Your Birthday: A Pagan Conspiracy

[GeoBQn]

I got this link from Messianic Keepers at Home on why celebrating birthdays (even Christmas) is sinful. It was followed by someone claiming that your birthdate and age are "not the same on any calendar because life begins at conception."

 

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The YouTube page has more information.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

Cool, maybe next they can demonstrate how puppies, sunshine, flowers, smiles, and hugs are also Pagan conspiracies. Did I miss anything pleasant?

[keen23]

So, basically become like Jehovah's Witnesses?

[Avalondaughter]

So, basically become like Jehovah's Witnesses?

:D That was my first thought!

[kpmom]

It always surprises me when I see a group even less joyful than the Maxwells!

[dairyfreelife]

Self-worship and she talks about Paris Hilton? Because a day with a cake, a few presents and making a wish is totally the same as a Billion $ party for 72 hrs in an entire hotel. Love the judgmental vibe at the end..."Enjoy those flaming candles, sinners! You'll see plenty someday when you evil self-worshipping pagans are thrown into hell for your idoltry! No, I'm not holier-than-thou, they're just mad because I'm just right and everyone else is wrong."

Lol at the comment too about funerals being pagan. Don't celebrate a person's life at all. Not when when they're born, not when they grow and not even when they pass. I feel really bad for the children in these families, not even allotted one day to them. I bet these people don't celebrate mother's day or father's day either.

*Mothering Day does have "pagan" roots, but the American mother's day has a different history starting after the civil war's end sometime (can't recall exact date) by Julie Howe and later by Anna Jarvis and Woodrow Wilson made it an offical holiday. Also around the time of the first women's rights groups before women could vote. So, I wonder if any fundies read this, they'll be happy to hear mother's day and later father's day were feminist ideas.*

ETA: Woodrow Wilson, not Roosevelt. :oops: I'm not good with history dates.

[fluttershies]

Yeah, the US Mother's Day is totally different from the UK one. The UK one is in March and is about when people would visit their 'mother' church of their diocese.

[debrand]

I was born on Halloween, the same year as Rosemary's baby-1966. :lol:

[alba]

I don't trust research that says 'Scholars believe' and doesn't cite sources. She claims that singing 'happy birthday' is designed to ward off evil spirits, but IIRC that song is copyrighted, so it can't be that old. So, yeah, I call bullshit on the research.

I love how she compares a small celebration with family and friends to a million-dollar, extended party. That is a serious logic fail.

The grammar geek in me is also pissed off that this woman doesn't know how to use apostrophes. They're not used for plurals, dammit!

[Terrasola]

Cool, maybe next they can demonstrate how puppies, sunshine, flowers, smiles, and hugs are also Pagan conspiracies. Did I miss anything pleasant?

Yes, sex. Want to know the real meaning of the May Pole and May Day (Beltane) celebrations? :wink:

[maybeizfundie]

Oooh, another pet peve, lol.

We do birthdays. Not to teach our children self-love but to say "Hey! We remember the day you were born and it was such a great day! We're happy you're here and look at how you've grown in just one year. You're awesome. Let's eat cake!" :D

How is the birthday song to ward off evil spirits??? It doesn't say anything but "Happy birthday dear [insert name]". I wonder if she'd be OK with our Jesus-y birthday song or if that would be OK?

If people want to do away with "pagan origins" I hope they're willing to stop using the common names for days and months of the year.

[TXDuck]

So, no birthdays, no Christmas, apparently no Easter, definitely no Halloween. What do these types of people do for fun? Do they celebrate anything? (I've seen photos of their weddings. I don't think those can be classified as joyful, let alone celebrations.) How do they cope with nothing to look forward to, no acknowledgment of the passing of time, one day drearily blending into another?

And really birthdays are pagan? Reaching a bit, I think.

[OohLaLa]

Da fuck? They can make a sin out of anything, can't they? I guess we shouldn't tell them about Christianity's pagan roots then...

And if Jesus was real, and was here today, I have a feeling he would be comparing these types to the Pharisees, not his followers.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Da fuck? They can make a sin out of anything, can't they? I guess we shouldn't tell them about Christianity's pagan roots then...

And if Jesus was real, and was here today, I have a feeling he would be comparing these types to the Pharisees, not his followers.

I suspect she does know about Christianity's pagan roots, which is why she seems to be calling herself an Israelite and denouncing Christmas and Valentine's Day as well. She doesn't seem to be a JW, but some of the views appear to be similar.

Wonder what she thinks of celebrating birthdays according to the Hebrew calendar?

Also, Jews didn't make feast for births for the simple reason that they celebrated the bris a week later for baby boys. We also have references to weaning feasts - it's quite possible that in a world of higher infant mortality, weaning was the more important milestone, to mark that a child had survived infancy. There clearly was a way of keeping track of someone's age, because ages are listed frequently in the Bible.

