What wisdom prompted God to give mankind such a calendar?
It certainly discouraged the practice of observing birthdays and other anniversaries! The net result was to deprive mankind of the privilege of setting aside birthdays!
God 's people certainly knew the date of their birth, but they kept track of their age by calendar years, not birth dates.
home.sprynet.com/~pabco/birthday.htm Please notice that the shepherds gave all praise and glory to God! They did not exalt the day of Jesus' birth nor mark the day in anyway. Interesting, isn't it? Let us read on.
A King is Born?
Should we celebrate that He was born a King?
Matthew 2:1 "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him."
Jesus was born to be King but was not King at the time of His birth (Actually, Herod was king of Judea at this time!) We must take notice that His kingdom is a great future-coming rulership:
Matthew 2:6 "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel."
Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."
The government of God under the Kingship of Christ has not yet been established on this earth or there would be lasting peace. So should we celebrate the birth of Christ as King now? Before being given over to a death sentence, Jesus had said:
John 18:36 "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. 37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice."
Christ was born for a great purpose...but it is that purpose that is to be rejoiced in, not His birth. Our rejoicing and hope lies not in the fact that He was born as a helpless infant, but that He became our great Saviour through enduring all trials and overcoming all things, perfect, blameless, without blemish or spot--for only by His death can we attain our resurrection. He was born so that His life, death, and resurrection would bear witness to God the Father, and not to exalt Himself.
Ralph and Adelin Linton, The Lore of Birthdays, 1953, pp.51-52: "When the early Christians were trying to fix the date of Christ's birth, many of the Church Fathers ... proclaimed that there should be no attempt to celebrate it, as this was an impious pagan custom."
"...In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on his [Jesus] birthday. It is only sinners who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world" - Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911 Edition, published by the Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908, Volume III, "Christmas": "Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the Church. Irenaeus and Tertullian omit it from their lists of feasts; Origen ... asserts (in Lev. Hom. viii in Migne, P.G., XII, 495) that in the Scriptures sinners alone, not saints, celebrate their birthday."
Not all beliefs, traditions and customs are bad. But God does not approve of them if they come from false religion; or are against Biblical precepts or teachings. The true saints of God knew this and had the wisdom to discern the truth. They were to come out and be separate. They were to not adopt the vain customs of the heathen. They were to think lowly of themselves and not share the glory of God with another.
You have seen that the Bible casts a dark picture of the celebration of birthdays. You have read the historic and academic authorities that prove that the true followers of God did not observe birthdays with celebrations. Still not convinced? Then read on, my friend.
EARLY BELIEVERS
The next witnesses against birthday celebrations are from further historical and academic sources. What did the earliest recorded Christians think about celebrating the astrological date of one's birth? The abbreviated list that follows reveals the truth of the matter - God's people did not partake of this worldly custom.
The famous historian Titus Flavius Josephus lived in the first century - a contemporary with Christ - and he wrote:
"Nay, indeed, the Law does not permit us to make festivals at the births of our children, and thereby afford occasion of drinking to excess; but it ordains that the very beginning of our education should be immediately directed to sobriety. It also commands us to bring those children up in learning, and to exercise them in the Laws, and make them acquainted with the acts of their predecessors, in order to their imitation of them, and that they might be nourished up in the Laws from their infancy, and might neither transgress them, nor have any pretense for their ignorance of them." (Josephus. Translated by W. Whiston. Against Apion, Book II, Chapter 26. Extracted from Josephus Complete Works, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids (MI), 14th printing, 1977, p. 632).
"Some one of those before us has observed what is written in Genesis about the birthday of Pharaoh, and has told that the worthless man who loves things connected with birth keeps birthday festivals; and we, taking this suggestion from him, find in no Scripture that a birthday was kept by a righteous man. " (Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol IX Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew Chapter XXII, p429)
The Imperial Bible-Dictionary (London, 1874), edited by Patrick Fairbairn, Vol. I, p. 225 says:
"The later Hebrews looked on the celebration of birthdays as a part of idolatrous worship, a view which would be abundantly confirmed by what they saw of the common observances associated with these days."
“The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period in general.” (The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries; New York, 1848, Augustus Neander - translated by Henry John Rose, p. 190.)
M'Clintock & Strong's Cyclopedia (Vol. I, p. 817) says the Jews "regarded birthday celebrations as parts of idolatrous worship ... , and this probably on the account of the idolatrous rites with which they were observed in honor of those who were regarded as the patron gods of the day on which the party was born."
