Should Christians celebrate birthdays? What does the Church teach on this topic? What does your Bible say?
It is a fact of life that everyone grows older, and on one day a year we are considered a year older than the day before. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging the passage of time, as another year of life goes by. We know, for example, that Moses certainly knew his birthdate. Scripture records that, toward the end of his life, he told the Israelites, “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in. Also the Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan’” (Deuteronomy 31:2).
Did “one hundred and twenty years old today” mean that Moses was making this statement on the exact anniversary of his birth? We do not know. But what we do know is that there is no hint of a “birthday party” marking the anniversary of Moses’ birth, like those in the household of Pharaoh (cf. Genesis 40:20–22).
Moses simply acknowledged his age. By contrast, many in the world today have grown used to the idea that their day of birth is an occasion on which friends, family members and coworkers are expected to lavish them with attention, gifts and revelry.
What can we learn from Scripture about observing birthdays? Jesus Christ did not mark the anniversary of His birth, nor did He make reference to it in any such fashion. Nor did any of the Apostles so much as even mention Christ’s birth date or their own. The Bible mentions only two specific instances of birthday celebrations, both of which ended in tragedy (Genesis 40:20–22; Mark 6:21–28). One was a major festival for Pharaoh’s household, which could have included hundreds of revelers. The other was King Herod’s celebration, in Galilee, for all the nobles of his domain. On these occasions of carousing, which included massive consumption of food and alcohol, individuals were put to death for the celebrants’ amusement.
Does the book of Job indicate that Job’s sons observed their birthdays? Some point to this verse to support that idea: “And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day” (Job 1:4). Is “his appointed day” a vague reference to a birthday? Scripture does not say. However, we should also note that, if this is a “birthday” example, it is not entirely positive regarding the idea of birthday celebrations—we see that Job offered sacrifices afterward, on the assumption that his sons may have “sinned and cursed God in their hearts” while feasting (v. 5).
Religious Roots
People are sometimes surprised to discover just how many secular traditions have non-Christian religious roots that are contrary to God’s ways. In his Living Church News article, “Should Christians Celebrate Birthdays?” Mr. Rod Reynolds pointed out a number of these startling facts (May-June 2002, p.16). But even some casual observers have noticed that the early Church taught against participation in such birthday celebrations as are so common in our world today. As writer Norm Schneider points out: “During the Christian era, the early followers of Christ didn’t believe in celebrating birthdays, preferring—as was the case in earlier eras—of honoring one’s death. Their belief was that only in death was there true deliverance worthy of honoring one’s ‘death day’ [a reference to Ecclesiastes 7:1, where Solomon asserts that the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth]. They also believed that Egyptian and Greek birthday celebrations were pagan festivals and should not be duplicated” (“The Strange Origins of Our Modern Birthday Customs,” August 13, 2008, www.associatedcontent.com).
Honoring a King
Schneider goes on to observe that by “the fourth century, Christians—having generally agreed on the date of Christ’s birth—began celebrating the event, ergo Christmas.”
Indeed, the observance of Christmas and the celebration of birthdays went hand in hand as the vast majority of professing Christians fell into apostasy. Today, billions of people who call themselves “Christians” are keeping Christmas to have, in effect, a sort of “birthday party for Christ.” However, when we read what Scripture tells us about the young Jesus Christ, we find no precedent for such celebration.
What do we find? When they saw the young Jesus, the wise men from the East “fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). This was a momentous event, but it was not a birthday party—these were prominent men coming to visit the King. The custom of bringing a gift when coming before a king is still in practice today.
Marking Milestones
How should we view the milestones in our life, as we make progress toward the Kingdom of God? The Bible reveals that God places far more importance on the development of spiritual character and our eventual spiritual birth into His Kingdom than on observing the beginning of our physical life (Ecclesiastes 7:1; Revelation 21:7; Romans 2:7; John 12:24–25). Accordingly, God does not want His people to become involved in worldly practices that lead to the destruction of character. Worldly birthday festivities, under the guise of a “party spirit,” are often focused on greed—the desire for gifts and attention—as well as on vanity, selfishness and a wrong spirit of competition. Such attitudes are inappropriate for Christians as part of any celebration, not just birthday celebrations! God makes it plain that Christians are not to take part in “lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries” (1 Peter 4:3). We know from Scripture that covetousness is idolatry (Colossians 3:5).
Balance and the Big Picture
A balanced perspective on this issue can be found in an example cited by our Presiding Evangelist, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, in the January-February 2011 Ministerial Bulletin: “…we also know that Mr. Armstrong gave his mother a dozen red roses on her birthdays, occasionally, and sometimes took her out for a nice dinner at the restaurant simply to honor her on such an occasion. It was not a ‘birthday party’ with candles, exchanging of presents and so forth. It was simply noting that God had given her another year of life and encouraging her and honoring her in that way. Often, we have stated that our own people may have a special meal prepared by the mother in the home for a child on his or her birthday and express thanks that our child has had another year of life” (p. 2). Certainly, it can be appropriate for parents to reminisce with their children about past joys and challenges of a child’s life, as well as future plans and goals, when the child grows a year older.
As for his own example, Dr. Meredith mentioned in his July 21, 2008 sermon, titled “Building Faith and Courage,” that he had just turned 78 years of age, but without a birthday party. On the other hand, as noted above, he has acknowledged that it can indeed be appropriate for families to acknowledge a child’s growth and development on a birth date, just as it can be worthwhile to honor an elderly person at a milestone in his or her life—in a Christian spirit of true love and respect, without getting caught up in the spirit of carnal celebrations that often go far beyond what is appropriate.
In the Living Church of God, we recognize and encourage activities that will enrich our lives with unity of purpose, the family spirit, the attitude of service—all of which are encouraged and exemplified in the Scriptures. As we come out of a sinful and self-focused world, we must each strive to develop God’s mind, so that we may make good decisions, as a wise Christian whose “heart discerns both time and judgment” (Ecclesiastes 8:5). And we must always keep our focus on the bigger picture, too. As Dr. Meredith wrote in his Ministerial Bulletin column: “We are called to preach the inspiring message of a wonderful Tomorrow’s World and the basic way of God as the Bible explains it… [We are to] concentrate on the Big Picture of things involving the Ten Commandments as they are magnified throughout the Bible, the major prophecies about Christ’s coming and the end of this age and the need for all of us to work together to ‘reach out’ to the world and help them look forward to Christ’s coming Kingdom.” As each year of our lives goes by, this zeal for the Work should be where we as true Christians increasingly place our hearts.