Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But that is just it, I have spoken with numerous JW's and even former members and what they both say are in disagreement with what you have stated earlier.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that in order to survive Armageddon, you must be in some way,shape, or form, affiliated with the JW religion. If this were not so, then why do JW's continue trying to convert me at the door?
What did they say? I'm more inclined to believe that you misunderstood them since it's evident from the quote I gave you that the stand of the organization is clear. People can be a bit 'absolutist' when they feel strongly about something, as I'm sure you're aware. It's an imperfect human trait. I've been told in no uncertain terms by quite a few baptists that I'm going to hell. My husband has a friend at work who is baptist that tells him constantly that it is up to him to 'save' my husband since we are so 'wrong' in our beliefs. I don't think that means that the stand of every single baptist is one of judgement and damnation however.
As I've told you, with the support of Watchtower.org itself, Jehovah's Witnesses DO NOT believe you must affiliated with the religion in order to survive Armageddon. Just because we feel that we have found the truth of God's word, does not mean that every member associated with our organization is guaranteed salvation or that those of other faiths are damned. And we don't practice doorstep conversions. The reason we go from door to door is because Jesus instructed us to 'go therefore and make disciples' and this practice was strongly supported by the 1st century Christian Congregation. It was instructed to ALL Christians to do this. Even Baptists feel they are doing it -just not in the same manner (though I have been visited several times by local members of the faith who were passing out flyers for their church).
JW are not in the business of 'gaining membership' or 'peddling' our faith. We offer free home bible studies to those who are SEARCHING for something else. If you are happy with your faith, and not interested in discussing the bible with us, we move on.
I have even read from your own magazines that back up what these JW's were saying, either one of 2 things.
1. Jehovah's Witnesses have changed their belief along the way concerning those who will survive Armageddon
or
2. You are kinda new to your faith.
I worked with a JW and she even showed me from your very own publications that only JW's will survive Armageddon.
No, we have not changed our beliefs. I am 33 yrs old and I was born into the organization, though I wasnt baptized until later since we don't do infant baptism. The Watchtower website backs up the statement I made with scripture and I have made it a practice to read every issue of the Watchtower since I was about eleven years old. Our stand has always been the same.
If you understood one of our publications to say that you must be 'Jehovah's Witness' in order to survive Armageddon, the statement was evidently taken out of context. This statement, from the 1957 Watchtower, still applies:
'The purpose of the ministry is to share in the vindication of Jehovah’s name, to find and feed the other sheep, and to prove faithful as a witness of Jehovah. It is not the aim or goal of Jehovah’s witnesses to convert this old world. That will never be done, for clearly it is stated at Matthew 24:38, 39 (NW) the most of this world’s inhabitants, as in Noah’s day, will be destroyed at the approaching battle of Armageddon. While the world as a whole is content to eat, drink and be merry, there are those who sigh and cry over existing conditions. These are the ones who must be found and assisted while time permits. All who hope to survive the great war of Armageddon, which rapidly draws near, must listen and respond to Jehovah’s invitation: ‘Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”—Zeph. 2:3, AS.'
Notice, it says those who hope to survive must respond to the scriptural invitation. NOT be baptized as a Jehovah's Witness. Being a witness of Jehovah does not involve labeling yourself. It is a heart condition. We feel the same urge to assist others to salvation that YOU do I'm sure.
You want to hear the condensed version of what they told me?
Basically-- that all religions, besides JW's, are false religion, and that in order to be eligible for salvation, I must become one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Short answer to the OP . . . NO . . . they should be considered Jehovans . . . as should all who believe in the jealous, wrathful, hateful, vengeful, evil-creating, genocidal, infant and children killing god of the OT.
You want to hear the condensed version of what they told me?
Basically-- that all religions, besides JW's, are false religion, and that in order to be eligible for salvation, I must become one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
That is the condensed version.
haha. Sounds like their zeal got the better of them.
Jesus said that the way to salvation was 'cramped and narrow and few are the ones finding it'. That means not ALL religions, since there are so many different beliefs, can have it right. Most baptists I talk to agree with this (grouping me in with the ones who don't have it right, I might add ) I do believe Jehovah's Witnesses are correct in their understanding of the bible or I would not call myself one. Therefore, those religions of Christendom that I feel don't represent Christ the way he should be, would qualify as 'false'. So in that, I agree.
However, I do not have the right to state that those who side themselves with those relgions, if they earnestly believe they are worshipping God in the correct way, are not going to be 'saved'. So in that, your friend was wrong.
Short answer to the OP . . . NO . . . they should be considered Jehovans . . . as should all who believe in the jealous, wrathful, hateful, vengeful, evil-creating, genocidal, infant and children killing god of the OT.
Oh my! So Christ, when he quoted from the OT on several occasions, is evidently in the same boat??
Oh my! So Christ, when he quoted from the OT on several occasions, is evidently in the same boat??
No . . . there is only one God the Father . . . but the OT descriptions born of human ignorance are wrong . . . Jesus is the embodiment of God's spirit. All the negative emotions cited for Jehova are of HUMAN origin and not of God. Only the positive emotions are of God . . . with Love being the paramount one.
No . . . there is only one God the Father . . . but the OT descriptions born of human ignorance are wrong . . . Jesus is the embodiment of God's spirit. All the negative emotions cited for Jehova are of HUMAN origin and not of God. Only the positive emotions are of God . . . with Love being the paramount one.
That's exactly right. That is why I don't see the negative connotations of the God of the OT. I see the love. And I know that Jesus would not have continually lauded the God of the OT, if he wasnt worthy of that praise.
Oh my! So Christ, when he quoted from the OT on several occasions, is evidently in the same boat??
One day a couple of JW's came over my house and talked about the end of the world using Bible passages. Any denomination who emphasizes discussions on armegeddan is a "joy sucking" religion. God is Joy and Love. "Joy sucking" is anti-God.
My wife's mother's siblings, all ten of them, were all baptized Catholic. The youngest boy became depressed at a point in his life, was stalked by some JW's, and of course, snared him. That's what JW's do, prey on the weak. At his 82 year old mother's deathbed, he told her to repent and become a JW because she was going to hell. That women was one of the nicest women I had ever met. Never said a bad thing about anyone. Went to Mass EVERY DAY! ...and she was going to hell? The son disturbed her, not because she thought she was going to hell, but because she knew how lost he had become.
Needless to say that one son is kind of an outcast that has very little communication with the rest of his family.
Merry Christmas to all you JW's out there!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) I do believe Jehovah's Witnesses are correct in their understanding of the bible or I would not call myself one. Therefore, those religions of Christendom that I feel don't represent Christ the way he should be, would qualify as 'false'. So in that, I agree.