"Birth-day: The observance of birth-days was common in early times (Job 1:4, 13, 18). They were specially celebrated in the land of Egypt (Gen. 40:20). There is no recorded instance in Scripture of the celebration of birth-days among the Jews. On the occasion of Herod's birth-day John the Baptist was beheaded (Matt. 14:6)." - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Grolier's The New Book of Knowledge, 1979, p. 289 states: "The early church fathers frowned upon the celebration of birthdays and thought them a heathen custom."
Origen of Alexandria, in 245 A.D., wrote in a dissertation on Leviticus that:
". . . none of the saints can be found who ever held a feast or a banquet upon his birthday, or rejoiced on the day when his son or daughter was born. But sinners rejoice and make merry on such days. For we find in the Old Testament that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, celebrated his birthday with a feast, and that Herod, in the New Testament did the same. But the saints not only neglect to mark the day of their birth with festivity, but also, filled with the Holy Spirit, they curse this day, after the example of Job and Jeremiah and David."
The writings of the late third century Catholic theologian Arnobius show that, even that late, most Catholics were against the celebration of birthdays as he wrote: "...you worship with couches, altars, temples, and other service, and by celebrating their games and birthdays, those whom it was fitting that you should assail with keenest hatred." (Arnobius. Against the Heathen (Book I), Chapter 64. Excerpted from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6. Edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1886.).
TESTIMONY FROM OTHER WORKS CONCERNING THE OCCULT ORIGINS OF BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
ASTROLOGY
Jeremiah 10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
DEFINITION: "Judicial [to judge or decide] astrology--more important branch of this occult art--depended for its predictions upon the position of the planets in the "twelve houses" at the moment of the birth of a human being. The calculations necessary to settle these positions were casting the horoscope or the diagram of the heavens (thema coeli) at the nativity." "From the start astrology was employed for the needs and benefit of daily life ... in connection with religious worship. According to the belief of the early civilized races of the East, the stars were the source and at the same time the heralds of everything that happened, and the right to study the "godlike science" of astrology was a privilege of the priesthood. This was the case in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the oldest centres of civilization known to us in the East." - New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia (online)
“Birthdays are intimately linked with the stars, since without the calendar, no one could tell when to celebrate his birthday. They are also indebted to the stars in another way, for in early days the chief importance of birthday records was to enable the astrologers to chart horoscopes” (The Lore of Birthdays, p. 53).
Linda Rannells Lewis in Birthdays, "Birthdays have been celebrated for thousands of years. In early civilizations, where the development of a calendar made an organized reckoning of birth dates possible, the horoscopes of ruling monarchs, their successors and rivals had to be cast with care and birthday omens meticulously examined, for the prospects of the mighty would affect the prospects of the entire society."
Rawlinson’s translation of Herodotus includes the following footnote: “Horoscopes were of very early use in Egypt… and Cicero speaks of the Egyptians and Chaldees predicting… a man’s destiny at his birth"...
Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend : "The date, hour, and place of birth may be the clues to good or bad fortune as determined by the complex computations of astrologers, numerologists, and geomants. Prudential ceremonies either at birth or at stated anniversaries, depending on the system of computation, are good insurance. Memorial services, or sacrifices at tombs or before ancestral tablets, are in some places customary on the birthdays of the deceased. The function is a mixture of natural affection, the desire to keep the deceased at peace and therefore to keep his ghost from troubling the living". -- Page 144.
Astrology is a pagan practice condemned by the Creator God because it provokes Him to jealousy. We should turn to him with all our questions, desires and longings - not signs in the stars, witches, psychics or other false gods.
Isaiah 47:13-14 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
PARTIES
Wikipedia under the heading of "birthday" -"It is thought that the large-scale celebration of birthdays in Europe began with the cult of Mithras, which originated in Persia but was spread by soldiers throughout the Roman Empire. Before this, such celebrations were not common; and, hence, practices from other contexts such as the Saturnalia were adapted for birthdays. Because many Roman soldiers took to Mithraism, it had a wide distribution and influence throughout the empire until it was supplanted by Christianity." [Authors Note: Saturnalia trappings included decorations, gifting, prayers or wishes to false gods.]
"Long ago, people believed that on a birthday a person could be helped by good spirits or hurt by evil spirits. So, when a person had a birthday, friends and relatives gathered to protect him or her. And that's how birthday parties began. (World Book-Childcraft International, Inc., Childcraft, The How and Why Library: Holidays and Birthdays, 1982, Vol. 9, pp. 12-13)
“The exchange of presents… is associated with the importance of ingratiating good and evil fairies… on their or our birthdays” (Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, p. 144)..
“The various customs with which people today celebrate their birthdays have a long history. Their origins lie in the realm of magic and religion. The customs of offering congratulations, presenting gifts and celebrating—complete with lighted candles—in ancient times were meant to protect the birthday celebrant from the demons and to ensure his security for the coming year. ...Down to the fourth century Christianity rejected the birthday celebration as a pagan custom.”—Schwäbische Zeitung (magazine supplement Zeit und Welt), April 3/4, 1981, p. 4.
