Jehovah's Witnesses (December, 2000) If we had a dollar for each time someone has asked us whether we were Jehovah's Witnesses, we would be rich today. We do have some similar teachings, but the people who ask rarely know anything about what we teach. All they know is that we are out witnessing on the streets, and on that basis they assume that there is a strong possibility that we are Jehovah's Witnesses. We deny any connection with the JW's; but at times we feel guilty about that, because there is a certain comradeship with all who suffer for their faith. And JWs have certainly suffered for theirs. At any given time there would be countries in the world where Jehovah's Witnesses are jailed and even killed because of their faith. Though they are almost universally hated, those who hate (and fear) them can usually give only the vaguest reasons for their hate and fear. This is true even in educated Western, so-called Christian, countries like America, England, and Australia. A common excuse for hating the Jehovah's Witnesses because they do not believe in the Trinity. The JW's believe that Jesus is the Son of God (as Jesus is quoted as having said so often in the Bible), but they stop short of calling him God. Along with Jews and Muslims they believe that it is wrong to make Jesus equal to God. We do not share this teaching, and if it were the real issue, we could confidently deny any connection with the Witnesses. But it is not the real issue. The thousands who assume we are members of that group do not do so on the basis of anything we have said about the Trinity, or about the divinity of Jesus. | |
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