What do you do at a JW meeting?

[Pepband_Mom]

I don’t know where you getting your beliefs or understanding of Jehovah’s Witnesses but whatever you have been told, whatever you have heard or read it doesn’t seem to be true… You say many of our beliefs are unscriptural, have you personally studied our beliefs along with your own copy of the Bible to be able to say that? You say we wrote our own version of the scriptures, but what if I was able to show you that what we believe is written in your own version of the Bible would you still believe that we have our own Bible? You say we tend to be a very closed group and that we not very welcoming, have you been to a Jw meeting before that makes you say that, or is it just based upon your own judgment?

A question I always ask myself about someone else’s beliefs is why do they believe what they do where in the Bible does it support there believe does it correspond with the rest of the Bible… If it does one should have no reason not to believe then. But that’s how I look at things I’m a curious person I like to know things, that’s the reason I’m here to learn about Catholics beliefs not just listening to what other people tell me about it, or reading it off from the Internet or from links that other people gave me… But then again a other person will just be more naive and gullible than the next and will be more of a close minded person. At the end of the day we should be able to sit together at the same table and share each other’s beliefs without been looked down upon

At your meetings and I don’t mean to be mean or abrupt but I really want to know, do/are you:
-go over how many encounters, pamplets/tracts you gave out, numbers of households approached, quotas achieved listed in a book each publisher has?
-discuss carefully crafted presentations from “Reasoning from Scriptures”?
-read the Awake & Watchtower magazines & discuss butterflies, the planets or topic of the month? (Whenever one of these magazines comes across my path, I am usually not surprised @ how much ink is spent on topics such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, pedophile Priests, etc. Seems heavy handed & unbalanced; WT rarely acknowledges anything good the RCC has done for 2000 years :blackeye
-thoroughly be trained in how to answer the hard questions prospective converts may pose?
-do you pull out copies of ancient Christian documents for ex. the Didache & compare with your beliefs, similarities & the differences; Ever read the Summa, Early Church Fathers?

Are you asking if I have ever “read” the Bible - by myself? (which for me to *interpret *verses by myself I prefer to defer to the experts!)

OR have I read it by studying with skilled catechists including ex. Jesuits, Dominicans, Redemptorists, etc; attended bible studies, seminars, classes; Masses by JP2, Bishops, Priests; gleaned teachings from scholars, professors, writers; sought out Christian Libraries, Universities, book stores; obtained recorded & printed TV, Radio, mail order & internet courses especially Catholic Answers & EWTN; pulling from that vast, ancient storehouse of Catholic sources including earliest writings, all easily obtained for the asking? Yeah, I’ve spent considerable time & money researching but: Head knowledge is one thing, HEART KNOWLEDGE is another!

At the very least, a practicing Catholic hears & ponders Bible readings in 3 year cycles (for those attending Sunday Mass). Daily Mass attendees hear word for word pretty much the entire Bible every 3 years (without cherry picking selected verses & books).

The point is to integrate God’s Word, Love & Grace into your life; goal: live a joyful life here and in heaven! :heaven:

 

[jlhargus]

I don’t think that is true. They oppose adultery. They support loving relationships between a husband and wife. They oppose stealing, bad language and the use of illicit drugs. They believe in God. They believe in taking time to read the Bible.

You are mistaken when stating they believe in taking time to read the Bible. Individual or group bible study apart from the WT can get a JW disfellowshiped.

 

[adf417]

You are mistaken when stating they believe in taking time to read the Bible. Individual or group bible study apart from the WT can get a JW disfellowshiped.

I don’t think I can agree with this. Do you mean “apart form WT theology”?

Peace!!!

 

[pakengkeng]

I don’t think that is true. They oppose adultery. They support loving relationships between a husband and wife. They oppose stealing, bad language and the use of illicit drugs. They believe in God. They believe in taking time to read the Bible.

