They keep coming to my door and the two women that come honestly give me the creeps. I don't understand the religion. Are they Christians? What bible do they use?
2007-07-09 07:42:18 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Women in general don't give me the creeps....I should say the way these women approach me is creepy.
2007-07-09 07:55:21 · update #1
Wow, lots of passion. I know now to ask a religion based question to get lots of answers. I am enjoying reading all of them.
2007-07-09 08:35:19 · update #2
The sect known today as the Jehovah's Witnesses started out in Pennsylvania in 1870, as a Bible class started by Charles Taze Russell. Russell named his group the "Millennial Dawn Bible Study." Charles T. Russell began writing a series of books he called "The Millennial Dawn," which stretched to six volumes before his death and contained much of the theology Jehovah’s Witnesses now hold. After Russell's death in 1916, Judge J. F. Rutherford, Russell's friend and successor, wrote the seventh and final volume of the "Millennial Dawn" series, "The Finished Mystery," in 1917. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was founded in 1886 and quickly became the vehicle through which the "Millennial Dawn" movement began distributing their views to others. The group was known as the “Russellites” until 1931 when, due to a split in the organization, it was renamed the “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” The group from which it split became known as the “Bible students.”
What do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe? Close scrutiny of their doctrinal position on such subjects as the Deity of Jesus, Salvation, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the Atonement, etc., shows beyond a doubt that they do not hold to orthodox Christian positions on these subjects. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe Jesus is Michael the archangel, the highest created being. This contradicts many Scriptures which clearly declare Jesus to be God (John 1:1,14; 8:58; 10:30). Jehovah’s Witnesses believe salvation is obtained by a combination of faith, good works, and obedience. This contradicts countless Scriptures which declare salvation to be received by faith (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). Jehovah’s Witnesses reject the Trinity, believing Jesus to be a created being and the Holy Spirit to essentially be the power of God. Jehovah’s Witnesses hold to a ransom theory of the atonement, in which Jesus' death paid only for what mankind lost when Adam sinned - namely, the right to perfect life on earth. Thus, they believe in a faith + works arrangement, where sin and death are freely atoned for by Christ, but physical perfection is attained through personal effort, coupled with faith in Christ.
How do the Jehovah’s Witnesses justify these unbiblical doctrines? (1) They claim that the church has, over the centuries, corrupted the Bible, and (2) They have re-translated the Bible in what they call the New World Translation. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society altered the text of the Bible to make it fit their false doctrine – rather than basing their doctrine on what the Bible teaches. The New World Translation has gone through numerous editions, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses discover more and more Scriptures that contradict their doctrines.
Jehovah's Witnesses are readily shown to be a cult that is only loosely based upon Scripture. The Watchtower bases its beliefs and doctrines on the original and expanded teachings of Charles Taze Russell, Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford, and their successors. The Governing Body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is the only body in the cult that claims authority to interpret Scripture. In other words, what the Governing Body says concerning any Scriptural passage is viewed as the last word, and independent thinking is strongly discouraged. This is in direct opposition of Paul's admonition to Timothy (and to us as well) to study to show yourself approved of God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of God. This admonition, found in 2 Timothy 2:15, is a clear instruction from God to each of His individual children in the Body of Christ to be like the Berean Christians and search the Scriptures daily to see if the things they are being taught line up with what His Word has to say on the subject.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses should be commended for their “evangelistic efforts.” There is probably no religious group that is more faithful than the Jehovah’s Witnesses at getting their message out. Unfortunately, the message is full of distortions, deceptions, and false doctrine. May God open the eyes of the Jehovah’s Witnesses to the truth of the Gospel and the true teaching of God’s Word.
Recommended Resource: Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses by Ron Rhodes.
2007-07-09 07:46:33 · answer #1 · answered by Freedom 7 · 6⤊ 9⤋
The Jehovah's witness group came out of the great revivals of the mid-1800s. Their focus is on the end-times prophesies.
In one sense they are christians, as they follow the teachings of Christ. However, they are not considered to be part of mainline christianity as they do not consider Jesus Christ to be God.
