wackybasith
Member
I've been hearing a lot about Jehovah's Witnesses. Could someone elaborate on how they differ from other Christians other than the fact that they have a "non-trinitarian" belief.
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Belief of Jehovah's Witnesses?
- Thread starter wackybasith
- Start date
Terrywoodenpic
Oldest Heretic
Just a few things...
They have their own translation of the bible.
They believe in Jehovah but not that Jesus is divine.
Jesus was the only direct thing God ever created, every thing else was through Jesus
They do not allow blood transfusions for any reason.
They believe Jesus wil rule the new kingdom on for 1000 years with the help of the 144000 who will be saved.
They use the Old Testament and Revalation as a regular source
It would be worth your while reading this, as the differences with otherChristians are rather large.
Jehovah's Witnesses - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They have their own translation of the bible.
They believe in Jehovah but not that Jesus is divine.
Jesus was the only direct thing God ever created, every thing else was through Jesus
They do not allow blood transfusions for any reason.
They believe Jesus wil rule the new kingdom on for 1000 years with the help of the 144000 who will be saved.
They use the Old Testament and Revalation as a regular source
It would be worth your while reading this, as the differences with otherChristians are rather large.
Jehovah's Witnesses - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Terrywoodenpic
Oldest Heretic
Their education programme and their requirement to mission is to be admired.
Their message is not.
It would probably be better to be a JW than nothing at all.
wackybasith
Member
According to the wikipedia link they believe Jesus was a "begotten" son of God...but they do not believe in the trinity so what exactly is Jesus to them? A prophet?
no-body
Well-Known Member
This article: Who Is Jesus Christ? - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site will probably answer your questions. Just be prepared for a lot of bible verses.
earlwooters
Active Member
Their beliefs are no stranger than any other church.
Pegg
Jehovah our God is One
He is Micheal the Arch Angel.
We believe that Jesus divinity is linked to his pre-human life as a Spirit in heaven. He is alongside Gabriel as one of the 'foremost' angelic spirit sons. He is actually the first Spirit being created by God, hence why he is called 'the only begotten son' . That is why John says that 'through him, all other things came into existence' and it explains how Jesus is a divine being.
A proverb speaks of this divine Angel in Proverbs 8:22
Jehovah himself produced me as the beginning of his way, the earliest of his achievements of long ago. 23 From time indefinite I was installed, from the start, from times earlier than the earth. ... 27 When he prepared the heavens I was there; when he decreed a circle upon the face of the watery deep,...30 then I came to be beside him as a master worker, and I came to be the one he was specially fond of day by day, I being glad before him all the time, 31 being glad at the productive land of his earth, and the things I was fond of were with the sons of men"
Pegg
Jehovah our God is One
We also differ in that we worship God Jehovah/Yahweh alone. Yahweh is the God of the Hebrew scriptures and he is the God that Jesus worshiped. This is why we do not view Jesus as God Almighty. That title belongs to Yahweh alone.
We do not believe everyone on earth will go to heaven. There are only a small number who have been chosen for heavenly life Rev 14:1. The majority of mankind will live on earth forever Matt 5:5. They will have the work of bringing the earth into harmony with Gods will....that is, we will work to make the earth a paradise like the Garden of Eden. Ps 37:11.
We do not believe that only Jehovahs Witness will be saved. We believe that God will resurrect everyone who has lived in the past and will give them an opportunity to live forever as a subject of his Kingdom. John 5:28-29
We do not believe in a literal fiery hell. We opt for the original meaning of the word Sheol/hell which is s imply the grave. So when a passage says that a person will be sent to hell, it can only mean they will die and go to the grave.
We dont uses images or statues in our worship. We dont venerate the cross. And every baptized witness is a minister of the Good News and are involved in the preaching work.
They are the major differences in our beliefs.
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Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
Interesting. We LDS believe that Adam was the pre-mortal Michael.
Pegg
Jehovah our God is One
Do you believe that Adam returned to the spirit realm and resumed his position as the 'chief Angel' after his death?
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
Well, we do believe that he returned to the spirit realm, but then we believe that is the case with everyone who dies. In other words, we don't believe in a soul-sleep. To be perfectly honest, I'm really not sure about our stance as to his current status as the "chief angel."
Pegg
Jehovah our God is One
we view him as the chief angel because the expression 'Arch' means 'chief'...it could just be my terminology
But it is the prophet Daniel who first mentions that Micheal is the Angel who is called the prince of the Isrealites. Daniel 10:21 However, I shall tell you the things noted down in the writing of truth, and there is no one holding strongly with me in these [things] but Mi′cha‧el, the prince of YOU people.
The NT writer Jude also mentions how Micheal stood against Satan the devil in the days of Moses
Jude 9 But when Mi′cha‧el the archangel had a difference with the Devil and was disputing about Moses body, he did not dare to bring a judgment against him in abusive terms
but earlier, Jesus identified himself as the one who will come
Matthew 24:30 And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven,...and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound
and then we are given further information by Paul that it is the Lord Jesus who is Micheal the Arch Angel at 1Thess 4:16 because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangels voice and with Gods trumpet
So our view is obviously from the scriptures that Jesus is Micheal the Arch Angel. That makes the most sense to us because Jesus was a faithful servant while on earth, whereas Adam proved himself disobedient to God. I guess a question we could as is, If Adam did not prove faithful to God while in the flesh, can we be absolutely certain that he would be the faithful Arch Angel while in heaven?
wackybasith
Member
i see... thanks for the huge amount of info
BruceDLimber
Well-Known Member
One of the differences is that they have a HUGE fear of reading anything someone from another religion offers them, and typically refuse to read (or often even touch) it!
So much for open-mindedness.
Bruce
So much for open-mindedness.
Bruce
BTW - you might find it useful to check out our Jehova's Witness DIR (Discuss Individual Religions) Forum: Jehovah's Witnesses DIR - Religious Education Forum
It has an overview of Jehova's Witness beliefs and history, as well as many threads where Witnesses have responded to different questions about their faith from others.
Have they not taken the tracts you've tried to hand out? I thought the Baha'i faith frowned on proselytizing.
... as opposed to a compulsion to write HUGE.
It is not true that Jehovah's witnesses fear to read other religion's literature. They typically do not do so. This is because they have carefully studied the Bible and strongly believe, based on that careful study, that Jehovah's witnesses practice true Christianity. They are convinced they have found the truth, as Jesus said true worshipers would find.(John 4:23,24, John 8:31;32). Before becoming one of Jw's, many who now serve Jehovah investigated extensively other faiths and their literature. Now, convinced they have the truth, they see no need to read other faith's literature. Rather than show a closed mind, Jehovah's witnesses display strong faith in the Bible, and the true Christian congregation, who truly are worshipping God with spirit and truth. However, we do welcome honest religious discussion with people of other faiths, and listen respectfully to their point of view.