They believed that if youre not one of them ,youre going straight to hell.And if you are one of them and decided to leave for another religion,they will condemn you.even your loved ones ,including parents will disown you.they only care for the people that belongs to their flock.one time,i had a client who was a treasurer for their church.i couldnt believed ,when he told me that he was hiding from debt collectors ,thats why he only answers phone calls from familiar numbers .he was a bad example .i know JW members who are drunkard,thieves etc.my front neighbors are jw. They have sent emissaries to convert us several times.they stopped coming ,as i told them that i will call the police next time they come for harassing us!theyre very persistent .they dont vote,they dont respect the flag,they brainwash people. They dont celebrate birthdays,holidays e.g. Christmas .theyre pseudo christians!

 

[CeelosDeznos]

That doesn’t answer any of what I said… Why don’t you take the time to study the Bible? It’s best to invest that energy an time on studying on what you believe an see what the Bible says forget about everything else… You studying a religion u know very little about bringing things of a 100 years ago… What you telling me I know already… Bibles always change… I mean u get a king James version an then u get a new King James version… Why? It’s to keep up with the English used at the present time… So that people can easily understand it when they read it… Do people speak English the way they did in 1972? Imagine reading something in a language u won’t understand… Yes you have a select number of scriptures an that’s the same scriptures what everyone else has… The amazing thing is sometimes how we use your own Bible’s to show u things u never knew… Then u can’t say the Bible has been changed… So if u want to have a Bible discussion on why we belief in things we do we can I’ll gladly show u from ur own Bible, an then u can show me from ur Bible that’s how we measure truth

Respectfully, Jehovah’s Witnesses follow a theological system of beliefs different from Judaism or Catholicsm.

To the Witnesses the ultimate authority and revelation from God is the written Word found in Scripture. According to their belief system, doctrines can only be true if they come from Scripture. Their meetings are basically well-organized study periods in which various topics of the Bible are discussed.

The JWs are very sincere in their constant call for others to examine their Bibles, but this is because they truly believe we do not study it as well or read it as often. They hold to the belief that even if we are Bible scholars not associated with their religion, even translators of any of the modern Scripture versions available today, that we cannot possibly understand the Bible as clearly as any of them do.

The reason? They teach that you and I are blinded by Satan the Devil.

This blinding is so great and we are so under the control of the wicked one that we cannot possibly gain any knowledge of life-saving truth if we do not pay attention to the current interpretation of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

It is the interpretation of these men, and the constant changes they make to the teachings of former Governing Body members, that they study and discuss at their meetings.

To them, even the kindest and most sincere worshipper of God in a Christian church is no more than a blind servant of the Devil. When you kneel in worship at your church, you kneel not to Jehovah God but are worshipping the Devil. That is why they believe so importantly that you listen to their message because they sincerely believe we are members of Satan’s world.

So it does 't matter if you tell ChosenOne7 that you know your Bible. JWs go around believing you really don’t.

To them the true religion is the one that Jehovah leads by letting them proclaim as truths things they later claim they were wrong about. Jehovah led them by spirit to believe that Abraham would rise to earthly life in 1925, that God would no longer call people to a heavenly hope after 1935, that there were many types and anti-types in the Bible–Jehovah wanted people to believe these things as truth for different periods of the 20th century because…well, I don’t know why God would move his one and only mouthpiece on earth to instruct people to believe things like that if years later they are going to be discarded.

You remind them of these things and instead of explaining they attack you personally or worse go silent as if ignoring you. Because this is how Jehovah wants himself explained.

The things they teach today will be false tomorrow. So why accept what they teach?

If you were a JW in 1974 and went into a coma to wake up today, you would be disfellowshipped for preaching as truth what you were told to preach before your coma in 1974.

 

[Ignatius]

I don’t think that is true. They oppose adultery. They support loving relationships between a husband and wife. They oppose stealing, bad language and the use of illicit drugs. They believe in God. They believe in taking time to read the Bible.

Are you by any chance JW?

