon after the Spring Equinox marking the Passover. However, it has been our custom to follow the Jewish reckoning, which makes it, this year, Sunday evening, April 20th, after 6 P.M. If any thereby memorialized a month in advance they will have a good opportunity to celebrate a second time, if they choose.

In an article on this same subject in the 1908 Watchtower, Smith's Bible Dictionary was quoted where it gave one of the historical reasons not to follow the Jewish reckoning:

"Although the Gregorian calculations have been made with great nicety they are still imperfect, and other alterations must take place in future ages. As a proof the Council of Nice ordered that Easter should not be kept on the same day as the first day of Passover, in order that there might be no appearance of Judaism in it; 'Ne videantur Judaizare,' to prevent which they ordered its observance on the Sunday after the full moon, Passover being always kept on the day of the full moon; and yet in 1825 both were kept on the same day."

Yet in this same article, Brother Russell, voted for changing it to always land on the Thursday closest to the Passover date, for similar reasons: (Watchtower, February 1908, p.37):

The writer and many others would incline to celebrate the Memorial Supper annually on the Thursday night most closely corresponding to the original celebration, for several reasons. (1) That would bring the celebration into its proper relationship to Sunday, which is the remembrancer of our Lord's resurrection. (2) At that season Easter Sunday is quite generally celebrated as a special memorial of our Lord's resurrection. (3) The celebration of the Memorial Supper on the evening of what is by many styled "Holy Thursday" would of itself be a powerful lesson to many of our dear Christian friends who now think us "odd," or "followers of a Jewish custom," because, without study, which they will not give, they cannot understand our position

For this reason it is curious that up until 1925 when Brother Rutherford wrote the book "Comfort for the Jews" he still believed in the Jewish restoration of Palestine, and was therefore a Zionist, although not as strongly and actively as Russell had been. Yet in 1927, the Watchtower publications first started printing anti-Semitic statements, and by 1930 Rutherford abolished the Zionists views of Russell. He replaced them officially with a series of books in 1931. Here is one of those quotes from the 2/23/1927 Golden Age:.

"Be it known once and for all that those profiteering, conscienceless, selfish men who call themselves Jews, and who control the greater portion of the finances of the world and the business of the world, will never be the rulers in this new earth. God would not risk such selfish men with such an important position" p.343 - [1927]

Here's one from 1932 (Vindication, Book 2):

"The Jews were evicted from Palestine and ‘their house left unto them desolate’ because they rejected Christ Jesus, the beloved and anointed King of Jehovah. To this day the Jews have not repented of this wrongful act committed by their forefathers. … In 1917 the Balfour Declaration, sponsored by the heathen governments of Satan's organization, came forth, recognized the Jews, and bestowed upon them great favors. ... The Jews have received more attention at their hands than they really deserved." p.257-8 [1932]

Those types of quotes became more frequent and more and more anti-Semitic through the 1930's, so I don't think it was an accident therefore that we began choosing the "Easter" season calculation over the Jewish "Passover" season calculation in 1929, and have never gone back to the Jewish "Passover" season calculation since.

This makes an interesting comparison to the following points from the page I quoted from earlier. Again most of the capitalization and highlighting was on the original page although I will highlight some points in yellow and with underlining, here and there:

Anti-Semitism in the Roman Empire

 

The first non-observer of the 14th Nisan Passover, Irenaeus indicates, was actually bishop Sixtus of Rome (ca. 116-125 A.D.). But the 14th Nisan Passover was even observed in Rome by some churches prior to Pope Victor's time.  Apparently it was under bishop Sotus, the successor to Anicetus, that relations became "more tense" between the advocates of Easter-Sunday versus the Jewish Quartodeciman Passover.

Says Bacchiocchi of this issue: "The conflict and tension between Judaism and the Empire, which became particularly acute under Hadrian, may well have induced Bishop Sixtus to take steps to SUBSTITUTE those distinctive JEWISH FESTIVITIES AS THE PASSOVER AND THE SABBATH with new dates and theologican motivations IN ORDER TO AVOID ANY SEMBLANCE OF JUDAISM" (p.203).

Rome and Alexandria, after having "eliminated the Judaizing Quartodeciinan tradition, REPUDIATED EVEN THE JEWISH COMPUTATIONS, MAKING THEIR OWN TIME CALCULATIONS, since such a dependence on the Jews must have appeared humiliating" (M.  Righetti, quoted by Bacchiocchi in From Sabbath to Sunday, p.206).

