Does Jehovah's witnesses believe as christians do that you should treat others as you would want treated?

Question

My oldest sister is a Jehovah's witness, she goes regularly to Kingdom Hall and everything, for years now she has not even talked to me, to my knowledge I haven't done a thing to her....since we were teenagers and she left home she hasn't made any effort to really be my sister yet she does have relationships with my other two sisters. When I used to live near them all, she would visit my two sisters but never me. She has four kids and only one of them have I ever met! One of my sisters hasn't been in touch with her and my oldest sister (the one I am asking about) emailed me, only to ask me to get a message to my other sister....and she signed the email "sincerely"...I mean how business like....how insincere for your own sister. She never tells me she loves me or anything....she's hurting me and I emailed her back and told her how she makes me feel. I am a christian....and I would never treat my own sister this way! I don't believe God would want that from me...

So my question is do Jehovah's Witnesses believe it is ok to treat your own sisters badly like this?

Answer 1

Shae, I am really sorry for your situation. I also read your profile and there is no reason that I can see for your sisters attitude, and yes we do try to treat others how we would want to be treated. However we are not perfect, we make mistakes like everybody else. I really feel that you need to let your sister know how you feel and how this is effecting you, and that you would like to have her in your life. Sometimes writing a letter is beneficial because it enables you to really reflect on your feelings and express yourself more thoroughly. Perhaps once everything is out on the table, then any differences can be resolved.

Answer 2

I am sorry to hear of the way your sister treats you. Theoretically JWs believe in treating others as they wish to be treated. Unfortunately the practice is to treat "worldy people" (anyone not a JW) differently. For example see the following quote.
Watchtower 1994 Feb 15 p.24
“We must also be on guard against extended association with worldly people. Perhaps it is a neighbor, a school friend, a workmate, or a business associate. We may reason, ‘He respects the Witnesses, he leads a clean life, and we do talk about the truth occasionally.’ Yet, the experience of others proves that in time we may even find ourselves preferring such worldly company to that of a spiritual brother or sister. What are some of the dangers of such a friendship?”

True Peace and Security – How Can You Find It? (1986) p.122 Survivors Must Be “No Part of the World”
“Only a minority has ever stayed free from the control of this invisible ruler and his forces. Thus the “world,” that is, the mass of mankind alienated from God, “is lying in the power of the wicked one."

To people that leave the Watchtower Society the treatment is even more harsh.

Watchtower of September 15, 1981, page 25, says: “A simple ‘Hello’ to someone can be the first step that develops into a conversation and maybe even a friendship. Would we want to take that first step with a disfellowshipped person?”

Watchtower 1988 April 15 p.27 What About Relatives?
“14 The situation is different if the disfellowshipped or disassociated one is a relative living outside the immediate family circle and home. It might be possible to have almost no contact at all with the relative. Even if there were some family matters requiring contact, this certainly would be kept to a minimum, ..."

Answer 3

Counterfeit Christianity is probably the best description I can give for a cult. Counterfeit Christianity is an imitation of real Christianity. Bible terms like "Jesus Christ, Resurrection, Salvation, and Atonement" are used by the Cult, but the various cult groups have assigned entirely different meanings to these terms. Like counterfeit money which is sometimes difficult to detect, so it is difficult to detect counterfeit Christianity, since it looks like the real thing. Experts examining counterfeit money often hold it up to a strong light and look for identifying marks. Counterfeit Christianity also has identifying marks, which can be seen when, held up to an even stronger light, the light of God's word, the bible. We are at an advantage if we know what to expect from a cult. Cultists are very well trained to appear "Christian", and indeed believe they are the true churches, and you need the deliverance! Therefore, be bold and ask the question, "do you believe the group you represent is the only true church on the face of the earth?" If they reply that they are, or if they are evasive, making remarks like "Well, every church has a measure of truth but...", you have made an early detection of a Cultist. Every true Christian, if asked the same question, regardless of his denomination, would reply that the true church is comprised of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and HE (not some organization) is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE, (John 14:6). No legitimate denomination would claim that they alone and their members have salvation exclusively, but the cults (the counterfeits) do.

Answer 4

The best thing to do is confront your sister. She is not behaving this way because of her religion. She must have some other reason for treating you the way she does. Jehovah's Witnesses only "shun" people when they have been disfellowshipped from the Christian Congregation. Otherwise we are to treat every fellow human being with love and respect.

Answer 5

I'm a Witness. Unless you are a disfellowshipped Witness, there is no excuse for your sister's behavior and she shouldn't treat you the way she does. I would have a very frank conversation with her about this.

