JW Character?

[twinkle]

Please, I have a question. If you are a Christian, the fruits that you produce will be love, kindness, grace, forgiveness, etc. What fruits do the religion of JW produce? Aside from their religious beliefs, what kind of person (Their character) does this religion produce? Judgmental or no? Kindness, love, or no? How do they treat each other and how do they treat those who don't share their beliefs? What's the average person like? How do they see themselves compared to everyone else? Any thoughts or knowledge of this? Thank you. :ponder

[Biblenuggetlady]

Only a Christian saved and who's put their faith in Jesus Christ will receive the Holy Spirit which causes the believer to bear fruit. JW do not have the Holy Spirit in them so they will not "bear fruit". They can be nice people who do good things, but they do not bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.

[twinkle]

I must not have formed my question very well. I thank you for your answer, however I was aware that they would not have fruit like the Holy Spirit gives us. I was only trying to find out something more than what their religion teaches. I realize that everyone is an individual and so everyone is different, but I wanted to know more what goes on inside the cult and their way of thinking. You see, I'm in a situation where I have regular contact with a family of JW's that I can't change. I'm trying to understand where their "coming from" to better enable me to cope.

[AnnOdom44]

I know that they take not receiving any blood as an absolute no-no. They won't even agree to let a Cell Saver be used, which collects the patient's own blood during surgery, is "washed" and re-administered. We had a young woman in ICU who needed blood to save her life, and her family absolutely refused, and she died. It was so sad as she had young children and would have survived with the transfusion. My suggestion is to pray for the Holy Spirit to open their ears and touch their hearts to hear what you have to say. May God guide you, and bless you for having a heart to try to witness to them:hug

[Galoutofdixie]

Years ago, when I was a very young Christian, ( I was born again at age 11) My family wasn't church going, so I didn't have a real firm of foundation as far as in a Christian family or Sunday School teaching. Then when I was about 20yrs. old, the JW's turned up on my doorstep, (as they are known to do) and offererd to study with my husband and myself at our home. So, we studied with a the JW's for a short time, and now I know a woman and her family that are JW's.

I never did get into the whole of the cult and only attended one of their Kingdom Hall services. I came to realize that they preached another gospel fairly quickly, so quit studying with them.

Anyway, as far as people go, they have actually been some of the nicest people that I have ever met. Honest and loving also. The ones that I know, and have known in the past have all appeared to be of good character.

The folks that taught the bible study at our house, a husband and wife were very nice, but when I told them of my feelings about their non-belief in the Trinity. They really dropped us like a hot potato. We never even had anymore of them show up on our doorstep handing out their Watchtower magazines anymore either. I think we were put on their 'do not call list'. So when it looks to them that you are a not a likely convert. They really just disapear.

Now the lady and family that I know, are still very friendly. The lady and I go out to lunch on occasion and I try to witness to her as often as I can. She is not very well versed or immersed I should say, in the JW's as most of them are, so she's open to hearing me witness my beliefs to her. The only problem is, that her children are pretty well brain washed and do read "their bible", so any time I think I've made a little headway with my friend, they pretty well quash it. She is a widow, and her children are adults, so I think part of the problem is she doesn't want to alienate them, she is a devoted and doting mother and doesn't want to cause any family strife. I think, but am not positive, that if one of them ever leave the JW's they are pretty well ostrisized from their communtiy. They become pretty close, so I think that's a scary thing for them.. Kind of like the Mormons, they do as much business with other JW's as they can, and mostly go to social functions that are attended by other JW's.

This probably doesn't help you very much, but that has been my only experience with them.

There used to be a thread on here about how to witness to JW's, but I'm not sure what happened to it? Ah, a quick google search on 'How to Witness to Jehovah's Wittnesses", turned up a lot of info. Here's the link to the googel page: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=How+to+witness+to+Jehova%27s+Wittness%27&btnG=Google+Search

Edited to add: They believe that they are the only ones going to heaven, and only 144,000 of them. The rest will live on Earth, (paradise) I always get the strangest look when I ask them what 'Tribe' they are from. I've never had one yet that was able to explain about why the bible says 144,000 Jewish male Virgins, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel, if it's the JW's that God is talking about.

