Whats the main difference between christians and JW's?

Question

To be a christian do you have to just believe in Jesus, or think that he is god? This isn't very clear sorry.....

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses are Christians; the full name of the religion is "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses".

Sadly, trinitarians repeatedly pretend that Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christian. Trinitarians use an artificial, trinity-specific definition of the term "Christian" which excludes anyone who does not believe that Jesus is God Himself, rather than the Son of God. Interestingly, pagans in the first century pretended that Christ's followers were Atheists(!) because the Christians had a somewhat different idea from the pagans about the nature of God.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that no salvation occurs without Christ, that accepting Christ's sacrifice is a requirement for true worship, that every prayer must acknowledge Christ, that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom, that Christ is the head of the Christian congregation, that Christ is immortal and above every creature, even that Christ was the 'master worker' in creating the universe! Both secular dictionaries and disinterested theologians acknowledge that Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian religion.

The Trinitarian arguments are intended to insult and demean Jehovah's Witnesses, rather than to give a Scripturally accurate understanding of the term "Christian".

In fact, the bible most closely associates being "Christian" with preaching about Christ and Christ's teachings. Review all three times the bible uses the term "Christian" and note that the context connects the term with:
"declaring the good news"
'teaching quite a crowd'
'open eyes, turn from dark to light'
"uttering sayings of truth"
"persuade"
"keep on glorifying"

(Acts 11:20-26) [The early disciples of Jesus] began talking to the Greek-speaking people, declaring the good news of the Lord Jesus... and taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the disciples were by divine providence called Christians.

(Acts 26:17-28) [Jesus said to Paul] I am sending you, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God... Paul said: “I am not going mad, Your Excellency Festus, but I am uttering sayings of truth and of soundness of mind. ...Do you, King Agrippa, believe the Prophets? I know you believe.” But Agrippa said to Paul: “In a short time you would persuade me to become a Christian.”

(1 Peter 4:14-16) If you are being reproached for the name of Christ, you are happy... But if he suffers as a Christian, let him not feel shame, but let him keep on glorifying God in this name


So why do anti-Witnesses try to hijack the term "Christian" and hide its Scriptural implications? Because anti-Witnesses recognize that it is the preaching work that makes it clear that the relatively small religion of Jehovah's Witnesses are by far the most prominent followers of Christ:

(Matthew 28:19,20) 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, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded


Learn more!
http://watchtower.org/e/ti/index.htm?article=article_04.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050422/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/pr/index.htm?article=article_04.htm

Answer 2

I don't think there is just a main difference-there are a lot of differences...
Christians use the Holy Bible-JW's use their own bible written,edited,published by the Watchtower it is called New World Translation and it IS different than the translations that Christians use.
Christians believe in the Holy Trinity and JW's do not.
Christians believe in Heaven and that it is open to all who accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior-JW's believe that there are only 144,000 in heaven and that is all that will ever be there--their hope is a heaven on earth later on.
Christians believe in God's free gift of grace-JW's bible doesn't mention grace-they also are "works" driven (saved by works not grace). These are just a few of the differences I know--there are so many more.

Answer 3

To be a Christian, and not just a self professed Christian, you strive daily to live in the light of Christ, and not on the shadowy fringes.

You avoid wilfull sin, rather than just say that Christ forgives all, so a little sinning is okay.

You learn what it means to be Christian and you teach it to your children, instead of sending them off to some Sunday school, where they only learn Bible stories, that are not even historically accurate.

You learn the Bible as a whole, and not just the parts that suit you, so that if some ask you what the first prophesy of the Bible is, or what day the Last Supper was held on, you actually know the answer.

You know where every member of your church lives, so that in the event of a disaster like Katrina, every one gets out, and none are left behind.

Finally, when asked who you voted for as your leader, you have only one answer. You don't need to vote because you already have your leader, Jesus Christ, who is sitting on his Father's Throne, waiting for mankind to realize they cannot lead themselves.

In Christendom, they say Christ is their leader, provided it doesn't take the fun of of life and living.

In the JWs, Christ is their King and leader, and life is what Christ says it is to be.

So, which is more Christian?

Consider the parable of the man praying at the eastern wall for all to see his devotion, compared to the man who prays at home, alone, for no one to see his devotion. Which did Christ say was the more blessed by God?

