Posted on 04/23/2009 10:05:32 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
AUGUSTA, GA - I grew up thinking the Jehovah’s Witnesses were a cult. In eighth grade, at the Christian school I attended, I took a world religions class. I thought it would open a window and shed light into the unknown. Turns out, the class was just closed-minded and dogmatic indoctrination.
As a result, I spent the next 10 years wary of anyone who knocked on my front door, as though they would lure me with winning smiles only to brainwash me into believing bizarre, unholy practices.
Luckily, life experience changes superstitious prejudices. A couple of Jehovah’s Witness friends in the military and at school completely changed that opinion. So when a nice older couple came to my house last week and invited me to the 12:30 Sunday service, I gladly accepted.
Having never actually attended a Jehovah’s Witness church, I had absolutely no preconceptions as to how the service would unfold. I thought it would be the run of mill, typical service. It wasn’t.
Many churches have a sort of festive social atmosphere. As I walked in, I noticed people didn’t mill about chatting but sat expectantly and quietly. There was an air of sobriety akin to that of more liturgical services, like Catholic or Episcopal.
I noticed the congregation was roughly equal parts black and white, an interesting characteristic given that most local churches are decidedly one ethnicity.
I sat next to a young girl. A man announced we’d sing a song on page 154. I looked for a hymn book but didn’t see one. There were no programs or hand-outs either.
The girl noticed my confusion.
“I’ll sit next to you and share my songbook with you so you won’t feel lonely,” she smiled.
Then a speaker spoke about evolution. He read the creation story in Genesis 1, methodically analyzing each verse against current scientific claims about the Earth’s creation. It felt like a seminar lecture and, afterward, when he sat down, the congregation applauded.
There is no pastor, just a group of elders who share weekly pastorly duties. Each member is expected to make sense of the teaching themselves. It’s a very Quaker meeting.
Then everyone opened their “Watchtower” study guides. “Watchtower” is a publication put out by the Jehovah’s Witnesses that contains guided Biblical readings or daily devotions.
This was my favorite part of the service. For the next hour and a half, we read through four pages of various devotional lessons and Bible verses. The first was on forgiveness, the next on sexual purity and guarding one’s mind from sinning, the third on forgiveness and humbleness, and so on.
An elder on the stage asked prodding questions as two ushers scurried up and down the aisles giving the microphone to whoever answered. It felt more like a Sunday school class than a formal service. And I kept silently humming Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.” Still, I was impressed by their enthusiasm.
During the visit, I felt I crossed a sort of threshold. There will always be people who have superstitious beliefs about things they don’t truly understand. So to respond to a recent Whine Line asking why Jehovah’s Witnesses buildings don’t have windows: I can at least tell ya it ain’t because they have something to hide. It’s as transparent as glass.
Human nature seems to have us fear what we don't know. Then after something is feared, then human nature has most, quite comfortable with this. The unknown is not fearful, just unknown. [BornToBeAmerican]
Nice psychologizing, BornToBeAmerican. I could imagine the following convo had you been around to hear Jesus 2,000 years ago:
Jesus: "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." (Luke 12:4-5)
Then, you respond: "You know, Jesus, human nature seems to have us fear what we don't know. Then after something is feared, then human nature has most, quite comfortable with this. The unknown is not fearful, just unknown."
Conversation bystander: "BornToBe...do you think Jesus, who shared our human nature, had enough knowledge to have us fear what we haven't experienced? And why do we have to know or experience something (like a mountain) to attach any fear to it -- when Jesus says just the opposite?"
And Tamar1973, any false pied pipers leading folks astray -- and away from the One who has the power to throw people into hell -- is based upon more of the reality of hell than just some "they're a cult mantra."
Indeed, our "fear" is on behalf of those who are placing their eternal spiritual lives at risk.
(And as they did, the sound of rustling pages swept across the globe almost simultaneously on the hour...the JWs are one group that studies the exact same thing worldwide every Sunday...talk about strict boundaries of conformity.)
Jesus, on the other hand, didn't have all dozen disciples or all 70 extended disciples with Him everywhere He went to ensure they received spiritually robotic discipleship. Sometimes, He had a few; sometimes more; sometimes 12. Sometimes 70. Sometimes the crowds-at-large.
But what do JWs really know about Jesus? (They can't seem to make up their minds about whether He was a man, an archangel, a god with a small "g," or a resurrected spirit -- no body -- or some or all of the above @ different times...kind of a form of Jesus modalism).
They seemed to imply Jesus falsely prophesied when He promised He would raise His own body. Yet their organization falsely prophesying that Jesus would return first in 1874, then 1914, then 1915, then 1918, then 1925, then early to mid-1940s, then 1975...is all either glossed over, covered up, or redefined.
