Subject: RE: BS: The End of the World is Back !! Oct 21st
From:
Little Hawk
Date: 17 Oct 11 - 02:43 PM
Here's a lengthy article all about the origins, structure, and beliefs of the JWs.
Jehovah's Witnesses
They don't have any beliefs about the Rapture. They do have some other beliefs that are quite unusual in mainstream Christianity, such as...
- They do not believe in the Trinity
- They do not believe in the traditional Hell (their translation of the word Hell ("sheol") is simply..."the grave"...that is, a nonconscious state after death. You don't get punished...you simply die, your body goes into dissolution, and you cease to have any conscious existence at all from that point on...although there are provisions for some to be resurrected at some point into another physical life.
- they do not believe Jesus was crucified on a cross, they think he was executed on a single wooden torture stake (as opposed to the traditional cross). Why they believe that, I don't know. It probably has to do with how their elders have interpreted their translations of the Bible text in its earliest linguistic form.
And so on...quite a few distinct divergences from what people usually associate with Christianity. This, of course, makes them apostates in the view of most other Christian churches, and the other churces are apostates in their view. They ALL, however, use various translations of the Bible as their authority, but do not necessaril agree on which translation is the "best" one or how to interpret it.
There have been some similar schisms and diffrences of doctrine in the Muslim faith, and probably in most other major religions as well. It seems to be what usually happens as time goes by with any religion.
Anyway, the article makes for interesting reading if you want to know what makes the JWs tick, and how they differ from other Christians.
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sj
