Do JWs Commune?

by omiecoop 5 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  omiecoop

  Hello to everyone---

  I just got through watching the Panorama program from the BBC website, and reading along with the transcript so that I could keep up with the dialogue. It was a wonderful program, I just wish it would be aired here in the states on broadcast stations, so that people here could get more exposure to the problem. I am telling everybody that I know about the program and about what is really going on in these congregations. It literally brought tears to my eyes, and made my skin crawl to think about these pompous idiots who are really the ones who should be worried about letting Jehovah handle it! I believe in God and am a firm believer that people will one day get what is coming to them. "They"(meaning the powers that be) should be VERY WORRIED!

  I have a question that has been bugging me a long time. I have tried to find a thread associated with my question, to see if I can find an answer on my on, but have had no luck so far. Do JWs do communion? I figure probably not considering the blood issue,but what is there stand on the subject? As long as I have had JW friends(more like acquaintances actually since they don't mix much with "my kind") I don't believe I have ever heard the issue discussed. I have been a member of this board for a little while, and have read what amounts to reams and reams of discussions of all kinds of subjects---except this one! Please someone help by explaining this to me! Thanks.
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  omiecoop

  bttt because I really want to know!
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  RedhorseWoman

  JWs celebrate what is called "The Memorial" once a year to commemorate Jesus' Last Supper. At the Memorial celebration, bread and wine is passed, but only those who profess to be of the Anointed Class are allowed to partake.

  The average JW does NOT partake of the emblems.
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  larc

  Their belief is very different than other religions. They believe that only 144,000 will go to heaven, and only these should take communion, and only once a year, at the anniversary of Christ's death. They believe that the rest of those resurrected will be brought back to a purified, paradise earth after God has destroyed all wickedness. Of the 6 million JWs, only about 8,000 have a "heavenly hope". So, at the memorial (communion), they pass the bread and wine, but the number of partakers are usually zero or one.
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  omiecoop

  Thanks so much RedhorseWoman.

  How in heck does one get to be one of the anointed? Are you elected? Does somebody @ Bethel decide who gets to take communion?

  This religion confuses the crap out of me!

  That is how I got hooked on this board. I began to read posts from abused people, people whose whole lives had been ruined by the Watchtower Society. It never ceases to amaze me what some of these people have gone through, yet there are THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS more who go right on along with this craziness. I have so much respect for all of those who found their way out of it! My hat is off to the lot of you. Listening to some of the stories is kind of like driving by an automobile accident scene, you don't want to look, but you can hardly keep your eyes off of the destruction. I guess that is why I keep coming back. I love hearing the stories of all those who are doing okay now. The ones who have regained some semblance of a life outside of the organization. Thanks to all of you for allowing me to share a part of your lives.
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  larc

  How does one become of the annointed, as they call it? In the early history of the religion, they believed that all of the members would go to heaven. In the 1930's, they realized that at some point their numbers whould be greater than a 144,000. That is when they changed the belief to include a "great crowd", who would live on the earth. Up until the 1960's, all of the annointed were elderly persons who had been Witnesses for at least thirty years. In more recent times, younger people have claimed to be annointed. They all claim that somehow, they just know it, and it is not determined by the heirarchy of the religion.