How are Buddhism Judaism and a Jehovah's Witnesses similar?

Answer 1

ANSWERThere are similarities between ancient Judaism and Jehovah's Witnesses, in that ancient Judaism worshipped a singular, non-triune God whose name was likely pronounced Yahweh in Hebrew (translated into English as Jehovah-Psalms 83:18, Original King James Version)

The ancient Jews also did not believe in a burning hellfire, or an immortal soul, the same as Jehovah's Witnesses today. (Ecclesiastes 9:5,10) They did believe that all people go to the same common grave (sheol) and those who die could do so knowing that they could have the hope that God would resurrect them from the dead at some time in the future, as do Jehovah's Witnesses today. (Job 14:13)

Because The Bible says that "all scripture is inspired of God and benefitial,"(2 Timothy 3:16) Jehovah's Witnesses hold in high esteem the value of the part of the Bible called the Old Testiment, as did those in ancient Judaism.

Ancient Jews based their teachings on the writings of the Bible that were available to them at that time, the Old Testiment. JW's base their teachings on the entire Bible, which includes the Old Testiment.

Ancient Jews did not use any statues, images, or icons in their worship, the same as JW's today. (Exodus 20:4)

Because Jehovah's Witnesses accept the ransom of Jesus Christ and rest their hope on the Son of God, Jesus Christ as their King and redeemer, the similarities pretty much end there. It would also be good to keep in mind that ancient Judaism and the Judaism of today are very different.

As far as Buddhism is concerned, there are no similarities that I am aware of with either Judaism or JW's. Buddhism is a religion based on an eastern philosophy of Gautama Buddha, a man who lived in the area of Nepal and India about 500 years before the birth of Christ. There is no record of Gautama Buddha ever being exposed to the Old testiment writings of the Bible, and in all likelyhood he would not have been since at that time the Jewish people were the ones in possession of the scriptures, and the Jews had very limited contact with people of other nations.

Buddism features worship that involves statues, images, and icons, something that would be unacceptable to both ancient Jews and JW's today.

Clarification: Buddhism does not always feature worship of statues, images, and icons. This is the choice of certain sects of Buddhism, but was is not required and was not influenced by The Buddha (Gautama Buddha). Where Judaism and JW focus much on past and future, Buddhism's focus is on seeing what is present and dealing with suffering most people face in life.