 

[ChosenOne7]

At your meetings and I don’t mean to be mean or abrupt but I really want to know, do/are you:
-go over how many encounters, pamplets/tracts you gave out, numbers of households approached, quotas achieved listed in a book each publisher has?
-discuss carefully crafted presentations from “Reasoning from Scriptures”?
-read the Awake & Watchtower magazines & discuss butterflies, the planets or topic of the month? (Whenever one of these magazines comes across my path, I am usually not surprised @ how much ink is spent on topics such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, pedophile Priests, etc. Seems heavy handed & unbalanced; WT rarely acknowledges anything good the RCC has done for 2000 years :blackeye
-thoroughly be trained in how to answer the hard questions prospective converts may pose?
-do you pull out copies of ancient Christian documents for ex. the Didache & compare with your beliefs, similarities & the differences; Ever read the Summa, Early Church Fathers?

We have 5 meetings a week… Do you really think we discuss the same thing at those 5 meetings… Discussing the magazines is only done in 5 minutes at 1 of those meetings… None of those meetings ever discuss any religious beliefs from any religion so no we don’t go to meetings to learn about other religions, that we do in our personal study… I don’t even know when was the last time we used the reasoning from the scriptures book lol… The watchtower an awake is the most distributed magazines in the world today that you can Google an there not even a price tag on them, you worried about the ink that’s the last thing we worried about… We print new issues every month. Even though u might not like it or read any of it that does not count for the number of other ppl who do… Catholics tend to think that the magazines is about them you should realise that you have beliefs that are the same as many protestant beliefs… Shouldn’t feel guilty when scripture is used to show why we don’t agree with those beliefs… One example is Christmas Catholics an Protestants both celebrate it yet the Bible no where mentions a date of Jesus birth, people have justified the celebration coming up with many reasonings yet it was never a practise mentioned anywhere in the Bible… So don’t think that magazines are made to attack Catholics, it’s just to show what the Bible says you have a choice to read it or not we don’t force u, but realise that whatever your response to anything we do or publish does not affect us, Jesus said because the world hated me it will hate you too on account of my name… So all these negative things is expected… You will not mention one good thing about Jehovah’s Witnesses, maybe for once try to look at the good too

 

[ChosenOne7]

They believed that if youre not one of them ,youre going straight to hell.And if you are one of them and decided to leave for another religion,they will condemn you.even your loved ones ,including parents will disown you.they only care for the people that belongs to their flock.one time,i had a client who was a treasurer for their church.i couldnt believed ,when he told me that he was hiding from debt collectors ,thats why he only answers phone calls from familiar numbers .he was a bad example .i know JW members who are drunkard,thieves etc.my front neighbors are jw. They have sent emissaries to convert us several times.they stopped coming ,as i told them that i will call the police next time they come for harassing us!theyre very persistent .they dont vote,they dont respect the flag,they brainwash people. They dont celebrate birthdays,holidays e.g. Christmas .theyre pseudo christians!

Can see how little you know about Jehovah’s Witnesses… They don’t even believe in hell so I don’t know where you come up with that idea of going straight to hell. You look at a few Jw’s and say they all bad? Really?? There’s over 8 million of them… We don’t preach to convert anyone hey… Just like Jesus preached not to convert but to spread the truth, the choice was always on the individual, Jesus told all his diciples “Come be my follower” an they had a choice there were many who didn’t follow him. So we respect your decision to not listen to the message, we respect ppls wishes who don’t want us coming to there doors too… But remember it’s not easy for us to do this, we don’t get paid for what we do, yet everyday we get up an we do it dispite all the harsh treatment we get, many times we are attack physically, verbally, we are banned, persecuted, thrown in prisons, it’s really hard but we have to obey Jesus command to preach he went through the same treatment, so did all his diciples, so did 1st century Christians. Ppl don’t really think of there actions… Think of it this way no other religion is preaching on a scale like the JWs are, back then no one preached on a scale the way Jesus an the diciples preached, if Jesus was here today in human form he would still be preaching doing God’s will spreading the word… Would you open your door if Jesus knocked on it… It’s interesting that all religions claim to have the truth yet what are they doing to spread it? I have yet to see a Catholic or a protestant knock on my door to teach me the Bible or what it really say. If u believe u have the truth then come out an save those who don’t or who don’t know nothing about Jesus an the Bible before Jesus comes. It’s better than sitting ad mocking those who’s doing the same thing Jesus did… You should commend them rather than condemn them

 

[SteveVH]

One example is Christmas Catholics an Protestants both celebrate it yet the Bible no where mentions a date of Jesus birth, people have justified the celebration coming up with many reasonings yet it was never a practise mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

Never mentioned anywhere? Did you forget this little event?

