Should I become a Jehovah's Witness?

Question

I have been studying with a witness. I am so confused! I have been researching the origin of the religion (not through the witness) on my own and I have not found anything positive. The woman that I am studying with is very nice and is trying to help me understand the religion. How can I trust that this religion operated by imperfect humans is perfect and is the way to go? How do I know that it is the truth? How do I know that it is operated through God's Holy Spirit?

Answer 1

No matter which religion you choose, remember that "by their fruits ye shall know them". If you feel happy and light and full of peace, then it is probably good and will make you happy. If you are confused and troubled and sad, then it is probably not what you need. There are good people in every religion, but that is not a good enough reason to join a church. You should join because you believe it is true.

Good luck.

Answer 2

This system is run by Satan the Devil and he wants nothing more than to turn people away from Jehovah God.So it comes as no surprise that you cannot find anything favorable recorded about Jehovahs Witnesses through researching Satans system.
One sure way to find the true religion is to see if what is taught is bible based or man made doctrine. Does the Witness use the Bible to back up everything she teaches you? Does it make sense to you?
Only through study and prayer will you make the truth your own. Time will help you see that you have found the only true religion. Even though the brothers are imperfect and sometimes errors are made,you need to keep in mind that Jehovah God and His Son Jesus are overseeing all that is going on and guiding the organisation through the Faithful and Discreet Slave Class.Again only study and prayer to Jehovah will guide your heart. You need to trust your heart and not the advice of well meaning friends and relatives who try to talk you out of studying. In time you will learn whether it is the truth....just listen to your heart.Dont be confused,pray to Jehovah to guide you and he will.

Answer 3

First of all, im very happy you are studying the Bible and have been doing research. My advice, and if you think of it logically it does make sense. Any questions you have about JW's, how we officially got started, etc. Please ask your study conductor or one of the others at the Kingdom Hall. Do not rely on answers based on people who do not believe what we believe, or people that are angry that used to be witnesses and have left and are now putting false information on the internet. The best source is the witnesses themselves, although many opposed will definitely disagree.

Just think of it this way, if i wanted to find out about what your family was liked, what you believed, what your favorite things were, etc. Would it make sense for me to Google it and find something and take that as true, or ask someone who lives down your street who doesnt really know you at all?

All witnesses are imperfect, and that will be the case until Jehovah's Kingdom is in place and we are made perfect. We will make mistakes, people that are witnesses still are just people, we have different personalities and we do clash at times, but we are always under God's direction and protection.

"Become" a witness, its more like choosing a way of life. We as you im sure have studied some and we are encouraged to strive to imitate Jesus and his father Jehovah, qualities such as the fruitages of the spirit talked about in Galatians 5:22. As on of the other commentors said, you will know it is a true religion based on peoples "works" their actions as a whole, not a simple slip up if someone has a bad day, etc. But those who are trying in everyday life to meet the requirements of God's standards, not just meeting for 2 hours a church one day a week and then taking part in the things mentioned at 2 Tim 3:1-5 which are the things talked about as how people would be towards the end before God steps in.

You can be sure that it has God's Holy spirit. As a whole over the many years, and even during Bible Times, God's people, as long as they obeyed him have had his protection, and love, and just as Jesus preached to others about the coming of the Kingdom and what it would do, we do the same thing. We also use God's name, which is very important.

But please ask your questions to another Witness, just don't make such an important decison based on false information you found on the internet. If then, you decide it's not what you want, then that is your decison, but get info from an accurate source.

Ask your study conductor to bring one of our DVD's and watch it on your next study, there are several that we have that are very encouraging and informative, ask her about:

Organized to Share Good News
and Whole Association of Brothers

I think by seeing some of these you'll really definitely see the unity, the worldwide aspect of being a Witness. Did you know the Watchtower mag that we study is the same lesson each week everywhere in the world. If you went to Italy and China, you would know that they are studying the same exact lesson that we are here in the U.S.

Pray about it, it will make your study and decisions easier.

Answer 4

Not only is Michael Jackson NOT a Jehovah's Witness (and has not been for over twenty years), but some of his peers have actually stated on record that he should never have left the Witnesses since he made more sense when he was one of them. Put another way, their opinion was that he went bizarre only after he publicly announced that he was no longer a Witness.

Keep Mr. Jackson out of it. He has absolutely no bearing on the question at hand, except for those who wish to malign and ridicule.

As for whether you should become a Witness, you will get various and sundry replies from this forum. Pay close attention to them. Notice how so many respondents don't really care what you become as long as you DON'T become a Jehovah's Witness. They say don't do it: plenty of better religions to devote yourself to.

Notice how many are at the ready to call them names: cult, brainwashed, unhealthy, disrupts families, claims victims, and so on. Do you find it healthy to counsel people by calling other people names?

Fotomama made an excellent point: She quoted Jesus' words at Matthew 7:20: By their fruits you will know them." Then she said you should join a church because you believe it is true.

There's the core of the matter. Don't reject a religion because so many people ridicule and malign it. After all, the detractors in the first century ridiculed, maligned, insulted, slandered and lied on Jesus all the time. They treated his apostles the same way. Now I ask you: were the apostles Christians? Did Jesus originate Christianity? The answer is, of course, yes. So what was the problem with the detractors? I will leave that to you to answer.

Don't join a religion because everybody praises it. After all, Jesus said his followers would be hated just as he was hated. And he said his true followers would be no part of the world. He warned them of this repeatedly. Didn't you learn that from John 17:14 and 16? Yes, of course you did. You should never expect true followers of Christ to be loved by the world.

