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Can anyone enlighten me on what Jehovah's witness is? Is it a form of christianity? Or something else? What sort of beliefs do they hold?
I don't want any kind of negativity, just the facts and am truely curious as to what this is because I am working with someone who is one. I don't really know her well enough to really get into things with her and don't want to offend her with any questions which may be silly to her.
I think that JW's have some different theology from (I guess 'mainstream' is the best word to use?) Christianity. Some beliefs are the same though.
I'm pretty sure there are some JW's on here who will be able to clarify.
You are very thoughtful Lilas...
I believe (as Nelle said there are some JW's in our community no doubt who will correct me)
that
* it is important to name God as Jehovah
* to "witness" (by going door to door & speaking about Jehovah to those that you come in contact with)
* the literal interpretation of both the old testament & the new testament are taken. Though I am not clear on why that means that JW's eat pork etc. No doubt someone will help me with that too.
* only Jehovah should be celebrated & thus birthdays should not be celebrated.
* as it is believed by some that the time of the year that Christmas is celebrated was adopted from the old religion and the Sabat of Yule - Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas as it is seen as a pagan festival...
* AI also beleive that there is quite a large amount of study on the last book of the bible and thus the apocolyptic side of this. I actually find that fascinating...
* That Jesus will come again & there will be paradise on Earth
* The passover though is celebrated as in keeping with the following of the old testament
I know something else that came to mind...
I think that why passover is celebrated is because some things in the old testament were "cancelled out" (obviously my wording isn't correct) by the new testament & other things were not.
I *think* that might be why the pork thing is okay for JW's - because maybe it was cancelled out by the new testament. I do know that taking "the life blood" of another isn't okay & this has been interpreted by this faith from the new testament but I can't quite remember what the particular area in the new testament that this is from..
HTH
I had a friend who is a JW and they don't believe in accepting blood (transfusions...don't know if it means organs as well?).....not sure why! Anyone?
My DH was one (his mum & sisters still are, but his dad never was), and it has been very interesting learning about what he grew up with. I wouldn't say he & his family were necessarily the strictest, but they do witness every chance they get. Not at me, much, which is good. DH even got a cryptic text message from his mum on his birthday last year! "So what's it like being 34years old??" - we reckon his mum is softening in her old age. ;)
I don't pretend to know anything about the religion specifically, but we did have a spectacularly humerous conversation about creation vs evolution.
Generally, I find them to be nice people, and if you choose to put a line in the sand re: witnessing, it is respected. Technically speaking, I know that DH is meant to be outcast from the family & 'church' for leaving. They can only technically speak to him if they are trying to bring him back to the fold. DH's best mate has had a terrible time (years!) coming to terms with this with his own family - who are a lot stricter than DH's family.
ETA: I think it's really good to learn about other religions in a non-judgemental way. Good for you for starting this thread. :)
There are a few other JW's on the site lilias, but I'm pretty sure I'm the loudest of them all :rofl: I'm happy to try and answer any questions you have...
Believe me, she won't be offended! We get it all the time, and honestly, it is really appreciated that you take the time to ask. Some people have such strange ideas about our beliefs, and I honestly don't know where they come from, so its best to get it from the horses mouth so to speak :):
Our biggest differences from mainstream Christianity is that we don't believe in the Trinity, we don't believe in immortality of the soul, we don't believe everyone goes to heaven, and we don't believe in hell, or any sort of afterlife for that matter. These beliefs are all based on the Bible, and I or your colleague would be happy to go into more depth with you if you wanted to.:
Definitely, this is why we are called 'Jehovah's Witnesses'. In the Bible, God tells us His name, Jehovah. He also tells us to cultivate a strong relationship with Him, and how can you have a relationship with someone if you don't know and use their name?:
Yes, all JW's go witnessing/doorknocking/preaching, whatever you want to call it. Again based on the Bible :):
* to "witness" (by going door to door & speaking about Jehovah to those that you come in contact with)
Inanna's further answer was correct, in that the Mosaic Law, the one that set down what animals were clean and unclean, was superceded by the Messianic covenant, which came into effect when Jesus died and was resurrected to heaven.:
* the literal interpretation of both the old testament & the new testament are taken. Though I am not clear on why that means that JW's eat pork etc. No doubt someone will help me with that too.
