Question by i care: Do Jehovah’s Witnesses or any other religion consider the heart symbol to be a pagan-like symbol?
heart symbol : http://orders.rubberstamps.net/images/Sorted%20Clipart/hearts%20and%20love/heart%20symbol.gif
Do Jehovah’s Witnesses or any other religion consider the heart symbol to be a pagan-like symbol because of it’s association with Valentine’s Day?
Would a Jehovah’s Witness or a person with religious faith ever wear a t-shirt that had a heart symbol on it, or would that be like they are endorsing Valentine’s Day or other pagan traditions, history, and beliefs?
Best answer:
Answer by Greg
I have never heard that from anyone…ever.
What do you think? Answer below!
Easter (formally known as Ostara), Valentines day, and christmas(Yule) are pagan holidays. Look into it.
The heart symbol, so far as I know, was stylized after the human buttocks. It is not a pagan symbol.
To be truthful, it’s never come up. I doubt it though.
Not that I am aware of.
While the heart may be associated with Valentine’s Day, it is also used in association with the American Heart Association and Relay For Life among others.
The heart symbol predates Valentine’s Day, so it was already associated with the human heart, love, passion, etc., which lent it as an appropriate symbol for the commercialized Valentine’s Day. The actual origins of this symbol are debated. However, I don’t believe anyone has suggested a pagan origin. Most of the theories involve it having a similar shape to something already associated with love/passion/sex (although one is that it kind of looks like a cow’s heart). As someone has suggested, it could be a representation of the buttocks, or it could also be a few other parts of the female anatomy.
The theory I like, because it’s not as pervy, is that the heart symbol is modeled after the seeds of the now-extinct silphium plant, which appeared on ancient Cyrenian currency and was noticeably heart-shaped. This plant may have become associated with love because it was popularly used as a contraceptive.
So symbols are not paganistic per se, and sometime after its creation, pagans may have used this symbol, but those pagans will use any basic shape they can get their hands on.
Yes and no.
Centuries ago, certain pagan groups did use the heart shape in connection with false worship. A true Christian who recognized that his community views the heart shape thusly would certainly avoid any appearance that he himself embraces pagan symbology.
However, the heart shape can hardly be considered as inextricably linked with paganism. There is evidence that the shape was originally intended to approximate the shape of the literal heart, and the Bible itself evokes “the heart” as representative of love and motivation.
.. ..(Proverbs 4:23) More than all else that is to be guarded, safeguard your heart, for out of it are the sources of life.
.. ..(Luke 6:45) A good man brings forth good out of the good treasure of his heart, but a wicked man brings forth what is wicked out of his wicked treasure; for out of the heart’s abundance his mouth speaks.
.. ..(Deuteronomy 6:5) And you must love Jehovah your God with all your heart
.. ..(1 Peter 1:22) Love one another intensely from the heart.
.. ..(Romans 9:2) I have great grief and unceasing pain in my heart.
.. ..(Psalm 86:11) Instruct me, O Jehovah, about your way. I shall walk in your truth. Unify my heart to fear your name.
Furthermore, the heart shape is found repeatedly in nature, perhaps most famously in the seaheart.
http://images.google.com/images?q=sea+heart
Thus, an individual who believed that his community perceives the use of the heart shape merely as representative of the literal heart and/or evokative of secular love might decide that the heart shape need not be avoided. Another Christian might feel otherwise, and no one should criticize his concientious decision to avoid the use of the heart shape.
No, to Jehovah’s Witnesses there is nothing wrong with hearts, but they don’t celebrate any holidays and can’t wear the shirt on Valentines Day.