Jehovah's Witnesses

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what are some differences between jehovas witness and catholics? i have a best friend thats a jehova witness and i just wanted to learn more about them.
 
The main difference is that JW’s do not believe in the Divinity of Jesus. Instead they believe he was an angle of God sent to save the 144,000 souls who are predestined to be save. Everyone else will not be saved.

Of course they may have updated themselves on this belief, which they’ve done before, including flawed predictions of the end of the world.

Jim
 
First, they are not Christian. They firmly believe that they are, but they are horribly mistaken. They deny the divinity of Christ, which was settled long, long ago by the early Church. Their peculiar beliefs were thought up by a poorly educated, unstable man in 1800s America. He had no authority or ability to interpret sacred scripture or to teach, but he insisted on doing both. “Leaders” in the controlling organization, the “Watchtower” corporation, or whatever it is, have made several prophesies over that past 100 years - each of which has completely failed. Some of them are comical.

Since every religion on earth attacks Catholicism in some way, it is best that you know your own faith first and that you know the errors in the other faiths. Two publications can help you here:

Catholicism for Dummies will teach you your own faith in a very easily understood way.

The Essential Catholic Survival Guide will teach about the errors in other faiths, and has a very good section on the errors of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
 
marcotheartist said:
what are some differences between jehovas witness and catholics? i have a best friend thats a jehova witness and i just wanted to learn more about them.
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About the only thing Catholicism has in common with the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society (the governing body of JW’s) is that we believe there is a God. Beyond that there is really nothing that we would hold in common.

They deny the divinity of Christ.

They deny the Trinity.

They deny the sacraments.

They do not have a valid baptism (they are baptized into the Father and the Son and the Spirit Led Organization).

They are extremely anti-Catholic - it is one of their favorite pastimes (Just read a couple of issues of the Watchtower)

They do not believe in the Resurrection.

They do not believe in hell.

They believe in the annihilation of the soul.

They believe 144,000 will make it to heaven, the rest of us will either live on earth or be annihilated.

Those who leave the “organization” are shunned by family and friends.

And on, and on, and on…

So be nice to your friend, but stay far away from her religion.
 
To add to what Steve said

They also
  • Believe Jesus was The Archangel Michael (I would LOVE to know which bible verse was twisted by their watchtower translation to say that!)
  • Believe that receiving a blood transfusion is “eating blood” - a misinterpretation of the forbidding of eating the blood of animals…not sure of the exact bible verse it comes from.
  • Have gone back and forth on celebrating Christmas - they currently forbid it and probably most holidays - including in the USA - The 4th of July. They also I believe, think that saluting the flag (e.g. pledge of allegiance) or singing the USA National Anthem** is idolatry**. My ex babysitter from when I was 6 is a JW, my mom saw her once at a free band concert held at a public park - she and a friend did NOT stand for the National Anthem.
  • Believe we should not celebrate birthdays due to two events in the bible: The beheading of John The Baptist AND The pharaoh’s baker being beheaded/killed on a birthday.
Just be aware that they do try to convert Catholics for the most part. Be wary if your friend invites you to a “service” at the Kingdom Hall.
 
marcotheartist said:
what are some differences between jehovas witness and catholics? i have a best friend thats a jehova witness and i just wanted to learn more about them.
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Members of the Watchtower Society have one main element: they profess that Christ is not God but “a God” (inasmuch as - they say - anyone can be a God) and the first creature of God. They more clearly profess that Christ is the angel Michael, who came in the flesh and after death did not resurrect, but rather, simply returned to be the angel he was before.

They deny the cross, considering it an evil symbol.

They also deny all the Sacraments, as well as the existence of heaven and hell.

They have a mere 7 million members all over the planet, yet they profess everyone else is a worshipper of the devil in “the world empire of false religion”. They particularly hate the Catholic Church.

They sincerely believe that the pamphlets Watchtower and Awake! are the only means through which God currently provides the correct interpretation of Scripture in the world.

Their organizers are unknown, so are the translators of their very own Bible (which includes such major heresies as “the word was a god” and “this signifies my body”) and the authors of their magazines - they call themselves “the faithful and discrete slave”.

They refuse to give or receive blood transfusions, which leads to the death of people - even minors - and is one of the main reasons why this is a dangerous cult.

Furthermore, they are organized in “degrees of knowledge”, like freemasons. The booklets and instructions of the “elders” are kept in strict secrecy, and the initiated members will not know everything, but only that which they are told as time goes on. It is fairly possible that your friend will ignore, for instance, that his cult denies that Christ is God, or that his cult believes Christ to be a mere angel. Only high-level elders know the entirety of their heretical doctrine.

