hmmmm lets see. I'm in religion alot... Actually I want it to be my minor in college.. (additional info that you might want to know before making assumptions) Okay.. Jehovah Witnesses? actually i have about 4 questions..
-What are their major beliefs?
-Would you consider them hypocritical?
-Why are they strict about personal involvements{Ex. They would allow their children go out with a non-Jehovah Witness}but they say It doesn't really matter(which goes back to being hypocritical)
Please don't send me some bullshit websites.. I already researched some crap that made no sense at all. I want other people's perspectives and I'm hoping you guys can help me out
-Thanks,
LaTivia
2007-11-13 02:45:15 · 11 answers · asked by Viah 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
wellll thats three questions sorry, lol
2007-11-13 02:46:07 · update #1
oh yah, when it says would allow to go out, it was meant to say WOULDN'T! ok :P
2007-11-13 02:47:11 · update #2
hanna b please answer the other questions...thank you. I understand your beliefs quite well now :D
2007-11-13 03:04:19 · update #3
Jehovah's Witnesses are generally unhypocritical (see Rom 12:9). Witnesses are generally selective regarding close associates (see 1 Cor 15:33).
In their beliefs, Jehovah's Witnesses are relatively unique among self-described Christians in that they 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.co.uk/e/lmn/index.htm?article=article_10.htm
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_06.htm
http://jw-media.org/beliefs/trueworship.htm
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/jt/
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/dg/index.htm?article=article_11.htm
2007-11-16 07:22:10 · answer #1 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The others have answered our major beliefs.
As far as hypocritical? No, Witnesses as a whole strive to live their live according to the bibles high moral standards. Do people make mistakes, yes they do, we are not perfect.
To keep the congregation clean, those who unrepentantly practice wrongdoing are removed from the congregation.
Your third question, not sure what you are asking. A strong Jehovah's Witnesses would not get involved romantically with a non-witness, as the bible says to "marry only in the lord". Many parents may limit or restrict their children from associating with those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses because they feel the other person would not be good association. It does matter to a true Christian parent who their child associates with. 1 Cor. 15:33 "Do not be mislead, bad association spoils useful habits."
To learn more about Jehovah's Witnesses, the official website is www.watchtower.org
2007-11-14 02:32:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
What are their major beliefs?
Jehovah is God and Jesus is his Son.
Would you consider them hypocritical?
Actually No. They seem to be the only Christian group that follows the bible literally and apply it to their lives. How many born again Christians have shown up at your door in the last six months?
Act 14:7 "And there they preached the gospel. "
Why are they strict?
If a Christian follows the bible they read in the history of how Israel’s God segregated his nation from countries near by that would not worship him. When Israel ignored God they found themselves with out his protection. There are many amounts of Israel in the Old Testament about Israel getting steamed rolled by their neighbors whenever they turn their backs on him and worshipped a trinity God like Baal.
Therefore to not repeat history Jehovah’s Witnesses follow the bible.
2Cr 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?"
2007-11-15 01:59:24 · answer #3 · answered by keiichi 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Since the other witnesses have answered about our beliefs I will attempt to answer the other questions.
Hypocrites - not at all! You have to realize that no one is perfect, and we do make mistakes. But we try harder than any other people to follow the things that God tells us. We are honest, hard working people who love our God and want to serve him. We also love our neighbors and want to help them as much as possible. Something about our religion that you will find is that no matter where on earth you find us, we will answer your questions the same, with the same scriptures and answers. There is no other religion on the earth that can say that. God told us that his true followers would be in unity. (Ps 133:1)
Bad associations - 1 Corinthians 15:33 - "Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits." How can it be put any clearer? And before you say there are people who are better associates out there than some others, yes, they may be better, but they do not believe in or serve the same God we serve, therefore they are unexceptable to us.
2007-11-14 01:58:35 · answer #4 · answered by SisterCF 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Others have done quite well explaining some things about JWs. I will highlight some other things.
As Jesus said when talking about the abilities his disciples would have, he also told them how much to charge. "You received free give free." (Matt. 10:8) So we never charge anything for our preaching work. No collection plate is ever past. We have no fund raisers. We have voluntary contribution box usually the the rear of the building. No one knows who has given what.
Everything we believe is based on the Bible. If anything is based in pagan origin and not the Bible, we throw it out. This is not hypocritical. To NOT do this like other religions is hypocritical.
Most celebrations today are from pagan origin. Christmas on Dec. 25th is not Jesus' birthday. It is the pagan feast of Saturnalia. This along with gift giving, yule logs and so forth is not from the Bible. The only thing that is, is Jesus.
As Jesus said, "It is in vain they keep worshiping me because they teach commands of men as doctrine." (Matt. 15:9) Most do not want the light of truth but prefer the darkness of this world. (John 3:19-21) This shows we must keep clean of doctrines not from God through the Bible.
