Birthdays

Brethren & Co-Workers Letter - November 23, 1953 Herbert W Armstrong - November 23, 1953 “Nowhere does the Bible tell us to celebrate Christ's birthday. Only PAGANS celebrated birthdays, and THE BIBLE CONDEMNS THE CHRISTMAS TREE WITH ITS PRESENTS ON IT.” Brethren & Co-Workers Letter - November 21, 1960 Herbert W Armstrong - November 21, 1960 “But even if one believes December 25 to be Christ's birthday —even if one did not realize that celebrating birthdays is a HEATHEN custom, and not Christian” Brethren & Co-Workers Letter - December 11, 1961 Herbert W Armstrong- December 11, 1961 “People suppose that Christians are taught by the Bible to give birthday presents. NOWHERE does the Bible recognize honoring birthdays, except by pagans who are in defiance of God.” Brethren & Co-Workers Letter - December 13, 1963 Herbert W Armstrong- December 13, 1963 “In the BIBLE, only pagans celebrate birthdays. CHRIST IS NOT IN IT!“ Brethren & Co-Workers Letter - November 11, 1964 Herbert W Armstrong- November 11, 1964 “And only PAGANS observe birthdays! It's a PAGAN custom which GOD FORBIDS—and you DISOBEY HIM WHEN YOU DO IT!” Brethren & Co-Workers Letter - December 14, 1964 Herbert W Armstrong - December 14, 1964 “But look at the FACTS! December 25 is not Jesus Christ's birthday! Jesus was not born at this season of the year! And the idea of celebrating birthdays is NOT Christian, but an old heathen, pagan custom! None of the Apostles ever celebrated Jesus' birthday!” Watering Down - Or Building Solidly Up? Herbert W Armstrong - Worldwide News - June 11, 1979 “The following article, which appeared in the June 4 Pastor's Report, was written by Herbert W. Armstrong from Tunis, Tunisia, June 3…Fellow ministers, I say to you by Christ's authority that for one claiming to be a minister of Jesus Christ and receiving a salary as a minister of, and representative of this Church, to water down or make less binding the teachings and doctrines Jesus Christ put in this Church through me is taking money (salary) under false pretenses. It is SERIOUS and a SERIOUS SIN. God will call everyone who does that to account… I know that the large majority of you ministers are faithful in preaching the doctrines the living Christ has put into His Church through me. Yet under my son's assuming more authority than had been given him, there was a great letdown and dereliction of duty creeping in through a portion of the ministry. In the army, during wartime, for such dereliction of duty they might just rid the guilty officer by a firing squad. HOW MUCH MORE SERIOUS IS WATERING DOWN OF DOCTRINES AND THE FAITH IN GOD'S WORK?... Jesus Christ holds ME accountable for how I administer HIS GOVERNMENT! If a minister plants doubts in the minds of his congregation, remember, "He that doubteth is damned." Jesus said that for one to deliberately lead even one of "these little ones" astray, it would be better if a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he was drowned in the ocean…This is a SERIOUS MATTER WITH GOD!...This letter continues: "I don't have to tell you that man's desires are carnal and that Satan's pulls are always in a manner away from the truth. I'd sure like to find some excuse to spend that third-tithe money some other way. And it sure is easy to do that when God's ministers aren't constantly proclaiming God's commands, and aren't powerfully preaching His ways, expounding His laws! Exhorting the brethren!! Exposing their sins!! And what happened to sermons on birthdays being wrong, New Year's celebrations being wrong, Valentine's Day being wrong? We need someone to solidly and loudly and firmly, not saying... 'you do whatever you want.' But saying: 'God condemns those who follow their own ways and Satan's ways. He refuses to bless them and He curses them' — and then giving them scriptures.” Why does the Bible omit mention of the birthdates of the patriarchs? Such men as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joseph and even our Savior and Great Hight Priest, Jesus Christ? Is the day of one's birth of any great importance or focus to God? Seriously, what's wrong with such a "harmless" observance as marking the day of your birth? Should such a scene ever occur in the home of a member of God’s Church? God's Word reveals the proper Christian attitude, and it's inextricably tied to the purpose of human life! Don’t believe me, believe your Bible! Search your Bible! It reveals God's attitude as opposed to your own human reasoning or some idea you have allowed satan to pump into your mind. How many birthday celebrations do you find in God’s Word? Only two definite birthday celebrations are mentioned in the entire Bible. First, an Egyptian pharaoh marked the day of his birth by hanging his chief baker (Gen. 40:20-22). Second, Herod granted the request of Herodias' daughter and had John the Baptist beheaded (Matt. 14:6-11). Not a single mention is ever made of the exact date in terms of the month and day upon which these individuals were born! Isn't all this strange in the light of the popular modern practice? Birthdays seem to have little importance in God's eyes! How about your eyes? The children of Job may have been holding birthday celebrations when they partied together, " And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them" (Job 1:4). Notice how perfect, upright