What are the differences between catholicism and jehovah's witness'? What are the different beliefs?

Question

What are the differences between catholicism and jehovah's witness? I am in a family caught between the two so I want to know each of the beliefs and disbeliefs.

Answer 1

The fundamental difference between Jehovah's Witness theology and most of Christendom is that the Witnesses recognize God's Kingdom by Christ Jesus as a real functioning government which will certainly step in and correct the dysfunction on our earth.

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

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_10.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_06.htm
http://jw-media.org/beliefs/trueworship.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/jt/
http://watchtower.org/e/dg/index.htm?article=article_11.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/pr/index.htm?article=article_07.htm

Answer 2

The Catholics believe in the Trinity (God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit), whereas the Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe that Jesus or the Holy Spirit are Divine. They are therefore witnessess of Jehovah (God the Father). However, the problem is that because salvation comes through faith in Jesus, then the basis of the Jehovah's Witnesses salvation becomes doing good works.

Answer 3

The biggest fundamental difference is that Jehovah's Witnesses stick to ONLY the Bible. We do not follow the traditions of men.

Although Catholicism has its roots based in the Bible, it is also has traditions it has carried on through the years "making" these traditions Christian as time goes by without regard to where they came from.

Answer 4

Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in the trinity because it is not a bible teaching (John 17). The Catholics do.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in hellfire torture or purgatory (Ecc 9:5,10). The Catholics do.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not worship idols (or use idols as part of their worship if you prefer that wording) because the Bible says that God hates that form of worship (Exodus 20:4,5). Catholics do.

Jehovah's Witnesses observe the memorial of Jesus' death once a year and it is our most special occassion of the year. The Catholics do it once a week.

My apologies to any Catholics if I am misrepresenting your faith. I am not Catholic and never have been and I strongly dislike it when people claim to know things about MY religion when they have never been one or studied with us so I must put this disclaimer here. I'm not trying to make a biased answer by showing scriptural references for our practices only but I only know a very little bit about Catholics and I'm not sure where your traditions come from or why you worship the way you do so I'm not going to try to misrepresent you here. I want that to be known for the purposes of this answer.

Answer 5

Jehovah's Witnesses live by God's word, we have not changed the Bible, it is a more accurate translation and we've put Jehovah's name back in the more than 6000 places it belongs. We know by Bible Scripture that Jesus is not God but his son, the first born of all creation Colossians 1:15. We as Jesus said of his true disciples, are no part of this world and that is why the world hates us, because we are no part of the world and the world is fond of what is it's own, and so they make up every sort of lie about us, but God says they will not prove successful. Have a study with the Witnesses for a thorough understanding of God's word, Catholics live by the church's doctrine and believe Jesus is God thus taking the true God out of the picture. You should go to www.watchtower.org this is the official site of Jehovah's Witnesses and can give you the information you need. Other sites out there are apostate and are haters of Jehovah's Witnesses and will mislead you, they will drag anyone they can into Gehenna with them.

Answer 6

I know some of what the Catholics believe...and the religion is enriched with all kinds of pagan beliefs, and holidays. They changed the day of rest to Sunday...and their church began a little over 300 years after Christ was resurrected. The JW's believe that Christ was not the Son of God...which it plainly states in various verses throughout the Bible. The JW version of the Bible replaced every instance of the English word God with Jehovah...and Lord was also replaced in some places. However, this is not entirely an accurate methodology of identifying when YHWH was written, or a different form of God's many names. In some instances, when reading the JW Bible, God is speaking with his son, before he was born as Christ...and the word Jehovah was used in both places...so it doesn't make sense. I would suggest reading your Holy Bible, and make your own decision. It will be well worth the time and effort. You may decide to join a completely different version of Christianity. (JW doesn't qualify as Christian since they don't believe in Christ). One of the other answerers talked about no one keeps a day that Jesus said we should keep...but they reject the day that God said we should keep as the first holiday (holy day) which is the Sabbath, or seventh day of the week. Why should they care since they don't believe in Jesus anyway?

Answer 7

My suggestion is that you speak to a witness to find out their beliefs. I definitely wouldnt expect people on this site to give a correct view of something they have NO idea about. As a witness, i can not tell you the ends and outs of, say, buddhism. So for those who just LOVE to tell people what we as witnesses think, even though they have never talked to one or gone to the Kingdom Hall, but has possibly gotten their info from some apostate site online. There are so many misconceptions on this site about witnesses!! So, please, i suggest you talk to those in your family who are witnesses to get the REAL beliefs. ok, i hope this helps

Answer 8

The witnesses are more like the original congregation, in that it is lead by individuals who are not professional, and paid, ministers. With the exception of Paul, the Apostles were simple working men, with no formal education. As for the Apostle Paul, his advanced education in the religious arts simply taught him that Christians were just a cult, following the teachings of another man who also had no religious education. All his education kept him from seeing that these people who were going door to door telling their fellow countrymen that their traditional rituals, beliefs, and holidays were not longer valid, were teaching the truth.

