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 | The inerrancy of the Bible; |
| The belief that God inspired the Bible's authors |
| The Virgin Birth; |
| Jesus giving his life as a ransom for past and future humanity; |
| Opposition to divorce, homosexuality, pre-marital sex and abortion; |
| The immense influence of Satan in the world; |
| The validity of the Genesis creation story and rejection of the theory of evolution etc. |
There are many exceptions where Witnesses deviate from historical conservative Christianity:
| They do not believe in the Trinity. Instead, they follow a strict monotheism, in which:
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| The Heavenly Kingdom took effect in 1914 with the invisible enthronement of Christ as King. It is currently occupied by a little flock or Anointed Class of about 144,000 people who were selected by God after Christ's ascension into heaven at Pentecost (33 CE) and during subsequent centuries. Some 8,500 are still living on earth; this number is declining due to deaths among the group. | ||||||
| They reject the traditional symbol of Christianity, the cross, because it is of pre-Christian, pagan origin. They accept an alternative translation of the Greek word "stauros," rendering it as "torture stake." They believe that Jesus was executed by being nailed to a single upright wooden stake with no cross beam. | ||||||
| Christ's Second Coming was not a physical return to earth. It was an invisible event in 1914 in which Satan and Christ engaged in a heavenly battle. Afterwards, Christ began to the rule the Heavenly Kingdom as King of Kings. Satan was expelled to Earth. World War I was a visible sign of Satan's ousting from Heaven and earthly imprisonment. This event marked the beginning of the woes that would accompany the "last days of this system of things." | ||||||
| In the very near future, the battle of Har-Magedon (Armageddon) will begin. Jesus, under Jehovah's divine rage, will execute vengeance upon most non-Witnesses and most followers of those other religious traditions which ignore the Bible or follow interpretations of the Bible that do not agree with the Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs. The Witnesses refer to those religions as "Babylon the Great," or the "world empire of false religion" (Revelation 17). After much suffering, massive human extermination, and many upheavals, the world will be purified. The Earth will be returned to a peaceful, cleansed state ruled by Jesus Christ and populated by a "great crowd" who accept his rule and God's sovereignty. "God's Kingdom," a theocracy, will be established on earth and operate for 1000 years. This is known as the millennium or the "New System" of things. The "other sheep" (those who survive Armageddon), will live in peace in the newly created paradise. At this point "there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous." (Acts 24:15). The faithful will be granted eternal life. Others will be given a second chance to accept God's rule. Jehovah's Witnesses' beliefs on this near universal resurrection are often misunderstood or misrepresented by critics of the WTS. | ||||||
| After the 1000 years of God's Kingdom, Satan and his demons will be released for a short time. They, and their human followers, will then be destroyed. | ||||||
| Humans do not have an immortal soul that continues on after death. When they die, they cease to exist. With the exception of those who have sinned against the Holy Spirit, and those who killed Jesus, and those who God has judged to receive eternal death, all are resurrected. God creates a new body for the resurrected one, similar to their former body, which for most had long since decomposed. The new body is mentally and physically healthy, with the original personality and memories intact. They will be judged according to their deeds. | ||||||
| They totally deny the existence of the traditional Christian view of Hell. Satan is regarded as having created the concept of Hellfire in order to turn people against God. They believe that hell is the "common grave of mankind" where people go when they die. They are not conscious there. Unbelievers simply cease to exist at death; they are annihilated. | ||||||
| The requirements for salvation are somewhat similar to those found in other conservative Protestant groups. It requires "taking in knowledge" of God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3), repentance of sins, acceptance of the sacrificial atonement of Jesus, and conforming, as much as humanly possible, to the teachings of the Christ as stated in the Bible. Good works are an expected evidence of the member's prior salvation but are not the source of salvation. | ||||||
| God's name, in the English language, is Jehovah. Most Christian theologians believe that Yahweh is a closer approximation. | ||||||
| The over one thousand conservative Protestant faith groups in North America, including the WTS, have always held different interpretations of key biblical passages and of Jesus' teachings. |
A brief comparison of Jehovah's Witnesses to historical Christian beliefs:
| Teaching | Jehovah's Witnesses | Historical Christianity | ||||
| Nature of Jehovah | The Supreme Being, indivisible | One personality in the Trinity. | ||||
| Nature of Jesus | Son of God; a spirit, separate from Jehovah | One personality in the Trinity. | ||||
