A question for Jehovah's Witnesses ?

Question

Firstly let me point out , i am not a JW. My mother is.
I have studied your faith and i lke it.
I am asking this question as my mother lives in another city.
I have no intention of running you down , it is a curiosity question.

Today there has been a few questions asked of you ,by apostates , in ways meant to run your faith down.
I know and understand your attude to disfellowshiped people ,you do not talk with them but not all disfellowshiped people are apostate.

My question is this .If you answer a question posed by an apostate (assuming all apostates are disfellowshiped ) are you braking your bible based standards by answering them ?
No matter how wrong their statement is .
Or is it concidered OK to defend your faith under these circumstances ?

Please forgive if this question brings you any ridicule , it's not my intention.

Thanks Holethe.....As I said my mum is one , nice people , I like them.

Ishvarla...Your answer makes sence to me.

I asked this question ,because someone was running you down over your difellowshiping beliefs , someone in my contacts pointed out the exclusive brethen where much stricter than JW's so i googled them .
This then got me thinking is it worth your effort answering those that are here purely to run you down.
I guess we must all stand up for our beliefs.

Answer 1

True Christians (such as Jehovah's Witnesses) have never hesitated to talk to unbelievers, and in fact could not accomplish their public ministry if they did not interact with the world around them.

There is no real way to know if someone honestly identifies himself, and both "questions" and "answers" are sometimes written to the larger "audience".


From time to time, an anti-Witness works to discourage those who might refute his anti-Witness propaganda. At other times, a seemingly sincere self-described Jehovah's Witness feels compelled to counsel those who refute anti-Witness misinformation. Ironically, both groups tend to imply that the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses say things that they do not actually say.

Is it fair to imply that a Jehovah's Witness who participates in Yahoo Answers is unfaithful or disobedient? Do Jehovah's Witnesses really discourage the use of the internet by adherents?

No and no.

Firstly, Yahoo Answers does not require or even encourage socializing between participants. The bible does not authorize a true Christian (such as a Jehovah's Witness) to ignore a question of faith unless it is posed by a "good associate".

(1 Peter 3:15) Sanctify the Christ as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense before everyone that demands of you a reason for the hope in you, but doing so together with a mild temper and deep respect.


Secondly, a Christian whose conscience permits him to share the "good news" exclusively in person certainly does not displease God and Christ, for such personal ministry is required of true Christian ministers. But he must recognize that there is no rational reason to suppose that corresponding via the internet must be viewed differently than corresponding by post or on the telephone.


Jehovah's Witnesses have always taken advantage of the latest technology to further their ministry, including pioneering efforts with personal record-album players, "talking" motion pictures, wide-area-networks of telephone tie-ins, and nationwide radio broadcasts nearly a century ago. It should be unsurprising that Jehovah's Witnesses have enabled more and more internet-based tools every year.

None of this should blind Christians to the fact that the internet can be used to waste time and view unwholesome material. As with television, Christians are encouraged to be selective in their choice of virtual association. There is no need to watch an entire program, or read an entire website/"question" to recognize its unwholesomeness.

(1 Corinthians 15:33) Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/jt/index.htm?article=article_04.htm
http://jw-media.org/people/ministry.htm

Answer 2

Wow nice to read a question that does not attack the religion for a change.

Not sure if I understand your question so well but here goes....

Well if a person is disfellowshiped from the religion for some reason and they decide to run down the faith by posting negative questions on here they more then welcome to do so. I personally will try my best to defend the religion and I don’t see it as wrong to do so like what the case will be in any faith. Besides how would I know as a person reading the question if they are disfellowshiped or not. There is a lot of people out there that abhor ill thoughts towards Jehovah's Witnesses and all I want to do is show them that they not the brain washing cult people make them out to be.

Hope this helps and keep well there

Answer 3

First thanks for being nice. Honestly, I often wonder if I should bother answering allot of the more idiotic questions on here.

I often see people on here claim to be many things, I used to waste a good bit of time trying to figure who is who, and I came to a realisation.

Allot of the "persons" on here aren't real. I will give an example, one person when answering about Witnesses, explains how she is a Native American Catholic, etc etc. and how Witnesses came to her door and condemned her to a burning hellfire, and etc. etc. etc.

Clearly these wild claims aren't even close to true.

Most of the IDs on here become a blur after a while. I answer the questions, for the most part, based on the question.

As far as I know, I am the only Witness on here. At times when I say this it seems to offend others. I am not saying I am the only one, I am just the only one on here that I can swear to. The same goes for all the others. For all I know there are only 2 individuals using Y!A, me and the other IDs:D

There are 1 or 2 whose questions I specifically do not/did not answer based on who they claimed to be.

I have little to no desire to communicate with most of the ones I see here. I answer the question, then move on.

I hope this somewhat convoluted response made sense.

Answer 4

As a rule, I personally choose not answer those questions from those who have declared themselves "disfellowshipped"

On the other hand not just the "apostate" or "disfellowship" read the answers to those questions.