The Bible puts it simply by saying, "No one can slave for two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or stick to one and despise the other." (Matt.6:24)
This also applies to relationships. The reason parents watch who their kids go out with is it is their job to train and protect their kids. While writing this I have the TV on and they are talking about some 16 or 18 yr. old girl going out with an 18 yr. old felon. She was attacked by him. Where were the parents? It is their job to say NO. Firm council from 1 Corinthians 15:33 is, "Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits." This is profoundly true today.
There are fine people, nice people, who are not Jehovah's Witnesses. The thing is, they are in the severe minority. Maintaining our faith is not easy in this world especially for younger people easily influenced. Parents have an obligation to get kids through childhood and ready to be adults. Good moral values and spirituality is a part of that.
My parents were JW. I always valued their never lying to me. I was never lied to about Santa Claus or Easter Bunny. I got presents all during the year, not just one day. I was never shocked to find they lied about anything. Trust is easier. I got the loot so I was never in "trauma" over lack of Christmas presents or parties.
Lastly, what is this about "bullshit websites"? You go to watchtower.org and type in what you want to know about and the answer pops up. What is difficult about that?
All of our answers are always from the Bible, showing it is not just our words or thoughts, but it is God talking. Most clergy will give some quotation from their friend's books and philosophy. Of what value is that? Men get things wrong all the time. A few years later, someone will have ideas totally different. The Bible has proved its value for close to 4,000 years. It's standards last.
This is already tooo long. Bye.
2007-11-13 04:21:26 · answer #5 · answered by grnlow 7 · 8⤊ 1⤋
As one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I would be more than happy to explain our beliefs.
We believe that “all Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial.” (2 Timothy 3:16) And although some have claimed that we are not really Christians, this is simply not true. We endorse completely the apostle Peter’s testimony regarding Jesus Christ: “There is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.”—Acts 4:12.
In the English language, God’s name is Jehovah. The Bible says: “Thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:18, King James Version)
Jesus taught his followers to pray, “Let your kingdom come,” and he made that Kingdom the dominant theme of his teaching. (Matthew 6:10; Luke 4:43) Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the Kingdom is a real government from heaven, that it will rule over the earth, and that Jesus Christ is its appointed invisible King. “The government shall be upon his shoulder,” the Bible says. “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”—Isaiah 9:6, 7, KJ.
Eventually the earth, transformed into a beautiful paradise, will be filled with these worthy subjects of God’s Kingdom, all submitting to the reign of Christ and his corulers. Thus Jehovah’s Witnesses are firmly convinced that the earth will never be destroyed and that the Bible’s promise will be fulfilled: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”—Psalm 37:29; 104:5.
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that our present life in this world is not all there is. We believe that Jehovah sent Christ to earth to pour out his lifeblood as a ransom so that humans can have a righteous standing with God and receive everlasting life in a new system of things. As an apostle of Jesus said: “We have been declared righteous now by his blood.” (Romans 5:9; Matthew 20:28) Jehovah’s Witnesses are deeply grateful to God and his Son for this ransom provision that makes a future life possible.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact myself or visit your local kingdom hall to learn more.
2007-11-13 02:59:32 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 1⤋
Some of their major beliefs are
- the Watchtower Organization is the only true channel of communication between humans and God.
- there is one True God, Jehovah and then there are bunch of other gods, including Jesus Christ who they refer to be "a god", and Savior, Son of God, and also an archangel Michael. They do not believe in Trinity.
- they have their New World Translation Bible, and it is translated by people who did not have any formal training in Biblical languages
- Some of JWs stay in the earth when the other 144 000 will go to heaven, and only Jehovah's Witnesses will be saved by God.
Not really hypocritical, because they truly believe they are right. I woud rather use the word " lost"
The organization is very controlling. And they accept it. They have to or they are not JWs anymore.
2007-11-13 11:22:48 · answer #7 · answered by Nina, BaC 7 · 2⤊ 6⤋
Don't forget to ask about how their medical beliefs can result in premature death. See the link.
2007-11-15 05:33:54 · answer #8 · answered by Peter D 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Ex JW here, but I qualify to answer, since I have researched their dogma for over 40 years....
Major Beliefs.....Christ is not God....There is no Hell... Jesus is the 1st JW......only JW's will be saved....you are not assured of your salvation.....you are saved by works......disfellowship anyone who makes any waves in the congregation.....Shun them until they prove to the elders that they are truly sorry ( usually takes at least a year)....Chose death over blood transfusions......It is OK to call your leaders prophets...When you r prophetic leaders are wrong in their prophecy, it is OK to tell people that they weren't prophets in the first place.....It is OK to delete essential Christian doctrine in the bible and re-write it to teach what you want to teach...truth be damned.
I have never seen a largest group of hypocrites in my life (referring to the governing body) Not the footstep witnesses..Most of them are blinded by righteous fear.
They are strict, as all cults are strict: Their rules and Theology are so flawed, that they have to threaten you with loss of everything dear to yo if yo step out of their box.
2007-11-14 02:30:16 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 6⤋
Two of them came to my door last night and asked if I would be a Jehovah's witness? I said I didn't even see the accident!!
2007-11-13 02:52:05 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 6⤋