Jehova's witnesses?

Question

How do you feel about them...do you find them interesting people or irritating and annoying people? Is it a good religion, and can someone give me some information about them thru there own personal experience?

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses have the true religion. They are Christian (of course), but they are unique for their 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.

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.

6. Despite the distortions of anti-Witnesses, throughout their modern history Jehovah's Witnesses have refused to claim divine inspiration or infallibility for their teachings. They have pointed to the bible (and not any particular translation) as the only inspired infallible means of knowing God's thoughts. For over 125 years, their teachings have been presented as merely the results of sincere bible research by imperfect but godly humans.


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

Answer 2

I like them. The teachings from the Bible are very clear and easy to understand.

Because of this I chose to become one thirtty years ago. It was the best decision of my life.

In response to some of the other views presented:

"Trinitarians do not consider JWs Christian because they do not believe in the Triune God"

That may be true. However the trinity isn't a Christian teaching.

"Note the word “preachers” The use of this word has in the past been frowned upon and may be considered APOSTATE by the WTB&TS. They want the membership to use the word “proclaimers”. The word “Proclaimers” used as a label is bad English."

Really? Didn't Jesus say to "Preach the word" ? Is there that much difference between the meanings of the two words?

" Proclaim
1 a: to declare publicly, typically insistently, proudly, or defiantly and in
either speech or writing : announce b: to give outward indication of : show.
2: to declare or declare to be solemnly, officially, or formally
3: to praise or glorify openly or publicly : extol

Preach
1: to deliver a sermon
2: to urge acceptance or abandonment of an idea or course of action;
specifically : to exhort in an officious or tiresome manner
transitive verb
1: to set forth in a sermon
2: to advocate earnestly
3: to deliver (as a sermon) publicly
4: to bring, put, or affect by preaching"

"There is no elite class among Jehovah's Witnesses.
-
Oh yes there is - fat one here. Even at the congregational level the “Elders” are in complete control with a “head” elder in charge - though this does rotate among them."

No there is not.

Yes there is a body of elders that handle congregational matters, following scriptual precedent. Someone has to take charge of seeing that needed things get done.

Exactly what do you mean by "the “Elders” are in complete control" anyway trolltotroll?

Answer 3

I used to be a JW for 20 years, and some of my family and friends are still part of the organization. Doctrinal issues aside, the religion is definitely not for everyone. In my experience, those who are independent, value freedom of thought and expression and prefer to lead rather than follow are not going to enjoy being a JW.

JWs are taught that people are one of two types: sheep or goats. They value the "sheeplike" qualities that they associate with being easily led, humble, good with a side of mint jelly (j/k on the last one) etc... My personality has always clashed with the qualities that they value, hence I'm not one.

As far as doctrinal matters go, they're pretty much like any other religion in that the leadership's interpretation of the Bible (right or wrong) is used as the sole basis for instructing the flocks.

Answer 4

For the record, I respect every-ones religion even if I don't have the same beliefs and I love the study of religion. They used to come to the house and I would talk to them. I explained to them that I was Baptist and that I would probably never change but I would talk to them. The ladies that came to the house began showing up everyday and were really trying to push there religion on me. I wanted to discuss thinks like why they thought that there would not be a rapture, or why they thought this earth would be a paradise and all I got was that what I believed was wrong. I eventually told them I did not want them coming anymore. They still come but I don't go to the door. As far as it being a good religion. I see nothing wrong with it. These ladies were definitely strong in their faith and I respect that. They just were real insistent that I believe what they did. I think we were reading the same bible and they interpret things differently than I do.

Answer 5

One of my best friends when I was younger was a Witness. I found it to be interesting, but a little scary. They do not celebrate birthdays or any holidays, like Christmas or Halloween. They do not believe in saying the pledge of allegience or professing loyalty to anyone other than Jehovah. They believe they are the only people who will go to heaven and that all other Christians are following the wrong faith and will not make it to heaven. They also believe that their blood is pure and should not be mixed with others, so they can not have blood transfusions or bone marrow transplants (which means if your child has cancer or is in a car accident, they are big trouble). The sect my friend's family belonged to also did not believe in higher education after high school, and did not allow him to go to college. They wanted him to stay at home and work in the family garage. I'm not saying this is a bad religion, but it's definitely different.

Answer 6

My experience is that Jehovah's Witnesses are widely misunderstood and going by most of your answers that you have so far this is confirmed here also Jehovah's witnesses are wrongly accused of many things including being a cult and false prophets, but then Jesus himself was accused of being a false prophet and persecuted, he said that his true followers would experience the same things and treatment, that he did,(John15:20) Jehovah's Witnesses are Christian they reject all pagan practises, and yes they are different from other religions for that reason because no other religion can claim the purity of worship that they have, they have no paid clergy and there is never any tithes or collections at any of their meetings or Conventions,all their work is voluntary without payment or wages, they do not take part in politics or wars they obey the laws of the land. Yes they are very different from other religions, but that is a good thing.(John15:19)

Answer 7

I feel grave concern for them. Yes, they are interesting people and I can deal with the irritating and annoying aspects of their prosyletising and attitudes to others - that's not a problem for me because I know I have irritating and annoying aspects myself! The religion has good AND bad aspects and I know this from personal experience with three generations of JWs in my family. But a crucial point to make is the difference between individual JWs and The Organization (The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society). The Q has mixed both together and that's not fair to all the sincere JW individuals.

