Ok, Bob did not make the statement above BUT he did say that because Satanists keep birthdays you should not. Satanists use toilet paper and eat red meat, should a REAL Christian do the same? That is the logic behind Thiel's simplistic thinking.
Do you realize where the practice of birthday celebrations came from or how they are viewed by certain Satanists?
Back in 1969 Anton Lavey wrote The Satanic Bible. On page 96 (in the 1976 version) it mentions birthdays:THE highest of all holidays in the Satanic religion is the date of one’s own birth. This is in direct contradiction to the holy of holy days of other religions, which deify a particular god who has been created in an anthropomorphic form of their own image, thereby showing that the ego is not really buried.
It is interesting that birthdays are considered one of the three the most important holiday to these Satan worshipers (the two others called Walpurgisnacht, and Halloween also have pagan ties and are observed by millions who claim to be Christian).
Thiel is forced to admit that there is NO prohibition on keeping birthdays. It was all a figment of Herbert's imagination that brought about the hatred of birthdays in the church. Delusional men like Thiel, Flurry and Pack continue the absurdity.The Bible never encourages the celebration of birthdays. Instead, it tends to speak in a negative manner concerning them (cf. Matthew 14:6-11; Jeremiah 20:14-18).
Of course, early Christians did not celebrate birthdays nor did the early Jews. Nor have real Christians ever celebrated Halloween.
All I can say to Bob is to keep it up. Between you, Dave Pack and Gerald Flurry, you all are bringing about the rapid demise of Armstrongism. Your absurdities make all of you and the church look like fools. I thank you, Karl Theodor Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg thanks you, and Anton Lavey thanks you too.Now although there is no specific command against the celebration of birthdays in the Bible, the Jewish custom in those days was apparently based on the negative occurrences in the Bible surrounding birthdays, as well as the astrological implications of the celebration of birthdays (pagan practices, like astrology, were specifically prohibited in the law).