Jehovahs Witnesses, what are they all about?

Question

Someone please explain their religious beliefs briefly and also why they knock on my door for a chat.
Thanks

Answer 1

The Jehovah's Witnesses was begun by Charles Taze Russell in 1872. He was born on February 16, 1852, the son of Joseph L. and Anna Eliza Russell. He had great difficulty in dealing with the doctrine of eternal hell fire and in his studies came to deny not only eternal punishment, but also the Trinity, and the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit. When Russell was 18, he organized a Bible class in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1879 he sought to popularize his aberrant ideas on doctrine. He co-published The Herald of the Morning magazine with its founder, N. H. Barbour and by 1884 Russell controlled the publication and renamed it The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom, and founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society (now known as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society). The first edition of The Watchtower magazine was only 6,000 copies each month. Today the Witnesses' publishing complex in Brooklyn, New York, churns out 100,000 books and 800,000 copies of its two magazines--daily!
Russell claimed that the Bible could be only understood according to his interpretations. A dangerous arrangement since he controlled what was written in the Watchtower magazine. This kind of assertion is typical among leaders of cult religions.
After the death of Russell on Oct. 31, 1916, a Missouri lawyer named Joseph Franklin Rutherford took over the presidency of the Watch Tower Society which was known then as the International Bible Students Association. In 1931 he changed the name of the organization to "The Jehovah's Witnesses."
After Rutherford's death, Nathan Knorr took over. After Knorr, Frederick William Franz became president.
The Society was led by Mr. Henschel who died in 2003. The group has over 4 million members world wide. The Watchtower Society statistics indicate that 740 house calls are required to recruit each of the nearly 200,000 new members who join every year.
The Jehovah's Witnesses have several ‘book studies' each week. The members are not required to attend, but there is a level of expectation that gently urges converts to participate. It is during these ‘book studies' that the Jehovah's Witness is constantly exposed to counter Christian teachings. The average Jehovah's Witness, with his constant Watchtower indoctrination, could easily pummel the average Christian when it comes to defending his beliefs.
The Jehovah's Witnesses vehemently portray the doctrine of the Trinity as pagan in origin and that Christendom, as a whole, has bought the lie of the devil. Along with denying the Trinity is an equally strong denial of the deity of Christ, the deity of the Holy Spirit, the belief in hell, and eternal conscious punishment in hell.

Answer 2

Jehovahs witnesses have predicted the end of the world 3 TIMES, since 1914

the first date was 1914: When 1914 passed, they changed their prediction; 1914 became the year that Jesus invisibly began his rule.

The next major estimate was 1925. Watchtower magazine predicted: "The year 1925 is a date definitely and clearly marked in the Scriptures, even more clearly than that of 1914; but it would be presumptuous on the part of any faithful follower of the Lord to assume just what the Lord is going to do during that year."

The Watchtower Society selected 1975 as its next main prediction. This was based on the estimate "according to reliable Bible chronology Adam was created in the year 4026 BCE, likely in the autumn of the year, at the end of the sixth day of creation." 8 They believed that the year 1975 a promising date for the end of the world, as it was the 6,000th anniversary of Adam's creation. Exactly 1,000 years was to pass for each day of the creation week. This prophecy also failed.
this last date led to many people suffering extreme hardship, as they sold their houses, left their employment, and gave away their money to charity.
this failed prophecy led to many people leaving the JW's

the current 'interpretation' is that *someone* who was alive in 1914 will be alive when jesus returns..... which pretty much gives the JW's until ~2030, to come up with some other ideas.


{give me a thumbs down if you like.... all the above is factually correct and can be checked}

Answer 3

I've had chats with them many times when they come around. Basically, they're very knowledgable with the bible & they can answer life's deep questions if you ask them.
I must admit, at first I asked some questions to baffle them (one I remember was "why does God let some people suffer?") but they answered my questions, not from their own ideas but they showed me from the bible.
I have the greatest respect for them because they practise what they preach unlike a lot who claim to be Christian.
My advice to you is to have a chat with them, they're nice & friendly.

Answer 4

Each congregation races with the others to see who can build a Kingdom Hall the fastest.

Answer 5

The fastest way to get an answer is to let them in when they knock on your door. They would tell you what they believe in and why they are there. And you won't get the hassle that Yahoo Answers might give on that topic.

Answer 6

They knock at your door to try to save you from damnation, evangelism is high on their agenda.
Their religious system is not very sophisticated, and I've found, when talking to ones that knock on my door, that it is impossible to have a useful discussion with them, as I find I can with with members of some brands of Christianity.

Answer 7

cause they are silly people trying to get a silly nation of fools into beleiveing only the elect go to heaven.,100000 that is it...
no more, next door is hell.
Foolish beliefs, run from them

Answer 8

Their beliefs are very simple; The bible must be taken literal, and not diluted with paganism (xmas, easter, birthdays etc) They knock on your door because Jesus instructed all believers to 'spread the word' (of God)

Answer 9

Mike M has it right.

As an aside, my uncle who is a JW 'elder' along with his wife and his grown up family go around 'choosing' which house they are going to live in after Armageddon, so if you live in a nice home watch how these people look at your house whilst they are preaching AT you. LOL

Answer 10

As true Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses work to obey Christ's command to preach.

(Luke 10:1,2) After these things the Lord designated seventy others and sent them forth by twos in advance of him into every city and place to which he himself was going to come. 2 Then he began to say to them: “The harvest, indeed, is great, but the workers are few. Therefore beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.


Jehovah's Witnesses 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