What is your take on "Jehovah's Witnesses" sect?

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The JWs are an insular sect that wants no dealings with outsiders other than to convert others.

They meet the definition of a “cult”.

Cults are always packed with lunatics.

I know several ex-JWs. They all give me the same horror stories.

That said: there are many religions that condemn gambling, drinking, sex, immodesty, etc. It doesn’t stop their members from partaking.

And I don’t think there are any religions that would forbid a member from abstaining from those things. Even in Catholicism one doesn’t necessarily have to take the wine when doing communion.
 
boomerang said:
They are also obsessed with demons. Demons are present everywhere in their lives. They hear footsteps around their bedrooms at night, they see demonic shadows, demons can and will possess their pets and their furniture. Everything is demonic.
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:dts: If their faith is strong they should not be obsessed with demons.
:gopray2: The name of THE MOST HIGH is enough to send any demon away…
 
vsedriver said:
The Amish have a stricter practice of shunning. If you don’t join the church you can never go home or speak to the family again.
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Actually that is not true. The Amish, like Hutterites and Mennonites only baptize “adults”…usually one can be baptized after 17 years old.

For the Amish, baptism signals a “child’s” decision to join the church. If a teen or young adult chooses to NOT be baptized into the church they may visit and sometimes live in the community without “shunning” occurring. Shunning only happens when a baptized member forsakes or breaks their baptismal covenant…shunning is a corrective measure for members not “outsiders”.
 
Celtic_Maiden said:
Sorry I did mean the Mormons- The Church of the Latter Day Saints.
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You did group them right, they both follow the man made invention of “Adventism”. Both made false prophecies of the end of the world that did not come to pass.

The bible states to run from such false prophets.

Peace be with you:)
 
Sam_777 said:
:mad: The biggest blasphemy for me is considering JESUS as “Angel Michael”.

That is a very serious blasphemy…

Angel Michael is “Son of GOD” (as an election term).

While JESUS is “SON of GOD” (begotten).

https://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon13.gif Farewell “Jehovah’s Witnesses”, I was considering joining you for awhile.
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This is what happens when a group breaks from the protection of the Apostolic Authority found within the Catholic Church.

Every church founded by a man outside of the Apostles will have just as equal heresy.
 
Sam_777 said:
What is your take on “Jehovah’s Witnesses” sect other than not considering JESUS as GOD?

Because I personally admire their ethics compared to some other Christian sects:
  • Homosexual activity/same-sex marriages are forbidden.
  • Abortion is considered a murder.
  • Modesty in dress and grooming is frequently emphasized.
  • Gambling, drunkenness, illegal drugs, and tobacco use are forbidden.
  • Drinking of alcoholic beverages is permitted in moderation.
My only take on them that they emphasis on the name of GOD to be “Jehovah”, which I believe it should not, because GOD is universal, every nation could call Him by their native language!
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A person can make claim to living a moral life, but is the life of a Jehovah’s Witness really moral?

While claiming abortion to be murder, as I brought out in my previous post they not only preach but* look forward* to the day that Jehovah will kill all those who do not subscribe to their religion, including pregnant women, their unborn children, and all other children of non-JWs. How moral is it to look forward to that?

While they emphasize modesty in dress, they forbid men to grow facial hair, to wear tagiyah if they are of Islamic culture or kippah (yarmulke) if Hebrew. They require assimilation at the cost of one’s former culture and/or religious background based on standards not found in Scripture but developed by their Governing Body.

While gambling, drinking, and use of tobacco are forbidden, spying on other’s suspected of doing such things is considered holy, even if the suspects are innocent.

They officially teach that all who worship God outside of their religion are blindly worshipping Satan the Devil, including Muslims, Jews, and all other Christians besides themselves.

They publicly pray for God to destroy all other religion\us groups like Catholicism, often create illustrations of God destroying the Vatican with lightning bolts and the ground opening up to swallow cardinals and other clergy in divine judgment. These pictures often depict synagogue and minarets crumbling too, and placed into their literature for public distribution for all to see.

How moral is it to do these things? So what if I dress nice and do not lust after your wife or get drunk? Am I moral if I blaspheme your religion and pray for you and people like you and your children to be destroyed for not belonging to my religion?

I do not care if you look like someone I should admire. I care only if the person wins the admiration of God who sees the heart.

One might ‘clean the outside of the cup and dish, but that matters not if inside you are full of greed and wickedness.’–See Luke 11:39.
 
