Growing Through Matthew

Scripture Twisting

Matthew 14:6-12--⁶ But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, ⁷ so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. ⁸ At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” ⁹ Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. ¹⁰ So John was beheaded in the prison, ¹¹ and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. ¹² Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that it is wrong to celebrate birthdays and holidays. They use this passage to mislead people into believing that birthday celebrations are pagan events because Herod killed John the Baptist at such a party. A person can only draw such a conclusion from the text if they employ poor hermeneutics. Jehovah's Witnesses are notorious for twisting Scriptures!

About the only thing we can say regarding this passage is that it's unwise to make rash promises. Absolutely nothing in the context leads us to think that we should not celebrate someone's birthday. (By the way, I turn 50 on August 10th!)

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 8, was inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach Christians that eating meat offered to idols was not wrong as long as doing so didn't cause another Christian to stumble. We glean from Paul's instructions to the Corinthian Christian Church that Jesus' followers are permitted to participate in birthday parties and holiday festivities as long as no one is harmed (Colossians 2:16).