*"The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest’ and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”* (Luke 2:10-14)

Now I don’t know about you, but I would think that if a multitude of the heavenly hosts began singing “Glory to God in the highest” …, that we can probably conclude that it was a celebration; a celebration of the birth of Jesus. So celebrating Christ’s birth is certainly biblical. Even the angels celebrated his birth. Who cares if we don’t know the specific day he was born? What we are celebrating is that he *was *born, the day is immaterial. Why would one *not *wish to celebrate the coming of God into the world? That is the real question you should be asking yourself.

 

[ChosenOne7]

*"The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest’ and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”* (Luke 2:10-14)

Now I don’t know about you, but I would think that if a multitude of the heavenly hosts gathered with an angel who had just spoken with me, and they all began singing “Glory to God in the highest” …, that we can probably say it was a pretty good birthday party. So celebrating Christ’s birth is certainly biblical. Who cares if we don’t know the specific day he was born? What we are celebrating is that he *was *born; Immanuel, God with us.
Why would one not wish to celebrate the coming of God into the world? That is the real question you should be asking yourself.

That doesn’t say much… Like I said did Jesus celebrate his birthday? Did his diciples? Did 1st century Christians? If it was really so important why don’t the Bible make mention of it? Or if it was so important why didn’t God atleast inspire them to put the date of his birth in the Bible?.. What’s interesting though is that the date of his death is in the Bible… The importance of Jesus is his death he died for our sins, it’s that what we should really remember. Great men are usually remembered for what they did, granted, Jesus’ birth was remarkable, but his early disciples attached much more importance to what he did and to what he taught. “A name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one’s being born.” (Eccl. 7:1) Nothing illustrates this better than the life of Jesus. He surely made an outstanding name with Jehovah. When Jesus died faithful, he vindicated his Father’s sovereignty and provided the ransom sacrifice, which opened the way for our salvation. You say the date doesn’t matter but how would you feel if people you love celebrate your birthday on any day? If the date doesn’t really matter then why wait till the 25th of December? Just following a man made ideal… There’s nothing wrong with Jesus birth it’s just that as Jehovah’s Witnesses we won’t follow something that’s not in the Bible especially putting our own date on it… And to be honest with u there’s many pastors we have preached to that has agreed that Christmas is no where in the Bible but they will never change there beliefs because they know they will lose a lot of members and in turn alot of money, they also more worried about there name, they forget the importance of sharing Bible truth

 

[pacloc]

ChosenOne7

You seem to pat yourself on the back alot while somehow knowing that all the others on this forum do less than you in preaching like somehow your service time will earn you God’s pleasure. When I was a JW, I went out in field service all the time, and like everyone else in the hall, this led to 0 conversions to JW. Since I became Christian, I have helped a whole group come to the Church through RCIA, have influenced friends and family to come back and be strong members of the Church. I now speak about Christ way more than I ever did when I was counting the time for the men in New York. I say these things not to imitate you in patting myself on the back, but to let you know that your imitation of Jesus in preaching is not anything to get all puffed up about. You don’t even realize that you are out confusing the confused, boosting the arrogance of the arrogant, and staying so busy doing nothing that you will never climb out of the hamster wheel of the JW life, if you think that you are doing a good job of imitating Christ. Do you really want to compare your magazine peddling to our Lord’s teaching and passion? Have you really suffered what Christ suffered? Are you really that ignorant of the early Church to think that only the 1st century Christians suffered like Christ? If you keep talking about suffering like Christ, I am sure that our Lord will make sure and teach you true suffering.