Jehovah's witnesses are best known for their door-to-door evangelism. They use the "New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures," published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
2007-07-09 14:48:05 · answer #2 · answered by sdb deacon 6 · 4⤊ 3⤋
Jehovah’s Witnesses are an international religious group that rejects much of modern mainstream Christianity in favor of what they believe is a restored form of First Century Christianity. Jehovah's Witnesses are governed by their understanding of Scriptural laws and principles based on instructions received from the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. is a legal organization in use by Jehovah’s Witnesses for their ministry work.
The religion was developed in response “to what they saw as compromise and corruption in mainstream Christianity.” They dispute doctrines such as the Trinity, hellfire, immortality of the soul, and clergy-laity divisions as illegitimate additions to the original Christian teachings. The name "Jehovah’s Witnesses" is based on Isaiah 43:10, and was adopted in 1931. The Watchtower Society has been publishing religious materials since the late 19th century, its most widely known publications being the magazines The Watchtower and Awake!
The central theme of their preaching is the sanctification of God's name and the vindication of His sovereignty by means of His Kingdom, with Jesus Christ as its Ruler. The Witnesses believe that the reign of Jesus began with the Second Coming or presence of Christ which was marked prophetically as the end of the "Gentile Times." Originally, this was believed to have occurred invisibly in 1874, but this date was later revised to 1914.
Other Witness teachings include the use of God's personal name, Jehovah which appears more than 7,000 times in the original Bible manuscripts and is usually translated as YHWH – also Yahweh in English – and the belief that making his personal name known to others is an important part of worship. They believe that Jesus' death was necessary to atone for the sin brought into the world by the first man, Adam, thus opening the way for the hope of everlasting life for mankind. It is also taught that 144,000 people will receive immortal life in heaven as co-rulers, with Jesus Christ, guiding the rest of mankind to perfection on a paradise earth during the 1000 year reign. Witnesses believe that during the war of Armageddon, which they believe to be imminent, the wicked will be destroyed, and that the survivors of this event, along with millions of individuals resurrected, will form a new society ruled by a heavenly government and have the possibility of living forever in an earthly paradise – that possibility based on their actions post-resurrection.
2007-07-09 14:48:20 · answer #3 · answered by cyclist451 3 · 5⤊ 2⤋
The Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses is a religion unique for its rejection of paganisms, use of God's personal name, and global preaching by every active adherent. No other religious organization can claim such purity of worship, or such close adherence to biblical Christianity.
Each Jehovah's Witness uses whatever translation of the bible he prefers, and Witnesses are happy to use any translation a householder, student, or interested person may prefer.
These facts about Jehovah's Witnesses are perhaps relevant to this question. The more one compares this Christian religion with others, the more remarkable it is shown to be.
1. Jehovah's Witnesses have no paid clergy. Yet they remain tightly organized with more than 6.5 million active Jehovah's Witness preachers (about 16 million associate themselves with the religion). Even fulltime preachers and workers at their branch offices are unpaid volunteers.
2. There is no elite class among Jehovah's Witnesses. Even the few 'anointed' among them enjoy no special privileges in their congregations on earth. An anointed person (one of those relative few with a heavenly hope) is not elevated above his fellow congregants in any way, and he may not even qualify for appointment as a simple 'deacon' or elder. There are no titles; EVERYONE is addressed as 'brother' or 'sister'.
3. No person benefits economically from the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. Even the 8 to 20 men who serve on their Governing Body receive simply room, board, medical care, and reimbursement for certain personal expenses according to the exact same provision as every other branch volunteer.
4. About a hundred men have served on Jehovah's Witnesses' Governing Body committee during the past 125 years or so. The vast majority of them have spent the vast majority of their adult lives volunteering for their organization's purposes, and the vast majority have died faithfully and near-pennilessly while still under their legal 'vow of poverty'.
5. Amazingly, Jehovah's Witnesses did not splinter as a sect from some other religion. Instead, a truly tiny but sincere group of bible students studied only the Scriptures to determine the will of God. Thus their religion remains absolutely independent of and not carrying the sins of Christendom's history, yet carries the authority of Christ's teachings.
Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/jt/index.htm?article=article_07.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20040601/article_02.htm
http://jw-media.org/people/who.htm
http://jw-media.org/people/statistics.htm
2007-07-10 03:31:01 · answer #4 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 3⤊ 3⤋
i was a Jehovah's Witness for 22 years ..i left the religion when it was proven to me to be a cult...When I left I lost all of my friends, and all of my family.....I was completely alone, except I had Jesus.. didn't know it yet, but i did
they have done a lot of damage to a lot of people. they look kind and harmless in the beginning, but beware,... and I would caution for you to stay clear. I hope you find Christ...you will not find him in a Kingdom Hall....God Bless
2007-07-10 17:03:14 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
they are people who were at the pub when he got into a fight with a couple of doorman at a club in Manchester city centre,needless to say he`s now dead,but this is an old case,they are still trying to perjure by asking people who weren`t even there to say they were there just to get the doormen in trouble.
2007-07-09 14:53:07 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Jehovah's Witnesses are an organization directed by a so-called Governing Body located at The Watchtower Society in New York. They publish magazines and books and try to train people to believe as they do and to go out and get more into the organization. They are Christians. They use the New World Translation Bible, available only by talking to a Jehovah's Witness or by contacting the Watchtower Society and asking for one.
I gave an unbiased answer. JWs better not give me a thumbs down. :-)
2007-07-09 14:53:45 · answer #7 · answered by all_stardusty 4 · 6⤊ 7⤋
JWs in short:
Some guy decided he wanted to become yet another 19th century American prophet, so he predicted the end of the world. When this didn't happen, he either predicted another end of the world or just claimed that the world ended anyway, only no one noticed.
Since then, they've been obsessed with making converts, preventing their kids from receiving life-saving medical treatments (because they hold to outdated philosophical beliefs about vitalism and blood), and for some reason religious iconigraphy (if you ever find an article arguing vehemently that Jesus was crucified on a stake, not a cross, then you're reading JW propaganda).
Then tend to be very fiercly evangelistic and territorial. They try to get their kids to devote their entire lives to religion, and they tend to completely shun those who reject their religion.
They live in a bizarre world. It's not surprising that they appear slightly creepy.
2007-07-09 14:51:00 · answer #8 · answered by Minh 6 · 6⤊ 6⤋
the Jehovah Witness sect is a pseudo-Christian group started by Charles Taze Russell claiming to be the restored Church after Christ's Church fell into apostasy. The apostasy they claim is the belief by traditional orthodox Christianity that Jesus is God in a Trinitarian sense. Their claims do not hold up in a theological or historical sense and are based solely on the teaching of the false teacher Charles Taze Russell. Subsequently, it is very difficult for someone who is versed in Christianity to understand their divergent theology with that taught by Jesus and His apostles.
Technically one cannot call them Christian since they do not even believe in the most fundamental belief of Christianity that Jesus is God nor do they believe in one God in the Trinity as taught by Christianity.
The Bible that they use is a translation which changes the words of the original Bible to suit their theological precepts and is one of the most unreliable translations ever produced.
In Christ
Fr. Joseph
2007-07-09 14:57:18 · answer #9 · answered by cristoiglesia 7 · 4⤊ 7⤋
The fact that we come to your door with bibles and want to teach you the Bibles make us Christians.
How can women give the creeps?
As to what bible we use, - Yours.
And No, Jehovah's Witnesses did not start in 1870 with Charles Russell. He just started printing the Watchtower magazine. There were others before him that started searching for the truth. They just didn't do anything that lasted.
2007-07-09 14:47:39 · answer #10 · answered by sklemetti 3 · 5⤊ 8⤋
Jehovah’s Witnesses care about you and your welfare. They want to be your friends and to tell you more about themselves, their beliefs, their organization, and how they feel about people and the world in which all of us live. It is of vital importance to them that their beliefs be based on the Bible and not on mere human speculations or religious doctrines. From this it is apparent that Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in the Bible as the Word of God. They consider its 66 books to be inspired and historically accurate. What is commonly called the New Testament they refer to as the Christian Greek Scriptures, and the Old Testament they call the Hebrew Scriptures. They rely on both of these, the Greek and the Hebrew Scriptures, and take them literally except where the expressions or settings obviously indicate that they are figurative or symbolic. They understand that many of the prophecies of the Bible have been fulfilled, others are in the course of fulfillment, and still others await fulfillment.
