What exactly are Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons?

Question

I'm extremely confused. What makes them so different from other Christians?

And who's Jehovah?

Answer 1

Ignore everyone who called The JW's or Mormon's cults mostly because the only difference between a cult and religion is popularity and they won't call their own religion's cults.

JW's are a sect of Christianity who claim to follow the bible more closely than others. They don't celebrate birthdays or holidays.

Mormons claim that Jesus came to the Americas and left their prophet some golden tablets which had more rules to follow. They too are also a sect of Christianity.

Answer 2

Your confusion is understandable and will hardly be helped by these conflicting answers! Let JWs and Mormons tell you in their own words what they are, then if you know what constitutes an orthodox Christian, you will easily spot the differences. They are as clear as night and day for those who have studied Christianity, which has a track-record of over 2,000 years, compared with those two groups 200 years (more or less).

However, if you do not know what orthodox Christianity is, you are liable to be easily swayed into taking their claims at face value and not checking them out against what is said in the Bible. That is why those groups work hard at presenting biblical arguments for their beliefs. Those who are biblically illiterate are impressed with their fine-sounding arguments that appear to be so biblical. They talk the talk, and many appear to be walking the walk, yet Jesus warned us that would be the case with many whom he would deny as his followers - read Matthew chapter 7 verses 21-23 & Galatians 1:6-12.

Answer 3

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) is a beautiful Christian religion. You should be extremely careful when trying to learn about Mormons from others. There are many who hate the Mormons and spread lies, distortions, and conspiracy theories about them. Others think they understand Mormon doctrine because of "what they've heard," but are actually misinformed.

Because Mormons are Christian, we believe in most of the things that Christians believe, including:

1) Christ is divine and salvation comes only through Him.
2) The Bible is the word of God.
3) Men ought to love one another.

Mormons are a unique branch of Christianity, however. We are neither Catholic nor Protestant, so naturally we have some different beliefs. Most of the differences are minor. One significant difference has to do with the authority to act in God's name. Mormons believe that soon after the death of Christ and His apostles, the early Christian Church was greatly influenced by Greek and Roman philosophies and political pressures. Despite the efforts of many good men and women, the true Church of Christ was eventually lost because of these outside pressures and internal, man-made changes. Mormons believe that God reestablished the original Church of Christ in 1820 through a man named Joseph Smith.

To learn more about Mormons, visit my site at http://www.allaboutmormons.com !

Answer 4

There's isn't a really a short answer to this question...I guess you could say that Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons are much like the Protestant religions that were formed during the Protestant reformation in Europe. The difference is that, they were formed more recently, and they haven't yet outlived the "New kids on the block" criticism that any new religion gets.
And they are not cults. That is a common misconception.

Answer 5

Jehovah ´s witnesses believe that this planet WONT be destroy by anything and in the near future Jesus Christ will rule this planet and fix all the problems we have like famines, wars an illness and the worst enemy dead, we beleive in a brilliant future for this planet and mankind but only after Armageddon the judgement day during the time Jesus will rule this planet....-

Answer 6

What a bunch of completely ignorant arrogant answers so far.

So JWs and Mormons are cults because they dont believe like you? Wow, what an educated and well thought out analysis.

Guess what, according to JWs and Mormons, you dont believe like they do so I guess they can legitametly go around calling other christian sects cults, too, according to that insane logic.

According to the dictionary definition of a cult, ALL religions are cults. You cant say something is a cult just because you dont agree with their beliefs.

Mormons and JWs believe that Christ is their savior and that thru the resurrection mankind can return to live with their God someday. Hmmmm belief in Christ as your savior. Sounds pretty darn christian to me.

The trinity has LESS biblical support than the concept that Jesus is the son of God and not God himself, yet people on here have the audacity to claim that JW's and Mormons arent christians because they believe in the interpretation of the Bible that seems a lot more supported biblically.

What gives any of you the right to claim who is and is not a christian? What gives you the right to claim that your interpretation is correct so that you can turn around and proclaim the others cults just because they dont agree with you?

