A friend of mine in our group is studying the Bible with a lady who has to pay $120 per month (which is a huge amount of money here) to attend mass. She has been told that if she stops her dead husband will immediately go to hell…
I can not remember an article in the Watchtower that criticises the catholic church…
I don’t know of any other religion that goes out preaching about God’s Kingdom on a worldwide scale.
Jehovah’s Witnesses often get a bad wrap because their doctrines and ways are different. But freedom of conscience in regards to choice and practice of religion are things Catholics hold dear, even when the choice of religion is not Catholic. It can inspire fear and hatred to misrepresent others and their intentions, so we would want to avoid using speech like calling them a “cult” or saying they are “taking over.”
That being said, there is some reasons to be cautious as the above comments, especially the first one, demonstrate. Jehovah’s Witnesses are just as prone to spread exaggerated and often just incorrect stories about Catholics as Catholics often do regarding Jehovah’s Witnesses. To illustrate:
$120 to Go to Mass and Keep the Dead from Entering Hell
The Catholic Church does not charge for its Bible education programs nor is anyone charged to attend Mass. If this is going on then it violates all the Church stands for and teaches. The Catholic Church practices Jesus’ words:
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.–Matthew 10:8.
If this is really going on in a Catholic parish, please let me know the name of the persons involved. I have recently retired from working at the central offices of my diocese alongside my bishop, and abuses like this are not tolerated. We can do something about it.
Of course, as a lover of truth, no Jehovah’s Witness would willingly spread a false story around that they did not validate. Such would make them guilty of spreading rumors and calumny. I trust that you, Logically, would never knowingly repeat something like this if it were not true. So I am sure you will check up on this for the good of all concerned.
Critical of the Catholic Church and Insulting to Catholics?
Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t realize that their message and their presentation can sometimes come across as if they are criticizing us. They have toned down their way of delivering their message lately, but a little more tact would be appreciated.
But we are all guilty of this, no? We often don’t realize it when we are being critical of others. Someone often has to tell us that we’ve offended them because we never go around thinking our opinions of others are incorrect. How many people have recently made headlines because they don’t realize when they are making racist comments?
Being ignorant that you are being hurtful doesn’t make it excusable, however. And we are not talking about the intentions behind the JW preaching (which again are good). We are talking about their delivery which is often tantamount to verbal persecution.
What Other Religion Preaches the “Real Truth” of the Kingdom?–Signed the WCG.
Catholics preach about the coming Kingdom all the time. We believe in a coming New Heaven and New Earth where the physical universe, including the earth, will be transformed and there will be no more sickness, pain, and death. Have you read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, especially from section 1042 onward? Most Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t know that their preaching of a coming paradise under Christ’s Kingdom rule is a 2000-year-old teaching of the Catholic Church, and every Sunday at Mass we even declare our belief in this “world to come” each time we recite the Creed.
As for preaching about it the way Jehovah’s Witnesses do, have you never heard of the Worldwide Church of God (now reorganized). They have been preaching the following since their founder, Herbert W. Armstrong (now deceased), became a preacher in the 1930s:
- The Kingdom is the theme of the Bible and must be preached to all nations.
- We are living in the last days.
- The earth will be made a paradise soon.
- God’s people must separate from the world and the world’s religions.
- Only those who are in the WCG (now the “Reorganized WCG”) have the truth.
- Only they are doing the work of preaching the Kingdom around the world.
Members have been preaching these “truths” from the early 20th century up till today, distributing many publications, including the famous “The Plain Truth” magazine.
As for me, I believe what Jesus said:
Watch out; don’t be fooled. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, "I am he!’ and, "The time has come!’ But don’t follow them. Don’t be afraid when you hear of wars and revolutions; such things must happen first, but they do not mean that the end is near.–Luke 21:8, 9,
Good News Translation, Catholic Edition, American Bible Society.
) - We simply answer peoples questions from their own Bibles and they want to learn more. Obviously they are not getting the answers to their questions from anywhere else.
) simple shows this person from their own copy of “the works of Isaac Newton” what Newton actually said.
