Please enlighten me. When I was younger I thought they were the same since they both did the door to door thing.
HUGS!
Sqrl
Similar only in that both sects have their roots in the “Adventist” movement of the 1800’s.
Needs2know
???
Sorry, but your dates are off. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed “Mormons” and often incorrectly referred to as the “Mormon Church”) was founded in 1830. Adventists didn’t really get going until the 1840s.
Jehovah’s Witnesses, on the other hand, were organized from the Watchtower Bible Tract Association in the (very) late 1800’s and weren’t organized into the formal structure they are now until after World War I.
MrWhipple
(who happens to be LDS)
I don’t know all that much about Jehovah’s Witnesses, but except for the doorbell-ringing thing, I doubt they are very similar to the LDS church. As I understand it, JWs believe that they need to convert a certain number of people to go to heaven, and do not celebrate secular holidays, even birthdays, because only specific JW and Christian holidays are worthy of celebration. Mormons do try to convert people, but have no quota. I personally have spent a good deal of time with Mormon missionaries and found them friendly and not at all pushy. LDS do celebrate birthdays and national holidays, etc.
I know there are more drastic differences, but as I am not very well-educated on what JWs believe, it is hard to point them out.
I studies with JW’s and can testify that they do not have their ‘own’ holidays. They observe Nisan 14 (Jewish) as a holy day. It is said to have been the date during Passover of the famous Last Supper. There they re-create the supper, but only those wanting and approved of being one of the 144,000 who go to heaven on Judgement Day may eat of the unleaven bread and wine that is passed around.
Umm, Mormons and JWs have very lil in common, other than they are both considered “cults” and do the “door-to-door” thing. But LDS Missionaries aren’t nearly as pushy as JWs.
But they both hsve the same look of surprize as the trap door opens, and they make the same screaming noise as they go down the chute to the scorpion pit. 
Here’s the difference: The Mormons that go door-to-door are mostly 'tween the ages of 19-21… the JW’s that go door-to-door are mostly between the ages of 80-90.
(Hardly a serious post)
From what I understand there was what they call an “Adventist” movement that lasted for quite a few years in this country. It started around Joseph Smiths time and continued on into the early 1900’s. The tenents of both sects are largely structured around the second coming and the “after life”. Their early influences are rooted there. But absolutely the Watchtower Organization is structured mainly around this dogma. They have gone so far as to attempt to predict the end of the world at least twice.
Needs2know
According to Orson Scott Card’s “Saintpeak Dictionary” (an essential book for any outsider hoping to understand LDS culture) “it is the secret hope and dread of every missionary to meet a Jay Dub.” (paraphrase, as I don’t have it with me now – but close).
I’ve always found the Mormon missionaries to be more interesting and earnest. Every Mormon boy (and nowadays many Mormon gals) believes that he or she will be a missionary in a few years, so they all prepare for it. One of the more interesting idiosyncrasies of LDS culture is the “missionary store”, where you can buy thins to send to your child/relative/boy- or girl-friend out on their mission. The whole thing is expected and institutionalized as it is in no other religion.
That said, I’ve encounted both brands. I usually tell them my lack of beliefs at the start, and they respect that. I take ther Watchtower if the offer it. I already have multiple copies of the Book of Mormon , Pearl of Great Price, etc. I think I’m regarded as too far gone for serious proselytizing.
I really lack knowledge on the Jehovah Witness’s beliefs. I began this thread because many of the things that I have heard in the past always linked the two together. I have read up and talked with many Mormons so eventhough I don’t know all the tenants of their faith, I have a beginning of knowledge. Can anyone out there give more information on JW’s?
HUGS!
Sqrl
Most (many?) of the modern christian religions in the US have roots in teh “adventist” movement of the early 1800s. Just because the mormon church wasn’t founded until 1830 dosen’t mean it wasn’t influenced by the “adventist” movement.
FWIW
The LDS church is growing fast, while the JW church is slowly shrinking (dying).
Sorry I dont have my sources nearby.
About JW’s
I’ll just fill you in on a few things. My mom and dad are JW’s though I haven’t been for quite some time. Errrrr a long time.
They do have a passover to commemorate Christ’s death and God’s sacrificing him so we can have everlasting life.
They believe that 144,000 go to heaven and the people that don’t go to heaven either die at judgment day or live on a paradise earth.(The bad die, the good live. Don’t ask whose bad. God decides that.)
They don’t celebrate birthdays because John the Baptist was beheaded on a birthday so they see it as having bad connotations.
As for holidays, they don’t celebrate them because they are pagan. Jesus wasn’t born on december 25, and so forth.
They don’t take much part in government other than what they have to. “Pay ceasar’s things to ceasar and god’s things to god.” God comes first to them. They do however pay taxes and what not, and also respect the government.