My experience, briefly, is that most of the many ex-JWs I know left either for theological reasons or when their disagreement with some Wt.Soc belief/practice led to relational issues. After all, if many of your friends and family are JWs and you are then viewed by them as 'a spiritual threat' for disagreeing about something, the intimidation and pressure that brings only worsens a bad situation. This is where the genuineness of their love is tested and found wanting - the JWs, that is. I know a neighbour who greets a local JW but the JW ignores him - why? Because this former JW's WIFE left the JWs and speaks publicly about JW doctrinal error! Charming!

But my criticism is not of those individual JWs, for they are only doing what good JWs are supposed to do - as instructed by their Wt.Soc leaders. If they don't conform, they will risk being disciplined. And I haven't even begun to inform about false doctrine! They proclaim a false gospel and a false Christ and the Wt.Soc is actively hindering millions of people from entering into the Kingdom of God. Please email me for biblical facts about this.

Answer 8

I think that just so you don't do yourself a disservice you should check them out for yourself and not rely on someone else's experience. Most people seem to be here to take any opportunity to tell you about the bad experiences they think they had with them and that's probably a shame. If you don't have all of the information, how can you ever make an educated decision? You can't.

Answer 9

Generally nice folks... but then again, all salesman are nice when they are trying to get you to buy.

I'm not a JW, but I've spend dozens of hours speaking face to face with them (at my home) and on the phone/email conversations.

Don't be fooled by the partial truth that Jehovah's Witnesses will share with you. They're not going to tell you about the years of false predictions of the end of the world by their first two presidents, Charles Taze Russell and Judge Rutherford. They won't tell you that the trend of false predictions continued up through the 1970s. They won't tell you that despite all the proof against their organization (which is the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society), they still claim to be the one and only true form of Christianity.

Imagine, a religion founded in the 1800s by a serial false prophet — one that lets no one question its teachings for fear of separation from family — has replaced centuries of Christianity before it!

And I haven't even got into their very unChristian theology that Jesus Christ is really a created being, Michael the Archangel.... I could go on, but there are plenty of good websites out there for you to read more.

It is good that you have asked this question! No, they are not a good religion. But please, do more research to discover this yourself.

Answer 10

I find remarkable similarities in how they present themselves. What's strange is that ex-Jehovah's Witnesses don't leave for specific theological reasons. To my knowledge, they leave as a result of relational issues.

While I don't agree with all of Walter Martin's writings, I believe his book, "Kingdom of the Cults" accurately depicts their religion as a cult is defined. The JW definition is of course different, and they are offended by that term.

Answer 11

Here is the Jehovah's Witness official web site "Beliefs and Activities" page http://www.watchtower.org/e/beliefs_and_activities.htm

1) Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) are definitely Christians. Don't be fooled by anyone's ignorance into believing otherwise.

2) JWs are a "fundamentalist" sect. In other words, they rely entirely upon the bible (and their interpretation of it!) to establish their teachings. This does *not* mean that all of their teachings are valid. It *only* means that they use scripture to support all the beliefs that they have.

3) Ignore the tirades against the New World Translation (NWT), the JW bible. Although the translation is *controversial*, there is only 1 detractor I have ever met who located only one potentially *confirmable* mis-translated scripture. (Col 1:15-17). Most (all other?) verses that people have told me are mistranslations are, in fact, quite valid translations. See my review here: http://www.jimpettis.com/bibles/nwt.htm and my Y!A question here http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkLq.C2VD_qW2K2YwdC7enbty6IX?qid=20070725193510AAWlYdC

I will admit that I feel the translation of "Holy Spirit" as "God's active force" is a bit of a stretch - but it is not an inaccurate stretch. A translation of "godly wind" or "divine wind", for example, would be an extremely accurate *literal word* translation. "Active force", though an *acceptable* translation of that word, seems in my (fairly uneducated) opinion to be on the *edge* of acceptability.

4) I feel that the Watchtower Organization has too much control over what JWs are *permitted* to believe. They are not permitted to publicly question the teachings of the organization - even if the questioning person has scripture supporting an alternate teaching. Essentially, they are required to believe everything that the organization teaches, and are permitted to believe nothing (doctrinally) that the organization does not teach.

5) I also feel that the organization has intentionally "bent" a few of the instructions of scripture by means of unusual interpretation for the sake of expediency (i.e., to prevent the alienation of some of their members). One example of this: the bible forbids women to speak in church or to teach men. Now, it is reasonable to assume that "speak" here means to speak publicly. JWs allow women, during services, to get "on stage", as it were, and carry on a scripted conversation with each other. The women *are* the required focus of attention at these times, they *are* microphoned so that the entire congregation will hear them, and the only purpose of this exercise is to teach the congregation. The JWs teach that, since they are talking to each other (using a script!) and not the congregation, they are not breaking the scriptural rule. This is one example of a clear violation of scripture - exercised for the sole purpose of permitting women to teach the entire congregation during services.

Generally, though, I have no problem with JWs. Though I do not agree with *all* of their teachings, they seem to teach *all* of those teachings that are necessary for salvation.

Jim, http://www.life-after-harry-potter.com