Religious question?

Question

I know this may be a sticky subject but I'm curious, I was brought up Christain, I have a friend who is Jehovah Witness, I'm trying to understand on many levels, plus why do they not celebrate holidays? I'm not trying to offend anyone, I'm just trying to understand the strictness of the JW religion.

I'm asking here cause I know I'll get quicker and more answers from everyside, I'll try going there too.

Answer 1

• Belief in Deity
There is one God Almighty--a Spirit Being with a body but not a human body. There is one God and no Trinity.


• Incarnations
Christ is Lord and Savior, but not God (Jehovah) incarnate, not a God-man but inferior to God, not part of a Godhead. He was a created spirit being, God's only begotten son, sent to Earth as a perfect human. His sacrifice became the "ransom" price to redeem mankind from sin and death. God created all in heaven and on Earth through Christ, the "master worker," God's servant. After Christ's resurrection by God, he was "exalted" to a level higher than angel.


• Origin of Universe and Life
God created the heavens and earth in six days, but each "day" is equal to thousands of years. God created and controls all processes and events.


• After Death
No soul remains after death. Soon, Jesus Christ will return to resurrect the dead, restoring soul and body. Those judged righteous will be given everlasting life on a paradise earth. Those judged unrighteous will not be tormented, but will die and cease to exist.


• Why Evil?
The original sin caused humans to inherit death and sin. Satan and his demons pervade the earth as spirits tempting all to sin, which God allows as a test of faith in Him.


• Salvation
You must show faith in God and in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Adhere to the practices, requirements, commandments, laws, and sacraments of the faith. "Witnessing" and active sharing of their faith with others is fundamental. Avoid behaviors that God dislikes, including celebration of birthdays and holidays originating from false religions.


• Undeserved Suffering
Much suffering is caused by the inheritance of mortality from Adam and Eve, which includes vulnerability to illness and disease. Also, those who choose to succumb to Satan's temptations may suffer self-inflicted damage to their health. Satan and his demons cause great misery. God has allowed the situation to continue so that mankind can discover that God's rule is better than independent human-rule. He has allowed Satan to cause suffering to challenge Satan's claim that God's creation, humans, would turn from and curse God under pressure.


• Contemporary Issues
Abortion is wrong. Homosexuality is a serious sin. Gender roles are defined: Men are the head of the household and women are loving caretakers who assist the husband in teaching the children. Divorce is permitted under certain circumstances, but Jehovah hates remarriage unless the divorce occurred as a result of adultery. Service in the armed forces or any form of allegiance to government is prohibited; one must show allegiance only to the Kingdom of Christ. Blood transfusions, along with ingesting blood, are considered wrong, as God said the soul is in the blood. Bone marrow transplants are left to the individual conscience. (Note: all other forms of medical treatment are acceptable.)

Answer 2

Jehovah's Witnesses are themselves Christians.

For some reason known only to themselves, 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 three 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/e/20050422/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/pr/article_04.htm

Answer 3

Unfortunately you need to ask this question in Religion, most of the answers you will get here are nonsensical spoutings anyway, and those that aren't are usually misinformed.

Answer 4

You may want to try the Religion and Spirituality Section. You wont get good answers here. Sorry.

Answer 5

I'd like to know tooo....this girl in my 5th grade class couldn't even stay in a class celebrating with a halloween party or christmas party...

See...my religion (jainism)..does not have any thing like those holidays but we still celebrate them as fun..nothing religious like!

Answer 6

Christmas, Birthdays, and Easter are from false religions. Jesus couldn't have been born in December. We dont know why it was Easter he died on and birthdays is also from a made up religion.

Answer 7

They celebrate the holidays, they just don't celebrate it by giving gifts.

Try asking your friend, he/she will be able to answer that for you.

Answer 8

I think it's that no one should be put ahead of God and birthdays celebrate a person when it's God that should be celebrated.

Answer 9

materail worship, we should be carrying our kindness and love of others every hour of each day, just not one specail month of the year