Finally, is it possible that something could be both a Pagan and non-Pagan holiday, simply because celebrations of life cycle events and harvest-related stuff could be universal?

[lilwriter85]

That video reminded me a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses like a couple of other posters mentioned.

[ladypuglover]

I tried watching it, I really did but my pugs got so pissed at her voice that I could only make it to a minute before their barking made me turn it off. Maybe it is because not do we celebrate our birthdays but our feline headships and theirsand their big sister Matty, our lab, just groaned in relief that I got the pugs to stop barking.

So in order to keep peace I will just have to go what everyone is saying and other up this to the moron: :doh:

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

Yes, sex. Want to know the real meaning of the May Pole and May Day (Beltane) celebrations? :wink:

NO WAY?! :lol:

[OohLaLa]

I suspect she does know about Christianity's pagan roots, which is why she seems to be calling herself an Israelite and denouncing Christmas and Valentine's Day as well. She doesn't seem to be a JW, but some of the views appear to be similar.

Ahh, I missed that part in my indignation. Oh well, she's still a moron.

[lilwriter85]

So, no birthdays, no Christmas, apparently no Easter, definitely no Halloween. What do these types of people do for fun? Do they celebrate anything? (I've seen photos of their weddings. I don't think those can be classified as joyful, let alone celebrations.) How do they cope with nothing to look forward to, no acknowledgment of the passing of time, one day drearily blending into another?

And really birthdays are pagan? Reaching a bit, I think.

I don't know any Messianics. I think maybe some of them do joyful things, but I bet some of them pretty much live very bland lives. JWs are similar and I've known some JWs who find things to do for fun. I have a childhood friend who was raised JW. She and her family are no longer JW. On Halloween and Christmas, her family would watch movies or play board games. Her family had a huge basement, so on Halloween they would hang out down there. Most of their neighbors didn't bother them. As for the birthday thing, they did allow their kids to attend birthday parties that they were invited to. I know JW family that really doesn't do anything at all for fun. The mother of this family worked with my mom years ago. Her family didn't watch TV or movies at all and they were strict about a lot of things. I've read some stuff on ex JW, sites and peoples attitudes on joy and celebrations vary quite a bit. There was a guy whose family had graduation parties and he said that was controversy with some of their relatives.

[anniebgood]

My friend is an organist for a Christian Science church and the only holiday they celebrate is Thanksgiving, which I believe the JW's do as well. He said they don't' have weddings or funerals or baptisms. When someone dies, they've evolved to another existence and they aren't spoken of or grieved for.

He's a Catholic and he says he's about had it. If it weren't for the need of money (like us all) he'd be outta there.

[2xx1xy1JD]

At least in Orthodox Judaism, when we reject holidays from other religious traditions (we don't do Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentine's Day, or St. Patrick's Day, and Canadian Thanksgiving also tends to be neglected for practical reasons.), we make up for it by having a zillion more of our own, LOL.

No funerals? I had no idea that there were cultures without any mourning rituals. They don't speak of the deceased at all?

[GeoBQn]

If people want to do away with "pagan origins" I hope they're willing to stop using the common names for days and months of the year.

On Messianic Keepers At Home, some of the women there talked about replacing the English day names with Hebrew ones since those are just numbers. (Sunday="First Day", Friday="Sixth Day") Not sure what they are doing about months, since Hebrew months don't correspond neatly with the Gregorian Calendar. Even more confusing is that some of them don't follow the Rabbinical Jewish Hebrew Calendar--some of them follow the Karaite or "Barley" calendar, which resulted in some of them "celebrating" Passover days before actual Jews did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_cal ... e_calendar

Either way, they are going to have a hell of a time trying to schedule an appointment or anything else having to do with the outside world.

[anniebgood]

Indeed, Christian Science teaches that death itself is an illusion, and that it can, and will, be ultimately conquered through the conquest of sin, as taught by Christ Jesus and exemplified in his life. A person who seems to die does not "go" anywhere: he/she simply adjusts to another level of consciousness which is inaccessible to those they have left behind.

The Church of Christ, Scientist, on the other hand, does not designate special arrangements or rituals for funerals or mourning and a funeral service is optional. The service usually includes no personal remarks or eulogy, but the family's wishes are taken into account.

My friend has played there for 5 years and they've never had a funeral or memorial at that church.

[Sweetpea1]

I was born on Halloween, the same year as Rosemary's baby-1966. :lol:

All that means is you need to have a Harry Potter cake at your next birthday.

[JMarie]

My friend is an organist for a Christian Science church and the only holiday they celebrate is Thanksgiving, which I believe the JW's do as well. He said they don't' have weddings or funerals or baptisms. When someone dies, they've evolved to another existence and they aren't spoken of or grieved for.

He's a Catholic and he says he's about had it. If it weren't for the need of money (like us all) he'd be outta there.

JW don't celebrate Thanksgiving or any other national holidays. They pledge allegiance to Jehovah only, and not to any government entity. They also don't vote or join the military.