Jehovah's Witnesses (as a group - I can't speak for individuals) do not shun people, regardless of their faith or lifestyle unless they have been disfellowshipped from the congregation. It is completely out of harmony with what Jesus taught to show anything but love for our family and neighbors and it's not what we're about.

Answer 6

Jesus said that if your brother has a complaint against you, first go to your brother, so as to gain your brother.

It may seem that your sister has a complaint or a problem concerning you.

You might want to approach her with the above scripture and ask if you can talk.

I looked at you profile prior to answering, and if understood the statement about your b/f, that may be one of the problems, especially since your sister has children.

1 Cor 15:33.

Answer 7

Sibling differences is an area often spoken often about by philosophers. There are those who get along well with their siblings and those who don't. I had not seen my older sisters in over ten years. My oldest sister passed away last year. We did have our differences. My sisters were very anti-male, while I worked to help divorced and single fathers. My oldest sister was involved in Egyptian mysticism and Egyptian Gods.

My other sister blamed me for her not getting custody of her children. She thinks I provided materials to her ex-husband to help him get custody, but I didn't. He never asked for any. He may have gotten possession of the manual I developed, but not through me or any of my office personnel.

I was not raised around them, in general, as our parents were divorced and my mother remarried. My sisters did bounce back and forth at times, depending on what they didn't like at the time.

My mother became a Jehovah's Witness in 1965, and my stepfather, who was violently opposed to it, became a witness in 1966. She stayed in regular contact with both sisters throughout their lives, and still does with the surviving one. I was baptized, but was disfellowshipped in 1982 for cause. I really like women, as in plural, though I've been approached by a few individuals who wanted me to join their anti-JW group and say that I thought they were a false group. All of them were disfellowshipped for the same reason, immorality.

My sisters and younger brother never were baptized.

Answer 8

I am real sorry that your sister is treating you this way. yes if you are disfellowshipped then she would not talk to you, if not you should ask her why she is treating you this way. if someone in our family is not a Jehovah Witness we treat them the same way we would want to be treated, no different.

Answer 9

Sadly, religious bigots insist on pretending that Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christians. In fact, the formal name of this devout religion is "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses". It would seem that a person who refuses to acknowledge such a fundamental point might also prove antisocial in other ways as well; it should not surprise the bigot when sincere persons of faith prefer not to socialize with him or her.

In particular, trinitarians repeatedly pretend that Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christian. Trinitarians use an artificial, trinity-specific definition of the term "Christian" which excludes anyone who does not believe that Jesus is God Himself, rather than the Son of God. Interestingly, pagans in the first century pretended that Christ's followers were Atheists(!) because the Christians had a somewhat different idea from the pagans about the nature of God.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that no salvation occurs without Christ, that accepting Christ's sacrifice is a requirement for true worship, that every prayer must acknowledge Christ, that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom, that Christ is the head of the Christian congregation, that Christ is immortal and above every creature, even that Christ was the 'master worker' in creating the universe! Both secular dictionaries and disinterested theologians acknowledge that Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian religion.

The Trinitarian arguments are intended to insult and demean Jehovah's Witnesses, rather than to give a Scripturally accurate understanding of the term "Christian".

In fact, the bible most closely associates being "Christian" with preaching about Christ and Christ's teachings. Review all the times the bible uses the term "Christian" and note that the context connects the term with:
"declaring the good news"
'teaching quite a crowd'
'open eyes, turn from dark to light'
"uttering sayings of truth"
"persuade"
"keep on glorifying"

(Acts 11:20-26) [The early disciples of Jesus] began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus... and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.

(Acts 26:17-28) [Jesus said to Paul] I am sending you, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God... Paul said: “I am not going mad, Your Excellency Festus, but I am uttering sayings of truth and of soundness of mind. ...Do you, King Agrippa, believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” But Agrippa said to Paul: “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.”

(1 Peter 4:14-16) If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy... But if he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name


So why do anti-Witnesses try to hijack the term "Christian" and hide its Scriptural implications? Because anti-Witnesses recognize that it is the preaching work that makes it clear that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are by far the most prominent followers of Christ:

(Matthew 28:19,20) Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded


Learn more!
http://watchtower.org/e/ti/
http://watchtower.org/library/ti/index.htm

Answer 10

My mother and best friend were\are Jehovah's witness' and I understand a few things about them.

Maybe there is something in your life that your sister does not agree with and not talking to you is what she feels she needs to do to be good to her faith.

If I were you I would just knock on her door and not leave until she tells me why she does not talk to you. It could not hurt.

Try telling her you part about god not wanting her to treat you like this. Also tell her how hurt you are face to face. That may have more of an impact on her.

Good Luck