Why don't Jehovah's Witnesses celebrate Easter?

[JW Insider]

1 hour ago, AllenSmith said:

That's why true "Witnesses" keep to the only biblical driven commemoration of Christ death, NOT a celebration but a heartfelt appreciation, of his sacrifice.

I never claimed that I wouldn't be judged for it, but I'm not worried. That was my point in the first place, that we so often judge others harshly when so much of what they do is merely ignorance but often with the right motivation. A zeal sometimes, but without knowledge. For example, a couple of years back someone showed on these same forums (jw-archive, actually), a picture of the aftermath of a burnt Christmas tree and burnt presents, a lot of fire damage, and who knows, maybe even a melted nativity scene among the burnt wreckage. At least one poster was positively gleeful that they got what they deserved. (After all, Babylon the Great will be burnt with fire.)

Yet, this doesn't mean that the idea of celebrating Jesus birth is a bad thing, or even unscriptural. Did you never read the scripture that says:

(Luke 1:14, 15) 14 You will have joy and great gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of Jehovah. . .

This means that many people would rejoice over, or celebrate the birth of the lesser, forerunner to Jesus, who was much greater, and would bring much more rejoicing and celebration. Also, note that this joy over his birth would be after he was older, after he becomes someone known to be great in the sight of Jehovah.

But something else that often goes unnoticed is that this word for "rejoice" is the exact same word as the one translated as "celebrate" here, in the NWT:

(Revelation 11:10) 10 And those dwelling on the earth rejoice over them and celebrate, and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those dwelling on the earth.

Although there is a range of meaning, as with most words, wherever the context is about exceeding joy or active rejoicing, the Greek word is properly translated "celebrate" in many English translations. That would mean that celebrate is also a good translation for these other verses:

(John 3:29) . . .But the friend of the bridegroom, when he stands and hears him, has a great deal of joy [celebrates] on account of the voice of the bridegroom. So my joy has been made complete.

(John 14:28) You heard that I said to you, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice [celebrate] that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am. [note the idea of "celebrating" Jesus' resurrection and ascension.]

(John 16:22) So you also, now you have grief; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, [celebrate] and no one will take away your joy.

Many more verses could be used, but the overall point is this:

(Matthew 11:16-19) 16 “With whom will I compare this generation? It is like young children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to their playmates, 17 saying: ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance; we wailed, but you did not beat yourselves in grief.’ 18 Likewise, John came neither eating nor drinking, but people say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of man did come eating and drinking, but people say, ‘Look! A man who is a glutton and is given to drinking wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ All the same, wisdom is proved righteous by its works.”

(Philippians 4:4) 4 Always rejoice  [celebrate] in the Lord. Again I will say, Rejoice! [Celebrate!]

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-19) 16 Always be rejoicing. [celebrating] 17 Pray constantly. 18 Give thanks for everything. This is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not put out the fire of the spirit.

For the sake of completeness, I should probably point out that there is one verse where the NWT uses the word "celebrate" when the Greek word just means "make" or "do" or in the following sense "keep."

(Matthew 26:18) . . ., ‘The Teacher says: “My appointed time is near; I will celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your home.”’”

In this case, the term "celebrate" is not so appropriate. It's the exact same common word as used here:

(Matthew 8:8, 9) . . .. 9 For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘ Do this!’ and he does it.”

(Matthew 5:32) 32 However, I say to you that everyone divorcing his wife, except on account of sexual immorality, makes her a subject for adultery

In some senses, there is nothing wrong with "celebrating" the Lord's Evening Meal, but clearly 1 Corinthians 11 and other verses show that it is really only in the sense of "keeping" the institution, not your typical kind of joyful celebration, which was the sense with which the Bible refers to the disciple's attitude about Jesus' resurrection, ascension. But we rejoice in all the blessings that come about because of his death, and through his resurrection.

