Would You Refer To Jehovah's Witnesses As A "Christian" Religion? (page 4)

ziddina

What Girlie said.... And what Vamp said...

LOL # OUTLAW!!!

OOOOOO, Scotoma, good reply!!

Sir82, you always make me laugh!! Good one - and funny!!

LostGeneration

Second adventist sect....Yes

Cult....Yes

Christians....No

Well, they chose the name 'Jehovah's Witnesses', out of all the names they could have chosen. They chose not to identify themselves by the name of Christ Jesus. The name of Jesus is not on the cover of The Watchtower, their primary publication--it was removed. Jesus isn't even mentioned until the next-to-last sentence in the paragraph on the inside cover explaining why The Watchtower is published (this places him after a detailed description of the role of ancient watchtowers).

Inside these magazines, Jesus is sometimes not even mentioned in entire articles. Talking too much about Jesus to a Witness requires you to "correct" yourself and be sure to say "Jehovah", as if mentioning Jesus too much is dangerous.

Clearly they believe Jesus is the Christ. But they do not believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation, since that comes only to those in "Jehovah's organization". They also believe he is an angel, in clear denial of Hebrews chapters 1 and 2.

They believe the vast majority of Christians are not sons of God, not part of the body of Christ, not fully forgiven of their sins, not in the new covenant, not allowed to partake of the body and blood of Jesus at the Lord's evening meal, not able to understand the Bible by means of holy spirit alone (or even combined with basic reading comprehension), and not even really part of Christ's congregation in the truest sense.

They identify themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses, so that's how I will identify them. "Christian" and "Christ" aren't in the name, except in the legal entity "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses". They say they're Jehovah's Witnesses. That's all I need to know. The evidence combined with the attitudes of the Pharisees point strongly towards the answer:

"Just this once:

No."

--sd-7

slimboyfat

Yes, all too Christian.

WontLeave

There's no such thing as a "Christian" group. There could be a group of Christians, but I think we're all familiar with the saying: Belonging to a church makes you a Christian as much as being in a garage makes you a car. This applies to JWs, too. Even the apostles had Judas.

andys

A person needs to research church history to understand why there is so many denominations such as the JW's, etc......................................

Sometime look up the name Martin Luther who started the Protestant Reform from the catholic church, now theres is 30,000+ denominations later.................................................

Rocky_Girl

If they want to say they are Christian, let them. They usually treat the word "Christian" as a dirty word.

Christians are an offshoot of Judaism, just like Islam, JWs are an offshoot of a Christian sect. It is like a copy of a copy of a copy- not a good representation of the original. In this case, it isn't even a good representation of any of the copies.

Unfortunately, it was the love, kindness, charity, and social responsibility that was lost in all of the 'splits' so the JWs are left with nothing good. It is hard to find a religious group that has no redeeming qualities, but here they are.

tec

There must be 5000 Christian 'sects' out there.

More than that, I believe.

In answer to the question though, I would refer to them as a 'christian' religion as much as most other religions. At times, they're most like the (early) catholic religion that they despise, which has the feeling of envy to me.

This does not mean that I would call them Christian - though I 100% agree that it is the individual who can bear that title, and not because they are part of this or that organization. A Christian is annointed with Holy Spirit, and is part of the Body of Christ. A disciple follows Christ and His teachings, but might not be annointed - yet. A group often follows a leader - who may or may not follow Christ. Often, but not always. I believe there are Christian groups out there that have a shephard who merely tries to help the sheep find and follow Christ - first and foremost. But generally speaking, Catholics follow the Pope and the clergy first and foremost, Bible inerrantists/fundie evangelicals follow the bible first and foremost, JW's follow the GB first and foremost. Even though all would claim that they follow Christ first and foremost.

Most of mainstream Christianity denies anyone not believing in the trinity as Christian. JW's deny everyone outside of their group, and most of the members in their group of being Christian/annointed.

But in either case, it isn't up to us to tell someone whether they are Christian or not, or if they have the approval of Christ and His Father or not. It's a lot of pot calling kettles black.

We should focus more on worrying about ourselves, and if WE are following Christ or not - rather than judging the worthiness of others.

Peace,

Tammy

Band on the Run

I believe that the Trinity is an essential for being a Chirstian. A group can call itself anything. There is no governing body stmaping "Christian" on everyone. The overwhelming majority of Christians believe in the Cross and the multiple nature of God. Christ is one aspect of God. Only a very few groups do not believe and see Jesus as a good teacher. Paul's recitation of the early creeds show Jesus was far more than a good teacher. Christinas would not have been martyred for saying Jesus was a wise man.

The folly of Christ is the core of the Christian message. Yet Jesus devised only one test: Love one another as I have loved you.

If anyone lacks Christian love, it is the Witnesses.

shepherd

JW's are as Christian as any other religion. It's just a title and each religion interprets what that means in such a way that theirs is the best and, in the case of many evangelicals the only true Christianity. There is no pure Christianity - it is all subjective, even when drawing it directly from the Bible.

Better to change the question to 'are its members demonstrating a Christian character', and most are not - Which is the same of most others too.

In fact, from my experience the louder someone shouts they are a Christian, the less likely they really are.

Would You Refer To Jehovah's Witnesses As A "Christian" Religion?

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