What do Jehovah's Witnesses really believe?

Question

No one ever comes out this far, so I was just surprised to have a knock on the door. I knew right away when I saw them that they were Jehovah's Witnesses. It's the first time I've ever talked to them, and only the second time that I've seen them.(The last time I saw them, I was carrying around baby dolls.) I was polite and listened for a time, but would not go farther with them because I've always been taught that they preach a different doctrine. They indicated that they'd be back when they said "the next time we come around", and I want to know what they believe so I'll be ready the next time around. (From what I hear, they come around frequently, so I guess they are long overdue for us. )

Thanks to all who are answering. Though different people are obviously going to disagree, I get to see both sides. I'm learning from both, as I honestly knew very little about Jehovah's Witnesses at all.

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

As a former JW, I can tell you that they believe the end of the world is always right around the corner. They believe that only Jehovah's Witnesses will survive Armageddon. They will tell you that you will be lucky to be one anyone because they have the real truth and are such darn nice folks unlike the other misguided religious people. You will be invited to be in on a Bible study where they will bring out a JW book and then you will each take turns reading the paragraphs and providing questions which are direct quotes from the book you are studying. They will tell you to worship Jehovah and only give respect to Jesus. They will tell you that God's new kingdom will be here on earth because only a certain number of people get to go to heavan. You will be invited to join them on the night of the lords supper which is another form of communion where nobody but a select few partake. The rest are told how lucky they are to be able to survive armageddon and will have all they want in paradise except there will not be anymore children born and if you are single, you might end up remaining that way. People who have died have been rotting away in a restful state until armaggedon in which they will be given new bodies that they will be wearing when they crawl out of the graves. You will be taught that you will be tested after Armageddon and then if you pass you get eternal life. You will be asked to attend three meetings a week; two at the church and one on sunday. You will be asked to contribute in 'the kingdom hall' the way you did in the bible study by raising your hand when asked to. Then you will be asked to consider babtism which will make you an approved member. You have to swear you will always follow JW teaching and fully believe it at the time of babtism because if you don't you will be shunned until you are reinstated by following a testing period in which 'the brothers' think you're worthy. After babtism, you will get points for spending many hours knocking doors to find more people to fill their church so they will be safe at armageddon. Any questions?

Answer 3

I am a jw believer and I want to just tell you what we believe rather than how some people disagree or whatever, that's their belief. We believe:

1. God's name is Jehovah
2. Christ is his first creation
3. Earth was made a paradise and because of two idiots that managed to screw it up, God will one day return earth into a paradise
4. 144,000 go to heaven
5. Millions (even billions) of peoples will be resurrected to life again after armageddon (the good people and the people that never had a chance to learn about God) during the 1000 year reign of christ as earth is brought back into a paradise.
6. Satan will be let loose 1 last time, those who fail gods test will die along with satan and his angels.
7. We dont believe in a hell (sheol was a place outside the jerusalem wallls where garbage was sent, dead homeless bodies, etc) and besides that, why would god create such a place?
8. We dont have a spiritual soul (the soul is your body)
9. We don't celebrate pagan holidays (most holidays have pagan origins, Xmas being the most pagan)

any other q's email me

[e-mail]

Answer 4

1) They call themselves "Jehovahs' Witnesses"
Jesus said we are to be HIS Witnesses. (Acts 1:8)

So, right out of the gate they even got their name wrong.

2) They claim the name "Jehovah" is Gods real name.
Actually the name "Jehovah" is just a manmade name
taken from the "YWHW" from the Old Testament. The
vowels were taken from the name Adonai. The letters
"J" & "V" were added because Hebrew doesnt have
those letters. So, as you can see, it's a mess. lol
Actually Gods real name is "Jesus" (in english).
Yeshua in Hebrew. We know that because when He
was born, the Angel said He would be called "Immanuel".
Which means GOD with us. (Not Michael the the Arch-
angel) So, therefore Jesus is God.

3) They believe that Jesus arose as a "spirit" creature, and
not in His own physical body.
They believe this even though Jesus said that He would
raise His own Physical body. (John 2:17-20)
By the way, the greek word that Jesus used for "body" is
the word "soma". Which always means a real, physical
body. So, in essense, they would rather believe the
Watchtower Org. instead of the Lord Himself.

4) They are polytheists. They will deny it, but that is what they
are. Because they believe that Jesus is a "little" god
(little "g") and Jehovah is the Big God (big "G")
Now they will say that to be a "polytheists" a person
has to "worship" more than one God. Actually, that is not
true. One only has to believe in more than one God.
And by making Jesus just a "little" god, that makes them
polytheists.

