Posted by CC [PTL] on April 05, 1999 at 08:29:27 {6.uz.4vynM3u5M18dQosbsgCYp5Qfc}:
In Reply to: NIV and Jehovah posted by Happydan ( ^ _ ^ ) on April 02, 1999 at 11:55:32:
Is the Jehovah's Witness religion Christian?
The answer to the question is, "No. It is not Christian." Like all
cults, the J.W. organization distorts the essential doctrines of
Christianity. It denies the deity of
Christ, the physical resurrection, and
salvation by grace. To support its erring doctrines, the Watchtower
organization (which is the author and teacher of all official J.W.
theology) has even altered the Bible to
make it say what it wants to.
Typical with cults that use the Bible to support its position is a
host of interpretive errors:
* Taking verses out of their immediate context.
* Refusing to
read verses in the entire biblical context.
* Inserting their theological presuppositions into the text.
* Altering the Biblical text to suit their needs.
* Latching onto one verse to interpret a host of others.
* Changing the meanings of words.
* Proclaiming some passages to be figurative when they contradict their
doctrines.
* Adding to the Word of God.
Additionally, the cult requires of its members regular and
frequent
weekly attendance at their "Bible Study" meetings where they are repeatedly
indoctrinated with anti-Christian doctrines. This is done by reading the
Watchtower magazine that, basically, does their thinking for them.
They are
told they will be persecuted when they go door to door teaching their false
doctrines, so that when someone disagrees with them, they are justified in
being a J.W. They are told they are the only true organization on
the earth
(like all cults claim). They are strongly encouraged to have friends and
acquaintances that are only J.W.'s, thereby keeping outside examination to
a minimum. They are told to shun those who leave their group, that
way,
there is no way to see why someone has left, no way to find out that they
are in error from those who have found the truth.
Primarily, the J.W. organization is a cult because it violates the
essential biblical
doctrines. The Bible says that Jesus is God in flesh,
that Jesus rose from the dead in the same body He died in, and that
salvation is by grace through faith. The Watchtower organization denies all
three.
The
Watchtower organization is a non-Christian organization that uses
its people to promulgate false doctrines, sell a multitudinous amount of
literature, and expand its grip into the lives of its members and their
families.
It is a non-Christian cult.