 

 

[Anna]

1 hour ago, JW Insider said:

I don't know. But every single Easter Sermon that I have read, from modern times going back to the 1700's --and I've read about 20-- appears to revolve around this exact idea

Most of it (Easter) focuses on the resurrection of Christ and it is the resurrection that is celebrated, after all that is the happy time and climax of the whole event. But the only ceremonial event that Jesus instructed his followers to observe was the "last supper", practiced by by the Catholics and others as the Eucharist or holy communion etc. (not once a year but many times a year). Easter, for most people and their children, after they have been to the sermon, (that is if they bother to go to church) is about the bunnies and the eggs (chocolate or painted, the eggs that is) etc. with many countries having their own particular Easter traditions (derived from goodness knows where) such as boys flogging girls with hand made braided willow twigs. Ouch.

45 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

Yet, this doesn't mean that the idea of celebrating Jesus birth is a bad thing

No it isn't. Those who are ignorant believe they are doing a fine thing, they are looking to the authority of the Church as their example and spiritual guide. The early Bible students thought it was a fine thing too. Why did they change?

50 minutes ago, JW Insider said:

or even unscriptural.

I will have to disagree with you there. Your quoted scripture "(Luke 1:14, 15) 14 You will have joy and great gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of Jehovah. ." 

to me does not indicate John's birth was to be, or was, celebrated every year. I read it as a statement, that yes, many did rejoice over his birth, and verse 15 I believe was a projection into the future, again making a statement that when he grows up he WILL be great.

1 hour ago, JW Insider said:

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-19) 16 Always be rejoicing. [celebrating] 17 Pray constantly. 18 Give thanks for everything. This is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not put out the fire of the spirit.

This shows that rejoicing, although as you pointed out is a celebration too, is different from an actual Church instituted celebration which is based more on ceremonious gestures and traditions rather than spontaneous feelings of joy and appreciation akin to praying constantly and giving thanks (any time, any where).

[Anna]

1 hour ago, JW Insider said:

(John 14:28) You heard that I said to you, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice [celebrate] that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am. [note the idea of "celebrating" Jesus' resurrection and ascension.]

I don't really see why that should have made the clergy believe they were to do this every year. In context it is clear that Jesus was trying to build up his disciples who were troubled and sad that their friend and teacher will no longer be with them. The preceding sentence: "Do not let your hearts be troubled nor let them shrink out of fear"

[JW Insider]

What I was speaking about is not a recommendation for what we as Witnesses should do, but about how quickly we tend to judge others and not give them the benefit of the doubt about their motives. When I am speaking about my own attitude toward Easter, I am not at all speaking of a formal, yearly celebration either, of course. I am only using the term Easter as a way to remind us of how quickly we pigeonhole people who would use the term Easter for a valid appreciation and celebratory rejoicing over Christ's resurrection. Yet for many people in many religions, they speak of wanting to do the exact same thing for their Easter celebration. In no way would a valid appreciation of Easter, in the sense of meditating on Christ's resurrection, diminish from our appreciation of The Last Supper and its meaning. So in a sense I only threw in the word "Easter" the way a Internet troll might try to see how fast someone would jump in and judge as if the word means the same to all people.

4 hours ago, Anna said:

Most of it (Easter) focuses on the resurrection of Christ and it is the resurrection that is celebrated, after all that is the happy time and climax of the whole event. But the only ceremonial event that Jesus instructed his followers to observe was the "last supper", practiced by by the Catholics and others as the Eucharist or holy communion etc. (not once a year but many times a year). Easter, for most people and their children, after they have been to the sermon, (that is if they bother to go to church) is about the bunnies and the eggs (chocolate or painted, the eggs that is) etc. with many countries having their own particular Easter traditions (derived from goodness knows where) such as boys flogging girls with hand made braided willow twigs. Ouch.

It's absolutely true that the only ceremonial event that Jesus instructed his followers to observe was the "last supper." We don't know that it should be followed yearly because the Bible doesn't say, but this makes perfect sense and is easily defended.