WRT literal interpretations, most Biblical prophecies had a literal fulfillment soon after they were penned, in particular in regard to Ancient Israel, but they also had further application to more modern times. Many of these have been fulfilled, and a few we are still waiting on.
The Bible actually has 2 accounts of birthday celebrations. The 'birthday boys' were not followers of Jehovah, and both celebrations ended with the death of an enemy, in one case, John the Baptiser. The celebration of a persons birthday actually has pagan roots, and is also the most important celebration for a person following Satanist beliefs.:
* only Jehovah should be celebrated & thus birthdays should not be celebrated.
Jehovah also instructs us to be meek and humble at all times, not glorifying one person over another, as we are all imperfect.
TBH, I've never heard of Sabat of Yule - is it related to the celebration of Saturnalia?:
* as it is believed by some that the time of the year that Christmas is celebrated was adopted from the old religion and the Sabat of Yule - Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas as it is seen as a pagan festival...
The traditional Christmas story tells of shepherds that were out herding their sheep, that were told of the birth of Jesus Christ by angels. The Bible confirms all of this, as well as the star in midheaven that the astrologers, or 'wise men' saw.
However, this time of year in modern Bethlehem, it is winter, and snows pretty heavily - therefore the shepherds would not have been living out doors with their sheep. Also, Jesus was born in Bethlehem because of a decree by Caesar that everyone was to return to their cities of ancestry to be registered for a census. At the time, the Jews were not happy under Roman rule, so its not likely that Caesar would've made them travel during the middle of winter :)
The institution of a celebration on the 25th of December is actually a celebration of the rebirth of the Sun after the Winter Solstice, when the days start getting longer. It was adopted as a Christian celebration under the rule of Constantine, around 300 years after Jesus was born.
So do I Inanna! Yes, we study Revelation in depth - if you've ever read it, you'll realise it can't just be skimmed over :):
* I also beleive that there is quite a large amount of study on the last book of the bible and thus the apocolyptic side of this. I actually find that fascinating...
Some yes, some no. We believe that Jesus will be given rulership over the earth by Jehovah for 1000 years, after Armaggeddon. I think what Inanna is referring to is 'The Rapture', where Jesus comes back to earth and takes his followers to heaven. I'm not sure which mainstream Christian religions believe this, but JW's aren't one of them.:
* That Jesus will come again & there will be paradise on Earth
As for Paradise on earth - I'm looking forward to it :)
We memorialise Jesus' death on Nisan 14 every year, as He instructed whilst celebrating the Passover. The Passover was actually a rememberance of Jehovah releasing the Hebrew nation from Egyptian slavery, and refers to the angel sent by Jehovah to kill the firstborns, as part of the 10 plagues. The Hebrews were told to spread the blood of a lamb over their doorposts, hence when the angel saw the blood, he knew that Jehovah's followers were inside, and passed over their house.:
* The passover though is celebrated as in keeping with the following of the old testament
As Jesus knew he was shortly going to be killed, becoming a Ransom for mankind's sins, the Passover did not need to be celebrated any more, and so Jesus instituted the memorial celebration of the Lord's Evening Meal, and instructed his disciples 'keep doing this in rememberance of me'
As I said Lilias, asking questions is the only way to learn anything, so I'm happy to answer questions, and so will your colleague be. We understand that some people are genuinely curious but not necessarily looking to change :)
This is because the Bible tells us to abstain from blood. Jehovah also views blood as sacred and life sustaining, saying in the Bible that our soul is in our 'lifeblood'.:
On a medical note, it is very risky to accept blood, even your own, after it has left the body, as it changes. More and more surgeons are choosing bloodless medicine as they realise that blood is unnecessary. The body continues to make more blood, it is generally volume that is lacking, which saline solution / plasma expanders can take care of while the body boosts the blood naturally. :)
JW what you refer to as the rebirth of the sun & the winter solstice is called the Yule in some parts of the world. So- I think we possibly were referring to the same thing but calling it different names!
Thankyou for sharing your faith. :hug:
Thanks Sunflowa :)
Like you said, I'm not out there to change my views....but I dont' really have any, so I like to learn about all sorts.
I just remember watching a TV show once (a baby story) where the woman was a JW and after the birth of her baby, she was bleeding out and the docs said she needed blood. She left it for a good while saying about her faith, but in the end decided to take it. It would be a very hard decision I guess. She was sat there in the bed with a brand spanking new baby!
What happens if you do 'sin'.....do you have to repent and that makes it all better again?
