Brief overview of the basic beliefs and doctrines taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower.
This article appears in BELIEFS of Jehovah's Witnesses category. Although it is utterly beyond the capacity of humans to comprehend, there is a Being who has always existed. He had no beginning. He is the only person who was never born. He is not a creature. He will never have an end either. He simply exists. For good reason he is called the King of [...]
In recent years, especially since the advent of the Internet, the Watchtower Society has been increasingly cast as a secretive and dangerous cult. Various outreach groups have as their goal rescuing Jehovah's Witnesses from the clutches of the Watchtower. Some of those who accuse Jehovah's Witnesses of being members of a cult do so for the reason that Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity. But that is simply ridiculous. Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity because it's not a biblical teaching.
For example, the "Christian answers"
website lists the Watchtower Society as the second most dangerous cult
in America, supposedly because "they deny the essentials of Christian
faith," which is to say Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept the babylonish
claptrap that churches consider to be Christian essentials.
However, other more credible sources of the same accusation come from ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, who claim to have “escaped.” These do not necessarily believe the Trinity either.
But what is a cult? And are Jehovah's Witnesses similar to the destructive cults such as Scientology or the infamous David Koresh or the Jonestown cult? To establish what is a cult I have referenced the criteria established, not by Trinitarians or ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, but by psychologists. An organization known as the International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) describes itself as “a global network of people concerned about psychological manipulation and abuse in cultic groups.” It has worked up a checklist that they describe as an analytic tool to help one discern the characteristics of an abusive cult. Over the course of the next two weeks I will consider one point each day. Here is the checklist
Going back to the days of the International Bible Students associated with Charles Taze Russell who were dubbed the “no hellers” because they rejected the myth of a fiery hell, up to the present, Jehovah’s Witnesses have been known more for what they do not believe or practice rather than for what they do believe. In more recent decades Jehovah’s Witnesses have been known as the [...]
When Jesus was on the earth he instructed his disciples to go through the entire length and breath of Israel declaring the exciting message that the kingdom of God had drawn near. Originally the apostles and other disciples were under the impression that the kingdom of God they were preaching would be a restoration of the kingdom of Israel. Likely they wrongly assumed that Jesus would [...]
After creating the first man and woman in his image, Jehovah stated his purpose for them was that they fill the earth and have in subjection every non-human creature on the planet. Being made in God’s image not only means that humans are endowed with divine characteristics, but seeing that God lives forever, those in his image are also imbued with a sense of infinite futurity [...]
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Satan is the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4) He became such when he misled Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, thereby effectively bringing the world under his evil influence before it even came into existence! To grasp the extent of his power over mankind consider the words of Jesus when he said that the ruler of the world [...]
Matt Slick of The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) asks that very question (Is the Jehovah's Witnesses religion Christian?) and conveniently supplies the reader with the answer. Here is a quote taken from the no defunct CARM website: "The answer to the question is, 'No. It is not Christian.' Like all non-Christian cults, the Jehovah's Witness organization distorts the essential doctrines of Christianity." What "essential [...]
Jehovah’s Witnesses have the hope of never dying – a hope solidly based upon their unique understanding of the Bible. God made man and woman to live on the earth forever. Like the loving Father he is, Jehovah desired his earthly children to have every good thing. Jehovah endowed us with his own character and personality, which is what it means to be made in his [...]
The truth is simple. The sad fact is, though, most people prefer to believe lies. And consequently, the truth is an alien thing to them. No doubt the primary reason most people embrace the prevalent lies common to the world is due to the evil influence of the one whom Jesus described as both the ruler of the world and the father of the lie – [...]
The simple truth revealed in the Holy Scriptures, is that Jehovah is God and Jesus is his son. More exactly, Jesus is Jehovah’s only begotten Son, being the only creation in all existence that was directly created by Jehovah himself. But Jesus is not the only son. God is also Father to millions of other sons. Long before the universe was created God had a family [...]