I suspect you are right about how most (50.1% or more) nominal Christians (churchgoers) celebrate Easter after the church sermon. I live in an area where there are three large churches, two of which were once synagogues 10 to 15 years ago, and they are attended by at least 1,000 cars between them, about two or three nights a week. Parking reaches to my house, three blocks away, on "Easter Sunday." Many are evangelicals and I've talked to them at their door and in some of their homes, of course. They give me a much more serious impression of what they think of their own regular church services. I'm only guessing that their view of Easter is similar. One of the churches is Baptist and they have built a kind of assembly hall across from the original church for their expansion needs. They tend to dress up in the cliche "Easter-best" of their Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes. It's a little bit comical, but I've seen a tendency to do the same at the Hall in recent years too. The Baptists are less likely to talk to Witnesses for very long around here.

I wasn't aware of the flogging rituals for children. Sounds as evil as Halloween. I see all the Easter candy at stores and think of it as just purely secular, and didn't really equate that with Easter in any sense. But you are right about kids and therefore a lot of parents. It's probably just about all they remember about Easter. 

4 hours ago, Anna said:

5 hours ago, JW Insider said:

Yet, this doesn't mean that the idea of celebrating Jesus birth is a bad thing

No it isn't. Those who are ignorant believe they are doing a fine thing, they are looking to the authority of the Church as their example and spiritual guide. The early Bible students thought it was a fine thing too. Why did they change?

As we all know, they changed because Christmas is too steeped in pagan influences. This was obviously a very valid choice and, not that it matters of course, but I go along with it perfectly. If they hadn't made this decision, they obviously would have made many important adjustments to the way it was celebrated to avoid so much paganism, removing the lies about a gift-giving magic fat-man, etc. I agree that it sends a clearer message not to celebrate at all, and it no doubt was expected to make Witnesses feel more separate, if not from the rest of world, at least from Russellism. If we discover that it was done just to make a colder and more serious, hardened, focused group out of these would-be Witnesses, in the same way that Rutherford spoke out against marriage, courtship, and romantic affection, then I wouldn't be surprised if certain compromises about Christmas might be made. I am not recommending this. As we know, both the Rutherford-following Bible Students and the Russell-following (Christmas-celebrating) Bible Students both fared equally well in Hitler's concentration camps, so I'm not sure if anyone can say that removing Christmas was a factor in the seriousness of their resolve.

4 hours ago, Anna said:

5 hours ago, JW Insider said:

or even unscriptural.

I will have to disagree with you there. Your quoted scripture "(Luke 1:14, 15) 14 You will have joy and great gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of Jehovah. ." 

to me does not indicate John's birth was to be, or was, celebrated every year. I read it as a statement, that yes, many did rejoice over his birth, and verse 15 I believe was a projection into the future, again making a statement that when he grows up he WILL be great.

No, I'm sure it was never about people celebrating his birthday every year, just that people would celebrate the fact of his birth and what it led to. I think the word "for" makes the celebration happen in the future, but can't be sure. My only point is that Jesus' birth would be celebrated even more on that same principle. If people should feel this way about the forerunner, how much more celebratory would they feel about the real thing? I was not making any comment about yearly formal birthday celebrations, only a comment about the logical step that most people would naturally see in this verse.

5 hours ago, Anna said:

This shows that rejoicing, although as you pointed out is a celebration too, is different from an actual Church instituted celebration which is based more on ceremonious gestures and traditions rather than spontaneous feelings of joy and appreciation akin to praying constantly and giving thanks (any time, any where).

Yes, good point. But that is mostly how I intended it when saying that I, too, "celebrate Easter," meaning, of course, that I am thrilled and joyous each time I read the Bible accounts of Jesus death and resurrection, at any time of year. I thought it was important that my children learn to share that joy, and children sometimes need more tangible reminders in advance, especially if we are going to do three family Bible studies, three evenings in a row, ending each with a question about how they thought the disciples slept (or didn't sleep) that particular night from Thursday, Friday and Saturday. A mental re-enactment of what happened Sunday morning, through Bible reading of the events of that morning, was my method of "celebrating" for several of their younger years, and now I would do it again for my grandchildren. Of course, I would definitely never call it "celebrating Easter" in front of them, but I do see it as a kind of ceremonious gesture or tradition. There have been recommendations for 'family worship night' that are not so different.

[JW Insider]

16 hours ago, AllenSmith said:

Where is it written that we must celebrate the life and death of Jesus?

