#21 - Think About It: What’s with Birthdays?

[Be sure to check this blog this Sunday, June 21st, for a special Father's Day posting.]
As I anticipated this Friday (6/19) being my birthday, I became curious of the origin of this annual milestone that people almost everywhere in the world celebrate. As I suspected, I discovered that birthday celebrations are actually of pagan origin. According to the Encyclopedia Americana (1991), “The ancient world of Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia celebrated the birthdays of gods, kings, and nobles.... The keeping of birthday records was important … principally because a birth date was essential for the casting of a horoscope. So, there is a direct connection between the Pagan practice of birthday celebrations and astrology (horoscopes and fortune telling). Of course, the Bible condemned astrology and fortune telling as in Isaiah 47:13-15. Not surprisingly then, the ancient Jews did not celebrate birthdays, regarding them as Pagan.” Finally, The World Book Encyclopedia states: “The early Christians did not celebrate His [Christ’s] birth because they considered the celebration of anyone’s birth to be a pagan custom. (Volume 3, page 416.) ”

So then, what am I saying? That we shouldn’t celebrate our birthdays as well as Christmas? No. As far as birthdays are concerned, I think that as far as it gives us occasion to thank our mothers for giving us birth, considering that one in four mothers choose not to give birth to their unborn child but to abort him or her, I see nothing wrong with celebrating birthdays. But, as far as Christmas is concerned, it does help us to remember that Christmas is not technically a Christian celebration with Biblical support or even roots in the traditions of the early Church. Furthermore, we should recognize that our birthdays no more represent the day that our lives began anymore than December 25th represents the day that Jesus Christ entered our world.

The truth is that, like Jesus, we entered this world the day we were conceived in our mother’s wombs, not the day we exited her womb. And so, if Jesus was (though it’s only a guess) born on December 25th, he actually entered our world – technically- 9 months before on March 25h. Which means that if we are to celebrate the entrance of Christ into our world, we would be more accurate to celebrate it on March 25th of each year. Of course, that would be at about the same time we celebrate His death (Good Friday) and resurrection (Easter) and would be too many holidays to celebrated at one time. And besides, how can we ever picture Christmas without snow, right? No, though technically inaccurate on several points, Christmas should still be celebrated for what it represents to the world – that at one point in history God chose to enter our world in order to one day sacrifice Himself for the world. That Eternal and incomparable expression of love should forever be celebrated.

But for ourselves, here’s a thought. While it’s asking a lot to have us stop celebrating our birthdays (even though as Christians we now know it is a celebration with pagan roots), may I suggest that we consider making it a greater celebration each year to recognize the day we were conceived, the day we really were first given life and technically first entered the world. Of course, very few of us will ever know exactly the day we were conceived. But what if we just took our birthday and projected backwards 9 months to the day? In my case, for instance, though I was born on a June 19th, I can reasonably conclude that I was conceived around September 19th of the previous year. With that in mind, I am choosing this year to begin celebrating, not my birthday but my “First-day,” the term I’ve chosen to recognize the day I (anyone) was given life (by God) and first entered the world.

In closing, I do have to wonder if, by celebrating birthdays inaccurately as the day we made entrance into the world, we do not perpetuate the myth that our life does not begin, that we are not “officially” a person, until the day we are born. I can’t help but wonder if people, beginning with Christians, began to celebrate their “First-day” and not their “birth-day,” the unborn will begin to be understood as being persons with lives already begun long before their “official” entrance into the world by birth. Maybe then, women considering abortions will understand that they are already mothers because their unborn child is already alive in their womb and that having an abortion is killing a person who is just not yet born. Maybe then, the claim of the abortion promoters that the unborn is only a “potential” life will be exposed for the lie it is, and, by God’s grace, fewer women will see abortion as a "choice" that should ever be considered.