Understanding the Basics of Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses appear to be Christians on the outside. They teach against evolution and apostasy in the church. That is where the similarities end however.
With with their twisting of scripture to make it read how they want it to read as opposed to accepting it as the Word of God, they have totally gotten lost in the process and become yet another legalistic, man made religion.
The Millerite Movement of the early/mid 1800s split and formed two religions, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh Day Adventists. These two groups share more than common roots, they have shared unique doctrines such as soul sleep, annihilation, legalism, denial of the deity of Christ and the remnant church philosophy, that there is no salvation outside of their organization, doctrines and rituals.
Also like the Adventists, the Jehovah's Witnesses have taken the liberty of writing their own bible, the New World Translation, written to correct those scriptures that conflict with their doctrinal beliefs.
The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (WTBTS), also known as the Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) was formed as the Zion's Watch Tower in 1879 by Charles Taze Russell.
Because of his rejection of the concept of Hell, Russell began to challenge many other concepts in the bible and ultimately added and removed the ones he didn't agree with until he built a theology that does not even mirror Christianity any longer. Many of these original retranslations and interpretations can be found in his series of books called, Studies in the Scriptures.
When Russell died in 1916, the nod for leadership of this group went to Joseph F. Rutherford, who in turn revised the writings of Russell, deleting doctrines he didn't agree with and adding his own commentary at will. This began with his book, Harp of God in 1921. He authored some additional 20 books over the next 20 years but none caused as much controversy in the movement as his addition of a new volume of Russell's series, Studies in the Scriptures. Because of this writing, the movement splintered and Rutherford's group changed their name to the WTBTS.
Nathan H. Knorr was the third president of this organization and it was under his direction that the WTBTS bible, the New World Edition, was published in 1961.
Today, the organization is based in Brooklyn, NY and generally referred to as the Watch Tower or the JWs. Their leader as of this writing is Milton G. Henschel.
As with most sects originating out of the 1800s, JWs believe their group to be the only true church on earth, the remnant. Other doctrines include the denial of the deity of Jesus, soul sleep and extreme legalism as a means of salvation. The JWs are best known for their doomsday predictions and their practice of date 'setting' the time of Armageddon.
As seen in the "remnant churches" of the 1800s, the JWs teach that there is no salvation outside of their membership. They actively proselytize Christians as they consider them the "false religion", the "harlot" and "Babylon", all referenced in Revelation to the false prophet and the ecumenical one-world religion.
JWs teach that there are three possible outcomes for eternity - the first two are restricted to the members of the sect.
1. Heaven - this is limited to 144,000 people, called the "John Class" or "Heavenly Kingdom Class". This is made up of select JWs and the count began in 1893 with their first official baptism ceremony.
2. Earth - this is the destiny of the rest of the faithful members. They claim this represents the "Great Multitude" in Rev 7:9 who will live forever in a restored earth.
3. Soul Sleep and Annihilation - This is for the balance of society, those who do not belong to the JW organization.
The JW organization claims that they preach salvation by grace but there is a huge flaw in this assertion. As their membership grew, the 144,000 theory became less plausible so the doctrine was altered to say that it is not the original 144,000 members as once taught, but your destiny being heaven or earth will be determined at the end and based upon your works.
The organization claims that by joining and being baptized by them that you will gain eternal life BUT your destiny is contingent on your works. Thay maintain that there is no salvation outside of their rituals, doctrines and organization membership.
Salvation in the Jehovah's Witness organization is heavily legalistic in definition. A destiny of heaven or earth for eternity is based on a strict system of dos and don'ts. Here are a few select rules that the JWs promote.
Witnessing - the most important. People are even given different titles based on their hours of service. It is believed that the witnessing activity in conjunction with abstinence of the items listed below will directly affect your eternal destiny.
Baptism - full body immersion and only by a qualified church leader.
Secular - they are not to have anything to do with the secular world. This includes music, television, movies, drinking alcohol, smoking, sports, school activities such as clubs, girl/boy scouts and the like.