Just as we trace our faith to Christ through the Apostles (and Peter specifically), one must trace the JW history back to Chrales Taze Russell and the original “Bible Students” (“BS”) movement which he founded by his own authority. Russell had an 8th grade education. He had no theological training. He claimed no visions or dreams. What he did, was privately interpret scripture, lead by a worldly spirit which he appears to have assumed was the Holy Spirit. As with Islam and Mormonism, there is zero evidence that he did anything to test the spirit which lead him (1 John 4:1-4), even though he was advised to in the very bible that he claimed to study. Yes, he was accused of confidence schemes and was sued for fraud. His wife successfully sued him for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty.

Let’s see what scripture has to say about such “prophets”:
2 Peter 3:15-17
And count the forbearance of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability.
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8th grade education. No theological training. No due diligence in scripture interpretation.

Ignorant.

Sued for business fraud. Sued for divorce because of mental cruelty.

Unstable.

Is the prophet here Charles Russell, or Saint Peter?
 
Sam_777 said:
What is your take on “Jehovah’s Witnesses” sect other than not considering JESUS as GOD?
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A person has to distinguish between institution and individuals. Doctrinally they are heretical, but that hardly separates them from other less shunned groups. As individuals they aren’t necessarily bad or worse people than the average. Be kind to them, and win them (or win them back) to the faith.
 
po18guy said:
Just as we trace our faith to Christ through the Apostles (and Peter specifically), one must trace the JW history back to Chrales Taze Russell and the original “Bible Students” (“BS”) movement which he founded by his own authority. Russell had an 8th grade education. He had no theological training. He claimed no visions or dreams. What he did, was privately interpret scripture, lead by a worldly spirit which he appears to have assumed was the Holy Spirit. As with Islam and Mormonism, there is zero evidence that he did anything to test the spirit which lead him (1 John 4:1-4), even though he was advised to in the very bible that he claimed to study. Yes, he was accused of confidence schemes and was sued for fraud. His wife successfully sued him for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty.

Let’s see what scripture has to say about such “prophets”:

8th grade education. No theological training. No due diligence in scripture interpretation.

Ignorant.

Sued for business fraud. Sued for divorce because of mental cruelty.

Unstable.

Is the prophet here Charles Russell, or Saint Peter?
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A history their notorious Watchtower Society tries very hard not to mention it.😃
 
josephback said:
A person has to distinguish between institution and individuals. Doctrinally they are heretical, but that hardly separates them from other less shunned groups. As individuals they aren’t necessarily bad or worse people than the average. Be kind to them, and win them (or win them back) to the faith.
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This is true. We should all do so.

Of course this is a thread about how people personally feel about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and as such one must not mistake a negative view by any poster as a claim that the people themselves are necessarily “bad” or unworthy of love or kindness.

I should add, however, that as a former JW I can attest to the fact that we often officially looked down on non-JWs, charging each non-JW with not wanting to accept the truth as presented by Jehovah’s true channel and religion via the Watchtower and therefore worthy of destruction at the hands of God as soon as Armageddon broke out. We should not do the same back to them.
 
DelsonJacobs said:
This is true. We should all do so.

Of course this is a thread about how people personally feel about the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and as such one must not mistake a negative view by any poster as a claim that the people themselves are necessarily “bad” or unworthy of love or kindness.

I should add, however, that as a former JW I can attest to the fact that we often officially looked down on non-JWs, charging each non-JW with not wanting to accept the truth as presented by Jehovah’s true channel and religion via the Watchtower and therefore worthy of destruction at the hands of God as soon as Armageddon broke out. We should not do the same back to them.
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Indeed…your words sound so familiar from my former JW roommate. All the talk of the end of the world and looking down on non-JW’s as being out of touch with the truth (JW truth of course).Foolishness!
 
Nicea325 said:
Indeed…your words sound so familiar from my former JW roommate. All the talk of the end of the world and looking down on non-JW’s as being out of touch with the truth (JW truth of course).Foolishness!
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Ah yes, It’s what I call a “canned” response. This type of talk is learned from listening to members of the Governing Body or their representatives at their conventions. The most scalding language has traditionally come from them. Because JWs are instructed to take notes at these conventions, they learn the “talk” and repeat it, often verbatim, feeling that they can use the same judgment speech the Governing Body uses to describe “unbelievers.” (Of course it is all mostly “canned” speech because they are not allowed to make up their own “talk” as this could be construed to be “independent thinking,” a disfellowshipping offense.)

I remember during the 1985 “Integrity Keepers” District Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses (the one I attended was in Houston at the old Astrodome), upon the release of a book we were to distribute to the public it was announced that any non-JW who read it “had to be convinced of the truth” of the Jehovah’s Witness religion. If anyone read it and did not come to that conclusion it was said it was because “they did not love truth” and were thus stubbornly opposing God. People who did not come to embrace the JW religion after reading their literature were marked “worldly,” meaning part of Satan’s world and marked for destruction.

