Qcmbr
Source of authority claimed - (Heavenly vision V. One man with another bible interpretation)
JW's have claimed inspiration, so no difference there.
Understanding of purpose of life - (Become like God V. Live on perfected earth forever)
That's minutae; the difference between one fairy story and another. For example;
- Disinherited girl kept as skivvy, bad step mother and sisters, a good fairy, magic, Prince, happily ever after
- Girl fleeing death hiding in woods, good dwarves, bad Queen, magic, Price, happily ever after
The above pair are functionaly identical; threat, escape, isolation from natural place in order of things, dispair, a mystic messenger, magic, a hero and happy resolution.
Shunning - (LDs actively reach out to those who leave V. Matter of faith not to visit.)
WRONG and you know it. I am sure that both JW and Mormon Elders feel they reach out to disfellowshipped ones as they 'should'. And both are only really interesed in those disfellowshipped who accept their fault and return meekly. Are all the x-Mormons liars?
Relationship To Other Faiths - (LDS have no preaching work against other faiths V. JWs regularly producing media detracting from others faith.)
Oh come now; don't try to hide the true feelings of LDS about other religions. According to the official story of the LDS Church, in 1820 Smith was visited by God the Father and God the Son, after praying about which church he should join. He was told by Jesus, he should join none of them for they were "all wrong" and all the Christian church's doctrines "were an abomination" (Joseph Smith - History 19, Pearl of Great Price). Mormons consider other faiths to be as wrong as JW's consider other faiths to be wrong; all it is is thatMornons are better at PR; so no functional difference in beliefs there
Path to God - (Faith in Jesus V. Faith in WT)
How can the path to god be faith in Jesus in an organisation where a human heirachy can rule someone is no longer on path to god? Both organisations have faith in BOOKS and an oligarchal power struture; individuals in both faith my THINK it's all about Jee-SUS!, but that's just conditioning.
Afterlife - (All get to continue progressing V. All dead until resurrection)
Minutae; both offer a fantsy "kiss-it-better" solution to human mortality; the doctrines are functionaly identical in what they represent to believers.
Secular Education - (Encouraged V. Discouraged)
They encourage it and then ignore it; look at this rubbish;
http://www.zaksite.co.uk/whyprophets/prophets/new/deluge.htm
The final closing of the bridge between Asia and America would come at the end of the process of separating the landmasses (which might have taken 100 years or 100 million years - it is all the same to God)
... I can also cite works by a 9/11 Conspiracy nut and Professor of Bring'em Young University who also believes in the FanstasyFlood.
How can an organsiation whose beliefs run contrary to scientific fact, but whose ideology is so totalitarian that this is ignored even by educated followers be said to 'encourage it'? The LDS no more encourage education than someone who teaches somone to read and then blinds them encourages reading.
Family - (Eternal Unit V. Divided - esp. if one anointed)
Show me the fuctional difference of this belief please. I don't think you can.
Scripture - (Inspired but corrupted V Inspired and Deified)
WRONG and you know it, the Morons just base their faith to a large part on a 19th Century fabrication that claims inspiration.
Revelation - (Ongoing V Stopped)
I suggest you turn the new light on so you can see better; yup, the Mormons revise their faith and so do the JW's; the justifications they give may be different but it is functionally identical.
Spirit - (Person V Power)
And what functional difference is there in this belief? About the same as the two sub-species of zebra I mentioned having slightly different stripes I think.
Kingdom - (All Areas Of life V Preaching Only)
If I gave more of a damn I'd cite WT articles saying how all a Dubbie's life should bear Witness. As we all know there are such artciles I'll refrain from citation and assume we can agree both encourage a 'whole-of-life' approach to the practise of their faith.
Responsibility - (Get Own Witness V. Accept WT Witness)
Pfff! Come off it. Neither religion cultivates personal responsibility. You might think they do, but hell, yes? and? so? what?
Celebrations - (Accepted V Banned)
LOL. JW's have celebrations too, just not Christmas or birthdays. So, no difference.
Preaching - (2 years mission + lifetime example V Lifetime knocking)
Minutae; 2 years FULL TIME equals 17 years at 10 hours a month; they both perform the same functionality, i.e. prostylsing.
There are plenty of similarities
Yes, I know. And as doctrine is unprovable, you cannot demonstrate any functional difference between the two religions. Both are a niche belief who believe in modern-day inspiration, who prostlyse, who encourage donations to support the religion, who ignore modern science, who revise beliefs at whim on pretexts, and who shun those who speak out of line or defy beliefs.
There are more similarities between Dubbism and Mormonism than you care to admit.
SusanHere
And, c'mon people! Isn't his "differences" list pretty clear in showing that there are actually many key differences in major doctrinal points between LDS and JW?
To someone with knowledge they can differentiate the two. But to external observers they are identical in the nature if not the form of their beliefs and the functional effects (shunning knowledge that conflicts with doctrine, shunning people, etc.) are pretty much identical. I am sure the two sub-speices of zebra are very clear on their differences. To most people they're zebras.
But do you seriously think cultists will admit to being cultists? Moonie, Mormon or Dubbie, they'll all deny it. Of course you and Qcmbr will!
