What's the real deal with Jehovah's Witnesses?

Question

I read their literature, old and new, what a trip man. Its like the new stuff contradicts the old . What's that all about? Does God change that much?

Contradiction:
The earliest lliterature said to worship Jesus but the new literature says not to worship Jesus. The Watchtower, 7/15/1898 vs Awake, 12/22/1987

Armageddon would end in 1914.
The Time is at Hand. page 101, 1911 Edition

Armageddon would end in 1915
The Time is At Hand, page 101, 1915 Edition

Dwayne - I can speak for the rest of Christianity and neither can you.
I am searching.
However the Watchtower claims to be God's only ogranization and has claimed to he a prophet and invites people to examine their claims. If you are a witness you should know this.

Answer 1

Dan......You will never make a good Jehovah's Witness...you think too much and ask too many questions....Also you are right.


Sashi...Awesome answer....But is it worth losing your salvation over....I lost everything when I left the Witnesses...EVERYTHING!....Now I am so much more blessed I would never go back.

Answer 2

You know there are no perfect orgainsations on this earth. Whether it is a religious organisation or a business, science, medical, whatever, we all use the tools and the available knowledge we have at that time and work with the best that we have. Over the years when we view Christianity's changes they are absolutely profound. Likewise technology, medicine even advertising. Naturally religion is different we look to The Bible and God for help in understanding and we can only do our best. Interestingly though the Bible states that some things wouldn't be understood until the last days in which we are living now, let me show you. God gave Daniel a vision and told him in Daniel 12:4 "And as for you O Daniel, make secret the words and seal up the book, UNTIL THE TIME OF THE END. Many will rove about and the TRUE knowledge will become abundant." The Book of Amos foretells of a spirtual famine Amos 8:11 says "Look! The are days coming, is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, and I will send a famine into the land, a famine, not for bread, and a thirst, not for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah. And they will certainly stagger from sea all the way to sea, and from north even to the sunrise. They will keep roving about while searching for the word of Jehovah, but they will not find it." Most people in the world even very religious ones have very little bible knowledge could it be because of this spiritual famine? One the other hand Jehovah's Witness's are often shunned because of their love and knowledge of the Bible and because of their upstanding lifestyles that faithfully conform with God's word. God has given his servants understanding in a gradual way so that they too may help others, we are not perfect but we are humble enough to admit that maybe we didn't have the correct insight at the time, just as God's servants in ancient times didn't either. The most important thing is keeping integrity to God when the rest of the world somehow doesn't deem it all that important.

Answer 3

Where does any of the material by Jehovah's Witnesses say God changes?

A change in understanding is NOT a bad thing.

Do you still believe the Earth is flat?
Do you think the Earth is the center of the universe?

What you see as 'contradictions' are not such but corrections as others have pointed out. Each of these corrections come with scriptural support for that correction.

Answer 4

Dear Dan,

You are very perceptive and have asked another good question.

A wonderful chart that I think you will find very helpful is One Truth Exposes a Thousand Lies - Traits Shared Between Jehovah and Jesus and you can find it at http://www.soulright.com

Several of the answers state the Truth that God never changes.

The "real deal" is that Deuteronomy 18:20-22 makes it abundantly clear that False Prophet describes the Watchtower. God says that IF what somebody says on His behalf does NOT happen we should not be listening to that person.

He did NOT say IF an organization makes a mistake give them 10 more chances.

He did NOT even say give them 1 more chance.

I'm glad you're searching but I suggest that you read the Bible from cover-to-cover and then find a non-denominational church that follows the Bible. They are out there. I know because I did read the whole Bible and I did find a wonderful Bible based church.

For His glory,
JOYfilled

Answer 5

When you were young, you probably thought the earth was flat. Eventually you got older and learned that it was round. If you told any of your friends that the earth was flat up until the time you learned the bigger picture, does that make you a liar or someone who just made a wrong assumption?

The old stuff that isn't taught anymore is proof that we have grown and gained more accurate views and insight on God's word.

But as long as we're pointing fingers, what's the deal with the rest of Christianity??? How consistent is everybody else? When did it become a good thing to borrow ancient Babylonian mythological concepts and teach them in place of actual biblical doctrine???

Answer 6

What you are missing is that in time understanding gets clearer.
Even if you were to compare medical journals fifty years apart,I'm sure the information would be somewhat different.
Early Jehovahs Witnesses used to smoke,they used to celebrate birthdays,Christmas.But as the light got clearer and their understanding of the scriptures grew.They understood these things were not acceptable to Jehovah God and these things were done away with.
Jehovahs Witnesses are the only religion that adhere solely to the Bible as the basis for all their beliefs.They live their lives based on Bible principles and do their utmost to bring praise and honour to Almighty God.What other religion can say that?

