Are there First Communions among Jehovah's Witnesses?

Question

And if there are, is there any special ceremony before it?

Are if there isn't , are there any communions at all among them?

While at this, how differend are Jehovah's Witnesses' weddings from other Christian weddings?

Answer 1

The only special celebration or ceremony that Jehovah's Witnesses have is the Memorial, or the Last Evening Meal. It is held after sundown on Nisan 14 (Jewish Calendar passover). All are welcome, but only those who are of the annointed (144,000) actually partake of the bread and wine. The others are just onlookers who are exercising faith in the ransom sacrifice of Christ.

As to the weddings. They are held in the Kingdom Hall, a talk is given, based on the scriptures and usually lasts for about 30 - 45 minutes. The Bride can wear a bridal gown and can have bridesmaids, flowers etc. Afterwards there is a reception with music and dancing.

Answer 2

first answer. no ther's no first Communions as they where before in past based on the law given to mosses for the Israelite there was a covenant made by god Jehovah to the people of Israel they're where suppose to take an offering for the first born thus bringing the practice of first Communion so when Jesus died he took off all the requirements of the law given to people of Israel only.

second answer. there's not a whole lot different on weddings as other religious groups we sing a song to start make a prayer and we listen to a talk with verses of the bible then after the talk there's a ring exchange and of course the kiss the bride.

Answer 3

No, We believe that only those of the hundred-forty-four thousand should partake of the emblems of Jesus Christ's Evening Meal, it was a meal that Christ shared only with his disciples, who were numbered among the 144,000, when he instituted the "new covenant." Jeremiah 31:31; Matthew 26:28; [this means my blood of the covenant]. Since most of us do not have the heavenly hope, means that we are "sharers of those whom the covenant was made with" [144,000.] ! Corinthions11:25;- 2 Corinthians 3:14;- Hebrews 12:24.
We also believe that we have a lot to learn, and so we study the Bible very deeply. Which usually takes a life time of learning, I believe a communion means learning just so much of a churches doctrine. Not the Bible.
Our weddings are not much different, just not ostentatious,
orderly, with seriousness to the wedding vows.

Answer 4

No. We celebrate the Lord's Evening Meal, or Memorial of Christ's death, on Nisan 14 on the Jewish calendar, once a year. This commemmorates the Last Supper, and is the only thing in the Bible commanded that we memorialize.

Weddings are different in that there is a Bible talk based on the scriptures showing the role of the husband and wife. A prayer is said, and the entire ceremony usually takes about 30 minutes.

Answer 5

They have a Communion Service once a year (only for baptized JW adults,I think)on the 14of the Hebrew month of Nisan(I think) and only those who believe that they are among the 144,000 can partake of the unleavened bread and grape juice,or so I have been told by an ex Jehovah's Witness.
A friend of mine went to a JW wedding and it was more like a civil licensing of marriage than a church service from the description and this one was very brief and had exhortations not only about the duties of the married state but on the invitation to all present to join the JWs. My friend did not take up the invitation.

Answer 6

Jehovah's Witnesses should not be on the internet!

"connecting a computer to an electronic bulletin board can open the way to serious spiritual dangers. Just as an unscrupulous individual can place on a bulletin board a virus-a program designed to corrupt and destroy computer files-apostates, clergymen, and persons seeking to corrupt others morally or otherwise can freely place their poisonous ideas on bulletin boards.

Unless a bulletin board, even one labeled "JW Only," is properly supervised, with its use being limited to those who are mature, faithful servants of Jehovah, it could expose Christian users to "bad associations." (1 Cor. 15:33)

The Society has received reports that such so-called private networks have been used not only to speculate regarding spiritual matters but also to give bad advice, spread gossip and false information, plant negative ideas, raise questions and doubts that subvert the faith of some, and disseminate private interpretations of Scripture. On the surface, some information may appear to be Interesting and informative, and yet it may be laced with poisonous elements.

