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Is it OK to celebrate our own birthday or someone else’s birthday?

The answer to this question as with all questions needs to be searched through Scripture. And if one is honest with themselves they will have to admit that out of the many births that are mentioned in the Bible NOT one of them ever gives a date for the birth.

That is quite striking! The birth of Cain and Abel, Isaac and Jacob, Obed the grandfather of King David, Samuel the prophet, and even John the Baptist and Yahshua Himself has a birth recorded in the Bible, yet never once is a date mentioned. And yet, we have dates for feast days, captivities, we have many dates in Scripture, but specifically not even one date for anyone’s birthday should tell us that calling a day to our self is only vanity and prideful, and not something that early believers ever participated in.

The only mention of anyone’s birthday was usually set for kings, and in the rare occurrence of a birthday mentioned, it was only something bad that happened, and again, no actual date even mentioned. First, an Egyptian pharaoh marked the day of his birth by hanging his chief baker (Gen 40:20-22). And the second, Herod granted the request of Herodias’ daughter and had John the Baptist beheaded (Mat 14:6–11).

The children of Job may have been holding birthday celebrations when they partied together, “And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them” (Job 1: 4).

Notice how perfect, upright Job viewed these “harmless” celebrations and reacted to them: “And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be my sons have sinned, and cursed Elohim in their hearts” (verse 5).

Yahshua was not born on December 25th, which was named after the winter solstice and is filled with paganism. The day of Messiah’s birth is unknown. But the day of His death is known (Aviv 14, AD 30). And His true followers are commanded to observe that day annually in remembrance of Him.

Yahshua instructed His disciples to show His death by keeping the yearly Passover and partaking of the symbolic unleavened bread and wine (Luk 22:19-20).

Also, most people calculate time and dates by the pagan Roman calendar and not by the Biblical calendar. “Our (Roman) calendar is not Christian in origin. It descends directly from the Egyptians, who originated the 12-month year, 365-day system. A pagan Egyptian scientist, Sosigenes, suggests this plan to the pagan emperor Julius Caesar, who directed that it go into effect throughout the Roman Empire in 45 B.C. As adopted, it indicated its pagan origin by the names of the month – called Janus (January), Maia (May), Juno (June), etc.

The days were not named but numbered on a complicated system involving Ides, Nones, and Calends. It was not until 321 A.D. that the seven-day-week feature was added when the Emperor Constantine adopted (a false vision of) Christianity. Oddly enough, for his weekdays he chose pagan names, which are still used” (Journal of calendar reform, September, 1953, page 128.)

The Biblical calendar has added intercalary months about every third year. Elohim’s sacred calendar has three months that vary in length from 29 to 30 days after a rather complicated pattern. Three times as many people are affected. So, it would be difficult for many to even keep birthday allowances if they wanted to.

To this world, the day of a person’s birth is important. But the Bible makes a seemingly cryptic statement that “the day of death (is better) than the day of one’s birth” (Eccl 7:1). It is our death to this world at our baptism that is important not the actual day that one was physically born.