Job viewed these "harmless" celebrations and reacted to them: "And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts" (verse 5). Solomon with all his wisdom wrote, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than... the house of feasting" (Ecc. 7:2). It was at one of these very feasts that, by God's express permission, satan caused a blast of wind to flatten the house Job's children were in, killing all ten of them (v18-19). Job himself actually cursed his own birthday, “May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived’” (Job 3:3). It was to show His death that Christ commanded His disciples to continue in the observance of the Passover. No mention of the date of Jesus’ birth as a human being is found. Certainly, your birthdate is not as important as His! Why did God the Father intend that Jesus' birthdate should be forgotten but that man should remember the date of His death? Is it hard to believe, "the day of death... is better... than the day of one's birth"? The Jews in Christ's day knew God's law forbids celebrating birthdays. Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century, declares: "Nay, indeed, the law does not permit us to make festivals at the births of our children..." (Against Apion, book II, §26). We live in a world today that is geared to the Roman calendar. We remember the date of our birth, pay our taxes and have our tombstones engraved with the day we die — all in accord with a pagan Roman system of calculating time. The Roman calendar in use today is pagan in origin! It begins with January 1 in honor of the birth of the new sun! The sun is now dropping lower and lower in the southern portion of the sky. The days are becoming shorter, but on December 21 (according to the present Roman calendar) the southward movement stops and a new year begins. January 1 is in honor of the return of the sun! As our ancestors worshipped the sun, so our people today drink toasts to this pagan new year and make vows — New Year's Resolutions — in celebration of the return of the sun to its northern course. Where do you find such a custom sanctioned in the Bible? We don’t! In following this Roman calendar in our daily lives we make use of the pagan names attached to the days of the week and months of the year. Sunday, Moonday, Tiwsday, Wodensday, Thorsday, Friggasday, Saturnsday are all titles given by the pagans. The single designation given in the Scriptures was the term Sabbath to the seventh day of the week; all others were numbered. We are obligated to make use of this roman calendar in this present world but let's recognize it for what it is. Consider the tactics of our arch-enemy, Satan. His work of deceptions pervades every field of endeavor, every practice, every custom, everything we deal with in life. Think back. For instance, doesn't January 1 completely overshadow in our minds the date God ordained for ancient Israel that a new year should begin. How many of us actually took note of when God’s new year began (Ex. 12:2)? Most of the world has utterly refused to keep the true Holy Days God ordained. The world has instead followed its own ideas, under satan's deceptive influence, and produced the mishmash of confusing and conflicting religious beliefs we see around us today. In response to man's Babylon of religious anarchy, God thunders: “Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you [g]spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood” (Isa. 1:14-15). That's what God thinks of worldly customs and celebrations! Have we forgotten we are commanded to come out of this world? The calendar given by God to Israel in the time of Moses was not at all adapted to birthday celebrations. Have you pitied (or perhaps envied!) the individual who was born Feb. 29 and, technically, could receive gifts and congratulations only once every four years? This single irregularity of the Roman calendar affects only about one individual in every 1,461. But the irregularities of the calendar God gave would affect the birthday observances of one person in every eight. The calendar still in use by the Jews is fundamentally the same one God gave Moses for the children of Israel. But why isn't this calendar suitable for birthday observance? The Roman calendar has a single month, February, that varies in length according to a simple one-year-in-four pattern. God's sacred calendar, committed to the Jews for preservation to our time, has three months that vary in length from 29 to 30 'days after a rather complicated pattern. Three times as many people are affected. A still greater deterrent to annual birthday observance is the insertion of a 13th month in the third, sixth, eighth, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of a 19-year time cycle. Imagine the confusion of attempting to schedule birthday parties! It is true that some Jewish people, following pagan customs, attempt to use this ancient calendar to observe their birthdays. A rather intricate set of human rules governs whether to move the celebration ahead or back one day, or back one 'month in the absence of the 13th month. Different regulations are applied and the practice is not uniformly followed by all. What wisdom prompted God to give mankind such a calendar? But true Christians follow God, not Jews who have adopted pagan customs. It certainly discouraged