Good question. Although this was already answered. I'll try a different way:

Notice that the New World Translation correctly translates the word "euphraino" as "celebrate" in Revelation 11:10, Luke 15, and . It's the same word used in Luke 12:19. You might not agree that it has the sense of "celebrate" but here is how the NWT translates it. The NWT does not always translate it with the term "celebrate" but notice the context even in those places, and you should see that the world "celebrate" is just as appropriate even when the NWT sometimes picks another word. In other words you could read those other verses as if they had the word "celebrate" in all those places. In fact you will find other translations that use the word not just where the NWT uses it, but some of these other places too.

(Revelation 11:10) And those dwelling on the earth rejoice [chairo] over them and celebrate, [euphraino] and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those dwelling on the earth.

(Luke 12:19) “You have many good things stored up for many years; take it easy, eat, drink, enjoy yourself.”’ [ euphraino, also, "be merry"]

(Luke 15:22-24) ²² But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quick! bring out a robe, the best one, and clothe him with it, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ Also bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let us eat and celebrate, [euphraino] ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead but has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they started to enjoy themselves. [euphraino]

(Luke 15:29) In reply he said to his father, ‘Look! These many years I have slaved for you and never once did I disobey your orders, and yet you never once gave me a young goat to enjoy [euphraino] with my friends.

(Luke 15:32) But we just had to celebrate [euphraino] and rejoice, [chairo] for your brother was dead but has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

(Acts 2:24-28) ²⁴ But God resurrected him by releasing him from the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held fast by it. ²⁵ For David says about him: ‘I keep Jehovah constantly in front of me, for he is at my right hand that I may never be shaken. ²⁶ On this account my heart became cheerful [euphraino] and my tongue rejoiced greatly.[Gk, agalliao] And I will reside in hope; ²⁷ because you will not leave me in the Grave, nor will you allow your loyal one to see corruption. ²⁸ You have made life’s ways known to me; you will fill me with great joy [euphrosyne] in your presence.’

When these Greek terms [euphraino/euphrosyne, agalliao, chairo] are used in such contexts, it should be clear that the idea of celebration is appropriate. Whenever you see the term "rejoice" in Scripture, you should know that celebration is appropriate. (I covered some of the "rejoice" verses in the previous post on this subject.) The NWT has also used the word "celebrate" to translate several of the places where these terms are used. Acts 2:24-28 ties these terms directly to Jesus' resurrection. And 1 Peter 1:3-9 includes the resurrection as a key part of what leads to our joy:

(1 Peter 1:3-9) ³ Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for according to his great mercy he gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ . . .  ⁶ Because of this you are greatly rejoicing,[Gk, agalliao] . . .  ⁸ Though you never saw him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, yet you exercise faith in him and are greatly rejoicing [Gk, agalliao] with an indescribable and glorious joy . . .

I would like to add that even if you don't believe that any of these terms really mean "celebrate," it doesn't matter, because it's what I meant when I used the term "celebrate."

When you ask where it is written that we must celebrate the death of Jesus, I would admit that the Bible never uses the terms for "celebrate" with respect to his death. When the NWT uses the expression 'celebrate the Passover' it's only in the sense of 'keeping' the occasion, as I mentioned in a previous post. None of the words implying a "celebration" are in the original Greek here. It's a more appropriate time to commemorate the seriousness of his death, and in effect a time to 'grieve' rather than celebrate:

(John 16:20-22) ²⁰ Most truly I say to you, you will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice;[chairo] you will be grieved, but your grief will be turned into joy. [chara] ²¹ When a woman is giving birth, she has grief because her hour has come, but when she has given birth to the child, she remembers the tribulation no more because of the joy that a man has been born into the world. ²² So you also, now you have grief; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

That covers your questions #1 through #3 and questions #4 through #6 were obviously for someone else, since they had not bearing on anything I had said. As you should be able to see, the view is perfectly in accord with the verses you referred to: Matthew 26:17-30, 1 Cor 11:24, and especially Romans 12:2, where the context includes:

(Romans 12:11-15) . . .Be aglow with the spirit. Slave for Jehovah. ¹² Rejoice in the hope. . . . ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.