They have their own bible translation called, the New World translation, or something similar to that. It's been along time and I've forgotten. They claim that their translation is directly from the Greek, and they have many subtle and not so subtle changes. One such example is when the theif is on the cross and Jesus says to the thief, Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. In the JW's translation there has been a subtle change as they put the comma after the word "Today", which changes the whole meaning of the sentence. Instead of Christ telling the theif that he would be in paradise as soon as he died; changing the placement of the comma has the effect of just saying that Christ was just making that statment today, or at this time. See the subtlety? Here's how it appears in their translation, Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee today, you shall be with me in paradise.

They They do not believe in the Trinity, and believe that Jesus is a god, little g. They do not believe in a litteral hell with eternal damnation as most Christians believe, but believe that when you die, if you're not a JW that you are just sent into nothingness. That your soul ceases to exist. These are the main things that I remember about them.

[Metania1]

I think I understand your question. The mindset is one of fear. Whether JW realize it or not they are serving God out of fear and not out of a genuine sense of love. Most cults have at their core a works related mind set towards God. It is based on what the JW can do for God inorder to attain heaven and be counted worthy of being one of the 144,000. Christians who follow Christ know that God the son has already provided the way through his death, burial, and ressurection. So the motivation for us to worship God is one of love and the works that we do are an expression of that love. For the Christian works do not add to our salvation, but instead are an expression of something that has already been freely given to us, which is salvation. So, the mindset in my opinion is one of fear.

[Wally]

The JWs like many cults do "good things". One of the most important is they take care of their own. They befriend, give, help and basically do works as part of their salvation. This "family" is what attracts and keeps most in the cults even after the clear revelation of error, or as in the JWs, false prophecy. Even when confronted with the words from thier own Watchtower, they refuse to believe the truth. And what keeps them? Family. They "love one another" to the point of sacrificing reason.

Are there any JWs who truly love Jesus and know Him? I believe so and they are the ones who eventually leave and witness to the JWs. However this is where the conditional love really becomes manifest. Once a JW leaves, they are cut off and shunned. I know it can get really bad, even the division of family (Personal Experience here with in-laws). However we who know Jesus - God in Flesh - have a calling to witness to them and pray for them, and continue to love them as God would.

One other thing: Considering the divisions between the "Bretheren" many cults shame Christians by their conduct towards one another within their cult. I am so glad the many posters on this board graciously agree to disagree on the minor issues of life, and consider each other in their level of maturity with love and understanding.

It's all About Jesus, Loving(Agape) Him first, then Loving our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. And Agape means with out price, free, selfless, for the benefit of the other regardless if you get a thank you or not.

[Peace777]

I was a little shocked when I found out through my research that the JW's believe it is OK to lie to someone who is not a JW. They only believe they have an obligation to tell the truth to other JW's. :tsk

[Zack]

I was a little shocked when I found out through my research that the JW's believe it is OK to lie to someone who is not a JW. They only believe they have an obligation to tell the truth to other JW's. :tsk Yep. They call it 'Theocratic War Statagey'.

[Rebecki]

I was a little shocked when I found out through my research that the JW's believe it is OK to lie to someone who is not a JW. They only believe they have an obligation to tell the truth to other JW's. :tsk

Well, that explains a lot! For the last 3 years I've worked with a JW and she was not like anything anyone has described here. She's controlling, power hungry, and not a good communicator. She wasn't my supervisor, but I did report to her twice a week and let me tell you, working for her was miserable!!! What you have shared above explains a lot now. Thank the Lord that I don't work for her any longer (as of February). She was very fake, like she wore a "friendly" mask all the time, I guess you could call it her "game face." The other day I went over to her building to drop something off that was hers and she wasn't in her office. I was walking down the hall when she came out of the restroom and the look on her face was really ugly... I'd even go so far as to say evil looking. It freaked me out. She gave me a look of "What the H*** are you doing here?" I made a turn to a different office, then went in to hers and she looked "normal" with her fake smiley work face. It was weird. Another co-worker a Christian) has told me that she has seen a "viper" type of face, then she turns nice again.

Another thing... When Katrina hit New Orleans my DH and I were talking about ways that we could possibly help. She talked about her "congregation" all the time, so I asked her how they were going to help the people of New Orleans. She told me that they won't be doing anything, and if they did, it would only be to help other JW's down there.

I'm not suggesting that all JW's are like this... but the one that I've had a close encounter with is.