Jehovah's Witnesses ,Religion-Cooperation -Cult ?

Question

They do not have tax exempt status and they are inc. There bible/book study tactics have been compared to those used by the Chinese on American P.O.W.s in Korean war to turn them against the U.S. They teach that you may have to stop associating with your family, (My parents would not come to my home to see there own grand children because my wife and i were not married at the time!) They work doing "recruiting" for the the "Watch Tower and Awake inc." keep a time card and report the "Elders" and they don't get paid,They give what they can to the W-T &A inc. which is a multi BILLION $ Co. Just would like to hear what you think, any of this sound like your church too?

An X pow who started to study with the J-Ws long after he returned home from Korea,(READ Chained to the Watch Tower) Or are you not allowed to or convinced you don't want to? I was in the "truth" for 71/2 years /Theocratic school Grad,My parents J-Ws For 30 yrs . The Jws turned me away from ALL "Religion" When you study a JW book you are asked a ? about what you just read and when you read off the answer THEY provided your told "YOUR RIGHT ,NOW YOU KNOW THE TRUTH! Do this over and over and over that is how the Chinese brain washed the POWs. Google William Miller/court records,read about his divorce, how he abused his wife, court records from when he sewed the religion he left (Seven Day Evavn.) over the bible they RE_WROTE together and was charged with purgery for lie-ing under oath that he could read Greek and wrote the "New World Translation "By himself , or How many followers sold everything because he said he knew god /Jesus was coming. Those brain washed by a cult R last 2 no.

Answer 1

I am glad you brought these facts to light. Exactly which parts does Linedancer think are not true? That they do not have tax exempt status? The reason they began to give out 'free' literature in the States is because they fell under tax laws and would have had to pay a lot in tax. Donations do not qualify for taxation in the same way as sales. I can not comment on the bible/book study tactics, although their indoctrination methods are often used by other cults. They most definately divide families, even if it is only by insisting 100% attendance at meetings and non participation in family events. Can you imagine the rifts caused when a parent refuses to attend a childs wedding because it is in a church of 'Babylon the Great', or a grandchilds baptism, or even a funeral? Or what happens when a child grows up and decides that they don't want to be slaves to this evil organisation. Even the very act of becoming a Witness, or for that matter a member of any cult can disrupt marriages. What sort of effect does it have on a marriage when one becomes a witness and the other doesn't, when both parties work full time and the JW then sacrifices more than 5 hours a week to meetings, not including going out 'on the doors'. If I hadn't left when I did my marriage would be destroyed now. I am married to a kind man who supported my decision to become a JW, however his patience began to wear thin when I became, in his words, 'a Stepford Wife' and every conversation we had was sabotaged by the 'truth'. Does Linedancer not believe JW's recruit, he must be deaf, dumb and blind, and is he saying that publishers do not keep time cards and report to elders and that they do not get paid, if so he is a liar. The Watchtower society is both a cult and a cooperation. I now belong to a small group of honest hearted,caring Christians who meet at someones home for worship and preach the word of God by their actions in the community. A far, far, cry from the 'true Christianity' of JW's.

Edit: delux, do you not think the teachings of WTBTS are unorthodox compared to mainstream Christianity. Is it not true that the early followers 'idolised' Charles Taze Russell (see Revelation book, p36) and then did the same with Judge Rutherford. Do you not now put the organisation first, before God, according to your own literature you should. Do you not teach that members should seperate themselves from the rest of society except to perform neccesary tasks such as earn a living, and is it not true that many witnesses run their own businesses and employ fellow witnesses so as to minimise contact with those 'not in the truth'. Wake up.

