I grew up in a religion with bizarre misled practices called Jehovah's Witnesses. Fortunately I left and began a search for God on my own. I found god and with him, peace of mind that what I did was the right thing. Now I am here to warn all who want to join the witnesses of some of their beliefs and practices that go against the bible. The first their baptisms. Baptism is in the bible and it is a great thing to do to show that you born again as a follower of Christ. The only requirement is that you repent of your sins. Witnesses however put strict requirements on baptism. First you must study Watchtower literature for a certain period of time. Then you are quizzed by a group of elders and if you pass you have earned the right to be baptized.
In Matthew 3:5-6 "Then Jerusalem, all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to him(John the Baptist) and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins." Later in Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus says "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Then if you look at Acts 8 36-38 "Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said 'See here is water. What hinters me from being baptized?' Then Phillip said 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' And he answered and said 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God' So He commanded the chariot to stand still. And Phillip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him"
So why is it that JW's feel the need to make people study their Watchtower publications, answer questions, and then let you get baptized when the bible says that all that is required is confessing your sins. And notice how they require you to study Watchtower publications created by their organization. Then a group of elders has to find you to be ready to be baptized. None of this is found in scripture.
The next practice is the act of disfellowshipping JW's who have disobeyed their rules or question their beliefs. If a fellow JW catches you, they are to report you to the elders. First is a shepherding call where they talk to you. Then a judicial hearing is held if this continues. the result of this hearing is usually disfellowshipping which does a few things. First you are not a JW anymore so you have no hope of salvation until you become a JW again. Next, any other JW's are forbidden from talking to you and associating with you.
In Luke 15:4-7 Jesus says "What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."
They may use 1 Corinthians 5:11 "But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral, covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner-not even to eat with such a person." and this seems pretty convincing. It is true, salvation comes through faith and belief, and true faith and belief is shown bu repentance and living for Christ. And it is a good idea to have nothing to do with Immoral People. But lets look at Mark 2:16. 17 "And the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to his disciples, 'How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?' When Jesus heard it, He said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repent"
I know that was quite a bit of scripture for some of you but I want to be thorough. This scripture seems to say that is one of us falls, we should help bring him back to the "flock" And while we want to repent from sinful ways and not have anything to do with immoral people, we want to not cut ourselfs off from the people who need to come to Christ. Why don't JW's follow this. They alienate themselves from one who has fallen rather than help bring them back. They may claim it is so they are not led astray but I believe that if they talked to former JW's, they may realize that they have been blind.
I hope this causes you to think before joining the JW's. If you are a JW, I hope this cause you think about your religious organization and their practices. This is just the beginning of my blogs and I encourage all serious comments, even from JW's
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You have an amazing way with words! I think if people really study the bible and what it says, being a Jehovah's Witness wouldn't interest them. They change the Bible to fit their beliefs. They add Jehovah where it never existed in the Greek text and move commas around to change the meaning of a sentence or paragraph. You can't change history, though it has been done over and over again, much to the world's dismay. So then, why would you do this and base a religion off of it? People will tell you what to believe in order to get you to do what they want you to do. You wouldn't want the government to do this (though they do), why would you want your religion to do it too? But then again, as a JW, you wouldn't be involved in politics in the first place because they are evil as well as other religions. If you follow the Bible, then why do you alienate people and groups of people? Aren't we all supposed to work together in the body of Christ?
ReplyDeleteIf a JWs commits adultery and do not repent in time he/she will be disfellowship. But if you are humble and admit your error in time if you evidence your fault you will be reinstated. It is in you, weather you want to come back or stay in the world, The kingdom hall door is always open. and yes if you were disfellowship where will you go, be humble come back to your congregation, more than one in there will roll down a tear drop for your return.
ReplyDeleteBut you do nothing to help your fallen brother, you just cut them off and say, if they repent they can come back. You reject them, hurting them instead of helping them to repent. Remember, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God".
ReplyDeleteI dont agree with u wertyh11. Just because someone commits a sin and doesnt repent right away, does not mean u cast him aside and dont try to help him. Thats what JW's do if u dont repent the cast u away. The bible says, "Let ye who is without sin cast the first stone." None of us are without sin, so we should all follow the parable of the good shepard and the lost sheep. At all other churches if someone commits a sin they dont stop talking to them or look at them different. Thats not what God wants from us. We all need to help our fellow man. I honestly believe the JW's is a cult, and I know this from a good experience. I was a part of that place for the first 17 years of my life and it was a real eye opener for what they are all about. I left and went on my own journy with God and I found a wonderful christian church that i love and adore.
ReplyDeletewertyh11, you state that if evidence your fault, what exactly are you saying here, evidence it IS or ISN'T your fault? You CHOOSE to commit a sin, therefore, you ALWAYS have some fault in it. I have found in my experiences with JW's, they blame others for their troubles and issues in their lives, could this be so they don't have to go to someone in the kingdom hall and say they have sinned because they are afraid of being disfellowshipped? (I am not saying that all JW's are this way, by no means!) one should never be afraid to talk to elders or your pastor about a sin, problem, or issue in your life. Breeding fear into your followers isn't the answer. If I commited a sin and was disfellowshipped, I certianly wouldn't return to the same religion, so I wouldn't give a darn if the doors were open or not. One should never abandon someone who has sinned, you help them get back on their feet. And what is the timeframe someone would have to admit their sin to come back? 1 day, 2 weeks, etc...? Like you would tell someone, well, I am sorry, but if you had come back yesterday you would be ok, but today is too late?!?! What a joke!
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