So, no religion is perfect. If you are looking for that, you will not find it in this imperfect system. Even the nation of Israel - which belonged to God - were imperfect. How do you know this religion is the truth? How do you determine what constitutes an inch? You pull out a ruler, right? Well, the Bible is the touchstone of what is acceptable to God. It is the means by which we measure whether we are living up to the standards God has set. Any Bible, my dear. You should have several of them anyway. People love to nitpick the New World Translation. They sometimes get themselves a copy so they can pour through the pages looking for a nit to pick. How sad. That is why you ought to arm yourself with several Bibles and never forget the truth of Hebrews 4:12. Become intimately familiar with God's word the Bible. Turn to it in defense just as Jesus did. Read Luke 4:1-8. How many times did Jesus refute Satan beginning with "it is written"? Satan knew scripture. Jesus knew it better.

That is how you determine what is truth. That is how you determine what you can trust and what you cannot. Use God's word the Bible. Get a King James. Get a New King James. Get an International Version. And get a New American Bible (Catholic version). Everybody's got Bibles. You get them too. And anytime you want, you e-mail me.

May the Sovereign Lord God Jehovah of Armies bless the effort you put forth.

Hannah J Paul

Answer 5

Not everything is always as it seems. Been there, done that and am now doing research that I should've done before. I was told that I shouldn't be reading publications that were not given by the Society. But, I am anyway because I want a well rounded view of everything. So far, almost everywhere I've read (on the internet), I've been told to read Crisis of Conscience and In Search of Christian Freedom by Ray Franz. I am waiting for them to come in. Maybe you could look them up at your library or on Amazon. The guy who wrote it was part of the JW religion for a very long time and got disfellowshipped for a really stupid reason. I've heard he has a lot of insight into the organization and I can't wait to read it. Plus, there is much information on the internet which all JW's are advised to guard against. I've found freeminds.org to be very interesting. The choice in the end is always yours. Reason with your own mind and heart and do not just believe what everyone tells you.

Answer 6

This really isn't a forum where you will get many positive answers to that question, but to give you some information.

JWs do not have a Bible distorted to just make it say what we want. The bulk of Protestant and Catholic modern English Bibles make nearly all the same changes.

We publish King James of 1611, American Standard, NWT (JW modern English) and many others.

Few except some raised JW, study from NWT alone. I studied from KJV and did not read NWT until after I was baptized. I now collect Bibles from all the churches for reference as well as Greek/Hebrew and other references.

There is much postive about JWs, but few people will say so. Remember, true religion has never been liked. That is why all the Christians in the first century were constantly in prison, being stoned, sawed in half, etc. FEW will EVER like true Bible religion in this system of things.

Many of the Bible writers were murdered by the people supposedly of their own faith for telling the truth about the falsehoods taken up by the religion.

As you read through the Bible, you will notice that most of those claiming to serve God actually fell away and were false prophets....the Bible writers and those who stayed faithful were usually the minority running from their lives from the mainliners claiming to own the temple, etc.

Jesus told us we would never be liked, that we would be hated by all people for his sake.

You must decide whether to have the approval of men or be mistreated with the flock of God. John 5:43, 44, Matthew 5:11, more.

Discuss this with your study conductor.

Debbie

Answer 7

At least you're doing a little research before diving into Jehovah's Witnesses. They are usually well prepared in giving you the JW side of things, but you're going to get radically different answers from Catholics and Protestants that affirm the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and the tenets that JWs fight against so fervently.

One thing that JWs will all too readily dismiss, though, is a seminary education, one that refutes JW theology with some educational backing. JWs will hiss at credentials, telling you that the apostles didn't have any, therefore no one needs any (that should be a red flag right there). They'll tell you JW bible studies provide the equivalent of one, but if it's the equivalent, where's the recognition that should be there anyway? Being taught by laity in a bible study is fine, most people learn about their theology that way anyway. They will claim the Bible as their backing, and the only backing they need, but try asking some clergy in the mainstream Christian world, and you're going to get scholarly backing that should be able to get into detail that you will appreciate. Please don't rely on JW theology to resolve your confusion. Ask around.

Answer 8

Why ask that question here? All you will get are the haters and liars. Not the sort of queztion you send out to a bunch of unkown haters and people who have their own agenda.

If you are really studying then you need to research it on your own. Look at what you find hard to accept and why...the choice is ultimately yours but to ask these (Yahoo answer folks) bunch of knuckleheads is just like spitting in the wind...

Do your research make up your own mind

Answer 9

The JWs have very high success rates with people who are biblically illiterate. Such ones don't even notice that their study with the JWs is NOT the Bible, but JW literature! The books and magazines used are full of partial Bible quotes and students are encouraged to check them out, first in their own copy of the Bible, then later with the New World Translation. But biblically illiterate people cannot spot the subtle differences in that translation.

Thank God you are still referring to 'God's Holy Spirit' and have not adopted the JW term 'holy spirit', which they refer to as 'it'. This alone should let you know the JWs have distorted the truth because they deny the personality of the Holy Spirit and have a doctrine that says only 144,000 people from the time of Christ can ever be anointed with 'holy spirit'. If you become a JW you will be told you should not take the bread and wine at the Lord's Supper (the Memorial) and probably not one person at the Kingdom Hall will partake of the emblems. This proves they do not have the anointing of the Holy Spirit. They're happy to be second class Kingdom citizens but God does not practice spiritual apartheid! All Christians are called to be with Christ in glory. They preach a different gospel, which is a false gospel, putting themselves under the curse of Galatians 1:8-9. Many Christians will be praying for you.

Answer 10

No religion is perfect...all humans are imperfect. The only way to know if it's the truth is to read the Bible and see if it's doctrine, conduct and morals are supported in the Bible.

JW's support their beliefs on the scriptures. If there is anything you n don't agree with or understand, ask the person that is studying with you, she will be happy to show you, to back it up from the Bible.

If you need more info, remember my name here, and you can send me an email from the link on my 360 page.