Can a church of christ member be friends to Jehovah's witnesses?

Answer 1

You would do well to ask the Church of Christ Member. As for Jehovah's Witnesses they generally try to maintain good relations with everyone in their community. While each individual Jehovah's Witness makes their own decisions as to who they form friendships with, common interest and values obviously has a bearing with who they will form close friendships with.

Answer 2

First, it is important to understand that Jehovah's Witnesses are christian. We believe in Jesus. We excercise faith in Jesus. We believe that Jesus is the only means of salvation, and he is the only way to approach God, he is the only mediator between God and man. It was his sacrifice that makes eternal life possible, and he is the king of God's kingdom. Our belief in, and our obedience to Jesus is the whole reason we go out door to door and preach to people about his kingdom. Jesus commanded that his followers do the preaching work, as he did it himself, so did all of his disciples and apostles, and so do we today. What I believe you are referring to is, can Jehovah's Witnesses be freinds with people of other religions. The fact is, we consider ourselves to be friends of all. We try to display that friendship in the most practical way we can, that is, by studying The Bible with them, and showing how to gain everlasting life. We do not share in many of the same religious beliefs and practices with people of other faiths, however, because we have come to understand that many of these celebrations come from pagan rituals. On example is the Christmas celebration which actually comes from the pagan worship of the Roman sun god, Mithra. Have your Jehovah's Witness friend explain some of his or her beliefs.

Answer 3

Yes they can. Jehovah's Witnesses maintain close and warm friendships with a wide variety of people. Like all individuals though, they are drawn to those that share their interests and values and exercise christian caution when choosing intimate associates.

Answer2: Jehovah's Witness go out of their way to practice love of neighbor, assist others and to be friendly whether at work, school, the supermarket, in times of disaster, where ever.However, we do draw the line, we chose as our most intimate associates those who share our morals, values and beliefs. This world puts so much emphasis on material riches, prominence, power and lack of morals, whereas Jehovah's Witness, based on God's word, stresses the more important spiritual values. Not that we think that we are better than anyone else, but our choice of friends serves as a protection for us and our Bible trained conscience.

Answer 4

It somewhat depends on what you mean by the word 'friends'. There are different kind of 'friends'. Some are 'close' friends; some are 'acquaintances'.

Let's put it this way: We really try. We dress up all nice; and visit people (non-Witnesses) at their homes to talk about our greatest 'LOVE'; namely The Bible. We 'love' talking about Jehovah God, his works, his will, his requirements, and his purposes. We are friendly. We are helpful. We do not discriminate against the poor. For FREE we even offer to help the illiterate; or those having reading problems; to learn how to become better readers. We spend the time with them.

Some people appreciate such kindness from us; and they reciprocate, in kind. A friendship develops.

But most non-Witnesses do not wish to have such a friendship. How 'close' do you think a non-witness acquaintance wants to get around us when we always gravitate to speaking about what is most dear to us: our faith? This is part-&-parcel to answering the question properly.

Example from our life: We raised 3 little girls in a nice housing development; with neighbor children. Our neighbors are always seeing us all dressed up in our Sunday best (even on non-Sundays) going to our Bible meetings; and in our door-step ministry. We would even visit our neighbors in our house-to-house ministry occasionally. They would have their usual and anticipated reaction. We didn't think that God would mind us talking about Him with them; but our neighbors weren't interested in speaking about Jehovah God with us.

So when our 3 girls were outside playing; They would often sit with their Bible story book, or their song book on the front step. Sometimes the neighbor kids would come over; only to be called back home by their parents. Then within a week; those children had told our girls that their parents don't want them to come over anymore. How close can you get to such non-Witness children, when their parents put such a kibosh into it.

The same principle happens when we are grown-ups. We enjoy speaking about Jehovah God; and most non-Witnesses don't - - - therefore this affects any 'closeness' regarding 'friendships', as you can imagine.

The way 'friendships' develop: People become friends -- when they have 'things in-common'.

• You can imagine, Jehovah's Witnesses don't have Christmas, birthdays, Halloween, etc etc, in common with non-Witnesses. That's a big part of non-Witness life. That's all they talk about and plan for. They like Christmas Music; we don't. They like singing 'Happy Birthday'; we don't.
• Since we are careful about the type of movies we watch; this too reduces whether we have things in common or not.
• Since we don't swear; nor tell dirty stories; this reduces again what things we have in common or not.
• And the list goes on, regarding whether we have 'things in-common'; That's what determines whether a friendship starts and develops or not.

So much of our friendship with non-witnesses just automatically falls into the default position -- into the realm of 'acquaintances'.

We are 'friendly' with people. We do kind things for others, including giving Baby Shower gifts / Wedding gifts / anniversary gifts; and other helpful things. But it does seem that others prefer to keep a distance; and so a real close friendship doesn't develop.

Answer 5

Yes and no, they can but they are strongly advised not to be. 1 Corinthians 15:33 is often quoted to support this "advise". If a Witness does spend a lot of time with non-JWs out side of work/school they are usually look down on as spiritually weak and will often find themselves the ear of a concerned elder.