Answer 4

A Christian is a follower of Jesus who uses a valid accurate bible translation.
A JW uses one that they have no idea who translated it and the majority of greek and Hebrew scholars consider the text to be off in translation. They dont believe in hell or believe we can go to heaven and think Jesus is the angel Michael. They only study through watchtower sources and consider all other Christian denominations to be apostate. They dont vote, dont serve in military, dont do blood transfusions and dont have birthday parties for their children. They like having freedom in this country but wont fight for it. They are secluded in that way as a cult.
Jesus as God is a revelation through the Holy Spirit. Its not required to believe Jesus is God to be saved.

Answer 5

What is a Christian? A Christian is a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Some say JW's are not Christian because they do not believe in the trinity. But where in the Bible did Jesus teach his disciples that God is triune, and that he [Jesus] was God the Son, the second person of the trinity? NOWHERE! How, then, can the trinity doctrine be considered a Christian teaching if Jesus didn't teach it?

Was Jesus God? What did Jesus say in his own words? At John 10:36, he called himself "God's Son." At John 17:3, he called his Father "the ONLY true God." And instead of claiming equality with his Father, Jesus said at John 14:28: "The Father is greater than I am." So was Jesus God? No!

It is strange that the ones who say Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christians are the same folks who:

Gamble, smoke cigarettes, and end up in prison.

Tolerate homosexuals in the church, even appointing such ones to positions of oversight. 1 Cor. 6:9 says that men who lie with men will not inherit God's Kingdom.

Celebrate pagan holidays like Easter, Christmas, and Halloween.

Volunteer for the military where they learn to kill their fellowman, which is in direct contrast wth what Jesus said at Matt. 5:44, to "love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you."

Venerate the cross, a pagan symbol that predates Christianity by thousands of years.

Ignore Jesus' words at Matt. 28:19, 20 to "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, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you."

Ignore Jesus' express command not to use religious titles like "father." Matt. 23:9

Meddle in politics, even though Jesus told his followers not t be a part of the world. John 17:16

Jehovah's Witnesses are Christian in every sense of the word.

Answer 6

JW's believe (with good reason) that Jesus is Jehovah God's first-born and only-begotten son! And it is only through Jesus that mankind can even approach our Heavenly Father! So, yes they consider themselves Christians. However they do not adhere to the false teachings of the trinity doctrine, which espouses that Jesus & Jehovah are equal in power. Jesus ALWAYS referred to his Father as being greater than himself,(John 14:28) Please ignore the ignorant comments from people who know nothing about JW's. Find out firsthand at their website, www.watchtower.org

Answer 7

JW's deny the diety of Christ. They deny Him as God. They believe He was a prophet. They have twisted the bible to their own specifications aka, New World Translation. They believe in works for salvation. It goes on and on. Christians, are saved by grace and believe Jesus is God.

Answer 8

As I understand it, to be Christian you have to try to follow the teachings of Christ. Since, no where, that I know of, does he say he is God, but rather he is the Son of God. There are quite a few faiths that do or do not believe him to be the son of God

We are Christians. The only differences are in how we follow God's word.

Answer 9

If someone does not believe in Jesus as God, why does that someone believe in Jesus in the first place?

Jesus is God the son, one of the persons in the Holy Trinity which is made up of 3 persons in 1 God.

Not only think of Jesus as God but also believe in him as God. They are one actually and as complicated as this may seem, all Christians have to do is have faith in their faith. We can never fully understand this concept because we are just, after all, human. That's the mystery of it. God is infinite and how could a finite creature like us understand him fully?

All we need to do is to believe in one God who had been the God for many ages both in ancient and modern times. To believe in him, we need to learn things about him. Although not everything about him because we cannot understand how great he really is, we need to learn something to believe. (That's why religious study in monasteries and convents to become true faithfuls)

-I hope I answered your question. God bless!

Answer 10

I am Jehovah Witness is a misconception that people think that we dón´t believe in Jesus as our savior, he is the son of God that God sent him to die for us, the misconception is about God that has three manifestation that God has three faces if you wish to call it, God the Father is one person and he has a firstson but they are not the same person nor same power or knowledge one is higher (Father) than his son, the bible doesn´t teach that exist trinity as defined by athanasian creed.
Everything that we believe we can prove it using any bible if you wish I can prove my statement.

I would suggest you something study the bible 2 months with JWS one hour weekly you will lost 8 hours of your life then do the same with someone that tell you that is evangelical and compare the knowledge of the bible of each one.