Here, people can see false prophecies in JWs' own publications for themselves: WhatJWsBelieve
From http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/jw/book.html: Jesus tells the "good thief" that they will both be in heaven "today." But how can that be since it's only Friday and, according to the gospels, Jesus lay dead in the tomb Friday night and all day Saturday. The phrase "truly I say unto you" is used by Jesus more than 50 times in the NT. In all verses except this one (Lk.23:43), the NWT [JWs' unique New World Translation of the Bible] places the comma after the word "you". But the NWT translates this verse as follows: "Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in paradise." Why would they do that? Well, the Governing Body doesn't believe in a soul, so they say the good thief died like everyone else. Only later, nearly 2000 years later, after Armageddon, would he be resurrected. So they couldn't let Jesus tell him that he'd be with him that very day in paradise. Instead, they have Jesus say that he is telling the truth today (Not yesterday or tomorrow, but today. Or maybe "today" here is emphasizing that he's telling the truth today, but he was lying yesterday or something) -- and that sometime in the far distant future they'd be together in paradise. (Re: Luke 23:46)
Nice concise assessment.
(Guess that's another word that the politically correct crowd can assign to their obsolete file as no longer applicable to any body of a sect)
Well, let's do a quick run-down comparison vs. Christianity:
1. That Jesus is a created being – a creature.
2. That Jesus is actually Michael the Archangel.
3. That Jesus was not resurrected bodily, but as a spirit being.
4. That Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 (secretly to the Organization).
5. That Jesus was only a man when on earth, not “the Word become flesh.”
6. That the Holy Spirit is only an active force, not the Person of God.
7. That hell is simply the grave.
8. That heaven’s doors are open to only 144, 000 people.
9. That the majority of Witnesses must remain on earth.
10. That salvation is found only through the Organization.
11. That salvation can be maintained only by energetic works for the Organization until the end, when one may then merit eternal life on a paradise earth.
12. That Satan is the author of the doctrine of the trinity.
13. That Jesus cannot be given worship, but only honor as Jehovah’s first creation
Source: Freedom in Christ.net: JWsVsChristianity
“Jesus says that this man will be with Him in paradise today.”
Yet Jesus did not ascend to Heaven until 40 days after the Resurrection.
Most famous JW?
Michael Jackson
Jesus spoke of ‘Paradise’ as ‘in Abraham’s bosom’ when He taught of the rich man and Lazarus. This leads many (including me) to believe Jesus went to the souls there where the great gulf was fixed, to bring the Gospel of God’s Grace to those ‘in Paradise’ and unlock their confinement, and they ascended with Him into Heaven 40 days later.
Jesus doesn’t say he will be in Heaven. He says he will be in paradise.
paradeisos
par-ad’-i-sos
Of Oriental origin ; a park, that is, (specifically) an Eden (place of future happiness, “paradise”): - paradise.
It is only used in:
2Cor12:4
Rev2:7
Not being a JW I'm not too sure what their doctrine is here.....but I do know that there is no punctuation in the Greek. So, I guess their answer could be right.
I grew up thinking the Jehovah’s Witnesses were a cult.
They are. No matter how nice, they worship the wrong god. Doesn't mean I'm going to torch their building or drive them out of town.
marker
They are a very studious group and the reason many Christians are scared of them is that most Christians don’t study their Bibles 1/2 as much as JW’s study their doctrines. So the “JW is a cult” mantra is more out of fear than fact.
You've got that right. I had an employee who was JW, a sales guy, and we had to spend time together driving around to make presentations.
On some particularly longer trips we got into some very extended conversations...I was studying Leviticus and Hebrews and it so happened he was too. It turned out he was much more knowledgeable than most fundys I know.
Most Evangelicals ignore the Torah (Old Testament) because they believe it was “nailed to the Cross” and therefore it’s irrelevant to them. They ignore it at their own spiritual peril because there’s a lot of the New Testament that is easily misinterpreted without a good foundation in the Torah.
I thank God He has given me a desire to understand all His word, not just the New Testament. Otherwise, your average JW would run circles around me and I think they would run circles around many FReepers, too.
Actually the JW is right on that point. There were no commas in the Greek.
Actually, the most famous current JW is Prince. Michael Jackson supposedly converted to Islam some time ago.
Doesn’t it make God’s Word rich when you actually “read” Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and put them in context with the NT?
The first time I read Leviticus at the same time I was reading Hebrews was a moment of exhiliration.
I’ll bet s/he didn’t spend any time staring out the window.
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