Christians look to "the faithful and discreet slave" for timely spiritual food and for clarifications." (Watchtower, August 1, 1993, p17)

Answer 7

All 7 Million or so who're quite witnesses will try this alongside with many many greater who attend the Denial of the Christ Ritual hosted by potential of the watchtower society. this is asserted that the Lord is hosting a dinner occasion and all could attend. i'm thinking approximately their determination to no longer partake. If i became into hosting a dinner occasion and became into happy to place out a astounding determination of meals and beverages and the vast majority of my travellers did no longer consume something, yet basically handed the plates around i could sense offended. I think of that Jesus could sense the comparable way. I mean, He died a torturous loss of life to redeem mankind from sin and loss of life and asked all to undergo in innovations Him by potential of ingesting unleavened bread and ingesting wine. He did no longer say that basically some could partake and others take a seat around and overlook approximately His present. His command became into to maintain DOING THIS in rememberence of me.

Answer 8

I've attended their "Memorial" which is probably somewhat comparable to "communion", but it is basically a mockery of the Lord's Evening Meal. Instead of eating bread and drinking the wine, they pass it around, and DON'T eat or drink. (No eating or drinking = no meal.) There are supposedly some people somewhere who are "called" and they eat and drink, I'm told.

Yet they believe they they are the only ones who do it right, in spite of the fact that both Paul and Jesus said to "eat" and "drink". I was told ahead of time that only those of the "144,000" should eat and drink - I felt as if I were rejecting the sacrifice of Jesus by being there, and refusing it.

Answer 9

Jehovah's Witnesses do not use the term "first communion", or even "communion", as the terms are used by Christendom. A baptized Jehovah's Witness who begins to recognize that his hope is heavenly simply partakes of the emblems at the congregation's next scheduled commemoration of the Last Supper.

The most significant "Memorial" one could observe is, of course, the Memorial of Christ's death. It is sometimes called "the Last Supper" or "the Lord's Evening Meal".

(1 Corinthians 11:23-25, NWT) The Lord Jesus in the night in which he was going to be handed over took a loaf... Keep doing this in remembrance of me.” 25 He did likewise respecting the cup.. Keep doing this... in remembrance of me.”

(1 Cor 11:24, 25, NEB) "Do this as a memorial of me.”


Christ Jesus himself personally celebrated and explained the significance of that Last Supper to his followers (see Matthew 26:26-29). Apparently Jesus Christ established the occasion to supercede the Jewish Passover, which occurs after sunset on the 14th of Nisan (a month of the Jewish calendar).

(Luke 22:14-16) At length when the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 And [Jesus] said to them: “I have greatly desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it again until it becomes fulfilled in the kingdom of God.


Sadly, it is only a minority of professed Christians who follow the BIBLICAL pattern for the Last Supper which was established by Christ himself. Sadly, most of Christendom ignores Christ's celebration and instead follow unrelated human traditions which purport to honor Christ, but in ways unconnected with what Jesus Christ established.

Like the former Passover, those Christians who commemorate the Last Supper have also done so on the date corresponding to Nisan 14, which generally falls between late March and mid-April. Interestingly, Christians in the centuries immediately after Christ's impalement were sometimes called "Quartodecimans" which literally mean "fourteen-ers"


There are fundamental differences between the Memorial which Christ Jesus instituted and the so-called "Easter" which Christendom adopted from pagan worship of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre (or Oestre). While most Easter celebrations merely repackage pagan fertility festivals and concentrate on eating, decorating, and frivolity, the Last Supper focuses on the value of Christ's sacrifice and the sober obligation of Christianity.

(Matthew 15:6-9) You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you when he said, 8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me. 9 It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.’”

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_08.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_11.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20041215/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20011115/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050101a/
http://watchtower.org/e/jt/

Answer 10

Reasoning from the Scriptures
Memorial

Definition of Memorial:
A meal commemorating the death of Jesus Christ; hence, a memorial of his death, the death that has had effects that are more far reaching than that of any other person. This is the ONLY event that the Lord Jesus Christ commanded his disciples to memorialize. Its also known as the Lord's Supper or the Lord's Evening Meal.


What is the meaning of the bread and the wine served at the Memorial?
Regarding the unleavened bread that Jesus gave to his apostles when instituting the Memorial, he said: "This means my body." (Mark 14:22) That bread symbolized his own sinless body of flesh. This he would give in behalf of the future life prospects of mankind, and on this occasion special attention is drawn to the life prospects that it make possible for those who would be chosen to share with Jesus in the heavenly Kingdom.