"Certain primitive societies view birthdays as danger periods when one is susceptible to attack by evil spirits. Hence, parties and good wishes of friends, bring gifts to appease the evil spirits, and offering sacrifices to "their protective spirits" are all part of the birthday celebration." (Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, Vol. One, p. 144)
CAKES & CANDLES
"The idea of putting candles on birthday cakes goes back to ancient Greece. ... The Greeks worshipped many gods and goddesses. Among them was one called Artemis. Artemis was the goddess of the moon. The Greeks celebrated her birthday once each month by bringing special cakes to her temple. The cakes were round, like a full moon. And, because the moon glows with light, the cakes were decorated with lighted candles." (World Book-Childcraft International, Inc., Childcraft, The How and Why Library: Holidays and Birthdays, 1982, Vol. 9, pp. 12-13)
Ralph and Adelin Linton, The Lore of Birthdays, 1953, pp. 17, 26, 28, 51-52: "The custom of lighted candles on the cakes started with the Greeks. Philochonus records that on the sixth day of each month, the birthday of Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt, honey cakes round as the moon and lit with tapers were placed on the temple altars of this goddess."
“The Greeks believed that everyone had a protective spirit or daemon who attended his birth and watched over him in life. This spirit had a mystic relation with the god on whose birthday the individual was born. The Romans also subscribed to this idea. . . . This notion was carried down in human belief and is reflected in the guardian angel, the fairy godmother and the patron saint. . . . The custom of lighted candles on the cakes started with the Greeks. . . . Honey cakes round as the moon and lit with tapers were placed on the temple altars of [Artemis]. . . . Birthday candles, in folk belief, are endowed with special magic for granting wishes. . . . Lighted tapers and sacrificial fires have had a special mystic significance ever since man first set up altars to his gods. The birthday candles are thus an honor and tribute to the birthday child and bring good fortune. . . . " (The Lore of Birthdays (New York, 1952), Ralph and Adelin Linton, pp. 8, 18-20.)
"One of the simplest of magical arts which comes under the heading of natural magic is candle burning. ... Most of us have performed our first act of candle magic by the time we are two years old. Blowing out the tiny candles on our first birthday cake and making a wish is pure magic. This childhood custom is based on the three magical principals of concentration, will power and visualization. In simple terms, the child who wants his wish to come true has to concentrate (blow out the candles), visualize the end result (make a wish) and hope that it will come true (will power)." - (The Internet Book of Shadows: Candle Magic)
MAKE A WISH
“Originally the idea was rooted in magic. The working of spells for good and evil is the chief usage of witchcraft. One is especially susceptible to such spells on his birthday, as one’s personal spirits are about at that time. Dreams dreamed on the birthday eve should be remembered, for they are predictions of the future brought by the guardian spirits which hover over one’s bed on the birthday eve. Birthday greetings have power for good or ill because one is closer to the spirit world on this day. Good wishes bring good fortune, but the reverse is also true, so one should avoid enemies on one’s birthday and be surrounded only by well-wishers. ‘Happy birthday’ and ‘Many happy returns of the day’ are the traditional greetings” (The Lore of Birthdays, Linton, p. 20)...
The Lore of Birthdays continues: "Birthday candles, in folk belief, are endowed with special magic for granting wishes. There are various ways of invoking their spell. Sometimes the birthday child makes a wish (these wishes must never be spoken aloud or the magic fails), and if he can blow out all the candles on his cake with one puff, the wish is sure to come true."
Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend : Among people with well developed sense of time, BIRTHDAYS mark the transition from one stage of being to another. Because any change is dangerous, BIRTHDAYS are the times when good and evil spirits and influences have the opportunity to attack the celebrants who at these times are in peril....The presence of friends and the expression of good wishes help to protect the celebrant against the unknown pervasive peril. Ceremonies and games at BIRTHDAYS frequently are a SYMBOLIC wiping out of the past and starting anew. The American child who at his BIRTHDAY blows out all the candles on his cake with one puff is eager to demonstrate his prowess, but the secret wish he makes will be granted only if all the candles can be extinguished at once. Trials of strength and skill on birthdays are demonstrations of progress....
GENII
The wishes over a birthday cake are said to be granted by your personal genie (genii or djinn). The additional connection of the birthday to these characters should be poignant to the reader.