Jehovah’s Witnesses? Yes, that is the way they refer to themselves. It is a descriptive name, indicating that they bear witness concerning Jehovah, his Godship, and his purposes. “God,” “Lord,” and “Creator”—like “President,” “King,” and “General”—are titles and may be applied to several different personages. But “Jehovah” is a personal name and refers to the almighty God and Creator of the universe. This is shown at Psalm 83:18, according to the King James version of the Bible: “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”
The name Jehovah (or Yahweh, as the Roman Catholic Jerusalem Bible and some scholars prefer) appears almost 7,000 times in the original Hebrew Scriptures. Most Bibles do not show it as such but substitute “God” or “Lord” for it. However, even in these Bibles, a person can usually tell where the original Hebrew text uses Jehovah because in those places the substituted words are written in large and small capitals, thus: GOD, LORD. Several modern translations do use either the name Jehovah or the name Yahweh. Hence, the "New World Translation" reads at Isaiah 42:8, “I am Jehovah. That is my name.”
The Scriptural account that Jehovah’s Witnesses draw on for their name is in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah. There the world scene is viewed as a courtroom drama: The gods of the nations are invited to bring forth their witnesses to prove their claimed cases of righteousness or to hear the witnesses for Jehovah’s side and acknowledge the truth. Jehovah there declares to his people: “Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am Jehovah; and besides me there is no saviour.”—Isaiah 43:10, 11, "American Standard Version."
Hence, over 6,330,000 persons today who are telling the good news of Jehovah’s Kingdom by Christ Jesus in over 230 lands feel that they properly refer to themselves as Jehovah’s Witnesses.
WHAT JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES BELIEVE -
Belief: Scriptural Reason:
Bible is God’s Word and 2 Timothy 3:16, 17;
is truth. 2 Peter 1:20, 21; John 17:17
Bible is more reliable Matthew 15:3; Col. 2:8.
than tradition.
God’s name is Jehovah. Psalms 83:18; Isaiah 26:4; 42:8, American Standard Version;
Exodus 6:3.
Kingdom under Christ will Isaiah 9:6, 7; 11:1-5 -
rule earth in righteousness Daniel 7:13, 14; Matthew 6:10
and peace -
Kingdom will bring ideal Psalms 72:1-4;
living conditions to earth. Revelation 7:9, 10, 13-17; 21:3, 4
People God approves will John 3:16; 10:27, 28; 17:3;
receive everlasting life - Mark 10:29, 30
There is only one road to Matthew 7:13, 14; Eph. 4:4, 5 -
life -
Hell is mankind’s common Job 14:13, Dyinton;
grave - Revelation 20:13, 14, American Version (margin)
Hope for dead is 1 Cor. 15:20-22;
resurrection. John 5:28, 29; 11:25, 26.
Prayers are to be directed John 14:6, 13, 14; 1 Timothy 2:5 -
only to Jehovah through Christ
Images should not be used in Exodus 20:4, 5 - Lev. 26:1;
worship. 1Â Cor. 10:14; Psalms 115:4-8.
A Christian ought to have no 2 Cor. 6:14-17; 11:13-15 -
part in interfaith movements Gal. 5:9; Deuteronomy 7:1-5 -
Obey human laws that do not Matthew 22:20, 21;
conflict with God’s laws 1Â Peter 2:12; 4:15 -
A clergy class and special Matthew 23:8-12; 20:25-27;
titles are improper. Job 32:21, 22
If you would like further information, please contact Jehovah's Witnesses at the local Kingdom Hall. Or visit their official web site - http://www.watchtower.org
2007-07-09 15:14:53 · answer #11 · answered by Mr. Cal 5 · 7⤊ 6⤋