| Nature of the Holy Spirit | A force used by God to interact with the world | One personality in the Trinity. | ||||
| Method of Jesus' execution | By a torture stake, with no cross-beam. | By a cross: a vertical stake with a cross-beam. | ||||
| Christ's Second Coming | Invisible, not physical. It happened in 1914 | Visible and physical. Will happen in the future. | ||||
| Hell | Concept created by Satan to turn people against Jehovah | A place or state of being involving eternal torture | ||||
| Salvation | Achieved by accepting Witness beliefs, being baptized, and following certain activities specified by the group. |
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Practices:
| During the year 2000, 6 million Jehovah's Witnesses spent 1.1 billion hours in various evangelistic activities in 235 countries, including the distribution of over 700 million pieces of printed material, and thousands of audio and video cassettes. 1 | ||||||||||
| They recognize only one day of celebration: the Memorial of Christ's Death at the time of Passover. Although they estimate that Jesus was born sometime during October, this date is not celebrated. Members who are found celebrating "worldly" or "Pagan" holidays, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Canada Day, Halloween, etc.) may be disfellowshipped (excommunicated). | ||||||||||
| Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate their own birthdays, because it is considered a glorification of the individual rather than the Creator. | ||||||||||
| Certain practices are forbidden: the use of images during worship, cooperating with non-Witnesses in interfaith movements, and involvement with spiritism. | ||||||||||
| They do not have a Sabbath; they regard all days as holy. There are five meetings each week:
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| There is a great deal of misinformation about limitations on members' access to the Bible. In reality, they are free to use any Bible translations, commentaries, dictionaries etc. that are produced by non-Watchtower publishers. They are encouraged to read the Bible. Each Witness is given a goal of reading of the entire Bible in one year. They encourage Bible study through using of WTS publications as guides. | ||||||||||
| They refer to the Bible as consisting of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Greek Scriptures, rather than Old Testament and New Testament. Like most Protestants, they regard the books of the Apocrypha to be interesting historical documents, but not inspired scriptures. | ||||||||||
| They only observe two sacraments:
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| They regard the world and its governments as currently being under the control of Satan. For this reason they do not run for public office, salute the flag, join the Armed Forces, or vote in elections. However, they do obey all government laws, unless those laws conflict with their interpretation of God's laws. | ||||||||||
| They are taught to be absolutely free of racism and xenophobia. The WTS has consistently and strongly promoted a lack of bigotry based on race and national origin. However, this Kingdom Halls in some localities appear to have deviated from this policy in the past, particularly decades ago in the Southern U.S. towards African-Americans. 2 | ||||||||||
| Like many conservative faith groups, women are excluded from all positions of authority, except the teaching of other women who are recent converts. The leaders of the local congregation, the elders, are all men. Members are taught that men and women are to hold different roles within the family; they teach a complete separation of responsibilities and duties by gender. The husband is expected to play the leadership role; wives are expected to be submissive to their husband. They regard these policies as biblical, and non-sexist. | ||||||||||
| They are dedicated to the principle of religious freedom and have pursued dozens of cases of religious discrimination and persecution to the United States Supreme Court and through the court systems of other countries. In doing so, they have made it easier for their own group to proselytize, and have contributed massively to religious freedom for persons of all faiths. | ||||||||||
| A variety of methods of enforcing membership discipline are used.
Disfellowshipping can have a devastating effect on a person whose entire religious, family and social life are grounded in the Society. In rare instances, it has led to profound depression and even suicide. However, it is often successful when the errant member repents and is reinstated back into the congregation. |
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How you got here: Home page > Christianity > Denominations > Witnesses > here |
References:
- The Watchtower, 2001-APR-1, Page 3.
- "African American Issues" describes, from a black perspective, the Jehovah's Witnesses' attitude towards race. See: http://www.freeminds.org/
- Kelly Saivo, "The Truth of Jehovah's Witnesses," Gilroy Dispatch, 2006-SEP-23, at: http://www.gilroydispatch.com/
Copyright © 1996 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on
Religious Tolerance
Originally written on: 1996-SEP-29
Last updated on: 2008-JAN-17
Author: B.A. Robinson
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