I advise you, as someone who has known profound suffering, to stay away from the Watchtower Society as a dangerous cult. Do not accept or read their publications, as they are known to adopt mind manipulation techniques in their writings and images.

There are some books for your information, in case this is a really good friend of yours or in case a loved one is involved:
  • The Catholic Answer to the Jehovah’s Witnesses
  • Answering Jehovah’s Witnesses
  • Jehovah’s Witnesses Answered Verse by Verse
  • How to Rescue Your Loved One from the Watchtower
  • Jehovah-Talk: The Mind-Control Language of Jehovah’s Witnesses
 
jediliz said:
Just be aware that they do try to convert Catholics for the most part. Be wary if your friend invites you to a “service” at the Kingdom Hall.
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65% of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in my area are former Catholics. A testament to the utter failure of catechesis in our Church for so many years. Thank God that is changing.
 
SteveVH said:
65% of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in my area are former Catholics. A testament to the utter failure of catechesis in our Church for so many years. Thank God that is changing.
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More important, a living reflection on how American adult Catholics do not learn their own Catholic faith,hence, it rubs off on most Catholic children.
 
JWs also have their own bible produced by the Watch Tower Society in which is translated in such a slant to support their beliefs, such as John 1:1

Christian Bibles:
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
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JW’s Bibles:
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was a god.
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They claim Jesus is the incarnate Archangel Michael.
 
Col 2:18 *Let no man seduce you, willing in humility and religion of Angels, walking in the things which he hath not seen, in vain puffed up by the sense of his flesh,.
Code: 
 Jehovah Witnesses claim to be the only true Christians, yet they teach a religion of angels claiming that Christ is the Arch Angel Michael. ( This teaching is unscriptural )
Thes 2: 1-3b. 1 And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our gathering together unto him:

2 That you be not easily moved from your sense, nor be terrified, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by epistle, as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand.

3 *Let no man deceive you by any means:

Mat 24: 23 *Then if any man shall say to you: Lo, here is Christ, or there: do not believe him.

24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if it were possible) even the elect.
Code: 
 Jehovah Witnesses main tool for the recruitment into their religion is instilling fear into people that the end of the world is upon us, and also teach that Christ has already returned invisibly in 1914. ( This teaching is unscriptural )
1Jn 1:2 For the life was manifested: and we have seen, and do bear witness, and declare unto you the life eternal, which was with the Father, and hath appeared to us:
Code: 
 Jehovah Witnesses Teach that the Word which was made manifest is not eternal but was created. ( This teaching is unscriptural ).
The List here could go on and on. The Jehovah Witnesses despite their claim are probably one of the most unscriptural protestant sect’s in existence at the moment, so unscriptural in fact that they had to produce their own version of the bible with many changes in it to fit their teachings.
Despite Christ’s teaching in the parable of the man removing the speck from his brothers eye while ignoring the log in his own, Jehovah Witnesses try to shame people into believing that they are the true Christians by imposing strict unbiblical rules upon their followers similar to the puritans of old and they point to this as some kind of proof that they are the only true followers of Christ. This is an old deception that goes all the way back to the Judises in the book of acts.
Catholics and the Catholic faith really have nothing in common with the teaching of the Jehovah Witnesses primarily because Jehovah Witnesses have very little in common with the teachings of the Bible.
 
Lot of good answers .They do believe in a resurrection I thought.Most believe they will be resurrected to eternally live on paradise earth .The 144,000 the anointed, will inhabit heaven. They do have “communion”. Once a year it is offered to the congregants but only the anointed can participate. Most congregations have none, hence no one participates. An anointed is one who was born sometime around 1925, or had to have been born before the announcement that the 144,000 had been filled (1925 or 1930 thereabouts). So, an anointed has to be around 85 years old. Some Jehovahs are won by a combination of sticking to your guns but in love, an exhortation to read their bibles and not just their Watchtowers. Some by showing them older Watchtowers with false predictions,changing stances.They are not allowed to fellowship with you or read any non-Jehovah religious material ( hence just show them their own embarrassing ones). There are a few paperbacks that are full of pages taken right out old Watchtowers. They are definitely works orientated, and definitely do go door to door ,putting some of us to shame (and they know it, and deep down garnish some pride about it).
 
