Are Jehovah’s Witnesses Christian?
Comparing beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses with Christian Beliefs

Introduction:

Sometimes when we are at our homes, someone will knock on our door and ask if they can talk with us. They may or may not say they are from the Jehovah’s Witness (JW) church, but if they give you information printed by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York then they are Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The JW church was started by Charles Taze Russell, an American from Pittsburgh, PA. As an 18 year old, he began teaching Bible studies related to the second coming of Jesus Christ and he published a number of books. In 1884 Russell started the Zion’s Watch Tower and Tract Society and served as its president until 1916. Russell also wrote a series of books called “Studies in the Scriptures” which is the basis of the theology of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Today, the JWs have over 6 million active members in 98,000 congregations that distribute The Watchtower and Awake magazines in over 200 countries around the world. They are governed by a small group of elders based in Brooklyn, New York.

The Jehovah’s Witness and Christian churches have a number of things in common. However, the JWs view of the Bible, God, Jesus, Heaven and Hell are very different from Christian beliefs. This paper will describe a few of these differences.

Beliefs about God and Jesus

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe there is only one God who should always be called Jehovah. The main difference between Christian and Jehovah’s Witness beliefs about God however, is that JWs totally reject the idea that Jesus is the one true God, one of the foundational beliefs of Christians.

This difference becomes a real problem when looking at Jesus Christ. JWs believe that God’s first creation was the Archangel Michael who became known as Jesus when he took bodily form as the son of Mary. So by JW belief, Jesus was created by God and Jesus and the Archangel Michael are the same. Christian belief however, says that Jesus is God and that Michael and Jesus are two separate beings.

Changes were made in the JW Bible to reflect this belief. For example, when looking at John 1:1, the Christian Bible says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” While both the Christians and JWs would agree that “the Word” in this verse means Jesus Christ, the Bible of the JWs says that “the Word was a god”. By adding ‘a’ in front of the word God and not capitalizing the ‘G’ in the word God, in English this verse now says Jesus is not God but one of many spirit beings and is only God’s worker. Those that study Greek and translate the Bible agree there is no reason to make this change in the Bible. But the JW leadership made the change to reflect the belief of the JW church. Christians however, read “the Word was God” which is an accurate translation of the Greek and understand that Jesus is God.

In short, the JWs do not believe that Jesus is God while Christians do. For Christians, seeing Jesus as the Son of God at the same time as acknowledging Jesus as God himself, who came to live among us, is one of our basic beliefs.

Likewise, JWs do not see the Holy Spirit as God but just as an “active force” that God uses.

Beliefs About the Bible

The Bible as accepted by Christians is a collection of sacred writings written by at least 40 people over a period of 1600 years. Ancient church leaders reviewed the writings in a series of meetings and since the year 393 the Bible has remained unchanged. At that time, it was decided that the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament were the divinely inspired Word of God. So for nearly 1700 years, Christians have accepted the Bible as the accurate and inspired Word of God and it is agreed that no other book can be used as the foundation of Christian belief (See 2 Timothy 3:15-17 and 2 Peter 1:19-21). The Bible also tells us that the Word of the Lord will last forever (1 Peter 1:23-25). Because the Word of God will last forever there is no need to change it. In fact, Deuteronomy 4:2 teaches us that it is wrong to change the Bible.

The JW Bible on the other hand, is called the “New World Translation” which was done by an unknown group of JW translators. Greek scholars say there are a number of errors in the JW translation but as in John 1:1, the JW Bible is made to match the theology of Charles Taze Russell and the Jehovah’s Witness church. In spite of these flaws, the JWs say that the “New World Translation” is the only valid interpretation of the Bible and only it can be used. The JW leadership also says that it is the only body that can properly interpret the Bible. This is in contrast to the Christian idea that the Holy Spirit will provide wisdom and understanding of God’s word to anyone (See Ephesians 1:17-18 and john 14:26).

Beliefs about Heaven and Hell

JW and Christian beliefs about heaven and hell are very different as well. JWs believe that Jesus became king in heaven in the year 1914. At that time, Jesus threw Satan and his angels down to earth which is why the earth is so full of evil today. But after the battle of Armageddon, Satan will be in prison and Jesus will establish His kingdom here on earth. He will separate the righteous (defined as the believers in the JW church) from the wicked (everyone else) and the wicked will simply disappear. In JW belief there is no hell. Most of the righteous will remain on earth and establish a paradise and will live forever. A “little flock” (Luke 12:32) however, composed of 144,000 people will be chosen to rule with Jesus as kings, judges and priests over the paradise built on earth. Only these 144,000 will go to Heaven and in the resurrection they will rise as gods.

Christians on the other hand, believe Heaven is eternal life in paradise with God. It is a place of no disease, pain or evil and is where we can be forever in God’s presence. Heaven is available for anyone who is a true believer, is born into the kingdom of God and follows Jesus Christ. We cannot earn our salvation, we can only accept this free offer of God made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Our salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. For the JWs, they must earn their salvation by doing things the church wants them to do. For the Christian however, what we do is important, but it is our faith and God’s grace that saves us.

Christians believe that Hell is for those that do not accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Hell is described by Jesus as an eternal fire (Matt. 25:41) and eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46). So if Jesus himself is describing Hell, it seems we should believe it.

Other Jehovah’s Witness Beliefs

Some other beliefs of Jehovah’s Witness would include that no one is allowed to smoke, chew betel nut or take drugs for pleasure. Men cannot have long hair or a beard. Blood is sacred so no one should eat blood and no one should have a blood transfusion. Any church other than the Jehovah’s Witness are demonic and JW members should have nothing to do with them. JWs believe that holidays were not celebrated by early Christians and therefore, should not be celebrated today. For this reason, not even Christmas or Easter is celebrated by JWs. The celebrations of birthdays are also forbidden. JWs see governments as evil organizations so JWs do not vote, join the military or participate in any government activities. If someone leaves the Jehovah’s witness church, they are shunned and the other members will have nothing to do with them. They also believe that Jesus died on a wooden stake buried in the ground and not on a cross. So they see the cross as an evil sign.

Conclusion

Jehovah’s Witness members are required to visit homes of non-members to try and convince them to come to a Jehovah’s Witness service and to take some of their literature. So it is quite common to have someone from the JW church knock on our door and ask to visit. They may seem like they are Christians but when their beliefs are examined, it can be seen that JW and Christian beliefs are very different. The Jehovah’s Witness church does not believe in the Oneness of God, they do not believe that Jesus is God. They changed the Bible to make it fit JW beliefs and their ideas of heaven and hell are completely different from the Christian view. If one starts attending a JW service, they will be pressured to have nothing to do with Christians or anyone who believes differently.

This paper lists just a few of the JW beliefs that are different from Christian beliefs. If your faith is important to you, then it is important to know what you believe and how it might be different from the beliefs of others you might meet. A Jehovah’s Witness might tell you they are a Christian but I hope it is apparent that their beliefs are very different than Christian beliefs. In Matthew 24:11, Jesus said that “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.” Each of us needs to study the Bible, pray, know our beliefs and attend church so we aren’t mislead.