the practice of observing birthdays and other celebrations. The net result was to deprive mankind of the opportunity to set aside birthdays. God's people certainly knew the date of their births, but they kept track of their ages by calendar years, not birth dates. What is the correct attitude? What should be the correct evaluation of those who supposedly understand the true purpose for human life? To this world, the day of a person's birth is important. But the Bible makes a seemingly cryptic statement that "the day of death [is better] than the day of one's birth" (Eccl. 7:1). How can this be? Our birth into this world is an important day. But we need to understand why the day of death is better. How can this be? What wisdom had God given to Solomon to see a principle here that escapes us? The basic purpose of observing birthdays is to keep track of one's age. How important are mere years! Is there not something more important than having achieved only another birthday? Paul gives us the answer. Writing near the time of his death, he said: “I have fought the good fight [in overcoming in this human life], I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8). The day Paul began this life as a baby could hardly be compared in importance with the day he, at death, made certain his reward by enduring the problems and trials of a Christian life to the end. Job looked forward to the time of his rebirth: "For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh [apart from] I shall see God” (Job 19:25-26). Job 14:14-15: “If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, Till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands.” Instead of looking backward to a physical birth into this temporary life where we are composed of dust, Job understood the true values of life and looked forward to a rebirth into everlasting life as a spirit being and member of the Family of God in the Kingdom of God. The patriarchs are still in their graves looking forward to the only birthday that really counts. This is the event you should be looking forward to as well. On the contrary, to celebrate birthdays is to add to the law—and whoever does that will be added to the lake of fire. A Pentecost Message Herbert W Armstrong - Sermon - Pentecost - June 6, 1981 Tomorrow is the day that we call Pentecost. Really it begins now in just a few hours from now, at sunset this evening. It's been called Pentecost in the New Testament. Originally, it was called the feast of firstfruits; and it also is called the feast of weeks in the Old Testament. It means nothing to most people. Well, it should because it is the day on which the Church was founded. And, beginning at sunset tonight, is the 1950th anniversary of the Church of God — one time cycle plus 50 years exactly, precisely (beginning tonight at sunset). I prefer to call it an anniversary, rather than a birthday, because we don't celebrate birthdays. But it is an anniversary! Why The Church? Herbert W Armstrong - Sermon - March 6, 1982 You know, most people observe certain religious holidays every year; and they don't know why — except that they stimulate the sale of merchandise (like Christmas, Easter, Halloween). They all have something to do with the sale of merchandise, but no real purpose when you get down to it. Christmas does not celebrate the birth of Christ; and, even if it did, why should we be celebrating it? In the Bible only pagans ever celebrated birthdays, not God's people. What's the purpose? Why should you celebrate a birthday? They have no reason. Recent History of the Philadelphia Era of the Worldwide Church of God Herbert W Armstrong - Worldwide News - June 24, 1985 These liberal wanted complete freedom in the Church for divorce and remarriage at will. Other questions raised by the liberals were complete freedom for any type marriage, some more and some less freedom from tithing, doing away with or modifying Church teachings on healing by direct prayer as in James 5:14 complete freedom for women in facial makeup, and even the approval of celebrating birthdays (never approved in the Bible) and even of voting in elections as part of the world. The Bible reveals that celebrating our physical birth is not an issue of primary importance to God. He is far more concerned with the development of spiritual character within us and our being born into His Kingdom (Rev. 21:7; Rom. 2:7; John 12:24-25). It is evident that God does not want His people to mimic the world in a self-serving and greedy approach. This certainly includes our approach to birthdays. Is there a difference between a simple acknowledgment that someone is a year older and observing the fact with a celebration? Maybe, but where does it stop? Being born is not pagan. Being a year older is not pagan. Milestones and life achievements are not necessarily pagan. On the other hand, a birthday celebration with its usual trappings, inviting guests, giving elaborate gifts, baking and decorating a cake, lighting candles, and so forth, is an entirely different matter. This kind of festivity tends to accentuate flattery and vanity—the “I-me-my” attitude—and the get rather than the give way of life. Vanity and glorifying the self, of course, are condemned in God's Word (please see Galatians 5:26; II Peter 2:18; Colossians 2:18; I Corinthians 5:6; and Psalm 24:3-4).