pocohombre said:
Lot of good answers .They do believe in a resurrection I thought.Most believe they will be resurrected to eternally live on paradise earth .The 144,000 the anointed, will inhabit heaven. They do have “communion”. Once a year it is offered to the congregants but only the anointed can participate. Most congregations have none, hence no one participates. An anointed is one who was born sometime around 1925, or had to have been born before the announcement that the 144,000 had been filled (1925 or 1930 thereabouts). So, an anointed has to be around 85 years old. Some Jehovahs are won by a combination of sticking to your guns but in love, an exhortation to read their bibles and not just their Watchtowers. Some by showing them older Watchtowers with false predictions,changing stances.They are not allowed to fellowship with you or read any non-Jehovah religious material ( hence just show them their own embarrassing ones). There are a few paperbacks that are full of pages taken right out old Watchtowers. They are definitely works orientated, and definitely do go door to door ,putting some of us to shame (and they know it, and deep down garnish some pride about it).
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Actually the non anointed do participate in the once a year communion service or as they call it the lords evening meal. They participate by actively rejecting the body and blood of Christ. Again not a scriptural teaching.
 
Many differences have been mentioned but I think the bottom line is that they view the Watchtower organization in a similar manner to the way we view the Catholic Church in terms of authority to interpret scripture though they don’t really have a concept of “church” - they are an “organization”. I don’t believe they are permitted to read literature that was not produced by the Watchtower (I’m assuming they can read the paper and stuff like that, but they may not read, say, Catholic apologetic literature).

They know the text of the Bible very well, but their New World Translation is very different from ANY other translations since they don’t believe Jesus died on a cross and they don’t believe in the Trinity, all references to the cross are changed to “torture stake” and the Greek word for “worship” is translated as “worship” where it relates to God and “obeisance” where it refers to Jesus.

They believe that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 and the battle Armageddon is imminent and all non JW will be annihilated.

They believe that after the death of the Apostles, a great apostasy occurred and they basically have restored the truth of the Gospel.

They actually evolved from the Adventist tradition as their founder Charles Russell was an Adventist.
 
Religions who believe in “the God of Abraham” take 2 different paths:

1- Christian:
i.e. Catholics, protestant, and those who believe Christ was the son of God.

2 - Jah based:

i.e. Muslims, Jewish, Rastafarian, and Jehovah’s Witness.

These religions do not follow the teachings of Christ, but instead believe in the Jehovah god, or some call Jah, others call Allah, etc… It’s the same God that the Christians believe in, minus Jesus Christ.

Having said that, some religions - i.e. Muslims do acknowledge Jesus, however they only see him as a profit (same as Mohammad, Moses, etc).

Aside from the above 2, other religions just have different Gods they believe in such as the Hindu God Sheba the destroyer, etc.

It gets complicated from here… You then have everything from Science geek Atheists who don’t belive in anything outside of the Big Bang to Spiritual people who do not believe in Gods, nor do they accept the idea of a Big Bang theory… and those groups make up such a huge diverse culture it would be impossible to summarize in a short post 😉

Peace
LTW
marcotheartist said:
what are some differences between Jehovah witness and Catholics? I have a best friend that a Jehovah witness and I just wanted to learn more about them.
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I have passages printed out in Greek with the English translation next to the Greek words for when JW’s come to my door. This is the best strategy to witnessing to the witnesses. Check out the Greek in 1 colossians:

16 For by { That is, by means of; or b in b } him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

In the JW Bible they put the word “other” before the word “things.” So it looks something like, “All [other] things were made by him”

Show them that this is not in the Greek and renders their New World Translation unreliable.
 
ajcstr said:
Many differences have been mentioned but I think the bottom line is that they view the Watchtower organization in a similar manner to the way we view the Catholic Church in terms of authority to interpret scripture.

This is true, however we as Catholics are allowed to differ from the church’s Teachings or Doctrine’s on various points of scripture and form our own opinions and still remain faithful Catholics. Although this freedom does not extend to us as far as Infallibly Defined Dogma’s go. With Jehovah’s Witnesses they have no such room to explore and investigate other interpretations of scripture at all and any forming of one’s own personal opinion is seen as dissent and people expressing the like find themselves being expelled from the group. This sort of treatment even extends to the mere reading of other religious material.
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Matt_Guitar_Man said:
This is true, however we as Catholics are allowed to differ from the church’s Teachings or Doctrine’s on various points of scripture and form our own opinions and still remain faithful Catholics.
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I don’t think so. Those are called Protestants.
Servant19 said:
Although this freedom does not extend to us as far as Infallibly Defined Dogma’s go.
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What is the difference between a “Defined Dogma” and a doctrine? And when does the Church teach anything in conflict with doctrine or dogma? We are free to accept or reject private revelations, not Church teaching or doctrine or dogma.
 
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