Answer 2

I was raised as a Jehovah's Witnesses and eventually left religion about 7 years ago. So I have personal experience has to the inner working of the religion. First of all any religion could fall under definition of a cult. Catholic Church follows a single leader the pope, Tibetan Buddhism, etc. However whether or not Jehovah's Witnesses aka the Watchtower Society, Inc. is a recognized religion or has tax exempt status is completely arbitrary. The question isn't about the legal structure of Watchtower Society. It is more a question about their tactics and indoctrination process. When I think of the word cult it brings up images of hippy group dancing around a camp fire banging on tambourines worshiping some forgotten god or goddess. This not Jehovah's Witnesses, they are backed up a very large, very well connected multi-billion dollar corporation. So they don't immediately fit the image of a cult. However I do feel that they are in the end. They are a highly manipulative, emotional unhealthy and anti-social group. I could go on and on but you simple look on-line and find all the information one would need. To summarize you can dress up the WTS in a corporate legal status along with tax exempt status and have it recognized by every institution that there is saying its a bonafide religion. But in the end its about how it operates and it operates like a cult, period.

Answer 3

Are Jehovah’s Witnesses a sect or a cult? No

Some define sect to mean a group that has broken away from an established religion. Others apply the term to a group that follows a particular human leader or teacher. The term is usually used in a derogatory way. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not an offshoot of some church but include persons from all walks of life and from many religious backgrounds. They do not look to any human, but rather to Jesus Christ, as their leader.

A cult is a religion that is said to be unorthodox or that emphasizes devotion according to prescribed ritual. Many cults follow a living human leader, and often their adherents live in groups apart from the rest of society. The standard for what is orthodox, however, should be God’s Word, and Jehovah’s Witnesses strictly adhere to the Bible. Their worship is a way of life, not a ritual devotion. They neither follow a human nor isolate themselves from the rest of society. They live and work in the midst of other people.

Answer 4

75% of the statement erroneously labeled a "question" is not accurate.

25% of it is accurate, but partially inaccurately phrased.
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The Original Poster added some ADDITIONAL DETAILS which further add to the total inaccuracy of the entire post. To show how erroneous the post is as well as how ill-informed the Poster is, just note this one point: The poster said that among other things they are a "Theocratic school Grad."

Those who are Jehovah's Witnesses will have already spotted this lie; For those who are not: One NEVER graduates from the Theocratic Ministry School.

Answer 5

Not true. Our Bible study tactics have been compared by whom to those used by the Chinese on American POW's? By the way, how many people of YOUR religion were involved in the fighting in the Korean War, slaughtering their fellow humans, in total disregard for what Jesus said at Matt. 5:44 about loving "your enemies and to pray for those persecuting? Not one of Jehovah's Witnesses was involved in all that killing. Not only are you painting the wrong impression of JW's, but you are making yourself look like a hypocrite because there is a good chance that members of your faith were war murderers. I suggest you look at yourself in the mirror before you point an accusing finger at anybody else.

Answer 6

Cult....They brainwash their people into submission and not to ask questions. I could go on and on but will say I know this to be true because I had family members (not myself) that were sucked in and finally pulled away. I think it was as hard for them to get away from it as if they were in a cult. There not even suppose to go to family's funerals if they are not Witnesses.
Cult....Cult....Cult.....

Answer 7

It seems rather obvious that the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses is an established religion, and has been for 130 years. In fact, Jehovah's Witnesses has been adjudicated as a "known religion" by the European Court of Human Rights and most other governments which register religions. While the government of the United States does not similarly judge the merits of a religion per se, dozens of different corporations used by Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States (and in the various states) have been granted tax-exempt status as legitimate non-profit organizations.

Clearly, Jehovah's Witnesses are not a cult, and they certainly do not promote communist governments (or any human government). Jehovah's Witnesses generally encourage family life, although they do recognize that a person in one's family may be "bad association" (see 1 Cor 15:33; Matt 10:37) according to the standards of God and Christ. Jehovah's Witnesses do not require their adherents to report their ministry time, but they do request monthly totals of hours and number of return visits for example (see Mark 6:7,11,12,30 and Luke 9:1,2,10); there are no repercussions for an adherent who prefers not to submit a report.


Jehovah's Witnesses 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 8

Cult

Answer 9

Religion.

Actually the same religion as Jesus who worshiped his God and father.

Answer 10

If this is your "question", ""Jehovah's Witnesses ,Religion-Cooperation -Cult ?"" then this is my answer: Religion