When passing the wine to his faithful apostles, Jesus said: "This means my 'blood of the covenant,' which is to be poured out in behalf of many." (Mark 14:24) That wine symbolized his own lifeblood. By means of his shed blood, forgiveness of sins would be possible for those who put faith in it. On this occasion Jesus was highlighting the cleansing from sin that it would make possible for his prospective joint heirs. His words also indicate that by means of that blood the new covenant between Jehovah God and the spirit-anointed Christian congregation would be made operative.

Who is to partake of the bread and the wine?
Who partook when Jesus instituted the Lord's Evening Meal shortly before he died? Eleven faithful followers to whom Jesus said: "I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom." (Luke 22:29) They were all persons who were being invited to share with Christ in his heavenly Kingdom. (John 14:2, 3) All who partake of the bread and wine today should also be persons whom Christ brings into that 'covenant for a kingdom.'

How many are there that partake? Jesus said that only a "little flock" would receive the heavenly Kingdom as their reward. (Luke 12:32) The full number would be 144,000. (Rev. 14:1-3) That group began to be selected in 33 C.E. Reasonably, there would be only a small number partaking now.

How often is the Memorial to be commemorated, and when?
Jesus did not specifically state how often it was to be don. He simply said: "Keep doing this in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19) Paul said: "For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives." (1 Cor. 11:26) "As often" need not to mean many times a year; it can mean annually over a period of many years. If you commemorate an important event, such as a wedding anniversary, or if a nation commemorates an important even in its history, how often is it done? Once a year on the anniversary date. This would also be consistent with the fact that the Lord's Evening Meal was instituted on the date of the Jewish Passover, a yearly celebration that no longer had to be kept Jews who had become Christians.

Jehovah's Witnesses observe the Memorial after sundown on Nisan 14, according to the reckoning of the Jewish calendar that was common in the first century. The Jewish day begins at sundown and extends until the following sundown. So Jesus died on the same Jewish calendar day that he instituted the Memorial. The BEGINNING of the month of Nisan was sunset after the new moon nearest the spring equinox became visible in Jerusalem. The Memorial date is 14 days thereafter. (Thus the date for the Memorial may not coincide with that of the Passover kept by modern-day Jews. Why not? The start of their calendar moths is set to coincide with the astronomical new moon, not the visible new moon over Jerusalem, which may come 18 to 30 hours later. Also, most Jews today keep the Passover on Nisan 15, not the 14th as did Jesus in harmony with what was stated in the Mosaic Law.)

For more info go to http://watchtower.org

Increase the Joy and Dignity of Your Wedding Day
The Kingdom Hall—A Dignified Venue
http://watchtower.org/e/20061015/article_01.htm
Many Christian couples desire to have their wedding ceremony in a Kingdom Hall if such is available. Why do they prefer this? One couple explained their reasoning: “We realized that marriage is Jehovah’s sacred arrangement. Getting married in the Kingdom Hall, our place of worship, helped impress upon us right from the start that Jehovah needed to be part of our marriage. Another benefit of having the ceremony in the Kingdom Hall instead of at another location was that it showed our nonbelieving relatives who attended how important worship of Jehovah is for us.”

If the congregation elders responsible for the Kingdom Hall give permission for the wedding to be held there, the couple should advise them in advance of preparations that are being considered. One way the bride and groom can show due respect for those invited to the wedding is by being firmly resolved to arrive at the scheduled time for the wedding. And they will certainly want to be sure that everything is done in a dignified manner.# (1 Corinthians 14:40) They will thus avoid the outrageous displays that mark many worldly weddings.—1 John 2:15, 16.

Those who attend the wedding can also show that they have Jehovah’s view of marriage. For example, they would not expect the wedding to outdo other Christian weddings, as if there were some competition as to whose wedding was more elaborate. Mature Christians also realize that being at the Kingdom Hall for the Bible-based talk is more important and beneficial than being at a wedding feast or a gathering that might follow. If time or circumstances will permit a Christian to be present for only one of the two, being at the Kingdom Hall would certainly be preferable. An elder named William says: “If guests are needlessly absent from the Kingdom Hall but are present at the reception later, this shows a lack of appreciation for the sacredness of the occasion. Even if we are not invited to the reception, we can show our support for the bride and groom and give an excellent witness to nonbelieving relatives at the wedding by attending the ceremony at the Kingdom Hall.”