HezzeroftheWezzer
HezzeroftheWezzer t1_j20069r wrote
Reply to comment by 944335 in TIFU by making children question their religion by fairiefire
>Are you a JW?
Yes. However, I was raised by a Jehovah's Witness mother and Roman Catholic father.
Until I was a teenager, I had a foot in both worlds ... all the teachings from my Mom and birthdays, holidays, etc. with Dad and his family.
When I went to college, I walked away from everything on both sides. I wasn't following JW's, but I also wasn't celebrating holidays because I knew their true origins - and it was not in Christian or Bible teachings. It made no more sense to me than if I just started randomly observing Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.
In my mid-20s, after college and marriage, I started examining other religions, talking with various ministers, but in every case there were too many examples of their teachings in conflict with specific Bible principles and they could offer no explanation or reconciliation.
There was literally only one religion that followed the Bible completely, so I started studying the Bible again with them, as did my husband. We did for two years and were baptized. (My husband was previously Methodist and Baptist.)
HezzeroftheWezzer t1_j1xa7kr wrote
>They informed me that Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to celebrate anything (not birthdays, and certainly not Halloween) in order to not be seen as seeing themselves as higher than God.
This is not why. Any holidays or celebrations not celebrated are because of origins that are in direct conflict with Bible teachings.
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>Candy was great and what's wrong with that?
No. There is nothing wrong with candy.
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>They went on to say that Halloween is Satan's birthday, so it's very bad to celebrate it,
No. Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that Halloween is Satan's birthday. (How would anyone know such a thing? Puh-lease!) Halloween has its roots in the festival of Samhain which is a pagan religious celebration - in complete conflict with Bible-based teachings.
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>I asked "Satan has a birthday? And he was a fallen angel, right? So do all the angels have birthdays?"
Yes, actually .... as you said. God talks about how his first-born of creation, Jesus, helped him create everything else thereafter ... including the millions (myriads upon myriads) mentioned in the Bible. So it stands to reason that they all must have had a "day of birth".
Regardless, it has nothing to do with why Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays or holidays. When a person looks into the origins of all of the secular holidays and sees how they have been adulterated by incorporating from other religions that were opposed and abhorred by God and Jesus, one does not feel bad or left out ... only relieved that they are not participating.
Origins matter. A delicious, shiny piece of candy loses its luster once you know that someone procured it from the gutter. Someone people would say "Oh, it still has its wrapper on it. It's safe to eat." And they do. I am not one of those people; I throw it away.
HezzeroftheWezzer t1_j1in0rp wrote
Reply to comment by scruffyfatguy in TIFU by asking about my wife's dog by scruffyfatguy
>u/scruffyfatguy
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>Our whole future together came down to chance. That dog liked NO ONE.
Not true! Tink liked you!
Chihuahua's can be temperamental little a-holes, as we all know. And yet this dog knew immediately - as dogs do - that you were good people. That's not chance. That was a discerning little doggo.
Stop overthinking this, hug your wife, be thankful for your awesome family, and give a little toast to Tink tonight.
HezzeroftheWezzer t1_j69708t wrote
Reply to TIFU by thinking I was starring in Psycho by Uchidachi
I am totally picturing this and laughing out loud. I can just see your kitty scaredy jumping a foot into the air ... poor thing.
Something similar happened to me a few weeks ago. I was rinsing the shampoo out of my hair when I had the creepiest feeling that someone was watching me. We have owned our house for 24 years and I have never experienced anything like that. My husband had already left for work (he is a night worker) and my son was sleeping.
I had the wildest thought that I would get the soap rinsed out of my hair, open my eyes, turn my head, and see someone standing there with the shower curtain pulled back. I went through a million scenarios in a few seconds as to what I would do.
But when I opened my eyes, I saw nothing. I whipped back the curtain, but there was nobody there. It was so odd. I think I have been reading too many mystery / thriller books lately.