Hello. My name's Jim. I'm choosing to start a profile to expose the erroneous teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses. I'm a Christian minister, but my father is a Jehovah Witness, and has been since I was a child. He was always trying to convert me to his faith. He often gave me their books to study, hoping I'd come to understand their version of truth, but really, it provided further proof to me how doctrinally wrong they truly are.
I have no problem with people of different religions. I'm not a hater. I believe Jesus taught we are to love. What I do have a problem with are those who take the Bible and twist it; and represent themselves as bearers of the truth, when really they are misleading millions. The information I present here, will be based on the Scriptures. I interpret Scripture traditionally, as the Christian Church has since its founding two thousand years ago by Jesus Christ Himself.
Furthermore, I was always respectful to my father, as a son should be, and never disrespected his beliefs. But when I became a Christian minister, my father chose to disown me, severing all contact with me, saying that I am a minister in a false religion... can you believe that? He called Christianity a false religion, when we are the originals. My father's exact words were, "You have gone from being misled, to one who misleads others." I have since decided to dedicate myself to telling the truth about Jehovah Witnesses, or "JWs" for short.
Jehavah Witnesses are not allowed to study anything that contradicts their beliefs. They are not allowed to read Christian books or materials, watch tv preachers, or visit churches. They cannot attend Christian ceremonies of any kind. When I graduated from Bible College, my dad said he was proud that I graduated college, but couldn't come to the commencement ceremony because it was a Christian ceremony. Likewise, they cannot attend Christian marriage ceremonies if friends or co-workers get married. The JW organization will "disfellowship" or kick out any JWs who are caught violating this rule.
I have always been of the opinion that understanding as much as possible is a good thing. I have not only studied Christianity in all its respects (meaning I have studied Catholicism, Orthodox doctrine, and all phases of Christianity's demoninational doctrines from Pentecostalism to Southern Baptist and everything in between), but have studied Mormonism, JW beliefs, and Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, the other major world religions, even the occult. I not only read Bob Larson's books on the occult, I read the Satanic Bible once. Knowledge is power. The Bible says we are destroyed for lack of knowledge. I was not interested in joining these groups, I was interested in understanding what they believed, so I could be a better witness to them.
Why do the Jehovah Witnesses refuse to allow their members to study anything else? The reason is obvious isnt it? They do not want their members being exposed to anything that can show them the truth. JWs get all their beliefs from their books, and their two magazines, "Watchtower" and "Awake." They literally have given up free thinking, and the ability to read Scripture and interpret it for themselves.
Once my father and I were discussing the Jews. He told me God was finished with Israel because they had not only crucified Jesus, but had refused to accept Him. I told him that God will never give up on Israel, they are still His people. My father disagreed. So I asked him to get his Bible. I opened it to Romans 11. Verses one and two clearly say God has not given up on His people Israel whom He foreknew, and verses 25 and 26 tell us that once the "full number of the Gentiles" has come in, all Israel will be saved. When I asked my father what that meant, he said, "It appears to say what you are saying it says, but that's not what it means." He then went and got a JW commentary on Romans which explained those verses to mean something else, and then my father said, "See, that's not what that means." He, like all JWs, had given up his ability to read Scripture and interpret it for himself. He has to be told what Scripture means, in light of the Organization's teachings. I would never join any group that spoon-fed me beliefs and told me I cannot be a free thinker on my own. That's brainwashing, pure and simple.
Furthermore, I have never been able to understand how intelligent people can blindly accept JW doctrine. Much of it is illogical. For instance, JWs say God's name is "Jehovah" and that's what He wants to be called. It comes from Exodus 3:14. But Jehovah is the German form of the Hebrew "Yahweh" (which scholars are not even certain is correct). There aren't even "J"s in Hebrew. How can "Jehovah" be God's name? I guess God is a German. Furthermore, if Jehovah is His name, and He wants to be called that, why didn't Jesus call Him "Jehovah"? Jesus called him "Father". In fact, none of the New Testament writers called Him "Jehovah". The Apostle Paul commonly called him "God" or "Lord" as did Peter, James, John, and other New Testament writers. If God wants to be called "Jehovah" so badly, why didn't the New Testament writers set the example?