On the rare occasion when I do respond to their question, it is for the benefit of those others and not for the person asking the question.

Paul used the idol, to point people to God in the book of Acts..

.

Answer 5

properly an identical way that we've a private call and could want to be referred to as by potential of our call as a exchange of guy, female, Boy & so forth is an identical way that God feels. Psalms 80 3:18 says "could human beings understand which you, whose call is Jehovah,You on my own are the main intense over all the earth." the actual shown fact that his call is pronounced interior the Bible shows God needs his call to be regularly occurring & in view that we are his witnesses or followers, we are referred to as Jehovah's Witnesses.

Answer 6

i'm glad you like it, it could save your life. I'll try and answer your question, apostates are just that because they oppose the truth, they as Jesus said" YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie].

Apostasy

Definition: Apostasy is abandoning or deserting the worship and service of God, actually a rebellion against Jehovah God. Some apostates profess to know and serve God but reject teachings or requirements set out in his Word. Others claim to believe the Bible but reject Jehovah’s organization.

Should we expect that apostates will arise within the Christian congregation?

1 Tim. 4:1: “The inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons.”

2 Thess. 2:3: “Let no one seduce you in any manner, because [the day of Jehovah] will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction.”

Some identifying marks of apostates—

They seek to make others their followers, thus causing sectarian divisions

Acts 20:30: “From among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.”

2 Pet. 2:1, 3: “There will also be false teachers among you. These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects and will disown even the owner that bought them . . . Also, with covetousness they will exploit you with counterfeit words.”

They may profess to believe in Christ but treat lightly the preaching and teaching work he assigned to his followers

Luke 6:46: “Why, then, do you call me ‘Lord! Lord!’ but do not do the things I say?”

Matt. 28:19, 20: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them . . . teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.”

Matt. 24:14: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”

They may claim to serve God but reject his representatives, his visible organization

Jude 8, 11: “These men, too, indulging in dreams, are defiling the flesh and disregarding lordship and speaking abusively of glorious ones. Too bad for them, because they . . . have perished in the rebellious talk of Korah!”

Num. 16:1-3, 11, 19-21: “Korah . . . proceeded to get up, together with . . . two hundred and fifty men of the sons of Israel, chieftains of the assembly . . . So they congregated themselves against Moses and Aaron and said to them: ‘That is enough of you, because the whole assembly are all of them holy and Jehovah is in their midst. Why, then, should you lift yourselves up above the congregation of Jehovah?’ . . . [Moses said:] ‘You and all your assembly who are gathering together are against Jehovah. As for Aaron, what is he that you men should murmur against him?’ When Korah got all the assembly together against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, then Jehovah’s glory appeared to all the assembly. Jehovah now spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ‘Separate yourselves from the midst of this assembly, that I may exterminate them in an instant.’”

Not only do they abandon the true faith but they then “beat” their former associates, using public criticism and other methods to hinder their work; the efforts of such apostates are devoted to tearing down, not building up

Matt. 24:45-51: “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? . . . But if ever that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My master is delaying,’ and should start to beat his fellow slaves and should eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know, and will punish him with the greatest severity and will assign him his part with the hypocrites.”

2 Tim. 2:16-18: “Shun empty speeches that violate what is holy; for they will advance to more and more ungodliness, and their word will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of that number. These very men have deviated from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred; and they are subverting the faith of some.”

Would faithful Christians welcome apostates into their presence, either personally or by reading their literature?

2 John 9, 10: “Everyone that pushes ahead and does not remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God. . . . If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, never receive him into your homes or say a greeting to him.”

Rom. 16:17, 18: “I exhort you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who cause divisions and occasions for stumbling contrary to the teaching that you have learned, and avoid them. . . . By smooth talk and complimentary speech they seduce the hearts of guileless ones.”

Would any serious harm come from satisfying one’s curiosity about the thinking of apostates?

Prov. 11:9: “By his mouth the one who is an apostate brings his fellowman to ruin.”

Isa. 32:6: “The senseless one himself will speak mere senselessness, and his very heart will work at what is hurtful, to work at apostasy and to speak against Jehovah what is wayward, to cause the soul of the hungry one to go empty, and he causes even the thirsty one to go without drink itself.” (Compare Isaiah 65:13, 14.)

How serious is apostasy?

2 Pet. 2:1: “These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects and will disown even the owner that bought them, bringing speedy destruction upon themselves.”

Job 13:16: “Before him [God] no apostate will come in.”

Heb. 6:4-6: “It is impossible as regards those who have once for all been enlightened, and who have tasted the heavenly free gift, and who have become partakers of holy spirit, and who have tasted the fine word of God and powers of the coming system of things, but who have fallen away [“if they then commit apostasy,” RS], to revive them again to repentance, because they impale the Son of God afresh for themselves and expose him to public shame.”