In our door-to-door work the women would often play a game they called “My House/Your House.” The thought was that Jehovah would soon destroy all the wicked (all non-JWs) but was likely to leave some of the homes standing. Therefore when we canvassed a street and one of the women JWs saw a house they liked, they would declare it “my house,” playfully suggesting that Jehovah spare the house for them to move in once the current non-JW residents were slaughtered for being Catholic or whatever religion they were. The opposite could be said about coming upon a dilapidated home, and thus the women would joke that this bad home could be left standing for a Witness who did something like devote less hours than others in the door-to-door preaching work or placed less Watchtower magazines with the non-JW public than others.

Again, while we wouldn’t want to imitate the Witness by “hating” them back (and we should show them neighborly love in spite of their feelings as a testimony), I write this to help others understand what becoming a Jehovah’s Witness can do to you. It isn’t healthy.
 
DelsonJacobs said:
Ah yes, It’s what I call a “canned” response. This type of talk is learned from listening to members of the Governing Body or their representatives at their conventions. The most scalding language has traditionally come from them. Because JWs are instructed to take notes at these conventions, they learn the “talk” and repeat it, often verbatim, feeling that they can use the same judgment speech the Governing Body uses to describe “unbelievers.” (Of course it is all mostly “canned” speech because they are not allowed to make up their own “talk” as this could be construed to be “independent thinking,” a disfellowshipping offense.)

I remember during the 1985 “Integrity Keepers” District Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses (the one I attended was in Houston at the old Astrodome), upon the release of a book we were to distribute to the public it was announced that any non-JW who read it “had to be convinced of the truth” of the Jehovah’s Witness religion. If anyone read it and did not come to that conclusion it was said it was because “they did not love truth” and were thus stubbornly opposing God. People who did not come to embrace the JW religion after reading their literature were marked “worldly,” meaning part of Satan’s world and marked for destruction.

In our door-to-door work the women would often play a game they called “My House/Your House.” The thought was that Jehovah would soon destroy all the wicked (all non-JWs) but was likely to leave some of the homes standing. Therefore when we canvassed a street and one of the women JWs saw a house they liked, they would declare it “my house,” playfully suggesting that Jehovah spare the house for them to move in once the current non-JW residents were slaughtered for being Catholic or whatever religion they were. The opposite could be said about coming upon a dilapidated home, and thus the women would joke that this bad home could be left standing for a Witness who did something like devote less hours than others in the door-to-door preaching work or placed less Watchtower magazines with the non-JW public than others.

Again, while we wouldn’t want to imitate the Witness by “hating” them back (and we should show them neighborly love in spite of their feelings as a testimony), I write this to help others understand what becoming a Jehovah’s Witness can do to you. It isn’t healthy.
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Whoa…1985? I was a just a freshman in high school. Your experiences sound familiar from former JW’s I have met. I live in San Diego and every JW’s have their Harvest Festival (San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium) I believe that is what they call it? I recall a few years ago one of the local news channel was there trying to interview the JW’s and I could not believe what I was seeing? When the news reporter approached the JW’s, the JW’s flat out ignored the poor man. I mean…IGNORED HIM!

I am looking at my JW roommate and telling him:

I thought you folks were supposed to be God’s witnesses on earth? Your fellow JW’s clearly are displaying a cultish message by ignoring the poor man

My JW roommate:

Why does he feel compelled to ask the JW’s questions?

My rebuttal:

Are JW’s hiding something shameful?
 
Sam_777 said:
What is your take on “Jehovah’s Witnesses” sect other than not considering JESUS as GOD?

Because I personally admire their ethics compared to some other Christian sects:
  • Homosexual activity/same-sex marriages are forbidden.
  • Abortion is considered a murder.
  • Modesty in dress and grooming is frequently emphasized.
  • Gambling, drunkenness, illegal drugs, and tobacco use are forbidden.
  • Drinking of alcoholic beverages is permitted in moderation.
My only take on them that they emphasis on the name of GOD to be “Jehovah”, which I believe it should not, because GOD is universal, every nation could call Him by their native language!
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If there are any JWs on here I’m sorry but I’m about to speak candidly. The JWs religion is one that I look at as a sociologist/historian and say “Damn, this thing has so many classic cult charicteristics its crazy”.

The first one that sticks out to me is the idea that esentialy everything not from their church, secular or religious, is of Satan. What a fabulous way to keep your congregation in line and prevent them leaving, everything someone tells you from science or another religion is an attempt by satan to bring about your eternal damnation.

