Thoughts On Jehovah's Witnesses

A friend recently said, “I am confused as to why people don't believe that Jehovah’s Witnesses are Christian. I was told that it was because members of the Watchtower organization don't believe in the Trinity, nor do they celebrate Christ's birth. I personally have a problem with people "deciding" who is Christian and who is not.”

I understand my friend’s problem and concern. There are those who take it upon themselves to determine what God alone can and does - playing God is a game that some do play. There are those who seem to use their Christianity - or their assumed Christianity - as a club to demean others and exalt themselves. Such self-exaltation and pomposity is alien to the humble, servant-based life of Jesus that lives within those who accept Him. Some thoughts about the question:

1) Simply because someone announces that they attend a certain church or group does not mean, de facto, that the individual agrees with all of the tenets of that group, denomination or movement. So we cannot arbitrarily and summarily judge someone solely by the affiliation(s) they have. Some Republicans agree with President George Bush on most issues - some do not. Most Democrats do not agree with President Bush on most issues, though some do, on some issues.

2) However, there are objective criteria one can use when determining if a person is a Christian - or a Democrat or a Republican - or whether their citizenship is Canadian or German, etc. When it comes to Christianity, there are over 1,900 years of core beliefs and practices that have identified those in the body of Christ. At the same time, over those same 1,900 years there have been non-essential, peripheral practices and traditions that Christians have disagreed about - and still do. Non-essential issues that the Bible does not clearly insist on do not identify Christians as Christians - but essential, core beliefs do.

Core beliefs that Christians have always affirmed include the nature of God - that God, according to the Bible, is one God who exists eternally and separately as Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Trinity is a word that Christians use to describe the formulation of biblical beliefs about God's nature). The nature of God is a critically important - perhaps the most important - belief that Christians have - in fact the nature of god(s) is usually seen as the most critical of any religion.

Christianity, along with Judaism and Islam, is monotheistic (belief in one God) - while other religions are polytheistic (belief in multiple gods). Christianity of course has a Judeo-Christian foundation - and builds on its belief of the one God of Judaism (as per the Old Testament of the Bible) and accepts Jesus as the divine Son of God, and the Holy Spirit as divine as well (these beliefs as per the New Testament of the Bible).

From the first few centuries of Christianity there were those who opposed God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One of the groups was known as Arians - after Arius, their leader. The Jehovah's Witnesses are modern-day Arians - believing that Jesus is created, that He was once an angel - denying therefore the power of His cross and resurrection, and the fact that He is alive today as our Lord and Savior.

Other core beliefs, in addition to the nature of God, include the divinity of Jesus Christ (a part of the Trinity in one sense) - but a separate teaching in terms of His incarnation, birth, life, death and resurrection. As stated above, the Watchtower Society and Jehovah's Witnesses do not agree that Jesus is God. In addition, they do not agree with the core belief of salvation by grace through faith - that we are saved by Jesus and Jesus alone. JWs believe in works theology - that we gain/earn a future after life on the basis of our performance.

Neither do the JWs agree with another historic core teaching of Christianity - that the body of Christ is universal, existing inside of and outside of many organized churches. That is, the Christian belief is that Christianity exists wherever God wants it to, and that no one group has the right to say that it alone is correct and "true" and that all others are false. JWs claim exactly this -- that they are the only true church.

So, in brief, the official teachings of the JWs are not Christian. Whether an individual member of the JWs is Christian or not is another issue - and one should be careful about "branding" individuals as non-Christians, but we as Christians are within biblical boundaries in identifying what is Christian and what is not. We could go so far to say that if an individual member of the JWs has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, chances are they will not remain within the JW organization for long - for they will encounter teaching and practice that wars against their authentic Christianity.

An individual JW may be a wonderful person - but the Bible does not teach that Christianity is produced by good morals - there are many people who are "good" people, who are upstanding citizens, who are not Christians (many atheists and agnostics are ethical people). Christians are identified by those who identify themselves with the Jesus Christ of the gospel, who accept Him and Him alone as being sufficient and capable to forgiven their sins and thus, by God's grace, be given eternal life on the basis of the cross of Christ - not on the basis of human deeds and performance.

Having said all of this, one more disclaimer. It is possible for a person to attend a church that accepts all the essential, core beliefs of historic Christianity, and still not be a Christian. While we can expect to find more Christians gathered together around groups, churches and ministries that proclaim core Christian beliefs, it is possible to attend a church that formally accepts Christian doctrine, and still not be a Christian. Simply attending a church does not make us a Christian either. Christianity is all about an individual relationship with God, it is Christ-centered and it is based on God's amazing grace.

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