Mormons believe that Christ appeared to the people in the americas after the resurrection and that God had prophets in other parts of the world, not just the middle eastern section. How does this contradict the Bible in any way? Is God so elitist that he would ignore the rest of the world? Mormons dont believe that people will go to hell just for not completely understanding the gospel plan on earth and that all people will have the chance to hear the gospel and that a loving God would never send a good person to hell for all eternity. In the bible hell is a concept that can be interpreted soooo differently there is no reason why mormon interpretation is any less valid than any other christian sects. In fact, mormon beliefs in an afterlife are far more consistent to a loving God than those of some religions that condemn really good people, like mormons, to an eternity of suffering and damnation.


I think you people that so arrogantly think you have the right to proclaim that anyone that doesnt believe just like you are cults and brainwashed and non christian, should take a nice look at your own religions beliefs. If your idea of a loving God is to send good honest people that belief in Christ and are trying to do their best, like mormons and JWs, to hell, then your God is cruel and unfair and doesnt espouse any of the christian attributes you claim to believe in and claim mormons and jws dont.

Answer 7

Jehovah's Witnesses' organization is the Watchtower Society, which claims to be the only true channel of communication with God. JWs claim to be Christians but they do not believe in Trinity. They think they believe in one true God who is Jehovah, God of the Bible, but they have changed the Bible message to fit to their odd doctrines. They even went that far that they made their own Bible translation called New World Translation. None of the translators were qualified to do such a translation, and they did not have formal training in Biblical languages. They believe Jesus is an archangel Michael, and "a god" among other gods, still they claim to be monotheistic religion and they wrongly accuse Trinity to be polytheistic concept.

Mormons also claim to be one true religion and they believe that any man can become a god. Their Jesus who they accept as Lord and Savior is not the same Jesus the Bible talks about. They also have their own Bible, the Mormon Bible. However, they need a lot of other literature of their own to support their religious point. Joseph Smith claims to be a prophet of God, but I see him as a false prophet. The main point is that they do not believe Jesus is the same God as God of Abraham. So that as well is a false religion.

Answer 8

JW's are a cult based on predicting the end of the world. Their belief is that when Armageddon comes, only JW's will be saved from destruction because they are God's chosen people, and all non-JW's will be destroyed. They have conflicting doctrines and failed predictions.

I know nothing about Mormons, other than it's a group founded by Joseph Smith in the 1800's on a supposed "new revelation" given to him by an angel.

Answer 9

As I read all the answers, when I got down to ‘xspa k’s comment, I actually laughed!! Let me straighten out a few points about Jehovah’s Witnesses that this person (and others who gave incorrect information ) about us, and explain what's incorrect about what they have to say.

First we DO NOT expect any of our brothers and sisters to get "5 hours a week" in our ministry. We DO NOT try to sell ANY of our Bible based literature. The facts are that we are each expected to work in the ministry as much as possible, given our own personal circumstances, for the furtherance of the good news. We DO NOT have a quota to fill. Neither do we have a quota for the amount of literature that we place. Our work is NOT about placing literature, (which is completely FREE, by the way) it’s about spreading the good news of Gods Kingdom just as Jesus Christ did and commanded us to do also. There is no such thing as a ‘subscription’ to The Watchtower or other literature, neither does it cost anything. We may ask for a “small donation” simply to print more literature, (and that’s exactly what it’s for, we do not get paid for our ministry) but the donation that we may ask for is completely up to you…it’s not mandatory.

Another point to straighten out is that many have said that Jehovah’s Witnesses are a cult. This is NOT true. The definition of a cult, quoting the Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, involves "great devotion to a person, idea, object, or movement" and also is a "small group of people characterized by such devotion". The fact about this is that we are over 6 million strong in over 236 lands. (That doesn’t sound small to me) And we also are not led by man. We are being led by Jehovah God who directs us with His Holy Spirit also called His ‘Active Force’. (Psalms 83:18 will give you God's name in many translations. The new KJ version, as well as some other translations, has taken out Gods name completely from the Bible.)

