JW question

[Arlene]

Today I was invited by a very nice lady to come on April 9th to “remember Jesus’ death”
According to the tract she gave me the anniversary of Jesus’ death is “the most important occasion in history”

So why not Easter? Isn’t it His rising from the dead that should be the main focus?

Certainly we have services on Thursday and the last supper is commemmorated (as well as at every Mass every single day), but why do they remember his death but not celebrate his rising?

 

[ohioszo]

They came to our door on Holy Thursday to invite us to something, and I gave them a “piece of my mind!” I don’t regret it, but, I wonder if I shall see them again this year! It was the first time that only one came to the door, so, for the reason that I read her the riot act; I think I know why they need to come in pairs.

 

[jw2lds2catholic]

Today I was invited by a very nice lady to come on April 9th to “remember Jesus’ death”
According to the tract she gave me the anniversary of Jesus’ death is “the most important occasion in history”

So why not Easter? Isn’t it His rising from the dead that should be the main focus?

Certainly we have services on Thursday and the last supper is commemmorated (as well as at every Mass every single day), but why do they remember his death but not celebrate his rising?

Ex-JW here. The “memorial” as they refer to it is an annual event that is celebrated on the Jewish Lunar Calendar Nisan 14 - the date they presume is the ceremonial day of the Passover in Jesus’ time. JWs do not celebrate Easter or any other ‘Holy’ day that is not specifically mentioned in the Bible for Christians, thus no Christmas or Easter since Christ did not specify that they must be observed. JWs believe these celebrations arose from pagan sources and thus are not to be associated with Christianity. However, the Memorial is different since Christ himself said it to be done ‘in memory of me’. Because Christ performed this ceremony on the Jewish Passover (an annual event) it is associated with THAT calendar date and not taken to be a daily thing as is in now in Catholicism.
Another tidbit about the Memorial is that while everyone can attend, only those of the ‘heavenly class’ or ‘annoited’ and therefore destined for heaven instead of the paradise earth determined after careful individual prayer may partake of the emblems - wine and unleavened bread. So only about 10,000 out of the 9 million or so who attend actually get to eat something. And the emblems are symbols and are not taken to be the presence of Christ - which is all well and good since Christ is not God in their faith.
Hope that answers the question and a few others

 

[Hesychios]

Today I was invited by a very nice lady to come on April 9th to “remember Jesus’ death”
According to the tract she gave me the anniversary of Jesus’ death is “the most important occasion in history”

So why not Easter? Isn’t it His rising from the dead that should be the main focus?

Certainly we have services on Thursday and the last supper is commemorated (as well as at every Mass every single day), but why do they remember his death but not celebrate his rising?

JW’s teach a complex of Arianism. Therefore, they are not Trinitarian. They do not believe that Jesus Christ is Divine.

http://www.watchtower.org/images/pubs/trininty.jpg http://www.watchtower.org/images/ti/cover.jpg

This is why the emphasis is on the DEATH of Jesus Christ. He was not resurrected, as such, he was killed like any other human being. Among other things they assert that Jesus Christ was an incarnation of Saint Michael the Archangel! So, he returned to being an angel.

They do not believe that He was crucified, they believe (due to a poor translation of scripture) that Jesus was killed by being nailed to a stake in the ground. It is for this reason that they stopped using a cross for identification (although in the early days they did so).
http://www.watchtower.org/images/pubs/nwt.jpg
The standard Bible for JW’s

Occasionally, the headquarters organization at Bethel comes out with new doctrine, which they call “New Light”. It is possible for them to do this because JW’s are not supposed to read materials outside of the officially published releases. Probably many JW’s are not aware that the New Light represents a reversal of earlier Watchtower teachings.

They believe that there are 144,000 chosen believers (all JW’s) which will help Jesus rule earth. Only these are permitted to share communion in life. The remainder form the “great crowd of witnesses”. Some who were thought to have been “elect” and took communion routinely were later banished, the membership of this very elite grouping has changed over time as a result, although theoretically that’s not supposed to happen.

In an interesting twist to the rapture concept they believe that at the final apocalyptic end all non-believers will be annihilated, simply cease to exist. The remaining ‘believers’ will remain on earth to enjoy the abundance left behind. They will get the good houses in the neighborhood and all that kind of thing…

View attachment 5458

It is important to stress this aspect because the one should not expect to be part of the elect (mostly already assigned spots). Instead one should be happy that, knowing the ‘truth’ before it was too late they will be spared the annihilation.