After reading the latest thread about Jehovah’s Witnesses, I feel that there is still a lot of ignorance regarding what they believe, how they practice their beliefs, and how they live their lives. Most of my family are still practicing members of the religion, so I am aware of what they are like currently as well as how I was raised.
Ask away.
I’ve heard it said that the JW’s believe only a certain limited number of people will get into Heaven. Is that true? It sounds wrong, because not only would it discourage potential converts, but what about those born to it? You wouldn’t be able to fit everyone in, so why try?
What is the reasoning behind refusing blood transfusions? Or not celebrating certain holidays?
Who founded the Jehovah’s Witnesses?
That’s true. They bweleive only 144,000 humans will got to heaven. They believe the rest of them will get to live on Earth. They do not believe in the traditional idea of heaven and hell that most Christians are accustomed to.
They refuse blood because they believe that it is a commandment of the Bible. When I was growing up, I was taught that it was because blood was “unclean” or impure, but now they say it is because blood represents life, sacrifice and forgiveness. I don’t understand how that translates into no blood transfusions, but that’s their reason.
When Jehovah’s Witnesses were first founded, they did celebrate holidays. They no longer do so, believing that most holidays are of either pagan or patriotic origins. Others, like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, they don’t celebrate because it takes away from honoring god. Same for birthdays.
Charles Russell founded the religion in the late 1800’s, but Joseph Rutherford implemented most of the practices that are in use today. He is not considered a prophet by members, but is believed to have been led by divine intervention.
Do you feel the need to have “respect” for JW beliefs or are you able to be honest about what a load of crazy it is?
Is there any type of sex they approve of other than martial intercourse?
What’s their take on woman subjegating themselves?
How are your relations with your family? My mother was raised JW, and on her side the JWs and ex-JWs are in a constant state of either cold war or uneasy armed truce. The JW relatives have been “caught” by their co-religioners doing things like visiting dying parents in the hospital and been censured for it, and then when they turn around and refuse to acknowledge parents and siblings, they get flak for that from family. It seems like leaving the religion inherently involves losing almost all of your friends and family, or at the very least a lifetime of strained relationships with them.
PS: I’m a generation removed from JW-ism, and we lived far away, but even so the religion makes me so angry I’m hardly rational about it. I admire you, Erleichda for being able to start this thread!
My wife, who teaches high school english, was recently teaching about rhetorical devices using MLK Jr’s “I Have a Dream” and Nelson Mandela’s “Glory & Hope” speeches. There was one child in class whose mother, a JW, requested an alternative assignment because she doesn’t want her daughter exposed to anything “political.” We suspect she only took these speeches to be political as they came on the heels of Obama’s inaugural address. Nonetheless, what’s the deal with JW and politics? And at what point do politics become history?
Is there a group in California that targets gays and lesbians?
I can’t answer the second question, but as to the first, loyalty to the religious community is supposed to supercede loyalty to the state. To put it more strongly, you’re not supposed to pay attention to the temporal rulers of this kingdom, keeping your eyes on the heavenly kingdom to come. Voting, for instance, is not encouraged (though the strategy seems counter-productive to me). This is one reason why JWs are not popular in many countries.
Uh, that’s not accurate. (for the most part, anyways…)
Can a woman who was raped really be accused of “fornication” and be disfellowed?
Can JW’s associate with people who left the church or were disfellowed?
Really? It’s what my JW relatives have always told me. Of course, I don’t know where they got their information; they could have easily been misinterpreting or misrepresenting their belief system. Also, my information is waaaay out of date, since the only former JWs I can talk to about the religion left in the 1970s.
I thought JW’s weren’t supposed to serve in the military. 
I know an RN who is a JW and she says she is not allowed to vote per her religion banning it. She didn’t give me a deeper reason, but the one posited in this thread seems logical (as logical as anything religious can be, that is).
Yes, the Nazis put them in the concentration camps, too, because they wouldn’t swear oaths to the government.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
Was there some specific incident that made you decide to leave, or did you just gradually come to the feeling that this wasn’t the right religion for you?
Are all JWs expected to do the door-to-door thing, or is that just for the ones who want to do that?
Genesis 9:4-5 says it’s OK to eat meat, but you must not also consume the blood of an animal. Because of this verse, kosher meat has to be soaked and salted to drain it of any blood. Jews, however, say that this verse (and all the kosher laws) only applies to eating things, not to other ways that something might get into your body such as organ transplants and blood transfusions. Modern Judaism also says that all commandments except the ones against murder, idolatry, and adultery are to be set aside if you need to do it to save a life. If a Jew is stranded on a desert island and the only food available is blood sausage made from pig’s blood, the Jew is not only allowed to eat the blood sausage rather than starve to death, he or she is required by Jewish law to eat it. Obviously, the Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t agree with us there.
Did you eat only kosher meat, to avoid eating blood?
Can JWs give blood transfusions to people who they know are not JWs? Jews are allowed to sell non-kosher meat to non-Jews, or to give it to animals.
Here is a list of what JW’s cannot do, and things that are frowned upon.
Could you expand on this? I’d be interested to hear your take.
Again with the blood transfusions– it’s one of few things most people seem to associate with JWs (that and the witnessing). Is it just something we’ve focused on, or does it really come up quite a bit at the temple/family conversations? Is it something you thought or worried about when you were a kid?
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a JW church (hall?) that had windows, let alone stained glass or any sort of adornment. What’s up with that?