Another thing which I find rather weird is the Watchtower magazine, I guess just the idea of a infallible monthly religious publication is pretty different from just about all other religions.

Their theological positions are pretty off from traditional Christianity, though I don’t mind that much as a non Christian, but some of their biblical interpretation is just… Far from main stream.

Also, door knocking. They arnt the only folks to do this but that excessive drive to ad more to the congregation is a pretty common cult charicteristic, especialy when you have people moving to new areas expressly to form new churches and spread the religion.

I grew up in a very catholic region on the Iowa side of the Mississippi but slowly over the years there has been a push west from Wisconsin as the JWs extend across the river. I’d love to see a time lapse map of it because I’m sure it would show just a slow wave of new churches moving west as groups of JWs move to form new congregations. There Was a JW church built in the town I attended HS in about 7 or 8 years ago and in that town of 5000 I never met not talked to anyone who had met the members, other than a few door to door encounters. They were an entirely insulated little community of their own.

While they are free to think whatever they want and I respect their religious beleif I just wonder how they manage to convert many people. A strange and rather interesting sect, much like all these “American Churches” like the LDS and Christian Scientists that have popped up in America over the past few centuries.
 
Nicea325 said:
A history their notorious Watchtower Society tries very hard not to mention it.😃
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Just as the LDS do not stress Joseph Smith, neither do the Adventists mention Ellen Gould White too much anymore. It’s all about their foundations, and today they are essentially telling us, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
 
Nicea325 said:
Whoa…1985? I was a just a freshman in high school. Your experiences sound familiar from former JW’s I have met. I live in San Diego and every JW’s have their Harvest Festival (San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium) I believe that is what they call it?
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What you are likely referring to is a convention or assembly day that, due to nothing more than a rotation schedule, occurs around autumn time in San Diego.

Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t celebrate any holidays or festivals. Such things are as evil as Catholicism in their own view, and members of their religion can face disciplinary action, even excommunication for participating not only in actual festivals but in actions that they deem might be mistaken as similar.
 
I thought I would separate this from the other reply because it deserves its own particular attention:
Nicea325 said:
When the news reporter approached the JW’s, the JW’s flat out ignored the poor man. I mean…IGNORED HIM!

I am looking at my JW roommate and telling him:

I thought you folks were supposed to be God’s witnesses on earth? Your fellow JW’s clearly are displaying a cultish message by ignoring the poor man

My JW roommate:

Why does he feel compelled to ask the JW’s questions?

My rebuttal:

Are JW’s hiding something shameful?
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When I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses were were taught NEVER to take it upon ourselves to speak with the media. If approached by reporters we were to direct them to someone either locally assigned by the Governing Body to answer questions or to the official media outlet of the religion.

Witnesses have been taught that since all outside the Watchtower is under Satan’s control, nothing non-JW can or should be trusted. All outside the organization of the Jehovah’s Witnesses from their point of view have been blinded and brainwashed to unknowingly act as minions for Satan. Even news reporters are therefore subject to be hand puppets of evil spirits and thus a Witness is told they would be foolish to believe that all questions asked did not have some sort of malicious, evil intent, disguised as genuine interest, with the purpose of undermining God, God’s Kingdom, and their “one and only true” religion.

Therefore the actions of the person you describe who was ignoring a news reporter are right on target.

I cannot emphasize enough how little we on the outside of the Watchtower mean to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Since our hopes, goals, and convictions are different we are viewed as deserving of only two things in their eyes: being corrected to become one of them or be warned of God’s intention to kill us.

They are officially taught and must believe that we who are not Jehovah’s Witnesses do not and cannot know God without adopting their form of belief. They may claim that their preaching work is done out of a motive of love which desires to save us from destruction, but take it from me it is not. They are required to preach a set amount of hours or lose their good standing in their religion. Most would not engage in the preaching work if they weren’t taught they were going to displease Jehovah and likely be destroyed like us at Armageddon for not doing so.

We are worth little more than the hours they can record on their time sheets they must submit every month in order to keep their standing of “pleasing Jehovah.” When we don’t accept their message, this “love” for us quickly turns to calling us “blinded by Satan,” and “marked for destruction.”

The JW ignored the reporter not because they have something to hide, but simply because Jehovah’s WItnesses look down on us. We are subhuman to them.
 
DelsonJacobs said:
We are subhuman to them.
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I wanted to ask a question about this. My FIL has recently made the dive into the JW and he’s being “baptized” at some convention in April. To the end that we’re nothing more than cannon fodder for God’s wrath, should I expect a change in his relationship towards us? He’s said little things here and there, although none to me directly, but there haven’t been any changes in attitudes or behavior, yet.
 
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