Expert: Brenton Hepburn - 3/28/2006

Question
I don't understand the practices/ I know a little bit about it! i know that they don't do a lot of hoildays, plus don't believe in blood transfusions, I don't understand why they call god jehovah! and they go to door to door bible teaching.

Can you explan what they believe and what they don't believe in?  

Answer
Hello Zuleika

Thank you for your questions. The four that you mainly mention seem to be the ones that most people find strange since other religions do not have those ideas.

To fully answer you will take a lot of time so I will address you main four concerns by a short explanation and then give a very brief out line of our main theology.  You will see that JW's have quite a different outlook on what the Bible teaches to the majority of Christian religions.   If you find you want more information on any of the beliefs please do not hesitate to ask.

Why do we call God Jehovah?

The name Jehovah is derived from 4 Hebrew letters known as the Tetragrammaton.  In English, the 4 letters are YHWH.  In Hebrew there are now written vowels so vowles have to be inserted when translating into English and most other languages.

Today no one can be certain how it was originally pronounced in Hebrew. Why not?. When Biblical Hebrew was in everyday use, readers easily provided the proper vowels. In time, however, the Jews came to have the superstitious idea that it was wrong to say God's personal name out loud, so they used substitute expressions, such as lord (Adonai or Elohim). Centuries later, Jewish scholars developed a system of points by which to indicate which vowels to use when reading ancient Hebrew, but they put the vowels for the substitute expressions around the four consonants representing the divine name. It appeas to have been the custom to use the vowles from Adonai and Elohim as the vowles that should be inserted. Thus the original pronunciation of the divine name was lost.

Most English Bibles will have the name Jehovah in the text or in a foot note at Exodus 3:15 and Exodus 6:3

Many scholars favor the spelling "Yahweh," but it is uncertain and there is not agreement among them. We have stayed with the form, "Jehovah" as it is the form of the name that is most readily recognized, because it has been used in English for centuries and preserves, equally with other forms, the four consonants of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton.  Even though they favor Yahweh which keeps the "Y"  instead of using the English "J"  for Gods name they still use the English "J" for all the other names in the Hebrew texts such as Joshua, Jacob Jehu.  All of which in Hebrew have the letter "Y" thus Jacob would be Yacob.  Mostr English Bibles render such names with the letter "J"

A lot of Bibles use the word lord in capital letters "LORD" when ever the Hebrew YHWH is used.  They do this to keep in line with the Jewish tradition of thinking the name is too sacred to speak.

Here is an exert from the Preface of the Darby Version of 1890. The Darby Bible use Jehovah in the "Old Testament"

QUOTE

In the Authorised Version of the English Bible ËœGOD" is used as well as ËœLORD" for "Jehovah," and the form ËœLORDâ„¢ represents both "Jehovah" and "Jah". This inconvenience is obviated by the use of the Hebrew words anglicised, that is ËœJehovah," and ËœJah," where they respectively occur, and by rendering "Adonai" regularly ËœLord." In the later Psalms the form "Hallelujah," ËœPraise ye Jah," has been maintained wherever the sense allowed it. It is a sort of heading to many Psalms. An exception may be noted in Psalm 147.1. For "Jehovah Elohim," see the note at Genesis 1.1. It will be noticed how characteristic is "Adonai Jehovah," Ëœthe Lord Jehovah," of the Books of Ezekiel and Amos. [The English reader may compare the forms, Ëœthe Lord GOD" and Ëœthe LORD thy God," in Isaiah 7.7,11.]

END QUOTE

When Jesus was on earth he said  "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (Joh 17:26 NKJV).  So Jesus declared the name of his father and we feel we should also.

BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS

Jehovah"s Witnesses believe that the Bible prohibits the use of blood by ingesting it in any way, e.g. eating it or transfusing it. Why? After the flood Noah  was given these instructions "3  Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4  Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood." (Genesis 9:3-4 RSV).  This prohibition of blood was carried onto the Israelites as well     "11  For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life. 12  Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood." (Leviticus 17:11-12 RSV) All those animal sacrifices under the Mosaic Law foreshadowed the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The 1 century Christians were also told to abstain from blood "28  For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29  that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well." (Acts 15:28-29 RSV).  

