Oh, alright. If you don't mind me calling you by your real name instead of your username, then I'll call you by it. :)
Well, it's great that you've got spiritual matters on your mind, Belle! ^_^ Mind if I ask exactly what's steering you away from the denominational churches? (Just curious.)
Ohh, you've got Witness relatives? 0_0 I see. Well, that was very considerate of you, not putting up a Christmas tree. I'm sure your aunt and uncle REALLY appreciated that. <:^D
We don't celebrate holidays for different reasons depending on the holiday. Would you mind if I ask why you don't agree with not celebrating holidays? I understand that many of these holidays mean a lot to people. And it's great that some families bond over them. But, the thing is, most holidays aren't scriptural.
I'm assuming your aunt and uncle have explained this before, but, just in case not... In a nutshell, most holidays have Pagan origins, and those origins conflict with the Bible. Especially Christmas. When you look into its history and where its traditions came from...it's very clear that Christmas has very little to do with Jesus. And, on top of that, a crucial point of Christmas--the date December 25th--was
not the day Jesus was born on. I understand and appreciate the fact that you want to show your respect for Jesus, don't get me wrong. It's commendable that you even care about the religious side of Christmas at all--many people just focus on the presents and the pretty lights. (If you want to read some more detailed explanations about Christmas, you can either ask me about it, ask your aunt and uncle, or read these articles
here, and
here. They're pretty short.)
But, we DO have a day that we make a special effort to remember Jesus and what he's done for mankind--and that's the Memorial of his death. We celebrate it once a year, on the night that he died. Jesus directly told his disciples to
"Keep doing this in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19)
And then there's the Trinity. I know it's very important to a lot of Christian religions. Like most things with the Bible, this is a very deep subject. But, I'll try to be brief; I don't want to ramble and annoy/bore you or anything. <:^D Again, like all of our beliefs, we base them solely on what the Bible says. The word "trinity" is nowhere in the Bible. At John 14:28, Jesus said,
"'The Father is greater than I am.'" Jesus never claimed to be God or be equal to God. In fact, he prayed to God frequently, sometimes even for strength. Why would he pray to himself? Plus, scriptures in the Old Testament AND New Testament back up the idea of God and Jesus being two separate beings. Psalms 83:18 says,
"May people know that you, whose name is Jehovah, You alone are the Most High over all the earth." God cannot be alone in being the Most High if he's part of a Trinity. And John 17:3 distinguishes Jesus and Jehovah God as being separate by saying,
"This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ." It's important for us to learn about both Jehovah God AND his son, Jesus Christ.
There are a lot of scriptures that disprove the Trinity, but, for the sake of keeping things brief, I won't list all of them. <:^J But, if you want to read more, again, you can read a short article or two.
Here, and also
here, and/or
here.
And, of course, you don't have to JUST look at JW.org for these answers. The Encyclopedia Britannica is accepted to be extremely reliable by pretty much all Christian religions, and our articles quote it often to help show the facts on matters--especially historical matters.
But, anyway. The point of what I believe, and what all Jehovah's Witnesses believe is very simple. While people can choose to believe whatever they want, there's a BIG difference between truth and falsehoods. To quote an old friend of mine, "The Bible is not a bag of trail mix. You can't just pick out the bits you like and throw out the bits you don't like." That is, you can, but you run the risk of upsetting God. God gave us the Bible for a reason. He wants us to look at it as a whole and accept it as a whole truth. Why would he mix in false things with the truth in his Word? 2 Samuel 7:28 says,
"O Sovereign Lord Jehovah, you are the true God, and your words are truth." And, Psalm 119:160 says,
"The very essence of your word is truth." All we're trying to do is gain an accurate understanding of what the Scriptures say, so we can make Jehovah God happy and follow his commandments and do his will as best as we can.
I TOTALLY respect you and your beliefs, Belle. <:^D And I'm glad that you're so interested in the Bible! I just want you to know that Jehovah's Witnesses aren't just making up our beliefs. And our faith is NOT blind faith. God does not want us to blindly follow him--he wants us to fully understand what it is he's telling us.
(Also, sorry if I rambled...I tend to do that, sometimes. I'll admit that. It's just that the Bible is very deep. It's not so simple that you can give a one-sentence answer, but, not so deep that no one can understand it.)
On that same unrelated note: That IS rude! O_O It's not his fault he has speech problems!!! Besides, insulting him will only just made him feel bad. D: It won't take away his stuttering. I'm sorry people are so rude to him. He doesn't deserve to be picked on like that.