 

[SteveVH]

That doesn’t say much…

This doesn’t say much? Multitudes of angels singing on the day of one’s birth doesn’t say much?

How stupid of me to believe you might recognize something so obvious.

 

[ChosenOne7]

ChosenOne7

You seem to pat yourself on the back alot while somehow knowing that all the others on this forum do less than you in preaching like somehow your service time will earn you God’s pleasure. When I was a JW, I went out in field service all the time, and like everyone else in the hall, this led to 0 conversions to JW. Since I became Christian, I have helped a whole group come to the Church through RCIA, have influenced friends and family to come back and be strong members of the Church. I now speak about Christ way more than I ever did when I was counting the time for the men in New York. I say these things not to imitate you in patting myself on the back, but to let you know that your imitation of Jesus in preaching is not anything to get all puffed up about. You don’t even realize that you are out confusing the confused, boosting the arrogance of the arrogant, and staying so busy doing nothing that you will never climb out of the hamster wheel of the JW life, if you think that you are doing a good job of imitating Christ. Do you really want to compare your magazine peddling to our Lord’s teaching and passion? Have you really suffered what Christ suffered? Are you really that ignorant of the early Church to think that only the 1st century Christians suffered like Christ? If you keep talking about suffering like Christ, I am sure that our Lord will make sure and teach you true suffering.

I don’t pat myself on my back… You don’t even realise that everything everyone says is bad things that’s my point… Like I said atleast extend commendation than condemnation… That’s good I commend you for what you doing but how does that help me? How does it help anyone who doesn’t have a God or who doesn’t believe in Jesus? You were a witness you know to what extent they would go to go speak to ppl they don’t know… Confusing the confused you say lol… Like I said your beliefs are not much different from the Protestants they share similar beliefs… U can’t mix light with dark… If you found truth an you have light and believe the rest of us are in the dark I ask that you teach us then… Show me the light that u have found in the bible now

 

[ChosenOne7]

This doesn’t say much? Multitudes of angels singing on the day of one’s birth doesn’t say much?

How stupid of me to believe you might recognize something so obvious.

And yet you couldn’t answer any of those questions I asked hey… You should think about it… The angels were happy because they knew what purpose Jesus held, they knew why God sent him to earth they knew what role he would play, they knew that now mankind will be saved that Jesus will rule as King… Ofcause they would be happy… But it’s like I said there’s nothing wrong with his birth, find the date of his birth then we will celebrate it with you but we not following man made ideals… That’s simple. I’m sure if Jehovahs witnesses celebrated Jesus birth today and not on 25th of December everyone would have something to say hey, yet they will say the dat doesnt matter… Everything we do will be spoken bad about

 

[pacloc]

ChosenOne7

Your explanations for not celebrating Christmas are completely regurgitated explanations from the men in New York. You would never have cherry picked a line from Ecclesiastes and taken it way out of context to destroy a 2000 year old Christian tradition. The Watchtower does a good job of making their followers really fall for these irrational so called proofs. Why don’t you sit down quietly and pray to God to show you the importance of the Incarnation that all these other members of “Christendom” love so much. Then read the beginning of Luke slowly, looking for the beauty of the incarnation. Then notice in Luke 2:25-35, specifically verse 30 about the infant Jesus, “Because my eyes have seen thy salvation”. All the events of Christ are equally important for us humans, and should be pondered all day every day. His coming into the world is a very important event. God became man so that man might become God. His becoming what we are through the incarnation, allows us to become what he is through adoption.

If you are really serious about learning about God and want to understand what has been believed about Him for 2,000 years, I would begin with writings from St. Athanasius, Gregory Nazienzus, and Cyril of Alexandria.

 

[SteveVH]

And yet you couldn’t answer any of those questions I asked hey…

Did I say that? Of course I can answer your questions, but, as I have experienced in 100% of my conversations with JW’s, it is a pointless exercise. My mistake was even commenting on this thread in the first place. This will be my last.

Peace.

