Interested In Learning More About Jehovah Witnesses

by T3nd3rl0v1n 14 Replies latest jw friends

T3nd3rl0v1n

Hello,
My name is Latasha and I attend Paine College in Augusta, Georiga. For my Religion of the World class we were assigned a research paper comparing our religion to another. Also, we must present to the class a little information about our experience with the religion we choosen. I chose Jehovah Witnesses because I know little about the religion and interested in understanding your beliefs. I have some questions that I would like anyone to answer. If my questions seem ignorant and prejudice I deeply apologize. Some of my questions are from what other people say about Jehovah Witnesses and information I read from different websites.
One of my questions is about The Pledge of Allegiance and why Jehovah Witnesses don't participate during the event. Second, what is the reason why Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate holidays? Third, how is the church service? In other words, when does the service start and end? Do you meet every sunday like Baptist, Methodist etc. Do Jehovah Witnesses take communion every first sunday each month? Is their a church choir? Fourth, I read at one website that Jehovah Witnesses certain themselves Christians, but at another website it stated that Jehovah Witnesses aren't and far from it. Do you certain yourself Christians? If not why? if so why?
I present this Tuesday and I would greatly appreciate if some people could help me and my class have a better understanding of the Jehovah Witnesses. If there is any other information that anyone feels that would be helpful for my research please feel free to tell me. You can leave a post or email me at my email address. [email protected]. Thank you for your time and help. Hope everyone has a great week. Bye!!
Sincerely,
Latasha W.
P.S. If I have offended anyone I apologize and that is not my intention. Also, if you don't mind please leave your name, what church you attend and how long you been a Jehovah Witness. Once again thank you.
heathen

I think you are barking up the wrong tree . The only people on this board that are still in the org. are trying to get themselves and loved ones out of the org. You can find enless information about the org. on this site and several others that are linked .
Badger

This is a GREAT place to learn about the beliefs and history of JW's....
Blondie? AlanF? metatron? The floor is yours....
stichione

After you learn whatever it is you want to know, run like hell and never look back.
PurpleV

One of my questions is about The Pledge of Allegiance and why Jehovah Witnesses don't participate during the event.

Because they claim to be no part of 'this world' and abstain from politics, military service, voting, etc.
Second, what is the reason why Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate holidays?
There are lots of reasons, mostly due to pagan origins. They don't celebrate birthdays because John the Baptist had his head chopped off at one.
Third, how is the church service? In other words, when does the service start and end? Do you meet every sunday like Baptist, Methodist etc.
There are 5 hours of mind-numbingly boring meetings a week, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, but they're not service or worship. They are a study of Watchtower publications and serve to brainwash their adherents with constant repetition of the same material over and over, i.e. that their organization is being used by God and only JWs will survive Armageddon (which has been coming "any minute now" for over a century), and that anyone who rejects the message preached by JWs will be killed after the Great Tribulation and have their eyes picked out by birds. Oh, when they go door-to-door to preach they fantasize about what house they'll take over after it's all over.
Do Jehovah Witnesses take communion every first sunday each month?
Communion is reserved for "special" JWs only. Rank and file are forbidden to partake of the bread and wine and instead pass it around without touching it. BTW they only do this once a year at a special Memorial.
Is their a church choir?
Ummmm, no. They play pre-recorded music and sing the lyrics.
Fourth, I read at one website that Jehovah Witnesses certain themselves Christians, but at another website it stated that Jehovah Witnesses aren't and far from it.
JWs claim to be Christian, but then again they believe that Jesus was only an archangel so that really doesn't make any sense. JWs are violently opposed to the Trinity.
Do you certain yourself Christians? If not why? if so why?
I was a JW from birth until about 20 years ago. I became a Christian after I freed myself from bondage to that organization.
Good luck with your paper. I'm sure many others here will give you more good info.
Nosferatu

I chose Jehovah Witnesses because I know little about the religion and interested in understanding your beliefs.

I'll tell you something, they're no longer my beliefs! :)
One of my questions is about The Pledge of Allegiance and why Jehovah Witnesses don't participate during the event.
Because they would be "worshipping" the country they live in. They're supposed to put their trust in Jehovah God only, not some man-made government organization.
Second, what is the reason why Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate holidays?
Because they all have pagan origins.
Third, how is the church service?
Boring.
In other words, when does the service start and end?
Depends on how the congregations arrange them (there's more than one). They're called "meetings" and they have five a week. They have the "Theocratic Ministry School" and the "Service Meeting" usually on Thursday night. They have a "Book Study" usually on Tuesday night. Then, they have the "Public Talk" and the "Watchtower Study" on Sunday. 1 Hour on Tuesday, 1hour 45 minutes on Thursday, and 2 hours on Sunday.
Do Jehovah Witnesses take communion every first sunday each month?
Nope. They celebrate the "Memorial" once a year by passing the bread & wine. However, JWs believe that only 144,000 go to heaven, and only those can partake. The rest will end up in a Paradise Earth after Armageddon.
Is their a church choir?
Nope. Every member has a songbook called "Sing Praises to Jehovah", and they all participate in singing, even if they suck.
Do you certain yourself Christians?
I think a better question is "do JWs consider themselves Christians"? Most people on this site are ex-members. I believe that JWs honestly do consider themselves Christians, but they fail to realize that they put little emphasis on Jesus Christ, the example he set and what he accomplish. They mainly focus on Jehovah God and how "loving" he is by destroying the unrighteous.
If there is any other information that anyone feels that would be helpful for my research please feel free to tell me.
There is an abundance of information at http://www.freeminds.org
edited to add:
Also, if you don't mind please leave your name, what church you attend and how long you been a Jehovah Witness.
I don't think much of that is relevant. I studied with the JWs for 13 years, but never got baptized. I've been out for 8 years, and I'm much happier now!
Doubtfully Yours

