What is so weird about Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses?

Question

I know the Joseph Smith tale; I know Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate on holidays or give blood or show any love to ex-Witnesses. That's it. Going door-to-door can't be the weirdest thing they're known for.

Answer 1

The most important difference between JW's and Mormons, from True Christians, is there denial that Jesus was God. Between the two, Jehovah Witnesses are the most defensive and angry from my experience.

There are just as many comments directed to Mormons on here, than JWs, but rarely will you see a Mormon lash out with anger, sarcasm, or worse. Though misled in their beliefs, Mormons are pleasant people who will at least listen and respect the opinions of others. I can't say the same for most JWs.

Answer 2

Jehovah's Witnesses are not wierd. They go door-to-door just as the disciples and prophets did preaching news of Jehovah's Kingdom. They don't celebrate holidays, birthdays, or give or partake of blood. They memorialize the death of Christ, just as we are told to do in the Bible. They don't believe that we have an immortal soul that lives on after death. They do show love to all people, and encourage those that are or have been disfellowshipped to correct their behaviour and return to the congregation.

Answer 3

Most things you hear about either are old wives tales. Although I do not agree with the Morman teachings, I do respect their love of family and that they do some door to door witnessing.

There's nothing weird about Jehovah's Witnesses, no chanting, no candles, no rituals, no idols just following the bible as closely as we can. We do strive to keep the congregations clean. Some feel that this is harsh, but if there is an UNrepentant wrong doer who refuses to change, they can no longer be in good standing in the congregation, or be consider a Jehovah's Witness. They can still go to the meetings, but they are not consider good association, but they are always welcome back once they have cleaned up their life back in harmony with God's laws and morals. This is based on 1 Cor. 5: 9 - 13 "In my letter I wrote you to quit mixing in company with fornicators, not meaning entirely with the fornicators of this world or the greedy persons and extortioners or idolaters. Otherwise, you would actually have to get out of the world. But now I am writing you to quit mixing in company with anyone called a brother that is a fornicator or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man. For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Do you not judge those inside, while God judges those outside? "remove the wicked man from among yourselves."

Further comment: Ones do not get disfellowship for just leaving, not wanting to be a witness anymore. They only get disfellowshipped for unrepentant wrongdoing. Family is still family, if a family member is disfellowshipped, we would limit the amount of association we would have with them, more on a need to basis and it is usually that they cut themselves off from their family by their actions and lifestyle. For example, if a young person (not living at home) gets disfellowshipped for drug abuse or drinking, would the parents consider them good association for their younger siblings? If someone just stops going, family would still do things with them, depending on their attitude, but probably not as much as before, just do to time and different priorities.

Answer 4

I don't understand why people don't give Mormon's a chance if they were to truly look at the FRUIT of the religion, it might make a person consider the views they are judged for as being out-of-the-ordinary Christian realm.

First of all, I have been a member of at least ten churches and always tithed faithfully, but when it came time to help me in return, the mormon church is the ONLY one that actually stepped up to the plate.

Second, they have their own food bank and "welfare" type system - how much more secure can you get than that? People claim that churches don't really help people with resources - the Mormon church does!! Really! No BS!

Third, they are the most family oriented church and consistant in that aspect from church-to-church in that they support marriage and children.

Fourth, they encourage people to get involved and are very organized - a higher percentage of people actually PARTICIPATE in service activities than other churches...everyone gets involved!

Fifth, other churches are criticized for building elaborate buildings and wasting money, while people in the church's NEEDS go unmet, when the Mormon churches are all built to identical, practical plans that are very energy efficient and simple.

When it comes to things that other churches are criticized for I think the Mormon church really stands out as being different from those, regardless of some of the beliefs. For me the proof is in the pudding, or the people. They are some of the kindest people I have ever met. And nonjudgemental. Of course this can differ depending on the individual, but that is not how they are TAUGHT to be if they are judgemental.

Answer 5

What's so weird in going from door to door? Jesus and the aposteles did the same thing.

"While I did not hold back from telling YOU any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching YOU publicly and from house to house. " -- Acts 20:20

"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." -- Matthew 28:19

"But he said to them: “Also to other cities I must declare the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this I was sent forth."" -- Luke 4:43

"And every day in the temple and from house to house they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus." -- Acts 5:42

Answer 6

---WHATS ONLY weird, is we are just as weird as anyone else, relatively speaking or meaning imperfect as everyone.

--BEFORE BECOMING a witness over 40 years ago---I had been a Greek Orthodox, Altar Boy, Sunday school teacher, went to Catholic & Protestant churches, other orthodox churches and found weirder things or teachings in them.

--In a Russian Monestary in upstate NY I saw the notorious crying icons CRY, and felt the weirdest thing in all my life!

----It was close to 100 degrees in the area we were in & my friend and I when in attendence in the church and observing the Icons cry a red liquid, felt SUDDENLY the coldest atmosphere in a hot church to such a degree that we both left immediately----This was a presence of demon forces// THAT WAS WEIRD!

