Jehova's Witness - Confused.....

[Bex]

one of my close friends at school was a JW. she had been bought up that way by her folks but her beliefs became a bit shaken when she had to watch her gran die.. her gran needed a blood transfusion and it's against their beliefs.

after that i had a discussion with one of the RE teachers to find out what the JW religion was all about...merely so i could understand my friend better. in a nutshell he said that they believe that God gave them their bodies and therefore they should not change anything in or about it in a medical way. i.e no cosmetic surgery, no blood transfusions. with the blood i think they felt that the blood of someone else wasn't clean but i might be making that bit up.
unlike Chrisitans they believe that jehova is still to come (Chrisitians believe that Jesus fulfilled this prophesy {as prophisised in the old testement})

the few times that we have had JW's come to the door, i've had a lively debate with them. offering them my bible to take and read.
dad also encountered them walking down the road and they walked after him preaching their views, eventually dad turned round and started preaching the gospels to them and they ran off. seems we are on the miss list now, because they haven't come knocking since.

we have a JW church in the village

edit: can't spell for toffee today

[Xaccers]

The blood issue is because they believe the bible tells us we should only use blood in sacrifice, nothing to do with it being unclean or anything like that, they just believe god has given one purpose for it outside the body.

There are many confused and gullible people in the JW's, I've met several.
You get people bringing their own interpritation into the religion, hence the disgust at you using insulin, while other's would be fine with it.
There literature prints lies and physical impossibilities to justify some of their beliefs (like claiming the thermosphere is 3000F!)

Most that I have met joined simply because they like the idea of coming back with a perfect body, so you get a lot of couples who are infertile, and disabled people joining.

I find shouting "I'm naked and in a highly excited state. I'm opening the door in 3....2...." usually works

They don't have churches, they have "kingdom halls"

They're also quite good at excommunicating people, including their children.

[Bex]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

The blood issue is because they believe the bible tells us we should only use blood in sacrifice, nothing to do with it being unclean or anything like that, they just believe god has given one purpose for it outside the body.
(like claiming the thermosphere is 3000F!)

told you i was 100% sure on the blood thing.... it has been a while since i had the discussion with the RE teacher... umm about 7years (scary)

as for the physical impossibilities, i do remember reading that somewhere

[zoombini]

AFAIK sticking an "I give blood" sticker in the window works well.

[Xaccers]

A girl I knew had underage premarital sex with the son of an elder.
She was excommunicated for a year when she confessed.
He didn't confess so went unpunished.

According to them the end has to happen before the last soldier from WW1 dies.
Oh and god doesn't like men to have long hair, and discword books can let the devil into your house and break your family up.
They mainly concentrate on revelations because the idea of a perfect world with perfect bodies appeals to them

[bbwannabe]

Originally Posted by Bex

after that i had a discussion with one of the RE teachers to find out what the JW religion was all about...merely so i could understand my friend better. in a nutshell he said that they believe that God gave them their bodies and therefore they should not change anything in or about it in a medical way. i.e no cosmetic surgery, no blood transfusions. with the blood i think they felt that the blood of someone else wasn't clean but i might be making that bit up.
unlike Chrisitans they believe that jehova is still to come (Chrisitians believe that Jesus fulfilled this prophesy {as prophisised in the old testement})

i can understand their views.. but what i can't understand is why they try and sell it. I'm not religious (but i believe in the spiritual) in the slightest but ive never been fond of people who force others into their beliefs or to do things they dont want. Thanks for the nutshell.
Whose jehova?

[Bex]

Originally Posted by zoombini

AFAIK sticking an "I give blood" sticker in the window works well.

or will just give them more cause to come knocking to teach you the "truth" about giving blood

bbwannabe i sent you a pm

[tkiely]

Originally Posted by bbwannabe

i can understand their views.. but what i can't understand is why they try and sell it.

I think it's one of their 'duties', ie part of being a JW is spreading the word.

[Bex]

looked up jehovah for you:

the special and significant name (not merely an appellative title such as Lord
[adonai]) by which God revealed himself to the ancient Hebrews (Ex. 6:2, 3).

[Xaccers]

Its called "pioneering" to go round evangelising.
I got the impression that some believed you got into the new order by recruiting the most people.

Jehovah is a mistranslation of god's name yaweh (or however you spell it, why can't he have picked Bob or Cliff? Wait a minute...)

[bbwannabe]

so they believe god is still to come? Religionwise when did he leave?

[Bex]

here's a link http://www.meta-religion.com/World_R..._witnesses.htm

it tells you the basics about J.W's

[zoombini]

My son is just waiting for more to knock, he wants to have a chat with them about the devil etc.

The things that 14yr olds get thier kicks from

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by zoombini

My son is just waiting for more to knock, he wants to have a chat with them about the devil etc.

The things that 14yr olds get thier kicks from

Just get him to point out the similarities between their god's plan and hitlers plan

[bigitup_j]

i'll give you some info, and set the record straight and remove any misunderstandings about Jehovah's Witnesses and their beliefs.
give me a while, i'll try and go over the points mentioned...