Are Jehovah's Witnesses an American Sect?

by cedars 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  cedars

  This FAQ was recently added to JW.org...

  Are You an American Sect?

  Our world headquarters is located in the United States of America. However, we are not an American sect for the following reasons:

  • Some define a sect as a group that has broken away from an established religion. Jehovah’s Witnesses have not broken away from some other religious group. Instead, we feel that we have reestablished the form of Christianity that was practiced in the first century.
  • Jehovah’s Witnesses are active in their ministry in over 230 lands and countries. No matter where we live, we give our primary allegiance to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, not to the U.S. government or to any other human government.—John 15:19; 17:15, 16.
  • All of our teachings are based on the Bible, not on the writings of some religious leader in the United States.?—1 Thessalonians 2:13.
  • We follow Jesus Christ, not any human leader.?—Matthew 23:8-10.

  Of the above points, I find the final three most misleading...

  • The Society thinks that, so long as they don't openly swear allegiance to the US government, they are not an "American sect". They are conveniently and rather obviously overlooking that the term "American sect" can be defined simply as a sect that is based in America, and not necessarily one that swears political allegiance to the US government. Surely anyone can see that.
  • The third point is clearly misleading. The teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses are based on the writings of religious leaders (plural) in the United States, namely the 8-member Governing Body acting as the "Faithful and Discreet Slave". This fact is obvious because you can be disfellowshipped for apostasy for disagreeing with Watchtower publications even if you agree with every word of the bible. Anyone who thinks otherwise need only watch the videos of Eric's (Raypublisher's) judicial committee on YouTube, in which he was disfellowshipped on the grounds of apostasy despite believing in the Bible as God's Word.
  • The fourth and final point is also manifestly bogus. Though the Governing Body members don't like to be referred to as "leaders", they frequently print in the publications that should be viewed as "taking the lead" and should have their words obeyed. As with the previous point, a Witness can agree with every word that Jesus has ever spoken but still be disfellowshipped for apostasy if he or she disagrees with the teachings of the Governing Body.

  It's a shame the Society is getting so desperate that they feel compelled to resort to outright lies on their website in an attempt to garner fresh converts. If they have the truth, then why can't they be open and transparent about it? What's wrong with candidly saying, "yes we're based in America, we ARE a sect because we broke free from mainstream Christianity, and we are led by a Governing Body of eight members - if you have a problem with that speak to Jesus, he chose our organization in 1919!"

  Cedars
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  00DAD

  jw.org: Jehovah’s Witnesses have not broken away from some other religious group.

  Well that's simply not true. I cursory study of Russell's history reveals that he was actively associated with several religious groups in the 1800s, particularly Adventists.

  WT leaders are fond of changing the meanings of words to make them say what they want with complete disregard for the truth or historical facts.

  Liars gotta' lie.
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  sir82

  They are following the primary rule of politicians dealing with the press: Answer the question you want to answer, not the one asked.
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  Jaime l de Aragon

  
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  mythreesons

  They broke away from 'main stream' Christianity at the time....he didn't agree with Hellfire, Immortal soul or the Trinity...so he broke away. How is that not a sect???
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  Emery

  It's an American Apocalyptic Pseudo-Christian sect/cult.
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  james_woods

  Wonder which they are more upset about - being called a "sect", or being called "american"?
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  Juan Viejo2

  The Watchtower publishing company and religion (in that order) is very typically American in the same way that the Mormons, Christian Science, and the WWCofG (Herbert W. and Garner Ted Armstrong's version) are American. They promote traditional American values and mores (mo-rays) unlike the Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches do (all European traditions).

  It's amazing how far they have evolved from Russell's version of simple local Bible Study groups to a heirarchal catholic-style modern church led by a group of eight archbishops or demi-cardinals. How long will it be before they reinstitute the president of the governing body and set up a pope or "Archbishop of Canterbury" style leader? I think their American history and basic values prevents them from taking that last step - at least for the near future.

  Just the idea of how they dress and their use of magazines and books to spread their word is very typically American. It's amazing that they haven't bought the rights to John T. Molloy's "Dress for Success." It was Molloy who pushed the idea that men dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and conservative long tie could use their appearance to convince others of that they were more intelligent, held higher standards, and were more successful than the average citizen. Of course we know that all of those well-dressed bankers and stock manipulators that nearly destroyed our economy in 2008 had none of those attributes.

  Even the Watchtower's resistance to beards, mustaches, and sideburns on male JWs equates to that same American philosophy that being "clean shaven" is somehow more pleasing to God and makes their message more acceptable to the masses. All it does around here is warn everyone that JWs are in the neighborhood.

  Where I live in the Pacific Northwest where no one wears a suit and tie except for a few politicians (when the government is in session) and Jehovah's Witnesses. The other night I went into a "5 Guys" hamburger joint and there were about 40 men and boys of all ages from 9 to 79 who were there wearing black or gray pants, black shoes, white shirts and long ties. A few were wearing suit coats. I overheard several of the locals asking them what was going on. I couldn't hear very clearly, but it was obvious that they had been to a special training session of some sort. They might have been Mormons, but I think it was a local group of JW men going to some special training day. They just had that smell about them...

  JV
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  dog is god

  Yes they are. They did not import from Europe or Isreal (Isreal is a little joke here..very little). They broke off from the adventists. Born in the USA.
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  Satanus

  Jehovahs witnesses, thanks to rutherford, broke away from russel's bible students. The latest new light enlarges that break by stating that rusell was not part of the faithful slave. Pronouncing 1919 as the start of the slave's existence further build a boundary between them and russel/bible students.

  S