Christmas Jehovah Witness

[SophStars]

My boyfriend is a Jehovah Witness and i am not. Christmas is tomorrow and im curious is it disrespectful for me to show him my Christmas presents or not?

I would wait to see if he asks, or just ask him if he wants to know.

I worked with a lovely lady who was a JW and she was happy to talk about other’s birthday and Christmas celebrations, she just didn’t celebrate herself.

My grandparents were JWs. As kids we were told not to mention Xmas or presents to them. I think that was because they wanted to believe their kids were practising JWs too, I don’t they they cared what others did.

Depends on how orthodox he is. Some are a bit stuff, some won't give monkeys.

Stiff not stuff.

AFAIK, orthodox Jehovah's Witnesses can only date other Witnesses, and they don't date casually.

Why wouldn't you just ask him if it's OK?

How’s your relationship going to pan out long term? Do you want to have a partner who you have to hide things from or change just to get along? Do you plan to have children with him?

I'm surprised you have a JW boyfriend if you're not JW yourself tbh. Dating is not encouraged at all, even within the faith, and actively dating a non-JW would be enough to get you disfellowshipped. Have you met any of his family, etc?

In terms of Christmas, my family member who is JW is ok with it but will come out with things like "Santa is an anagram of Satan", to a 7 year old child. So proceed with caution 😂

I'd say he can't be very devout if he dates outside of the faith. In fact strict ones probably don't even do casual dating. But why not just ask, do you mind hearing about gifts and seeing them, or would you rather not? You should be able to have these up front conversations if your relationship is to develop.

Yep agree with all of this, well said.

Here are what the orthodox believe around this area (dating) by they way, as it sounds like you might not know too much about the faith and if he follows even one of these principles then it will impact on your relationship and how it develops: https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jw-dating/

My Nan was a Jehovah's Witness and she was married to my grandad who is an atheist for over 60 years. My grandad always celebrated Christmas and birthdays and my Nan didn't mind at all, she would even help him do a turkey on Christmas Day, she didn't get involved with present giving and receiving at all but she never made an issue of it. My grandad always bought gifts for my mum and aunt and for me and my sister. On my birthday my nan would always call and ask how my day had been, she wouldn't say happy birthday or anything like that but she acknowledged that it was a special day for me. She was always very generous year round as well, she was a special lady and greatly missed.

My grandad never had anything to do with my nans religion but I think there is a big gathering ( sorry I don't know the right words) once a year or similar that he did used to go along to with her.

I think it's fine to show your gifts to your partner, I think if it's going to work long term it's good to be accepting of each other's beliefs.

I think I'd be more concerned with what you want.
What kind of relationship do you want to be in? The kind where you have to think about everything you say or do, or worry about possibly offending your partner because of things you just don't know about?
Or do you just want to be able to be yourself, be spontaneous, and assume that your partner is the one who is responsable for informing you of anything he feels uncomfortable with?
I don't think it's your job to be informed about everything that goes against his values. I think you bump into things and lovingly work around them together as they come, giving each other the utmost benefit of the doubt.

I gave a Christmas card to someone I worked with years ago and she was a JW, she was very offended. I thought JWs couldn't go out with or be friends with non JW s

if he's dating you then its unlikely he will be that bothered as JW are usually discouraged from relationships outside their faith...and if he is that bothered , then it's perhaps something to consider about investing time and effort in this relationship. Was he born into it or converted?

I'm assuming she came to the faith later in life? Or did she meet and marry him as a JW?

@distinctpossibility yes, she was raised as an atheist and then joined the faith as a young adult. I'm not sure on the exact timeline but I imagine she would've have met my grandad around the same time, perhaps before or just after.

If he's your boyfriend, then can't you just ask him?

My mum was a JW, my dad was not!

We had Christmas as normal when we were kids! It can all work it's self out!