Sound familiar?

It took a miracle to change his mind and realize that he was wrong about them.

In the JWs, a simple window washer could end up a congregation overseer, a Circuit or District Servant, or on the Governing Board. Everyone in the witnesses are taught the same, and not just preached at.

That aside, here are a few more differences.

They believe in obeying the law, even the inconvenient ones, such as speed limits when late for work.

They believe in paying taxes, even though there are many ways they could avoid them, as most religions do.

They believe in keeping their word, such as to the IRS that they will not promote politics in the church, and they actually mean it.

They teach their youth that waiting until marriage is preferable to using protection, and for the most part, the youths actually believe it. As a result, they have the lowest rates of out-of-wedlock births and STDs. Yes, there is the occasional ones who would rather have their fun now than wait, but there are far more who choose to wait.

They treat their youth with respect, not just "do what you're told!"

Youths are taught side by side with the adults, the Bible as a whole, and not just Bible stories. The very young may not understand what they are being taught, but by the time you reach the age of understanding, they have a good basic knowledge of the scriptures.

The congregations never get so large that the individual gets lost in the crowd. Since everyone is taught the same, it is easy to start a new congregation, with a set of elders.

Everyone knows everyone, whether in their congregation, or in their circuit. When Katrina happened, every Jehovah’s Witnesses, along with neighbors, living in New Orleans could be found in Texas, with every witness accounted for. How many other religions could say for certain they knew that none of those left behind belong to one of their churches?

They believe their Kingdom Halls should compliment a neighborhood, and not overwhelm it, so they are small and don’t include a lot of expensive decorative features. Each KH can hold up to four congregations.

They encourage all their members to read the Bible and submit their thoughts. This was before the NWT and when they were using the KJV, or Authorized Version. It should be noted that this version of the KJV was not the first, but the fifth. It took four revisions over a 150 year period, before it was approved by the Church of England.

JW may have their own Bible, but it came about as a result of reading the KJV by thousands of people and noting the contradictions as a result of errors in translation. A good example is the scripture that says “The Word” is a Mighty God. A Mighty God gets its power and existence from an Almighty God. As for revisions, to my knowledge, it had not been revised since it came out in the 50s. My mother still has her first JW Bible, though it is worn like all the others she has used since them. Witnesses generally wear out a Bible every few years, whereas those in Christendom may have the same Bible for generations.

The greatest difference between JWs and the rest of Christendom can be answered with just one question.

WHAT DAY DO YOU OBSERVE THE MEMORIAL ON?

Everyone else will falter around and perhaps come up with a day in May, but all JWs will say at sunset on Niacin 14, which falls on the first full moon after the vernal equinox, the Memorial of the Last Supper. This is the only day, aside from wedding anniversaries, that Christ said to continue keeping, yet Jehovah's Witnesses are the only Christian organization that does.

Whatever you may say about whether it is right or wrong to observe the man-made holidays created since the first congregations, the fact remains that Christendom does not observe the one day Christ said to keep. What does that say for the leaders of Christendom, that they ignore that one important day of the year, and don't even know what day it falls on?

The question of holidays gets asked a lot, yet the facts of why are clearly evident. Even the Churches of Christendom recognize that the holidays and observances are not in keeping with Bible teachings, yet they fear that doing anything about it will jeopardize their positions and power. Check any religious encyclopedia about the holidays and their history.

So the question is not why don't witnesses celebrate the holidays, but why does Christendom celebrate something not taught in the Bible? Further, why don't they know what day Christ said to observe and why don't you observe it on that day?

Whatever you may think of any of the other beliefs of JWs, you have to ask yourself is the need to observe these holidays more important than observing the day Christ said to keep?

Answer 9

Catholicism was started back in 34 A.D. jehovah's wistness was started a few years ago.

Answer 10

I believe that the Catholic religion follows the bible closer then the Jehovah's witness interpretation of the scriptures.
Most Catholics that I have talked to don't really study the Bible.
(like most self professed Christians of any faith)
What you would need to do if find a Church or belief that really studies the Bible and is not a cult.
Prayer and studying Gods word will bring you what you are seeking.
Surround yourself with people who are serious in the study of Gods word