JWs believe the Christian Church fell into error after the original apostles died. Truth did not begin to come out again (according to the JWs) until their founding by Charles Russel in the late 1800s. This makes me wonder if Jesus was a failure. He spent 3 years training His disciples to found the church, but the whole church fell into error one generation later???? Come on! And this Russel guy succeeded where Christ's apostles failed? And why would God allow Christians for the 1800 years in between to believe wrongly and worship Him wrongly?
Furthermore, the books that are in the present Bible came to be decided by the Christian Church in the late third century/early fourth century A.D. The Church rejected some books and solidified what books were inspired by God. According to JWs, this happened well after the Church was in error. Furthermore, that Bible contained the Old Testament deutero-canonical or apocryphal books that Roman Catholics still accept as fully inspired. They were removed during the Protestant Reformation, following Martin Luther's leading that they are not inspired equally with other Scripture. JW Bibles contain the same books as the traditional Christian Bible (meaning they accept the decisions of the erroneous Christian Church of the 4th century A.D.) and their Bible does not contain the apocryphal books, meaning they followed Martin Luther's decision. How can their Bible have been decided by so-called heretics? This is illogical. But most of the bizarre doctrines they believe are illogical.
JWs reject any belief in hell, despite Jesus' many teachings that hell is real. They believe that the earth will be remade into a "Paradise on earth" like the Garden of Eden, that all JWs will share in, but only 144,000 get to go to heaven with Jehovah. They also believe that though any non-JWs that die simply cease to exist, they will get a chance after death to accept the truth and join in Jehovah's Kingdom (as long as they die before Christ's final return). What do you think the acceptance rate will be? My guess is 100%.
The most offensive thing to me that JWs believe is that Jesus Christ is not God. They totally reject any and all teachings on the trinity. They believe that Jesus is a created being, despite the Bible clearly saying Jesus is God. There was a heretical sect called Arianism in the early fourth century A.D. that taught the same. They were rejected as heretical by the Christian Church council that met at Nicaea in A.D. 325. So you see, JW doctrine is not new. It was started and condemned 1700 years ago. But Charles Russel and his organization had more success than Arius. Arius and his followers died out and were heard of no more. Russel's JWs are world-wide now.
I will write some blogs that deal with doctrines JWs twist. The diety of Christ will be prominent.
Historically, the JWs are best known for their practices of refusing: (1) to serve in the military; (2) to salute the flag or vote; (3) to celebrate Christmas, birthdays, or other holidays; and (4) to give or to accept blood transfusions. [Rejecting the medical practices of vaccinations, organ transplants, and blood transfusions, the Watchtower has caused the deaths of many of its members throughout its history. Interestingly, vaccinations and organ transplants have now been acknowledged by the Watchtower as acceptable practices, contradicting their previous doctrinal position.]
If serving in the military is wrong, why did Israel have armies and kill its enemies? The Old Testament is full of stories of the victories that God gave Israel's armies. Paul tells us in Romans 13 to be subject to the governing authorities, that resisting them is resisting God Himself. In verse 4 Paul calls the government God's servant to execute His wrath on the wrongdoer. We are told to pray for our leaders. How then can JWs be so un-American and unpatriotic as to not serve in the military or vote? They enjoy the freedoms that thousands upon thousands of Americans have shed their blood to safeguard, but are not willing to shed their own for our freedoms. They refuse to serve, and willingly go to jail if drafted.
What's up with not celebrating any holidays? There is no Biblical grounds for that, rather the opposite. Paul wrote in Colossians 2:16, "Therefore let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or sabbath." Paul said not to let people judge you for what holidays you celebrate (or don't celebrate). In verse 17 he tells why: "These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." A life with no holidays??? That's not only terribly boring, but cruel to children.
Furthermore, I saw my father get around this hypocritically. At Thanksgiving JW friends gathered at his home to eat a huge turkey dinner. When I pointed out to my father that he appeared to be celebrating Thanksgiving, he told me that he was not... his friends were all out of work for the day (since it was a national holiday) and turkeys were on sale... so it made sense for them to all gather to eat a big turkey meal. Hahaha!!!!!
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