I was raised non-religious.
consider yourself lucky!
My fiancé...is a Jehovah's Witness and would like me to "convert",
Danger! I repeat, Danger!
Please could you explain a little about the fundamental beliefs,
Jesus Christ returned invisibly in 1914.
Jesus Christ invisibly selected the Watchtower to be his "Faithful Slave" and rejected all other Christian churches in 1919. The "Faithful Slave" doctrine is the most important doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, virtually everything else is subject to change.
All humans and institutions outside of the Watchtower organization are considered to be Satanic.
Very soon, Armageddon is going to break out, and only active zealous JW's will survive. All others will be "bird feed" (a term used by higher-ups in the Watchtower organization to describe persons outside the JW faith). The surviving JW's will take part in a global clean-up, resulting in the earth being transformed into a paradise where people will live forever. Also, the dead will be resurrected (but not all the dead - JW's believe that the persons slaughtered by God at Armageddon will not receive a resurrection - hence the "urgency" of their message).
Taking a blood transfusion is a violation of God's law, and any JW who takes a blood transfusion is disfellowshipped, but organ transplants are a matter of conscience. The opposite used to be true - organ transplants were a disfellowshipping offense and blood transfusions were a conscience matter. When changes in doctrine like this occur (which is quite often), JW's refer to it as receiving "new light".
The Bible is inspired and free of error. However, only the organizational leaders in Brooklyn (i.e. the "faithful slave") have the freedom to interpret it. If a rank and file JW expresses dissatisfaction or disagreement with the interpretations of the Brooklyn organization, they are subject to disfellowshipping and shunning.
what becoming a Jehovah's Witness would involve
Many hours of meetings that can become quite tedious, even boring. These meetings are not like traditional worship services that you may be familiar with from your Catholic background. All JW meetings revolve around studying the various publications produced by the "Faithful Slave". The main meeting is the Sunday Talk (in which the brother giving the talk closely follows an outline provided by the "faithful slave") and Watchtower Study (where the congregation considers, paragraph by paragraph, an article from a recent Watchtower magazine, the main publication of the "faithful slave".) Also, JW's are expected to spend as much time in preparation for these meetings as they actually spend at the meetings. All totaled, the hours spent in meetings, meeting preparation, field service, personal study of Watchtower publications, probably averages out to about 15-20 hours a week for the average JW who doesn't hold a position such as elder or pioneer. With these positions comes many many more hours of time spent in JW related activities, and r&f JW's are consistently admonished by the publications of the "faithful slave" to "reach out" for these positions of service.
JW's are expected to use as much time as they can spare "preaching the good news" i.e. going door to door offering magazines, tracts, and other publications of the "faithful slave". At the end of each month, JW's turn in a "time slip" that records how much time in the past month they spent in the "field ministry", how many publications they placed and how many bible studies they conducted or assisted with. The congregation elders keep very detailed records of the rank and file JW's, in files that the r&f are not allowed access to. Also, this information is sent to the Brooklyn organization, who also keeps what some might call fanatically detailed records of their organization's statistics. A JW who does not turn in any time or consistently has "low hours" in the field ministry is considered to be weak and will be treated as such by the elders and the rest of the congregation.
I'm only scratching at the surface of the intensity of involvement that this religion expects of its adherents.
Due to personal beliefs that I hold to, I could not take part in any religion which involves "hell".
Neither could I. JW's don't believe in hell, but what slowly dawned on me over the years was that JW's Armageddon doctrine is similar to the traditional hellfire doctrine in the effect it produces. While fear of hell keeps many in the churches "in-line" so to speak, fear of dying at Armageddon is a fear that is undoubtedly a major motivation for most JW's. Death at Armageddon is considered to be the worst and most humiliating, painful thing that could happen to a person. Sadly, many JW's who have been active in the organization for many years will express privately that they don't feel like they've done enough as JW's and therefore will die at Armageddon.
I'm confused really, and in truth don't wish to convert ...
Proceed with caution. Don't be pressured into doing something you don't feel comfortable with.