Do you mean sin in terms of taking blood? Or just in general? If we do the wrong thing and are genuinely repentant, then Jehovah will forgive us. But we don't do an official 'confession' like some religions do, as it can lead to a wrong attitude - as in, I can do what I want because I'm confessing on Sunday anyway.:
With more serious sin, something that the Bible specifically says NOT to do, things have to be taken more seriously, as the rest of the congregation needs to be protected as well. Again, if you are genuinely sorry for what you've done, everything's fine, but if you're not, then the rest of the congregation has to be protected. This is a part of our beliefs that many mock, and most outsiders don't agree with. I'm happy to explain further on this point over PM's, but there are a few members that I believe are in this situation, and I don't want to offend or embarrass them, so I would like to keep it off the boards :)
On a side note MM, was this show a documentary or a tv show? JW's not accepting blood has been portrayed on many medical soap operas, and sadly the only one I ever saw happen the right way was All Saints! The rest were all wrong - JW goes in for surgery, surgeon decides to give them blood despite their clear wishes, JW goes off their nut when they find out, cut to shower scene with JW trying to 'get the tainted blood out'. It's amazing how wrong tv shows can get it, when we're so willing to answer questions! :rofl:
Yeah I guess I meant in general.....but maybe relating to the blood thingo.
The TV show was a documentary, and the woman was very adamant about not receiving any blood (or blood products?). The doctors knew her wishes and respected them, but their job was to save her, so I guess it was hard for the both of them. Like I said, she did decide to take the blood because she was hemmoraging I think.
When it comes to confessions, in other religions....I don't quite get it. To me it just means, like you say, people can do what they want and then just say 'sorry' at church on the weekend!
Thanks so much for sharing, and thanks lilias for starting this thread. It's good to learn things like this. It keeps your mind open and makes you more accepting of people in general, regardless of what religion we are talking about :)
Thankyou everyone, sunflowa girlie in particular. You have opened my eyes to new concepts :)
I did think of ome more q's to ask as I was reading (which I should have written down...:rolleyes:) but I'm not in much of a posting mood so I will come back another time to ask ;)
Thanks again!!
Thank you so much Sunflowa_girlie, I really enjoyed reading your posts.
I have a friend who is a Jehovah's Witness and she had a serious PPH after the birth of her first baby. The doctor's reccomended a blood transfusion but she asked for a 2nd opinion and upon establishing that she would feel terribly ill without it, but would not be in any actual danger, she refused.
For her 2nd baby she had an elective cesarean and again had a major PPH. However this time she had made sure she was in a hospital will a cell saver machine which reused her own blood. She was very well after this birth.
However I was very sad for her that there were something like 14 people in the room for her caesarean, according to her husband most of them were there to see it all go wrong so they could say "we told you so". I felt so sad my beautiful friend was viewed as a disaster waiting to happen for her beliefs.
Thanks for sharing, I always find it so interesting to learn about other religions.
Lilias, I had 2 woman at work that were Jehovah's Witness' and they were always more than happy to answer questions, I always had many!
Best thing too was they would work xmas day cause they didn't celebrate it, meant others could have it off!
Thank you for this thread. I work with JW colleagues and it has given me some more understanding into their beliefs.
I don't want to hijack the thread, but does anyone know about Christadelphian beliefs? They seem similar to JW (don't celebrate Christmas, will not gamble, etc) so I thought it might be a good spot to ask! :lol:
Thank you for sharing your story :):
Sadly this is often the case when dealing with doctors/surgeons - blood transfusions have been given 'just in case' for so long that it can be viewed as a safety net. I'm sure parents who choose not to vaccinate will understand the ridicule they face from certain medical professionals, and it doesn't matter how much research they have done into the subject.
On a happy note though, more often than not the JW pulls through without a blood transfusion, which has turned some of our most vocal opposers into great allies when it comes to blood transfusions!
I wanted to say thankyou to everyone who's posted in this thread - I feel that everyone has been very respectful, which is not always the case, so it's very refreshing! By the same token, I have attempted to be sensitive to others beliefs as I realise they most likely won't be the same as ours, particularly in regards to Christmas - however if I have offended anyone, please let me know :)
Nettie - not sure about Christadelphians TBH! I've heard of them, but only rarely, so I don't actually know anything about their beliefs. I would be interested to learn however!
:bump:
No Christadelphians out there? :o