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I have a friend who is converting. She hasn't told me yet though. Can someone please give me the differences from Christianity?

2007-11-27 08:54:50 · 21 answers · asked by lovemygsd 1 in Society & Culture Religion & Spirituality

21 answers

"differences"?

Jehovah's Witnesses are Christians.

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

2007-11-27 09:19:28 · answer #1 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 9 1

Interesting question, but somewhat paling in comparison to the amazing diversity of answers here!

What gets me the most is when people who are not one of Jehovah's Witnesses come out here and try to tell the world what it is that the JW's believe in...when in fact, they couldn't be more wrong. Some such as "JWs don't believe in Christ", "JWs don't believe in Hell" - not true...they do believe in Hades/Sheol/Hell, which is referred to numerous times in the Bible. They do NOT believe in eternal torment and damnation of souls in Hellfire - they do not believe it is befitting of a "God of love" to damn someone to eternal torment, just by sinning for a relatively short number of years.

This isn't a forum to try to prove what is the "right" religion, so let's not get swayed by our ego or whatever religious persuasion we have. But the best answer here by far would be the one from achtung_heiss, complete with references and all.

On top of that, I'd like to add another note. I believe what you actually meant in the question is, what are the differences from MAINSTREAM Christianity, and not just Christianity. Jehovah's Witnesses are most definitely Christians in the pure, broad sense of the term. Most people will, however, interpret that word "Christian" to mean, basically whatever their idea of being a Christian is. But it should rather be applied to all who accept Christ as Savior and choose to be his follower.

Another main difference:
Jehovah's Witnesses follow a literal translation of the original Hebrew and Greek texts. They feel that the majority of modern Bible translations do not do the originals justice, in that most translators will interpret certain scriptures in whatever way will support their religious faith, hence they made "their own" translation, The New World Translation (NWT), originally released in part on August 3rd, 1950. They feel many translators left out God's personal name, a tradition first started by Jews in Babylon who made it a part of their tradition to not utter the "Holy Name" - based on a misinterpretation of the 3rd commandment "You must not take up the name of [Jehovah] your God in a worthless way". A note about the name Jehovah appearing in the GREEK texts: no Greek Manuscript whatsoever contains the name Jehovah (YHWH in ancient Hebrew, which had no vowels), but some do have the abbreviated form of it, "Jah", in Revelation, the last book of the Bible. The reason NWT puts in that name? From a pure translation viewpoint, it's not entirely accurate. However, one must understand a few things: The "manuscripts" we have today are not the originals. The oldest manuscripts today date to as early as the 3rd or 4th century BCE (correct me if I'm wrong). The JW's believe that there was a removal of the divine name from most copies of the Greek Septuagint prior to the 4th Century, along with a Great Apostasy that the 1st century apostles numerously prophesied (it is interesting to note that there are early copies of the Greek Septuagint wherein the "YHWH", or Jehovah, can be found, but in later copies, those same places have been replaced by "Lord" or "God" - thereby ambiguating God and Jehovah). They believe that this same thing happened in the New (or Greek) Testament. We do know that Matthew, the writer of the first Gospel, did write his book originally in Hebrew. And since he quoted from the original Hebrew texts (not needing to use the Greek Septuagint), the JWs believe that it is inconceivable that did not use God's personal name Jehovah.
Therefore, their "insertion" of the divine name into the Greek texts, they reason, is a return to the true original Scripture, true to what Jesus' 1st century apostles used.

For an unbiased and informative comparison between the JW's New World Translation and 8 other popular modern translations of the Bible, please consult "Truth in Translation" - an author with no real religious background or affiliation.

2007-11-30 18:33:34 · answer #2 · answered by jimboyoo 1 · 0 0

Jehovah's Witness believes in God like the rest of us. The only difference is that Jehovah Witness's don't celebrate the holidays, like Christmas and Easter. Christ Jesus was not born on Christmas, so why do we celebrate it. Christmas and Easter are man made holidays. And we do believe that Jesus is the only begotten son of Jehovah God. If you read any Bible, it will say the same thing as the Bible I got from my Jehovah's Witness Teacher

2007-11-27 17:10:26 · answer #3 · answered by Believer In God 3 · 4 1

The main and very fundamental difference between JWs (Russelites) and Christians is that JWs deny the deity of Jesus. They believe that Jesus was created by God the Father.

This is direct contradiction to the entirety of scripture. Also in direct contradiction to Jesus' own claims about himself. He claimed to be God over and over again.

To deny that Jesus is the one and only God is to call Jesus a liar. You cannot be a follower of someone (hence the name Christian) and believe them to be a liar.

It is far more appropriate to call JWs "Russelites" and not Christians. It is by the name Russelites that they were first known. Charles Taze Russell was their founder and they follow his teachings. Not those of Jesus Christ.

If you wish scripture references for the deity of Christ feel free to e-mail me.

2007-11-29 13:58:28 · answer #4 · answered by δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ 5 · 0 1

Jehovah's Witnesses are Christian. We believe that Jesus died for all mankind. He paid the ultimate price for all mankind. He is our leader.

We are not a cult.
Many think we have strick conditions that we live by.
We are not perfect. We live our lives to the best of our abilities within the bible standards.


Is the number 144,000 merely symbolic?

The answer is indicated by the fact that, after mention of the definite number 144,000, Revelation 7:9 refers to “a great crowd, which no man was able to number.” If the number 144,000 were not literal it would lack meaning as a contrast to the “great crowd.” Viewing the number as literal agrees with Jesus’ statement at Matthew 22:14 regarding the Kingdom of the heavens: “There are many invited, but few chosen.”

(Psalm 37:11) “But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”

(Psalm 37:29) “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, And they will reside forever upon it.”

2007-11-27 16:59:56 · answer #5 · answered by Just So 6 · 12 4

Jehovah's Witnesses is Christianity..

People are often saying our beliefs aren't biblical, but they are.

Our beliefs are located on this website.
http://www.jw-media.org/beliefs/index.htm


Larina S
We do believe Jesus is the Son of God.

2007-11-27 17:10:07 · answer #6 · answered by VMO 4 · 9 1

we are christians. people keep saying that we are not christians because we don't believe in the trinity. no place in the bible does Jesus say he is God. Jehovah is the Father. we are not a cult, a cult worships man and live and work together. we live in 236 land worldwide. if you want to learn about Jehovah Witnesses see the website at www.watchtower.org. we are families like anyone else.

2007-11-27 17:04:26 · answer #7 · answered by lover of Jehovah and Jesus 7 · 10 3

We believe that sooner Jesus Christ will rule the earth after the judgement day during 1000 years and transform this planet in paradise and will resurrected many people that are dead and eliminate all the problems mankind have after 1000 years Satan will be released and destroyed it and he (Jesus) will give the control to his father (Jehovah) (1 Corithians 15:28).

2007-11-27 16:58:33 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 5 4

my uncle is a Jehovah Witness! I sorry for him. They live by a book, there interpreting of the bible, which I myself find do be somewhat incorrect. They get taught to believe that there way is the only real way, the brain wash the people. a lot of the stuff they say contradicts other stuff they say.

I wish I had this paper still, it showed the differences really well...I think it would have helped a lot

2007-11-27 17:11:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1 7

This link will help to explain our beliefs:
http://www.watchtower.org/e/jt/index.htm?article=article_03.htm

2007-11-27 17:11:11 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 7 0

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