JW vs LDS -?

Question

a Jehova Witness member prided himself for going into ALL counties to prostylize, regardless of it's legallity. While the LDS only go into countries where they have been granted permission from it's leader(s) to go.

Which one is more "Jesus Christ" like? Which one shows it is being lead by Jesus through a prophet? please be lengthy and specific on the pros & cons of each policy of missionary work.

do JW really do this?

some great answers, I thought of something else...rulers and kings are appointed by GOD, they may not be doing what they sould in that appointment, so the sin is on them for not letting in Christianity to the country they rule.

Answer 1

(Acts 5:28-29) [The duly appointed Sanhedrin] said: “We positively ordered you [Christians] not to keep teaching upon the basis of this name, and yet, look! You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching....” In answer Peter and the other apostles said: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.

Answer 2

I'm not sure you can tell which church is lead by a prophet or is following more of Christ's teachings by looking at which countries these religions are actively proselyting. I can see that God could tell the LDS to go into all countries, whether it is legal or not. When Ammon and his brethren went to preach to the Lamanites it was up to the Lamanite king what became of these missionaries. You might say it was illegal, but I suppose that is debatable. Paul preached in some places that didn't exactly welcome Christians. Again, it is questionable whether it was legal or not. There are instances where Jewish leaders warned the early Christians not to preach, but it is questionable whether those leaders had the legal right to forbid proselyting. Daniel prayed knowing it was against the law. If God wants to defy government leaders, I think he has the right to do so. God does support and uphold the laws of the land, as a general rule, but I think we need to be open to all possibilities.

Fortunately, when you have living prophets, you don't need to guess what God wants you to do. You don't need to rely on historical examples that are thousands of years old. The principles remain eternal, but the practices vary according to the situation and the times.

The question is, in the wisdom of God, is it better to ignore the laws of nations that forbid preaching the Word of God, or is it better to respect those laws for the time being? What are the consequences of each course of action?

If your church is known to disobey the laws of the land when you feel that they violate your interpretation of the laws of God, then you lose the trust and respect of the country you wish to enter. You will find it hard to establish your church there. You will find persecution and your missionaries and members will be locked up in jail. They will probably be less effective there. Now, it is possible that God has a purpose in this, and He could tell you to suffer this, but that is why we have living prophets. Which is the wisest course of action?

How many missionaries have you got available to preach? If you already have too few missionaries, and they are already insufficient in the countries where they are already permitted, what is the sense of taking them away from where they are needed, wanted, useful, productive, and legal and sending them to where they cannot honor the laws of the land? What is the wise course of action to take? God knows, and He reveals it to his prophets.

Is direct conflict with the local authorities the best, most Christian course of action to take when softer, more indirect, and less confrontational routes are available? Will the country allow medical and educational and humanitarian helpe�

u @?%x(�E^ door-to-door preachers? Why shut the door in your face if you can first win their trust and respect by respecting their laws and traditions? What will ultimately do the most good in the world?

Is the time right for a particular nation? We must go into all the world, but we don't necessarily have to go today. It is not meet that we run faster than we are able.

God will open the door to all nations when the time is right, and we are ready to go into those nations. We should pray for that day to come, and trust in the Lord and be patient with His timetable. There is no need to take the law into our own hands.

Answer 3

If you actually believe that the message you're preaching is life-saving, it would really be an injustice to withhold such from others, regardless of the laws of the land. To only go where such preaching is not banned would be accepting that death (or whatever consequences accompany ignorance/disregard for the message) will be pronounced on those you don't reach.

Jesus was well aware that the Pharisees did not approve of what he was doing, and they probably would have outlawed it if they could. The prophet Daniel continued to pray even though a law was made that all prayers had to be addressed to the king.

It all comes down to whether or not we will obey God rather than men...

Answer 4

Should we preach even when it's illegal? Let the bible explain:

Acts 4:19, 20 - Peter and John answered, "Do you think God wants us to obey you or to obey him? We cannot keep quiet about what we have seen and heard."

