JW organization.

[Elijah John]

Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to:

-vote
-celebrate birthdays
-celebrate Christmas or Easter
-donate or receive blood transfusions.

And if any JW openly persists in doing these things[edit to add publicly], they will be shunned or disfellowshipped, [edit to add or otherwise admonished or disciplined.]

For debate,

1) what do any of these check-list prohibitions have to do with Christianity?

2) And are any of these prohibitions compatible with the idea of Christian freedom?

3) Are these prohibitions arbitrary or legalistic?

4) And could Jehvoah's Witness as an organization flourish without these particular prohibitions and still honor God?

Please address any or all of the above.

[JehovahsWitness]

Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to:

-vote
-celebrate birthdays
-celebrate Christmas or Easter
-donate or receive blood transfusions.

And if any JW openly persists in doingthese things, they will be shunned or disfellowshipped.

I personally try NOT to make statements about the religion of other people when I are not fully in possession of the facts and favor asking or making a thorough enquirie before I make statments about the beliefs of others. For your information, none of the above are disfellowhipable offences as they are entirely personal matters. I notice you did not seek information on the above in a sub-forum here to specifically dedicated to getting to know the beliefs of others, would this be because you feel adequately qualified to expound on the organizational procedures of Jehovah's Witnesses?

We do have a website if you would like to further avoid inaccurate statements. I am absolutely confident your goal is NOT to promote misinformation and hatred towards a minority but I am also convinced this thread will run and run even after my clarification.

I hope you are entirely satisfied how things proceed,

JW

https://www.jw.org

[polonius]

https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesse ... eutrality/

“Jehovah’s Witnesses remain politically neutral for religious reasons, based on what the Bible teaches. We do not lobby, vote for political parties or candidates, run for government office, or participate in any action to change governments. We believe that the Bible gives solid reasons for following this course.�

Is the JW.Org stating JW teachings correctly?

[Elijah John]

Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to:

-vote
-celebrate birthdays
-celebrate Christmas or Easter
-donate or receive blood transfusions.

And if any JW openly persists in doingthese things, they will be shunned or disfellowshipped.

I personally try NOT to make statements about the religion of other people when I are not fully in possession of the facts and favor asking or making a thorough enquirie before I make statments about the beliefs of others. For your information, none of the above are disfellowhipable offences as they are entirely personal matters. I notice you did not seek information on the above in a sub-forum here to specifically dedicated to getting to know the beliefs of others, would this be because you feel adequately qualified to expound on the organizational procedures of Jehovah's Witnesses?

We do have a website if you would like to further avoid inaccurate statements. I am absolutely confident your goal is NOT to promote misinformation and hatred towards a minority but I am also convinced this thread will run and run even after my clarification.

I hope you are entirely satisfied how things proceed,

JW

https://www.jw.org

OK, then correct me and I will stand corrected. What DOES happen when or if a JW publicly practices any of the above, ie celebrates birthdays, holidays, gives or receives blood or votes?

You folks (JWs) suggest not critiquing other religions (especially when they are the JW org,) but seem to have no problem labeling other Christian denominations as "not Christian" or Satanically influenced. (the RCC for example)

Your beliefs and practices are fair game on these boards, as are all other Faiths.

So I ask you again, what do any of those prohibitions have to do with Christianity? How are such prohibitions NOT legalistic and how are they compatible with Christian freedom?

[JehovahsWitness]

OK, then correct me and I will stand corrected. What DOES happen when or if a JW publicly practices any of the above, ie celebrates birthdays, holidays, gives or receives blood or votes?

They will be respected as exercising their personal choice to do so. As long as they do not attempt to tell other people or give the community the impression their actions as representing those of Jehovah's Witnesses. Was there a part of personal decisions, that you did not understand?

[JehovahsWitness]

You folks (JWs) suggest not critiquing other religions (especially when they are the JW org,) but seem to have no problem labeling other Christian denominations as "not Christian" or Satanically influenced. (the RCC for example)

You can "critique" anything you like, I was posting to point out that your "critique" was based on a falsehood. If you wish to critique based on falsehoods, feel free but don't expect for inaccuracies not to be pointed out to you.

As for "labeling", evidently you yourself are not averse to doing that

- are you not implying that Jehovah's Witnesses are not practicing Christianity as JESUS would have liked?

- Is being "legalistic" good or bad?

- Are you not implying they [JWs] are incompatible with Christian freedom?

JW

[polonius]

https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/birthdays/

“Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays because we believe that such celebrations displease God. Although the Bible does not explicitly forbid celebrating birthdays, it does help us to reason on key features of these events and understand God’s view of them. Consider four of these aspects and related Bible principles.�

1. Birthday celebrations have pagan roots.
2. The early Christians did not celebrate birthdays.
3. The only commemoration that Christians are required to keep involves, not a birth,* but a death—that of Jesus.
4. The Bible never refers to a servant of God celebrating a birthday.

Observation: Thus Christmas seems to be excluded.

[JehovahsWitness]

So I ask you again, what do any of those prohibitions have to do with Christianity?

For Jehovah's Witnesses Christianity is that based on the teachings of Christ one of which is that the entire word of God (The bible as it exists today) is inspired direction from Jehovah (see John 17:17). By virtue of this, we believe no true Christian rejects any part of the bible. All of Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs are based on laws and principles found in the bible (66 books of the bible Canon). This is a basic and fundamental requirement of Christianity. The bible contains numerous prohibitions and mandates for those that wish to please God as well as a pattern for his standard for organizational procedure which must be respected if people wish to legitimately represent Him.

Christian freedom means Christians are free to conform to the Christian law and principles, ie those found in the entire Greek Scripture (New Testament) or not. If not they are free to face the inevitable consequences.

[polonius]

So I ask you again, what do any of those prohibitions have to do with Christianity?

JW posted

For Jehovah's Witnesses Christianity is that based on the teachings of Christ one of which is that the entire word of God (The bible as it exists today) is inspired direction from Jehovah (see John 17:17). By virtue of this, we believe no true Christian rejects any part of the bible. All of Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs are based on laws and principles found in the bible (66 books of the bible Canon). This is a basic and fundamental requirement of Christianity. The bible contains numerious prohibitions and mandates for those that wish to please God as well as a pattern for organization procedure which must be respect if people wish to legitimately represent Him.

QUESTION: Isn't more accurate to state that all Jehovah's Witnesses
beliefs must be based on the bible translation acceptable to the Jehovah's Witness organization, as well as the determination of its leadership although not necessarily specifically forbidden by the Bible?

JW posted:

Christian freedom means Christians are free to conform to the Christian law and principles, ie those found in the entire Greek Scripture (New Testament) or not. If not they are free to face the inevitable consequences.[/i]

.

RESPONSE: Who determines unacceptable behavior (eg. the celebration of Christmas) which is not forbidden by the Bible?

[Elijah John]

- are you not implying that Jehovah's Witnesses are not practicing Christianity as JESUS would have liked?

Not sure any modern denomination is, including JWs. Primitive Christianity is somewhat lost, but some historical Jesus scholars are attempting a reconstruction.

- Is being "legalistic" good or bad?

Being legalistic is detrimental. Jesus blasted the Pharisees for being legalistic.

- Are you not implying they [JWs] are incompatible with Christian freedom?

JW

No, I'm suggesting that not all JW teachings are compatible with Christian freedom, and putting it out there for debate.

And for a better fit in this forum, and to back off from making this too personal against a group, allow me to rephrase just a bit.

Are practices such as deliniated in the OP compatible with Christian freedom? (no matter WHO teaches or practices them).