The idea of blood transfusions was unheard of in those days, but because the sanctity of blood is so strongly shown in the Bible we feel that it is Gods desire that we should also show a high regard for it.  That does not mean that we will let ourselves die by not having a blood transfusions.    Actually JW's benefit by not taking blood transfusions as more and more doctors have decided that it is poor medical practice.  And because JW's do not take blood medical procedures have improved. There are a lot of alternatives to blood that are better medical practice that we will and do allow.  See the following web sites (not JW sites) to see how the medical profession is now viewing blood transfusions.

www.humed.com/bloodless/index.shtml

www.noblood.org/

www.bmsi.net/

Why do JWs go from door to door?

When Jesus was on earth he commissioned his followers to go to where the people lived and present his message to them.  For example in Matthew chapter 10 after he chose his 12 disciples he sent them out to preach "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 10:7 RSV).  These men were to go into villages and search out those that will listen.  "And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart." (Matthew 10:11 RSV).  To find those that would listen , would require them to go to the people individually, at their homes.

We believe Jesus gave a command to his followers to actively go and make disciples of people, "19  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 RSV).  In making disciples his followers were instructed to teach the "new" ones "Å“all that I have commanded you" and that includes preaching to others.

From the Bible book of Acts we see that the apostles followed the instructions of Jesus and went to where the people were, in the public places and  from house to house.  "And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." (Acts 5:42 RSV)         "20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house," (Acts 20:20 RSV)


Holidays

JW"s  do not celebrate religious or secular holidays such as Christmas, Easter, Halloween, a counties "birth day" (e.g. Independence day for the US or Australia Day for the country where I live) and any other day that might come along.  The only day of any importance to us is the day of the death of Jesus, as it is the only occasion he said for his followers to keep. We do not have a holiday for that day. We only hold a service in memory of the death od Jesus.

The celebrations of Christmas and Easter are derived form non Christian religious practices and were added to Christianity in order to attract more "converts" in the few centuries following Jesus life on earth.  It is because of the non Christian origins that we feel it is not acceptable

What about holidays for countries?. We endeavor to follow the council of Jesus and not to be part of the world    "I have given them thy word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." (John 17:14 RSV)    "36 My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world."  (John 18:36 RSV)  We feel that we can not support the kingship of God and Jesus if we become involved in the celebration of  any particular country.


The above is a short explanation and I hope it is enough to have answered your question.

Now for a very brief out line of our main theology.  There are not in any order of importance as we see them all as equally important.  To explain each point using the Bible will take a lot of time, but if you wish to find out more on any matter please feel free to ask.

Gods Name is Jehovah

His first creation is his "only begotten son" Jesus

Jesus was God's master worker in creating all other things

The Holy Ghost (or Spirit) is not a person but refers to Gods power of "force"

There is no trinity

The earth was made for man to live on

Gods purpose for that has not changed

We grow old and die because Adam sinned

We were not created with a "soul" that departs from the body at death to go to heaven.

When we die we have returned to the dust from which God created mankind and we are conscience of nothing.

God has allowed the troubles of this world to go on to answer a challenge that Satan posed to him that God did not have the right to rule mankind

Jesus came to earth to be a ransom in order to buy back the life that Adam lost for all of us.

God has set a time period for Satan to prove his idea that he "Satan" could do a better job of ruling

The time for God to again take charge is close

He never gave a definite "date" but did provide us with signs to look for (Matthew 24)

We feel those signs point to our time

God does not want anyone to die (our preaching work is one way God lets the warning be made known)

We can not be saved by just believing  or having faith.  We must demonstrate our faith by the way we live (works) because faith without works is dead.

There will be what the Bible calls the battle of Armageddon where God removes Satan and those that follow him

Jesus will rule as Gods appointed king over mankind.

There are to be a small number of humans that will rule with Jesus during this time. The Bible indicates this to be 144000

The rest of mankind will inhabit the earth and restore it to its original condition.

There will be a resurrection of the dead when during this time

We stay politically neutral in all matters because we feel christens should be supporting  the government of God

We do not vote in any sate or national political elections

We do not join any armed forces in any country

I do hope I have been able to provide you with some insight into our beliefs.

If you would like more details on anything above please feel free to ask.


Brenton