Jehovah's Witnesses and the Memorial

[Yerusalyim]

To the JWs here, do you not feel wierd about passing the “emblems” without partaking in light of Christ saying, “Take this ALL OF YOU, and eat it”???

As I understand it the JWs just celebrated the Memorial, this past Saturday. It commemrates the Last Supper (aka The Lord’s Evening Meal). It’s the one time of the year when the JWs have anything similar to a Communion Service. It normally coincides with Passover, which is suppossed to be observed on 15 Nisan. They missed it this year by an entire lunar month.

It’s kind of sad to me, they have unleaven bread and wine and pass it around, but out of the several million JWs, only about 8000 actually eat and drink because, according to the JWs, only those with a “heavenly hope” are to eat and drink…the rest who will live forever on a “paradise earth” don’t get to partake, invited to the feast, but forbidden to eat…that’s sad in my opinion…

WHAT SAY YOU BIBLESTEVE?

 

[Hidajunshin]

Sort of adding to that…

My next door neighbor is not a Witness, at least she’s not a full convert, but a couple of her friends came over yesterday afternoon and they all sat outside and read from their “bible”. Long story short, she tried to tell me later that Jesus actually died today (Sunday–Easter) at 3PM. She also said that Jesus was crucified on a stake and not the cross. I asked her to explain why she thought, or believes what was told to her, why Jesus died on Easter, and she said that she couldn’t explain it adequately to me, but that her friend could. She asked if I would like to speak with him next time they’re over and I said I’d be happy to.
I also explained to her what Roman Crucifixion really was, and that it was not some invention of the church.
Why do Witnesses believe this?

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

The watchtower simply mistranslates a Latin text.

Basically, there are psychological boundries put in place to seperate them from other christians, among these boundries is not calling a bulletin Board a Bulletin Board, because that is a “Roman” or “Bablyon” term, instead they call it a “Kingdom Board” or something like that. They don’t celebrate birthdays, because of their so-called pagan orgins, but the truth is, by not doing so, they seperate themselves culturally from everyone else.

 

[athanasius89]

I went to the Memorial with my JW cousins. It was nice and all. Their grandmother (non-related to me) picked up one of the 144,000. She took part in the bread (look like crackers) and wine. I want to tell them the truth, but the oldest one is 12 and I know if I discuss it my aunt (their other grandmother) would lose visitation . (Story: My aunt’s son is their father. He died almost 2 years ago, she is a liberal and non-religious, while their mother is JW and very strict with Watchtower rules, so while the relationship is fine, it can easily be broken. JWs are very strict on who the Watchtower says they can hang around. I see them often and they look up to me, I wouldn’t want the relationship broken). I still remember celebrating their b-days when they were younger.

 

[ABostonCatholic]

Sort of adding to that…

My next door neighbor is not a Witness, at least she’s not a full convert, but a couple of her friends came over yesterday afternoon and they all sat outside and read from their “bible”. Long story short, she tried to tell me later that Jesus actually died today (Sunday–Easter) at 3PM. She also said that Jesus was crucified on a stake and not the cross. I asked her to explain why she thought, or believes what was told to her, why Jesus died on Easter, and she said that she couldn’t explain it adequately to me, but that her friend could. She asked if I would like to speak with him next time they’re over and I said I’d be happy to.
I also explained to her what Roman Crucifixion really was, and that it was not some invention of the church.
Why do Witnesses believe this?

I read in a JW pamphlet that the word for “cross” means something like “a beam of wood.” [edit: and they conclude that he died on a torture stake]

I’ve heard this from Catholic scholars before, but they add that it was typical for a prisoner to carry the cross beam (the horizontal part), which would then be nailed to the vertical beam already present at the crucifixion site. That is why Jesus or the criminals are sometimes pictured as carrying only a beam of wood.

 

[yessisan]

Glad to say that my JW husband missed it this yr!

I have gone to them in the past, and it’s so sad they just pass around the bread and wine… I told DH I rather partake than pass it around. It’s great to be Catholic!