Jehovah Witnesses, what do they believe?

Question

people keep coming for my brother and sending him leaflets called' the jehovah's witnesses and i would like to know what they believe and practice as my brother is only little and may have answered the door and signed up for something.

any info will help me, thank you. x

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses are Christians who understand the Scriptures to teach that God's Kingdom by Christ Jesus is a real government which 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

No,there is nothing to be afraid of.He would not have signed up for anything because we dont do that.I personally wouldnt engage a very young person in religious discussion without his parent there.But thats me maybe other witnesses feel differently.But in all honesty I dont know how old your brother is anyway.
Why dont you have a look through the leaflets or whatever publication they are leaving with your brother and that may answer some questions for you.In any case some of our outstanding beliefs are:
1.We believe that the entire Bible is the inspired Word of God,and use it as the standard for all our beliefs.
2.We worship Jehovah as the only true God and speak freely to others about him and his loving purposes toward mankind.
3.We believe not that Jesus is part of a Trinity,but that,as the Bible says,he is the Son of God,the first of God's creations.
4.We believe that God's Kingdom is the only hope for mankind;that it is a real government;that it will soon destroy the present wicked system and produce a new system in which righteousness will prevail.
5.We believe that 144,000 spirit anointed Christians will share with Christ in his heavenly Kingdom,ruling as kings and priests with him.
6.We believe that God's original purpose for the earth will be fulfilled;that the earth will be completely populated by worshipers of Jehovah and that these will be able to enjoy eternal life in human perfection;even the dead will be raised to an opportunity to share in these blessings.
7.We believe that the dead are conscious of absolutely nothing;that they are experiencing neither pain nor plesure in some spirit realm;thatthey do not exist except in God's memory,so hope for their future life lies in a resurrection from the dead.
I hope this helps you.If you feel concerned you could speak to them yourself.All we are trying to do is help people to understand the Bible and learn about our wonderful God,Jehovah.

Answer 3

Beliefs

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 4

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the entire Bible is the inspired word of God.They hold to the Bible as a standard for all their beliefs.
They worship Jehovah as the only true God (Psalms 83:18, Exodus 6:3)
They believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, the first of all God's creations, that he sacrificed his life for imperfect humans so that we have the chance to receive everlasting life, something that our first parents Adam & Eve lost.
They believe that God's Kingdom is the only hope for mankind; that it is a real government; that it will soon destroy the present wicked system of things, including all human governments, and that it will produce a new system in which righteousness will prevail.
They believe that God's original purpose for the earth will be fulfilled; that the earth will be completely populated by worshippers of the true God and that these will be able to enjoy eternal life in human perfection; that even the dead will be brought back to life with an opportunity to also share in those blessings.
They believe that the dead are conscious of absolutely nothing; that they are experiencing neither pain nor pleasure, that they exist in God's memory, so hope for their future lies in a resurrection from the dead.
They believe that we are now living in the latter part of the last days of this wicked system of things; that some living today will also see the destruction of the present wicked world; that lovers of righteousness will survive into a paradise earth.
They remain separate from the world just as Jesus commanded them to do.They remain neutral when it comes to politics or warfare against their fellowman.
They strive to apply Bible counsel in every aspect of life.

Answer 5

Yes! Yes we do! We love Jesus and the instance he set for all actual Christians! (two Peter two:21) We're grateful for his Love of his God and Father. (John 14:31; 20:17) We're grateful for his love for us too! (Proverbs eight:31) We consider as fellow Christians within the Bible did, "there is not any salvation in anybody else, for there is not any different title below heaven that has BEEN GIVEN amongst guys in which we need to get stored." We are grateful for God giving us Jesus to shop for us out of what Adam offered us into--condemned to sin and dying. Our ministry is headquartered on Jesus ministry and his fee to actual Christians at Matthew 28:19,20. We honor Jehovah God as Jesus did! Yes! We suppose in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Jehovah God! (Proverbs 30:four) Visit JW.ORG to gain knowledge of extra approximately Jehovah's Witnesses (Isaiah forty three:10-12)

Answer 6

Jehovahs witnesses believe some things that are quite contrary to what mainstream religons believe. For example:

They don't celebrate most holidays or birthdays
They don't believe in the trinity
They believe Jesus is an angel and only the son of God
They believe that all Jehovah's Witnesses have to go 'witnessing' (door knocking)
They attend 5 meetings a week
They believe only 144,000 are going to heaven. Everyone else is going to live in a paradise earth. Everyone JW that is.

It is highly inappropriate for them to be visiting your brother and passing along some of their propganda to him if he is only young. Young kids/children do not have the reasoning abilities that adults have to determine if what they are being told is accurate or not.

Watch out for him!

Answer 7

We believe in following the teachings of the Bible. How little is little?? I ask because, firstly we dont sign people up for things, secondly if he is so young that you are worried about him opening the door, and in fact it is Witnesses coming they probably are wanting to talk to an Adult there.

Answer 8

Rather than asking people here and get a biased views and comments which really didn't tell you anything, why don't you ask them?

They do not ask you to sign anything - EVER. They will answer your question. And YOU can decide for yourself.

I heard way too many people who tell me they KNOW what JW believe - because they heard it from their second cousin's next door neighbour's girlfriend' hairdressers - so it must be true.

They are people living in the community - with families and regular jobs - just like you and I. They go shopping, go out to dinners, go to movies, have social gatherings. They are NOT some strange sect people made them out to be.

Answer 9

In short, they are a false cult. If you want to find out what they believe, then go to equip.org
bcmmin.org
macgregorministries.org and have a look. They do a good job at treating the topic and I don't have to repeat what they say.

Answer 10

They teach that Jesus was created as Archangel Michael/lesser God; became only a good man, died, ceased to exist, re-created as Michael again in heaven. The do not believe that Jesus is God and they deny the Trinity.
For further information go to this link
http://www.macgregorministries.org