jehovah's witness are so anti-government, how come many of them lives on pension or government handouts?

Question

aniti-government means they believe governent are part of the satan's organization on earth

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses are absolutely *NOT* anti-government. Despite the shameful slander of this so-called "question", the adherents of Jehovah's Witnesses are no more dependent on government programs than those of any other religion.

Regarding the matter of government, however, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that God's Kingdom is a real government. Thus Jehovah's Witnesses prefer to reserve their highest allegiances to God's Kingdom rather than mankind's secular governments.

Jehovah's Witnesses understand the Scriptures to teach that God's Kingdom will soon replace all earthly governments.
(Daniel 2:44) God of heaven will set up a kingdom... It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite

That Kingdom will rule over the vast majority of mankind, most of whom will have been raised from the dead after Armageddon.
(John 11:23,24) Jesus said to her: “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
(Acts 24:15) There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

Until that resurrection, there is no suffering in "hell", or the grave. Sometime after the resurrection, death and "hell" will themselves be destroyed.
(Ecclesiastes 9:5) For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all
(Ecclesiastes 9:10) there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol ["hell"]
(Revelation 20:14) And death and Hades ["hell"] were hurled into the lake of fire

While a limitted number of humans will be resurrected to heaven to share in ruling over mankind, the vast majority (literally more than 99.9%) of Jehovah's Witnesses expect an EARTHLY hope, the same hope given to Adam and Eve.
(Genesis 1:28) God blessed them and God said to them: “Be fruitful and become many and fill THE EARTH and subdue it [caps added]
(Genesis 2:17) You must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die [so never eating from that tree means never dying]

Interestingly, the Scriptures are full of references to this earthly hope.
(Psalms 37:11) 'the meek will possess the earth'
(Proverbs 2:21) 'upright will reside in the earth'
(Isaiah 45:18) 'God formed the earth to be inhabited'
(Matthew 5:5) 'the mild will inherit the earth'
(Revelation 21:3) The tent of God is with mankind

Answer 2

Jehovah's Witnesses are not anti- government they are neutral to political affairs. If they were anti-government then that would mean they would have a political opinion so would be against their faith in the Bible because Romans 13:1 says " Let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities, for there is no authority except by God; the existing authorities stand placed in their relative positions by God."
JW also observe what Jesus said in John 17:6 "They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world"

JW recognise that God allows the human authorities to stand in their relative places and JW are to obey their superior authorities with one exeption found in Acts 5:29 "We must obey God as ruler rather an men." This means that JW must follow God's command of obeying government authorities unless it breaks the higher authority of God's commands.
Jehovah's Witness thus obey the governments such as paying taxes, obey highway laws but will not vote because they recognise that humans ruling humans have been to their own injury as found in Ecclesiatastes 8:9 and only God's heavenly kingdom is the true and permanent answer to mankinds problems.

JW do vote but it is not for man made governments but the soon coming spiritual government of God where Jesus rules as king over the Earth.

Satan is ruler of this world as described in the Bible at
John 12:31 "Now there is a judging of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."
2 Corinthians 4:4 "among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through."

Answer 3

They pay their taxes as well as anyone else, or better, so why shouldn't they. The fact they don't vote isn't a crime in they USA as far as I know (I'm not American). I believe they commit less crime than almost any other religious group I know of. I think you will find there is less of them in jail and less of them involved with drugs, extortion, etc.
Where is the statistic which proves that more of them are on welfare or government handouts than Catholics or Baptists or whatever other religion or denomination you want. At the time I wrote this you hadn't provided the source of the statistic, so your arguement is unproven.
The fact they don't want to be involved in the military doesn't mean they aren't patriotic. Do you think it's patriotic for Americans to be dying trying to sort out other countries religious and corruption problems? Who was the last JW accussed of selling US secrets or spying ... anywhere in the world?
I'm not a JW, but you have no right to be making such statements about law abiding citizens that pay their taxes.

Answer 4

Religious freedom has nothing to do with obeying the command of Jesus to preach.

In countries where it is against the law to preach, Jehovah's Witnesses continue to preach.

Even when it was against the law in the USA, England, Canada, Russia, China, and all the rest of the countries.

Many cities, counties, and states tried to make the preaching work 'illegal'

The religiouse freedom you claim is because Jehovah's Witnesses fought for their right to preach in those and this country.

Paul said to pay our taxes, because of the programs governments offer to their citizens.

Paul didn't fight for Rome, but he used his citizenship to further the peaching work.

The same as Jehovah's Witnesses today.

Answer 5

Anti-Government??? Godness no. Why Jesus even told us pay unto Ceaser his due. We obey the laws, lest they contradict Jehovah. We pay our taxes. We have our wages garnished according to need and personal preference. When the time comes we accept what we earned. Same principle as with a Bank. We serve Jehovah's Government first and foremost. The Bible tells us to submit to the authrity of man's government till it encroaches on God's domain.

Answer 6

I am not a JW. They are not actively anti-government. They just don't feel that they are citizens of this country primarily and thus don't have to participate in these things.
The reason that they use government handouts is in part because the JW's have 12 TIMES the national average for mental illnesses like schizophrenia among their members. Research has been done and it appears that they attract some to their numbers that have these disorders. The rest of them they _make_.
If you have schizophrenia and other psychiatric problems, you are unable to work.

Answer 7

Your additional point clarifies the question but I notice the JWs are not too keen to tackle this spiritual basis for their lack of political support for governments. You correctly said they consider ALL governments to be part of Satan's system. They are supposed to stay as clear from corrupt politics as of 'false' (i.e. non-JW) religion. Yet they agree that Jesus and the Bible commands paying tax and obeying all laws that do not conflict with God's laws. This results in good, law-abiding citizens, even though they won't do anything positive to support government. If everyone was like them, government would rejoice in having unchallenged dictatorship handed to them on a plate.

However, here's a point for JWs to mull over. Choosing NOT to vote is being as politically active as choosing to vote. Think about it. And also reflect on how the tragic deaths of millions resulted in your freedom to preach your gospel in Western countries.

Answer 8

NOW this is weird. Over 21 hours and only one disparaging remark about the JWs. I think that's a record. Someone call Guinness.

Answer 9

Anyone who has contributed to the State Pension Scheme is entitled to a pension.

Answer 10

We are not anti-government. Jehovah has allowed these temporary Governments to exist & we respect them and abide by their laws. We are, however, politcally neutral.