Traditional - believing most traditions to be pagan in nature, they reject the practices of holidays and observances such as Easter, Christmas, Anniversaries, Birthdays, Mothers/Fathers day as well as most other holidays and milestone observances.
Political - The JWs refuse to be involved in any political actions including voting, saluting the flag and serving in the armed forces. This is all based on their refusal to pledge allegiance to anything other than Jehovah.
Religious - No crosses are to be displayed in the worship hall, on a person or in their house. They teach that Jesus was crucified on a stake and that the cross is a pagan symbol. Only the 'anointed' members may take communion. These are determined by the organization and are very few and far between in number. Communion for the anointed is held in the spring.
Medical - Organ transplants and blood transfusions are expressly forbidden. This goes back to the Old Testament time when the Lord warned Israel about their handling of blood. Vaccinations were once forbidden as well, but the JW organization has changed their position on that due to the numerous deaths of its members over its history due to improper medical care.
This is the most well known of the Jehovah's Witness doctrines and is adhered to by the Seventh Day Adventists (SDAs) as well: the concepts of no hell and soul sleep.
The doctrine of soul sleep is based on the belief that human beings don't have an immortal soul, that their soul is their physical existence, and when the body dies, the soul goes to the grave. From there, those who are righteous are said to be risen at the resurrection, those who are evil are annihilated.
JWs maintain that it would be unloving and unjust for God to punish someone forever. Unfortunately, they are denying the teachings of Jesus himself on this subject. Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about heaven. Jesus described hell (Hades as well as Ghenna) as a place of torment, agony in the fire, where the fire does not go out. All of these teachings are denied in lieu of a doctrine of eternal sleep and a cessation of existence.
Jehovah's Witnesses deny the deity of Christ, his physical resurrection and his visible return.
They teach that the first creative act of the Father was to create the spirit being, Archangel Michael, who later donned a physical body to be seen by his followers in the persona of Jesus. Additionally, they hold that as Jesus, the Archangel was a perfect man who became the Messiah at the time of his baptism. The resurrection of Jesus is said to be a spiritual one, not a physical one.
They deny the deity of the Holy Spirit as well, describing it as an " ...impersonal, invisible, inactive force that finds its source and reservoir in Jehovah God." (Let Your Name be Sanctified, p. 269).
One of the major changes made when the JWs wrote the New World Translation bible, was the rewrite of all verses pertaining to the deity of Christ and the trinity.
In addition to the door to door witnessing techniques, this is the other item that the JWs are renowned for - their obsession with prophesy.
As seen in the salvation section, JWs have their own unique interpretation of the end times events and who the scriptures are speaking of. They deny the doctrine of the rapture of the church and are incessant date setters, with false prediction after false prediction about the timing of Armageddon.
Their most notable dates (usually followed by some promise to never do it again) include 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975 and 1989. When the 1914 date failed, rather than acknowledge it for the false prediction that it was, they simply declared that Jesus had returned to the earth, just in invisible form and they continued setting Armageddon dates for future fulfillment.
The book of Galatians warns about receiving 'another gospel' from an angel that does not agree with the message of Christ...
Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Lets compare that admonishion to the following two quotes from the Jehovah's Witnesses' leadership...
"...the heavenly messengers or angels of the Lord now used by the Lord in behalf of the remnant. These angels are invisible to human eyes and are there to carry out the orders of the Lord. No doubt they first hear the instruction which the Lord issues to his remnant and then these invisible messengers pass such instruction on to the remnant." (Vindication, volume III, 1932, p. 250)
"Again God put it in the mind of his people, by his angel, to act and to carry out his purposes." (Light, volume 1, 1930, p. 120.)
As is common with splinter groups, the JWs decided that the bible had been translated improperly and set about to create their own version of scripture. The New World Translation (NWT) was written by a committee of 5.
One of the most notable changes in the NWE is the rewrite of John 1:1.
The King James Version says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The NWT added the qualifier, "a" and takes the capitalization emphasis off of "God".
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.
The logic here is that the ArchAngel Michael/Jesus is a little "g" god but inferior to Jehovah God.
http://www.carm.org/witnesses.htm
http://www.rickross.com/groups/witness.html