Matthew 10:18 - Because of me, you will be dragged before rulers and kings to tell them and the Gentiles about your faith.

Acts 5:42 - Every day they spent time in the temple and in one home after another. They never stopped teaching...




Do people actually know what it means to give Caesar’s things to Caesar and Gods things to God??? No, it doesn't mean doing what the government says even though we'd have to break Gods command. Jesus gave his followers the commission to preach, that means preaching whether Caesar says so or not because we give Gods things to God.

As regards the laws of the land & threat of prison (something you should be proud of like the apostle Paul was for the sake of the good news), the preaching is done discreetly, not outright door to door preaching. Even when in prison, the JWs don't stop preaching; during the world wars many Jews became JWs as a result of JWs preahing to them in the concentration camps! lol. This is following the example of the 1st century Christians who were jailed for preaching but yet still did it in prison.

JWs obey every law, except for the laws that prohibit their service to God. That's called "obeying God rather than man" and "giving God His things".




Would you be bloodguilty, or is it the government that would be bloodguilty for banning preaching?
Let me illustrate:
If a police officer told you to remove all the life boats and life jackets on a boat (and you knew that there would be danger ahead), would the blood be on your hands, or the police officers?

Answer 5

This is not really a 'vs' issue. There is no perfect answer. We testify to countries that do not permit us to enter in other ways. We can't go to North Korea, but we sent them food. We don't have missionaries in Pakistan, but working with Moslem organizations, we provided relief after earthquakes.

When we enter a country we want the new members to be free to meet together and organize themselves. We can't foster their faith under a cloud of suspicion and mistrust. When a temple was built in Communist East Germany the officials were amazed that the building was of the same quality and workmanship as those in America.

Answer 6

We need to look at the examples of the apostles. They were often thrown into prison for preaching. When released they were told to not preach, what did they do? They continued to preach even though they knew they were at risk of being arrested again or worse.

"We must obey God as ruler rather than man". Acts 5:20

Jehovah's Witnesses are under ban in some countries, but they still preach because that is Jesus command. They have to be very caution, but they still do preach. Even in Nazi concentration camps, they preached to others and many became believers. When deported to Siberia, they continued to preach and their numbers grew under ban.
A Christian needs to have faith and rely on Jehovah for his help when under trial. Just as he allowed some to be imprisoned in Bible times, some will have to face that type of test. We cannot let fear of man prevent us from not sharing the good news of the kingdom. If we have love of neighbor, and not just thinking of ourselves, we will take the risk to share this good news.

Matt. 24:14 "This good news of the kingdom will be preached to the ENTIRE INHABITED WORLD, as a witness to ALL NATIONS, and then the end will come."

Answer 7

I vote for Dionisis' answer!...

Render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's
I don't feel that prison in a foreign country is exactly the most effective place to try to teach the gospel.

I also feel that people will be more open to the message missionaries (of any church) have to share if the missionaries are law-abiding.

but as big-D said- I don't wish harm to any who live the gospel of Jesus Christ as they see fit.

Answer 8

Each has merit

Being LDS and taught to obey the laws of each land I go with that. Give Cesar what is Cesar's etc.

Contrary to popular belief Jesus was not civilly disobedient; He followed all the laws perfectly -- He just understood them better, and when the Pharisees (etc.) called Him on His behavior He proved His actions to be within the intent of each law.

As JW's travel to "unfriendly" countries I wish them well and hope for them to be safe from harm. After all they are being true to their understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

D

Answer 9

Well Jesus told us to be law abiding citizen(like the law of the land, not only God's law).

If it's illegal for Christian missionaries to be there, or Christians in general, and we would send missionaries anyway, we would be breaking Jesus' commandment and causing others to do the same.

Answer 10

I think it's good to point out that we believe in honoring, obeying and sustaining the law, no matter what country we are in.

Getting permission to enter a country to do missionary work is better then going into a country without legal authorization and ending up in jail or worse.