By the time of the Nicaean Council, in 325 A.D., during the reign of Emperor Constantine, the hatred of everything "Jewish" had reached a peak in the Roman Empire.  Constantine, desiring that Christianity be completely free from any and all Jewish influence, wrote:

              "It appears an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should

               follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous

              sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul . . .  Let us then have

              NOTHING IN COMMON with the detestable Jewish crowd. . . . All should UNITE in

              desiring that which sound reason appears to demand, and in AVOIDING ALL PARTICI-

              PATION IN THE PERJURED CONDUCT OF THE JEWS" (Eusebius, Life of Constantine,

             3,18-19; NPNF 2nd, 1, pp.524-525, quoted in Bacchiocchi, p.206).

This same anti-Jewish resentment and hostility is revealed in an even earlier document, dated to circa A.D. 243, where a certain Pseudo-Cyprian in De Pascha computus says: "we desire to show . . . that Christians need at no time . . . to walk in blindness and stupidity behind the Jews as though they did not know what was the day of Passover . . . " (quoted by Bacchiocchi, p.206).. . .

The Nicean Council

At the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, during the reign of Emperor Constantine, the bishops of the Catholic Church decreed concerning the Passover that: "All the brethren in the East who formerly celebrated Easter WITH THE JEWS, will henceforth keep it at the SAME TIME AS THE ROMANS, with us and with all those who from ancient times have celebrated the feast at the same time with us.". .

The long struggle between Passover and Easter was finally decided -- by the power of Rome -- in favor of Easter!  Passover observance, by Christians, was halted, ended, by the force and power of Imperial edict and decree of the brother Church. 

By 364 A.D., at the Council of Laodicea, both the Passover and the Sabbath were completely abolished by the Roman state.  The new state religion, a bizarre blending and amalgamation of paganism and Christianity, devoid of any remaining "Jewish" influences, became the dominant religious power in Europe for over one thousand years.

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Nice epilogue, with MIXED signals. Once again, if you’re going to use Bible Student Ideology, understand what they were dealing with, with world events and religious views at that time. What the IBSA message was for that era.

 

If you want to criticize the WTS, then start from 1931…forward.

 

That way people can see the nonsense for what it is, instead of thinking people are smart for throwing out a bunch of meaningless research, just like how FALSE it is to think and QUESTION if the bread used was UNLEAVENED or LEAVEN, please…read the bible.

 

Read and learn what the difference was for the Passover and the Lord’s evening meal, and why so many have misconceptions about the DAY and HOUR. However, after the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Most scholars that research the gospel focus and understand the theme and language to be generally Jewish. But conflicts with some of the Judean establishment as an Intra-Jewish Debate.

 

JW’s literature: Watchtower December 15, 2013 Page 15

 

Jehovah Witnesses obey God’s commandments, NOT the meaningless rhetoric that MAN makes, if Christians should or shouldn’t observe a Jewish Tradition based on Christ words that EVERYONE should observe…since salvation was extended to EVERYONE. So Jews, None Jews, or anyone seeking salvation is invited to the observance of Christ Memorial.

 

Exodus 12:8 context: The First Passover

 

Luke 22:19 context: The Lord's Supper Instituted

 

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

 

22:19,20 The Lord's supper is a sign or memorial of Christ already come, who by dying delivered us; his death is in special manner set before us in that ordinance, by which we are reminded of it. The breaking of Christ's body as a sacrifice for us, is therein brought to our remembrance by the breaking of bread. Nothing can be more nourishing and satisfying to the soul, than the doctrine of Christ's making atonement for sin, and the assurance of an interest in that atonement. Therefore we do this in remembrance of what He did for us, when he died for us; and for a memorial of what we do, in joining ourselves to him in an everlasting covenant. The shedding of Christ's blood, by which the atonement was made, is represented by the wine in the cup.

 

 

Side note: Ann O’maly

 

The only thing you dismantled was how WRONG you are and have been for MANY years. You do better when you criticize the WTS in other sites. At least everyone there knows you’re a non-witness. And yes, there is a conspiracy when your friends DELETE the proof needed to see how wrong you were. But then again, I don’t need that kind of assistance to defend the truth.

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20 hours ago, JWTheologian said:

The only thing you dismantled was how WRONG you are and have been for MANY years

As I said, anybody can read this thread and the Christmas one and decide for themselves whether your blustering claims had any credible support. 

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