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. Ge’nius, Genii (Roman mythology) were attendant spirits. Everyone had two of these tutelaries from his cradle to his grave. But the Roman genii differ in many respects from the Eastern. The Persian and Indian genii had a corporeal form, which they could change at pleasure. They were not guardian or attendant spirits, but fallen angels, dwelling in Ginnistan, under the dominion of Eblis [Author Note: Eblis is the Islamic version of the Devil]. They were naturally hostile to man, though compelled sometimes to serve them as slaves. ... (The word is the old Latin geno, to be born, from the notion that birth and life were due to these dii genitáles.) Genius (birth-wit) is innate talent; hence propensity, nature, inner man. “Cras genium mero cura’bis” (to-morrow you shall indulge your inner man with wine), Horace, 3 Odes, xvii. 14. “Indulg’ere genio” (to give loose to one’s propensity), Persius, v. 151. ... The Romans maintained that two genii attended every man from birth to death—one good and the other evil. Good luck was brought about by the agency of “his good genius,” and ill luck by that of his “evil genius.”
"At the moment when each of us receives life and being, he is taken in charge by the genii who preside over births, and who are classed beneath the astral powers. ... But the reasonable part of the soul is not subject to the genii; it is designed for the reception of God, who enlightens it with a sunny ray. Those who are thus illumined are few in number, and from them the genii abstain; for neither genii nor gods have any power in the presence of a single ray of God. But all other men, both soul and body, are directed by genii, to whom they cleave, and whose operations they affect. But reason is not like desire, which deceives and misleads. The genii, then, have the control of mundane things, and our bodies serve them as instruments. Now, it is this control which Hermes calls Destiny." [The esoteric book: "The Virgin of the World of Hermes" THE DEFINITIONS OF ASCLEPIOS by Mercurius Trismagistus translated by A. Kingsford, E Maitland [1884] ]
SATANIC PRIDE
The man or woman who fears YHWH should pay attention to the following quote by reknowned Satanist, founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan and author of the Satanic Bible - Anton Szandor LaVey.
"The highest of all holidays in the Satanic religion is the date of one’s own birthday. This is in direct contradiction to the holy of holy days of other religions, which deify a particular god who has been created in an anthropomorphic form of their own image, thereby showing that the ego is not really buried. The Satanist feels: ‘Why not really be honest and if you are going to create a god in your image, why not create that god as yourself." Every man is a god if he chooses to recognize himself as one. So, the Satanist celebrates his own birthday as the most important holiday of the year. After all, aren’t you happier about the fact that you were born than you are about the birth of someone you have never even met? Or for that matter, aside from religious holidays, why pay higher tribute to the birthday of a president or to a date in history than we do to the day we were brought into this greatest of all worlds? Despite the fact that some of us may not have been wanted, or at least were not particularly planned, we’re glad, even if no one else is, that we’re here! You should give yourself a pat on the back, buy yourself whatever you want, treat yourself like the king (or god) that you are, and generally celebrate your birthday with as much pomp and ceremony as possible." [The Satanic Bible (Anton Szandor LaVey, (Air) Book of Lucifer – The Enlightenment, Avon Books, 1969, Ch XI, Religious Holidays, p. 96) regarding Birthdays]
CONCLUSION
Dear reader, is it enough for you yet? Through prayer and study, have you seen THE PLAIN TRUTH?
The truth about BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS is that they come from PAGANISM. It is a commonly held fact that the original first century Christians did NOT observe their birthdays with celebrations.
For those in the Church of God (former RCG or WWCG or their off-shoots) movement, that denomination also did teach against observance of birthday celebrations - although its members (including leaders) sometimes departed from that practice personally while teaching the polar opposite from the pulpit. Others try to claim that since ages of people are counted in the bible that this means they celebrated birthdays - THE PLAIN TRUTH IS THAT THIS IS WRONG. Obviously, the people of the Bible at least noted the date of their birth because Scripture often records their ages. However, there is a huge difference between merely marking a day and celebrating it. The biblical record shows no man or woman of God celebrating a birthday. Clearly, birthday celebrations do not have a God-ordained origin and should be shunned.
What is the spirit of a "birthday celebration"? Does an annual "birthday celebration" give honor to YHWH? Do you answer "well, He made me?" Then give Him honor and be obedient. Do not adopt the pagan customs of the world!
Does one humble himself and give ALL glory to God in a "birthday celebration"? The Bible constantly counsels mankind to beware of the DANGERS OF PRIDE. Why is there this constant caution? Because, pride deposes God as the Sovereign of our lives. It puts the "I" in idolatry. When pride controls us, we cease to recognize God as the Master - we cease to put Him first. (ref. Deut 8:11-20; Psalms 12:3,4; 52:7; 101:5; Proverbs 6:16; 8:13; 16:5; etc).
Satan is the father of pride and self-exaltation. It is the carnal mindset that wants to raise oneself up in the eyes of others saying "me - me - me!"
www.truthontheweb.org/bdays.htm