Why they go preaching door to door is in the bible verse Matthew 24:14 if I remember correctly.
Does that tell you enough? They aren’t a cult. You can come and leave as you wish.
by the way, they were founded by a millionaire named Charles Taze Russell who took his time to study the bible and founded the religion. He had help from a group of bible scholars in Pennsylvania.
Here are a few more differences, some doctrinal, some practical. These are only a few that I came up with off the top of my head. (Please correct me if I misrepresent any JW beliefs.)
LDS: Believe Jehovah is the pre-mortal Jesus Christ.
JW: Believe Jehovah is the Father.
LDS: Believe the Father and Son are distinct, corporeal personages.
JW: Believe the Father and Son are distinct personages. The Father is noncorporeal. (I’m not sure about their belief in the current status of Jesus’ body).
LDS: Believe the Holy Spirit is a distinct, sentient third member of the Godhead.
JW: Do not believe in a distinct, sentient Holy Spirit. The Spirit is God’s power and influence.
LDS: Believe in ongoing revelation to prophets and modern scripture.
JW: Believe God’s revelation closed with the Bible.
LDS: Believe in a general Christian apostasy, followed by a restoration of God’s authority through modern prophets, beginning with Joseph Smith.
JW: Believe in a general Christian apostasy, followed by a reawakening to God’s truth through correct interpretation of the Bible.
LDS: Observe Christian and national holidays and birthdays.
JW: Do not observe holidays or birthdays.
LDS: While all members are encouraged to share their beliefs with others, dedicated proselyting is carried out by full-time missionaries. Young men are eligible at age 19 and serve for two years; young women are eligible at age 21 and serve for eighteen months. Married adult couples are eligible at retirement from employment and serve for 6, 12, 18, or 24 months.
JW: Active proselyting is carried out by local believers of all ages in their own communities.
LDS: As a practice of faith abstain from consumption of tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea and harmful drugs.
JW: No restrictions against alcohol, coffee and tea. (I’m not aware of any specific restrictions against tobacco and drugs, although I have yet to see a cigarette-smoking or drug-using JW.)
LDS: Believe the spirits of men and women were were sentient before mortal birth and will continue to be sentient after death and through resurrection.
JW: Believe that man’s intelligence is only active during mortal life and that those who die are not conscious until their resurrection. No pre-mortal existence.
LDS: Believe that men and women who have not heard God’s full message in mortality will have the opportunity to hear and accept it in the afterlife before resurrection.
JW: Believe there is no consciousness after death.
LDS: Believe that the living can experience ordinances such as baptism by proxy for those who have died.
JW: No such practice.
LDS: Believe that all mankind will be resurrected, judged, and assigned to some “degree of glory” in one of God’s kingdoms. Only a very few – the “sons of perdition” – will be permanently cast out and inherit no glory.
JW: Believe that only some will be resurrected. The righteous live forever on paradise earth; the wicked are permanently destroyed.
FWIW,
MrWhipple
“But they both hsve the same look of surprize as the trap door opens, and they make the same screaming noise as they go down the chute to the scorpion pit.”
—Hahahaha! THANK you Daniel, that was my laugh of the day.
Fascinating background on the two groups. By the way, both react “interestingly” to having a devout and well-informed
Episcopalian couple invite them in and then evangelize them. 
A friend of mine swears this is true, that he really did this. It seems to me to be in the “too good to be true” category. Judge for yourselves.
He made an arrangement for the LDS missionaries to come over at a specific time. He also left instructions for a friend to call him slightly later.
As he’s sitting with the missionaries, listening to their spiel, he has a clock in view. Suddenly he says “I’ll get that.” Immediately after, the phone rings. The missionaries exchange puzzled looks. This allows my friend to get up and leave the roo for a moment. As he does, he activates a switch that sends current to the heater in the painting in the room. This starts melting the medium and causes the paint to slowly run down the wall behind him as the missionaries are talking.
here were other tricks of the same sort. He claims he sent them screaming into the night. Nasty trick to pull on a couple of nice Mormon boys.
Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that Jehovah is the
one true God, but that Jesus is a god. If
you believe both statements, than logically
Jesus is a false god.
I’ve never met a Jehovah’s Witness who could
explain this to me.
Which one wears the special undergarments to protect them from everything from temptation to bullets?
Which one is known to dig up their dead relatives so they can baptize them?
Which one believes that they can become gods of their own planet?
Which one believes Jesus was born by physical sex with the Holy Spirit?
I believe that these are all teachings, although I’m sure they are simplified here. I’m just not sure which one belongs to which.
It’s not that different from the holy trinity. No christian can really explain that one either. It just has to do with faith