Answer 7

The real deal with JWs is that most of them are in a situation of negative spiritual equity. Let me explain...

You buy a house when prices are on the rise. It costs you an arm and a leg but you're thrilled with it and consider any sacrifice to be well worth while. A few years go by. Interest rates rise but the price of houses starts to drop, so your mortgage becomes so hefty that you consider selling the property. Alas, you will only lose more money doing that at such a time of falling prices! So you take on a second part time job and the wife pulls out the sewing machine to start repairing and making clothes. Some more years go by. Things are just getting worse. You realise you should have cut your losses earlier, but now you hold back because - surely - house prices will start to rise again? They can't keep so low for much longer! Once they get back to what they were, you'll sell up then. But a decade has passed by and you've invested SO much in that house, you cannot bear to admit it was a bad idea. The longer you stay put, the harder it is to leave.

Spiritually, people who devote their all to a religion that promises paradise within THEIR generation yet never delivers, gets believers into negative spiritual equity, the longer they stay, and the more they invest in it. The fear of pulling out is that they'll just go and do that when Armageddon will come, and they'll die! So they hang on in there but they REFUSE to consider the negative aspects because that only reminds them of how much they stand to lose. God doesn't come into it.

Answer 8

Jehovah's Witnesses have never pretended that they are infallible or inspired. Jehovah's Witnesses have never pretended that they experience miraculous messages from God or Christ. For more than a century, Jehovah's Witnesses have always presented their suppositions as the result of sincere bible research, rather than as "predictions" or "prophesying".

Interestingly, however, even those Christians who did enjoy direct communication from heaven at times came to wrong conclusions; these wrong conclusions were even communicated "out among the brothers"!

For example, the apostle Peter enjoyed remarkable privileges in the early congregation, but it seems that he was the source of an incorrect teaching about the apostle John that was not formally corrected until several DECADES had passed, and John himself finally wrote his gospel about 98 C.E.

(John 21:21-23) Peter said to Jesus: “Lord, what will this man do [that is, the apostle John]?” Jesus said to him: “If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you? You continue following me.” In consequence, this saying went out among the brothers, that [the apostle John] would not die. However, Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but: “If it is my will for him to remain until I come, of what concern is that to you?”


Jehovah's Witnesses apply the term "prophet" only in a very limited sense to themselves as a religion, not to individuals. The Scriptures indicate that whenever Jehovah purposes to execute judgment upon a people, he always makes arrangement for a 'prophet's work' as a warning. Their self-description as a "prophet" (in this limited sense) does not indicate special inspired knowledge or foreknowledge, but their willingness to perform Christ's assigned warning work in our day leading up to Armageddon.

What group is working harder than Jehovah's Witnesses to preach God's message globally (as Noah did before the Deluge)?

(Amos 3:7) For the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets.

(2 Peter 2:5) Noah, a preacher of righteousness...

(Matthew 24:14) And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.


Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20000622/
http://watchtower.org/e/19990715/article_02.htm

Answer 9

“The path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established.”—Prov. 4:18.

THE Bible record from Genesis through Revelation shows that the path of Jehovah’s servants has indeed been as a bright light that gets ever lighter. (Prov. 4:18)

As this light gets brighter and brighter we have come to see in the past and as recent as this year corrections that needs to be made through studying of the Bible through the help of Jehovah's Holy Spirit. It is a unified change that we all go by that is Bible Based.

There are refined understandings as to doctrines, as to prophecies, as to Christian conduct and the commission of Christians, as to the meaning of Jesus’ parables, as to proper congregational organization, and so forth.

Learn More!
www.watchtower.org

Answer 10

It's corrections, not contradictions.
There was a time when the Witness' thought Christ's return was coming at a specific date.
It was corrected.
God does not change, we (humans) need corrections.
The Holy Scriptures say that we are taught in gradients,
we can't deal w/ All of it @ once. 'It' being God's word.
Keep reading.

Answer 11

God doesn’t change. It is the understanding of God’s word that changes. JWs at least are humble enough to admit and correct their mistakes. Unlike other churches who dogmatically adhere to their teachings eventhough those teachings are proven false. Jehovah God is looking for the meek ones, not those who are proud and hardheaded who don’t want to admit their mistakes.