--ANOTHER WEIRD experience, while talking to a lady about the Bible , her minister came in and we started talking about the Bible and God's name Jehovah-----While we were doing that, everytime the name of Jehovah was used , this man started to flinch violently.

---This started to escalate and this man ended up cluching many parts of his body AND in great pain. IT SEEMED to us that something was hitting him as we were talking, We left with him and the lady thinking that this was a religious experience and praising their lord.

--This was a demon attack similar to the man who had demons in the Bible--They would beat him up as recorded at Mark 5:1-11!

Thanks for your posting!

Answer 7

Why are only Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons picked on?..........isnt that a little unfair?

Answer 8

JWs are considered weird because modern Christians do not think the Greek scriptures apply to their daily lives where JWs do.

Answer 9

Consider the can opened:

Joseph Smith's 'secret' polygamous wives (without Emma's consent) in Nauvoo.

Joseph Smith's first story about his 1st vision purported to be just an angel and occurred in 1823. He didn't include Jesus Christ until the 3rd time he told the story, and didn't include God the Father until he actually wrote it down in 1838. In all, there are 8 different versions of the 1st vision with very different facts. Ultimately, he divided his 'first vision' into the two visions we know now; the 'Sacred Grove' vision in 1820 and the 'Moroni' vision in 1823.

Temple members were required to take an Oath of Vengeance against the United States to avenge the blood of Joseph and Hyrum against the government all the way up until 1904, when they had to remove it from the endowment for Reed Smoot to become Senator of Utah.

The 'Prophet's' condo in Salt Lake is worth $1.2 million. The least-paid General Authority earns a $80,000-90,000 "Living Expense Allowance" per year. I don't know what this allowance is used for either, since most "living expenses" are paid on Church credit cards anyway. (gas, groceries, etc) The Church owns over $30 billion in assets and generates $6 billion in annual revenue- all of this without reporting a dime of it to members. 95% of churches (baptist, lutheran, anglican, even 'the great and abominable' [according to momos] Catholic Church) report earnings and use of capital to the public. The LDS Church doesn't. You will never know what your tithing is used for. The Church owns LOTS of stock in LOTS of companies, most prominently Coca-Cola, which manufactures and markets many products (energy drinks, caffeinated cola, some alcoholic beverages) that are against Church standards. Believe it or not, they even own some stock in cigarette companies.

Aside from all that, the LDS Church believes in and teaches several principles that go against the Bible. For instance, they believe Adam is now "a god", along with Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, etc. They believe that they can become gods of their own worlds. They believe that God has a wife (maybe even several wives). Early Church authorities taught that Jesus had a "train of wives" that followed Him around. None of this is in the Bible (or even in the Book of Mormon for that matter).

Until 1990, Temple Members were required to swear death penalty oaths (the Bible says specifically not to swear by anything, especially one's "own head", i.e. life) for revealing the nature of the Temple Endowment. Until 2004, members being "initiated" into the Temple were touched by people on various parts of their unclothed bodies with both water and oil as a "washing & annointing".

Joseph Smith was often drunk in public in Nauvoo (years after having revealed the "Word of Wisdom", and was found many mornings having passed out and spent the night in a ditch.

The Book of Abraham Papyri were actually found in a museum, and analyzed INDEPENDENTLY by several different egyptologists (who were each unaware of the others' conclusions), and they ALL (unanimously) said that the papyri had nothing to do with Abraham, but that it was a "Book of Breathings" (burial ritual document) for a guy named Hor (or Horus).

Answer 10

The most evil thing they are known for is disfellowshipping. If a person is baptised as a teenager and then let it be known that they no longer believe it is the truth they are disfellowshipped. This means that their friends and even their family must cut them off and shun them for life. Many former Witnesses have barely been contacted by any of their family for many years.

Of course the other horrible teaching is that very soon God will kill everyone except for Jehovah's Witnesses, billions of people. See how their books describe Gods war in which those who are not JWs are destroyed and left to the birds and wild animals to eat of their carcasses.

*** kj chap. 20 pp. 372-373 Land of Magog No More to Threaten Mankind ***

"10 The innumerable hordes under Gog of Magog attacked the spiritual estate of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses with the intent to despoil them, but it proves to be just the opposite: “‘And they will certainly make spoil of those who had been making spoil of them, and plunder those who had been plundering them,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”—Ezekiel 39:10.

11 As it were, the attack forces under Gog of Magog dig their own graves by attacking the God-given estate of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses on earth. But how will comparatively few survivors of the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon be able to bury “those slain by Jehovah” who will lie “in that day from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth”? (Jeremiah 25:33) And after those “birds of every sort of wing” and the “wild beasts of the field” satisfy themselves with feeding on the cadavers of Gog’s hordes, what will there be left to bury? But if there is anything left to bury, Jehovah will allow for it to the eternal shame of those losing their lives in Gog’s attack."