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Doctrine changes · Claim record

The 2017 study book that replaced it, How to Remain in God’s Love, kept a section on the origins of toasting but dropped the statement that the custom is unacceptable and gave no instruction to avoid it.

Claim ID claim-doctrine-toasting-2024-softenedConcerns 2017Context
Context · 2017 Verified

The 2017 study book that replaced it, How to Remain in God’s Love, kept a section on the origins of toasting but dropped the statement that the custom is unacceptable and gave no instruction to avoid it. How to Remain in God’s Love, 2017“Keep Yourselves in God’s Love”, 2008

Show the evidence (2 sources)
Primary JW publication Verified

How to Remain in God’s Love, “Chapter 13: Do All Celebrations Please God?”

2017 · p.181 · pars. 19-20 · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“A common practice at weddings and other social occasions is toasting. During a toast, one person expresses good wishes while others raise their glasses. How should Christians view toasting?”

The revised edition of the same chapter keeps a section on toasting, now headed ‘The Origins of Toasting’, describes the pagan origin and says ‘that is not how Jehovah provides blessings’, but no longer calls the custom unacceptable and gives no instruction to avoid it.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library and re-opened for audit on 19 September 2026. The paragraphs sit between the page 181 and page 182 markers; the chapter runs pp. 172-186. Dating: the book is of 2017, not 2024. Its Watchtower Online Library document ids are of the form 1102017nnn, its internal links are under /lvs/2017/, its title page carries 2017, and the official PDF served for the symbol lvs was created on 9 November 2017. The id of this record still carries the slug “2024” from the batch in which it was first written.

Notes. Useful as the intermediate step between the 2008 wording and the 2025 announcement.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-p-lvs-2024-ch13-toasting

Primary JW publication Verified

“Keep Yourselves in God’s Love”, “Chapter 13: Celebrations That Displease God”

2008 · p.154 · pars. 19-20, and the study question above them · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

“What does one secular source say about the origin of toasting, and why is this custom unacceptable to Christians?”

The study question printed above paragraphs 19 and 20 of the chapter, under the subheading ‘Toasting—A Religious Gesture?’. The paragraphs themselves say the custom of lifting wine glasses heavenward ‘might be viewed as a request to “heaven”—a superhuman force—for a blessing in a way that does not accord with that outlined in the Scriptures’.

Official source

Provenance and verification note

Confidence note. Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026. The paragraphs sit between the page 154 and page 155 markers, so the page is 154; the chapter as a whole runs pp. 144-159.

Notes. This is the firmest published wording located: the study question calls the custom ‘unacceptable to Christians’.

Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-p-lv-2008-ch13-toasting

Claim page

A direct link to this claim is https://jwtruth.org/evidence/claim-doctrine-toasting-2024-softened/. Every source above opens the original document or the best available copy. If you believe the wording, date or context is wrong, report an error.