What do Jehovah's witnesses believe?

Question

I'm sorry to sound so thick but how are your beliefs different from other branches of christianity?

Answer 1

The Wikipedia article was fairly accurate. Many of the other responses given here were either biased, inaccurate, or both.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, whose name is Jehovah. (Psalm 83:18, etc.) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is who He said He was, God's Son.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior, and our only means of approach to his Father. We also believe that Jesus is the example for all Christians, and that we should follow his commands, including the command to preach the Gospel to others. (Matthew 28:19, 20)

Witnesses also believe that the Apostles were inspired of God in their writings, and that these writings should also be followed by Christians, including the command to "abstain from blood." (Acts 15:28, 29)

There are many things that Witnesses do or believe that may seem strange to others, but they are all things that the Bible outlines for Christians to believe or to do.

For the Official Site of Jehovah's Witnesses, which contains the most accurate answers to the question of what we believe, go to:

http://www.watchtower.org

Answer 2

You could start by checking out some of the segments on You Tube taken from the PBS feature “Knocking” which gets shown in May. Here’s the web link:
http://www.knocking.org/

Check the link for previews. Some survivors from the German Holocaust will be speaking at them.

Aside from being the most Christ like people, if you set aside any Bible issues, my guess is that some of the irritating issues people have with them could be:

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 Nasin 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 3

Jehovah's Witnesses understand the Scriptures to teach that God's Kingdom by Christ Jesus 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 4

Witnesses consider the entire Biblical canon, excluding the Apocrypha, the inspired word of God. They interpret the Bible literally, though it is acknowledged that biblical writers and characters employed symbolism, parable, figures of speech, and poeticism. They hold that the Bible alone should be used for determining issues of doctrine. Interpretation of scripture and codification of doctrines is considered the responsibility of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Answer 5

I know very little about them but i do know one thing i disagree most strongly with and that is their strong stand against blood transfusion and should a sibling need one to save life they refuse to have it performed and i object to them knocking my door to try to engage me in a conversation to accept their religious beliefs

Answer 6

We believe in striving to follow the Bible. Variations between us and other faiths mostly stem from differences in interperatation/practice of various Bible scriptures.

Answer 7

You got some decent responses. I am not sure everything that believe.

However, I would ask you to go back and review my response to a question your responded to earlier in regards to why Ruth was included in the Bible. From One Christian to another I thought you would be interested.

I spent some time on my response to this question and since you are a Christian I thought you would be interested.

Go back and check out my response to a question that you also responded to in regards to why the Book of Ruth was included.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtulYAAvZFEoDqN4dh8YUGHsy6IX?qid=20070409213814AAFJC7Q

Answer 8

Instead of listening to peoples answers on here who might lie or have an bias opinion against them, why don't you ask one the next time they visit your door. im sure you wont get bitten!!

Answer 9

my mom was a catholic,but now she converted herself to Jehovas witnesses...there was this one JW who used to visit my mom and had convinced her to "join" them....i have my own belief too,as i do respect hers...its no big deal to me...then i asked her whats the difference?and she told me things i never heard from her before...things like Jesus' father is jehova,and they dont celebrate christmas in december because his real birthday is october 10,she quitted smoking and stopped selling cigarettes in her store because it is not allowed in their religion and so on and so fort...

Answer 10

they believe in the word of the bible but thankfully don't believe in mayhem to preach their believe having met many at my doorstep .. nice people ...and still not converted but was tempted