5) They have their own "translation" of the Bible, called the
New World Translation. They have added words that are
not in the Greek Manuscripts. And they have changed
all the verses that speak to Christs Divinity.
Now they will tell you (and this is important because it's
tricky) that even other Translations add words in italics
to help clarify the text. That is true. But that is not what
the Watchtower did. The Watchtower added words to
change the MEANING of the text. THAT is a BIG no no.
Also, not one person on the Watchtower Translation
Committee could read Greek or Hebrew. (That should be
enough to scare the dickens out of anybody)

6) The average Jehovah Witness SEEMS like they know a
lot about the Bible. Actually that is not true. What they DO
know, is all of the "prepared texts" that the Watchtower
has had them memorize. Once you get them off of the
"prepared answer" that the Watchtower has given them,
they are lost in the Scriptures. Thats when they start
talking very fast and start, "scripture hopping", and
changing the subject. Or if that doesnt work, they will
usally say, "weve got to go now, as we have another
appointment".

7) You've probably already heard about the "blood trans-
fusion thing. The Watchtower is now softening up on
that. Of course, their reasoning is just a bunch of gobblty-
goook. But I think that all of the bad publicity has finally
convinced those in charge, that they better find a way
for God to "change His mind".
Now of course, you can imagine how all of the parents
who lost children because they would not allow them to
get a blood transfusion must feel. ("Gee, just a couple of
more years and we could have saved "little Johnny".
Wonder why the "light" didnt get a little "brighter" just
a little bit sooner")

You know, there isnt really much more to say. Think about it. When you have people who are willing to let their CHILDREN DIE, just to obey some uneducated idiots in Brooklyn, you KNOW that is a Brainwashed Slave. You can practically put all of the BIBLICAL arguments aside, and KNOW that something that produces that kind mentality CAN'T be from God.

Even a person who knows NOTHING about the Bible knows BETTER than THAT.

Enough said.



...theBerean

Answer 5

Jehovah's Witnesses are true Christians
We believe that the entire Bible is the inspired word of God.We hold to the Bible as a standard for all our beliefs.
We worship Jehovah as the only true God(Psalms 83:18 , Exodus 6:3)
We 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.
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 of things,including all human governments,and that it will produce a new system in which righteousness will prevail.
We believe that God's original purpose for the earth will be fulfilled;that the earth will be completely populated by worshipers 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.
We 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.
We believe that we are living now,since 1914 in 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.
We remain separate from the world just as Jesus commanded us to do.We remain neutral when it comes to politics or warfare against our fellowman.
We strive to apply Bible counsel in every aspect of life.
LOBT

Answer 6

They believe they have the right to bother other people with their ideas. Next time they come around ask them to pay you per hour. Then try to sell them your vaccuum cleaner or your stack of girlie magazines and don't come cheap. Do not give up. Deep in their heart they want a vacuum cleaner, but they just do not realise. You can help them. Really.

Answer 7

well....I know that they believe Jesus was a prophet sent by God.....But I know that Jesus is God who came down from Heaven as Jesus. They also believe that we will stay here on earth after Jesus comes and lay down with the lions and sheep. Did you know that they are actually building a bunch of buildings and saying that that will be the kingdom when Christ comes back???? ( When they come to our door my mom always says Jesus is God....and they tun around and walk away) One time she said that and one started cussing at her.....( very Christian like huh?,lol)

Answer 8

What do we believe, you ask?

We believe, as your bible says, Jehovah is God. (Ps 83:18)

Jesus is his son. (John 3:16; Luke 1:32)

God will set up a kingdom and destroy all of these human ones
(Daniel 2:44)

Dead are dead.
Christians are to be politically neutral.

Anna, I give you thumbs down because you are an AntiWitness which means that you are not qualified to talk about the Witnesses as you are not one of us.

Answer 9

Check out the links below There you will be able to read a lot of accurate information about us and our beliefs:

EDITED FOR CALEB's MOM below: You say:
"I do know they have their own Bible, they don't use the one that other religions use."

You are only ½ right -we do have one Bible translation that is our main text, the New World Translation.

However, you are mistaken in that we do not use other translations as well. Most of us have several versions, and I personally carry the King James version in my ministry.

Our publications also make use of and reference to many versions and translations.

Answer 10

The bible and any bible - 2Ti 3:16 "All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God"

JWs Worship Jehovah and follow his son's teachings. -
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord Jehovah your God, and him only shalt thou serve.

God's name Jehovah is in everyone's bible.
KJV Psa 83:18 - "That [men] may know that thou, whose name alone [is] JEHOVAH, [art] the most high over all the earth."

JWs will not worship a trinity that was created 300 years after Jesus death. The bible shows every time
a trinity was worshipped by the nation of Israel they were punished, severely. God said to worship him, and him alone.

1Sa 7:4 Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.
KJV Deu. 6:4 - Hear, Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;

JWs believe Jesus was a created being and Archangel the only begotten Son and chief over all Angels.
Pro. 8:22,23 “Jehovah himself produced me as the beginning of his way, the earliest of his achievements of long ago. From time indefinite I was installed, from the start, from times earlier than the earth."
1 Th 4:16 - "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel."

Justin Martyr early church father - There is, and that there is said to be, another God and Lord subject to the Maker of all things who is also called an Angel.