You'll only get lots of negative stuff here. Sort of like asking a divorced person about their 'ex'.
Please go to their official website 'www.watchtower.org'
DY
cyber-sista

When we were JWs we thought that everything we did was for an honorable purpose (such as not saluting the flag, etc).
We were taught that saluting the flag was a form of idolatry or the worshipping of a goverment that was putting themselves above God. We also believed that all governments and peoples apart from Jehovah's witnesses would be destroyed by God at Armegeddon time because they were all wicked and under Satan's influence. After many years of this sort of brainwashing many of us woke up and discovered that it wasn't the truth at all and that we had all been working for a giant real estate investment and book publishing company.
This isn't the end of it though because it is hard for us to just leave the WT Org. Many here are now disfellowshipped or shunned because they no longer follow the JW rules and regulations. Thousands have been torn from their families because of this. Faithful Jehovah's witness parents are no longer allowed to speak with their children who have left the Org and vice-versa. This site is like a support group to many who have been damaged by the WT Org in one way or another. That's it in a nutshell.
ColdRedRain

You'll only get lots of negative stuff here. Sort of like asking a divorced person about their 'ex'

Actually, I think that some people in this group can give out good information to never-beens without including bitter references. Here's mine.
One of my questions is about The Pledge of Allegiance and why Jehovah Witnesses don't participate during the event.
They believe that the governments of the earth are all ran by Satan, so pledging to the flag would equate to Satan worship. Aslo, the flag is seen as an idol, an icon, and being the strict Iconoclasts the JW's are, they would rather not worship icons.
Second, what is the reason why Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate holidays?
Because the holidays celebrating religious events (Easter, Christmas, etc.) according to them are pagan in origin. They're not the real dates of the ressurection and the birth of Christ, etc. Celebrating holidays that honor people is considered idolotry. Celebrating holidays of national independence or great events in the nation's history is also considered to be Idolotry. Celebrating holidays of ideas, like Thanksgiving or the International Day Of Peace is considered redundant, because "Christians are supposed to celebrate those things every day."
Third, how is the church service? In other words, when does the service start and end? Do you meet every Sunday like Baptist, Methodist etc.
Church service is usually set up like this: 2 hours on Saturday or Sunday, with the first part, a speach is given based on the Bible by ministers in the church. (OK, I lied, I do have something negative to say about this. The speaches are dry and they're given by ministers who have little training in the Biblical sciences.) The second hour is a reading of the JW's principal magazine, the Watchtower.
On a weekday, there's usually a 2 hour church service, which includes 30 minutes of a speach by a senior JW minister, and 30 minutes of speaches given by rank and file members and women. Women do not give the main speach, because as you know, women aren't allowed to become senior ministers.
There's also a reading of one of the JW books that are usually held at member's houses, but sometimes, they're held at the Churches.
Do Jehovah Witnesses take communion every first sunday each month?
No. Communion is only allowed for a certian class of JW's, who are said to be one of the 144K of Revelation 7 (Which I find to be quite quaint, since a majority of them aren't Jewish.)
Is their a church choir?
No.
Fourth, I read at one website that Jehovah Witnesses certain themselves Christians, but at another website it stated that Jehovah Witnesses aren't and far from it. Do you certain yourself Christians? If not why? if so why?
Wrong person to ask. I'm an agnostic/deist. I don't consider myself to be Christian. But when I was a JW, I did consider myself Christian, because a Christian in the most conservative sense, is simply one who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ and who believe that he was chosen to die for humankind.
The sites that say that the JW's aren't Christian are usually fundie churches that believe that since the JW's don't fit into their ideas of Christianity, they're not Christian. Even as an agnostic, I find that to be a fallacious reasoning for Christianity.
I present this Tuesday and I would greatly appreciate if some people could help me and my class have a better understanding of the Jehovah Witnesses. If there is any other information that anyone feels that would be helpful for my research please feel free to tell me. You can leave a post or email me at my email address. [email protected]. Thank you for your time and help. Hope everyone has a great week. Bye!!
You're going to get one helluvan e-mail.
Nosferatu

Actually, I think that some people in this group can give out good information to never-beens without including bitter references.

I agree. I think it's the way the questions were asked that's setting people's words on fire. Tenderlovin's questions were directed to personal experience rather than basic practicings of JWs. If everyone answers these questions without including personal experience, her questions will be answered.

Interested In Learning More About Jehovah Witnesses

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