Steve

 

[Crusader13]

If the date doesn’t really matter then why wait till the 25th of December? Just following a man made ideal… There’s nothing wrong with Jesus birth it’s just that as Jehovah’s Witnesses we won’t follow something that’s not in the Bible especially putting our own date on it… And to be honest with u there’s many pastors we have preached to that has agreed that Christmas is no where in the Bible but they will never change there beliefs because they know they will lose a lot of members and in turn alot of money, they also more worried about there name, they forget the importance of sharing Bible truth

That wouldn’t be entirely correct, because someone could easily make that same claim in reference to the WTS putting a “man-made” date on the end of the world… several times.

In fact it would appear that dates are even more important to the JW’s than most other Christian denominations, because according to their teaching on the destruction of the Temple, it needs to be shown that it occurred in 607 BC so that their teachings can be proven to be correct. To make the acknowledgement that the Tempe was destroyed in 586/587 BC, which seems to be the consensus of historians and biblical scholars, would require the WTS to once again change their doctrines in light of more recent biblical scholarship.

I’m not out to attack you or the JW religion. I don’t necessarily believe that every single member has been “duped” or had their minds controlled to believe the teachings of WTS. My wife’s family are devout JW’s and would love for my wife and I to “come into the truth” as they call it. In fact we are attending the assembly in Tucson this July and I’m looking forward to seeing first hand what takes place there.

I know many people on this site strongly discourage Catholics from attending a meeting at a Kingdom hall, but I don’t see anything wrong with it. Naturally, I’m biased because my in-laws are members, but I’ve never once been bombarded with scripture verses or pressured into debates, or to attend future meetings or even treated differently because I show up with my Catholic bible. I think attending services at other churches has been very beneficial to my own faith, because I can see first hand what many of these other churches teach and preach.

I’ve done it mainly out of curiosity and genuine respect for the people who have invited me. I know how it feels when non-Catholics are quick to attack the mass based upon an anti-Catholic book they read or skimmed through and yet have never even set foot into a Catholic church.

 

[Cincinnatus1788]

Dear ChosenOne7,

Do JW’s believe that Jesus is God?

C-1788

 

[Tomdstone]

Do JW’s believe that Jesus is God?

My understanding is No, they do not. But they believe Jesus to be a great prophet. and spiritual teacher. JW do not accept the Trinity. They often quote John 14:28 where Jesus says “the Father is greater than I.” And Mark 24: 32-36:
“36 But of that day and hour no man knoweth, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
JW might say that Jesus cannot be God, because Jesus says that only the Father knows the day and hour. If Jesus were God, he would be omniscient and He would know the day and hour. Further, if the Holy Spirit were God, He would know the day and hour, but it says that only the Father knows the day or hour.

 

[Shirtless]

I don’t know where you getting your beliefs or understanding of Jehovah’s Witnesses but whatever you have been told, whatever you have heard or read it doesn’t seem to be true… You say many of our beliefs are unscriptural, have you personally studied our beliefs along with your own copy of the Bible to be able to say that? You say we wrote our own version of the scriptures, but what if I was able to show you that what we believe is written in your own version of the Bible would you still believe that we have our own Bible? You say we tend to be a very closed group and that we not very welcoming, have you been to a Jw meeting before that makes you say that, or is it just based upon your own judgment?

A question I always ask myself about someone else’s beliefs is why do they believe what they do where in the Bible does it support there believe does it correspond with the rest of the Bible… If it does one should have no reason not to believe then. But that’s how I look at things I’m a curious person I like to know things, that’s the reason I’m here to learn about Catholics beliefs not just listening to what other people tell me about it, or reading it off from the Internet or from links that other people gave me… But then again a other person will just be more naive and gullible than the next and will be more of a close minded person. At the end of the day we should be able to sit together at the same table and share each other’s beliefs without been looked down upon

Okay, let’s start with Jehovah’s Witnesses view of Christ. They believe that Jesus was God’s first creation. See jw.org/en/publications/books/good-news-from-god/who-is-jesus-christ/ which is a link to their website.

This in direct contradiction to traditional Christian teaching, which is that Jesus is co-eternal with God the Father. In the words of the Nicene Creed, “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.”