We are also not a sect who, by definition from Merriam-Webster online dictionary, is "a group adhering to a distinctive doctrine or to a leader" And as I said before; we are led by God, NOT man. Wikipedia.org has defined a sect as being “described as newly formed religious groups that form to protest elements of their parent religion (generally a denomination). Their motivation tends to be situated in accusations of apostasy or heresy in the parent denomination.” We did not break off of a so-called “parent denomination.” As, I’m sure you’ve noticed, there are many Churches that may have the same name, or groups of people who call themselves by the same name, but they may not all believe the same thing because they have broken off of the main “parent denomination.” And that's the reason they broke of and formed another group, because they want to worship differently than the "parent denomination." Jehovah's Witnesses, around the globe, all 6 million plus, believe the same way and none of us have broken off and made another group of Jehovah's Witnesses.

The website also says about sects that “One of the main factors that seems to produce sects is the rigid continued adherence to a doctrine or idea after its time has passed, or after it has ceased to have clear applicability to a changing reality.” Certainly the teachings of Jesus Christ and the truth about Gods Kingdom has “applicability to a changing reality” for many people. And, from Bible research, we see that there are many prophecies that have not been fulfilled yet, so, as far as our beliefs and the teachings of Jesus Christ; “its time” has not “passed” by the articles’ definition.

Many will lie about us and slander us. Even Jesus Christ was falsely accused and persecuted, and he said that his followers would be too. This, however, is the problem with people today…they lack unbiased research about what it is that makes them so engrossed with us and are trying to dispute everything that we know to be true.

Answer 10

Jehovah's Witnesses dont celebrate holidays. Jehovah is god's name. Jehovah's Witnesses also dont participate in plitics or war and believe that there will be a resurection, only 144,000 will go to heaven, and the rest of the rigthous will live on the earth forever after Jehovah destroys the wicked people. and men and women will once again be perfect.

Answer 11

JWs claim everlasting life is a reward for doing the will of God and carrying out one's dedication -- in other words, salvation is a reward for good works. (JWs are expected to spend five hours per week in door-to-door visitation and witnessing, are responsible for selling twelve subscriptions to The Watchtower magazine each month, and are responsible for conducting a "Bible study" each month in the homes of their converts.) According to JW theology, a person has one of three possible destinies. The Anointed (144,000) will be in heaven to reign with Jehovah God. The rest of the faithful Jehovah's Witnesses (not of the 144,000) will live forever on a paradise Earth. Both of these classifications are determined to a great extent on membership in the Watchtower organization as well as going door-to-door spreading the message of the Watchtower. Those people who are not members of the Watchtower organization will be destroyed by Jehovah God and cease to exist. There is no concept of eternal punishment or hell in Watchtower theology (Let God Be True, pp. 90-95, 289). They also believe that men will have a second chance, after death, to be saved.
The Bible lists six identifying marks of false prophets, any one of which is sufficient for identification: (1) through signs and wonders they lead astray after false gods (Dt. 13:1-4); (2) their prophecies don't come to pass (Dt. 18:20-22); (3) they contradict God's Word (Isa. 8:20); (4) they bear bad fruit (Mt. 7:18-20); (5) men speak well of them (Lk. 6:26); and (6) they deny that Jesus, the one and only Christ, has come once and for all in the flesh (1 Jn. 4:3), thereby denying His sufficiency in all matters of life and godliness (2 Pe. 1:3). Most cults are founded upon false prophecies, which, if pointed out, offer an effective way to open blind eyes and rescue cultists. Russell's false prophecies formed the basis for what became The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Russell declared that the Second Coming had taken place invisibly in October 1874, and the Lord was truly present, and that in 1914 the faithful (the 144,000) would be translated to heaven and the wicked destroyed. Armageddon (which began in 1874) would culminate in 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's rulers and the end of the world. C.T. Russell, still on earth, died in 1916.