What are the sources of prejudices against Jehovah witnesses?

Answer 1

It depends on what the "prejudices" this question are referring to.

Much of what is view by Witnesses as an attack on them are not aimed at the individual Witnesses but the belief system they subscribe themselves to. These are sourced from all over the place: ex-members, Christian groups, human rights activists, individuals who have an interest in the Jehovah's Witnesses, The Bible, and history.

As for "prejudices" personally against Jehovah's Witnesses these often stem out of the door-to-door ministry work they do; people aren't usually big fans of being woken up by a knock at the door early in the morning on their days off.

Answer 2

There are several religions that have what might be called a cult-like aura or appearance because they teach things that are quite different from the 'mainstream' religions. There is no value judgement in this statement. The Jehovah's Witnesses is one of a few such religions including the Mormon church, the Unification Church, and others. There is also no presumption that 'mainstream' is right; mainstream 'Christendom' in the general sense of western culture is to a great degree a large, murky, non-unified and sometimes corrupt entity.

To the credit of the Jehovah's Witnesses, much of the following will be seen by them as distinctive and authentic, and the very reasons that they are scorned by some. Holding true to unpopular beliefs can be a courageous thing.

Jehovah's Witnesses have, on a few occasions, made predictions of the end of the world, and the predictions did not turn out as expected. The Witnesses then found interpretations of their predictions that fit with what was observed. Be clear that this answer has nothing to do with the truth or untruth of the teachings of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The question is asking about sources of prejudice. These predictions did not enhance the reputation of the group among members of other faiths.

There is also the matter of the nature of the person of Jesus Christ. Jehovah's Witnesses do not teach or believe that Christ is by nature God. He is in fact the very same person as Michael the Archangel. Jesus is one of many 'sons' of God who are sons of God in the same sense that he (Jesus) is a son. They also teach that the Jesus who died on the cross is dead, forever dead. The logic is that a continuing life for Jesus Christ would be the same as undoing or taking back Christ's sacrifice. Jehovah created Jesus anew and it is this re-erected Jesus who appeared at the resurrection. Again, the truth or falsity of these teachings is not in dispute here; these are some of the things that mainstream groups find difficult to accept as even marginally true.

Jehovah's Witnesses also seem to hold in contempt some of the things that are ordinary parts of western culture, like the enjoyment of holidays including Christmas, and the use of blood transfusions in medical emergencies.

They also believe that all of the people who will ever attain heaven have already done so; the 144,000 have already lived and died. These individuals live with Jehovah in the nonphysical, spiritual realms. All other faithful will enjoy the physical earth forever. More correctly, it will not be the faithful who will continue to live as individual consciousnesses from this earthly life to the next, but will be 're-erections', or re-creations of the individuals who lived on earth and who died, once and for ever.

There have been publications by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society that have claimed outright that they contain teachings that are so accurate and complete that they could in fact be used in place of the bible, with no loss of truth or value at all. Again, whether or not these publications are still available, or whether or not the concept is true, is not at issue. These are some of the things that have brought about doubt, suspicion and even scorn on the part of others.

Answer by Daniel Metz, one of Jehovah's Witnesses

The answer above is quite accurate. We are not liked by many for the reasons given above. We are disliked because we don't believe or act the way the majority of people do in certain areas where we believe that Bible indicates that we should follow another course. People like those who share their beliefs and customs, and are not comfortable with those who have different one, and especially with those who change their beliefs and customs from those of the majority. As Jesus said:

(John 15:18, 19) . . .If the world hates YOU, YOU know that it has hated me before it hated YOU. 19 If YOU were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because YOU are no part of the world, but I have chosen YOU out of the world, on this account the world hates YOU."

I would however like to correct a few inaccuracies in the previous answer.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus was put to death in the flesh and was resurrected as a spirit. Jesus sacrificed his human body and God resurrected him with a spirit body. Someone may view this a a re-creation, but we never use this term. How Jehovah put the same personality in the spirit body as the one that was in the human body, we do not know, nor do we speculate about this, but we do not believe in an immortal soul that continues the personality of a person after the death of his human body. We believe that it is not the atoms of our physical body that determine our personality, since these are completely changed about every 7 years. It is the personality in our heart and mind that makes us individuals, and we believe that when God puts this personality in a new physical or new spirit body, the same person has come back to life.

We also do not believe that all the 144 000 have already lived and died. Among us are about 11 800 who feel they have the heavenly calling to be part of the 144 000. The rest of us have the hope of living forever on a paradise earth, either through a resurrection, if we die before the new world comes, or by surviving Armageddon, as part of the "great crowd", who we believe will survive without dying into the new world.

As for how we view the publications of the Watch Tower Society of Pennsylvania, we Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that they are inspired. Critics of our faith try to claim the opposite by quoting very old passages from our publications or quoting directors of the Society in certain very old court cases, thinking that this will undermine our confidence in what we believe. However it doesn't, because our publications from the beginning of our modern-day history have said that they are not infallible or inspired, and we don't believe that any of Jehovah's Witnesses is infallible or inspired, whether he is a director of the Society or not.

What we believe is that the explanations of the Scriptures given in the Society's publications are more logical and motivating than those of other churches. We are impressed by what we have read in the publications of the Watch Tower Society. We have developed faith that Jehovah God and Jesus are using only Jehovah's Witnesses to spread the true message of salvation and of God's Kingdom, and have, with the help of God's holy spirit, created a worldwide brotherhood that is united in belief, united in message, united in love for each other, and not divided by nationalism or racism. Our allegiance is to God's kingdom, and not to any human government, and we are awaiting with eagerness the time when God's will will be done as in heaven, also upon earth.

We also believe that the corrections of details of our beliefs that have occurred over the years represent the "food at the proper time" promised by Jesus in Matthew 24:45, and given to us through a "faithful and discreet slave" class, the group of men who prepare the literature that touches our hearts so much. We believe that it is God who guides his people to understand the meaning of difficult parts of Scripture, especially prophecies of the future.

The fact that our publications have predicted the end of this system of things to come by certain dates, which did not come true, does not weaken our faith that God is using us. On the contrary, it shows that we are eager to see the new world come, while other churches get deeply involved in politics, trying to make this world conform to their beliefs, and building as comfortable a life as possible in this world, when Jesus clearly taught that his disciple would be "no part of this world" (John 15:19).

The fact that Jehovah allowed us to make predictions of years for the end that did not come true has helped to refine us. Those who did not truly love God but were only interested in a reward from him left us. Those who stayed with us are, I believe, the kind of persons that God is preparing to live in a world ruled by one heavenly government in the hands of Jesus Christ.

Regards,

Daniel Metz

(What is written below is not from me)

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As a former JW with 23+ years service incl regular pioneer, elder etc.., I cannot say that JWs, in this day and age, are regular targets or victims of prejudice and discrimination. The violence and intolerance shown against the WT Org of the 30's, 40's & possibly the 50's in Canada & the US are long gone. In fact, I would venture to say that JW's today are mostly viewed as a mainstream religion even though they remain somewhat insular and isolationists in terms of associating with non-JWs.

If anything, I would suggest that most people are annoyed by their incessant door-to-door work, preaching their WT-based theology, including the overstating of 'end times' due to arrive "soon". And, unlike the days of Judge Rutherford (WT's 2nd president), today's JW message has toned down considerably. No JW is being 'tar & feathered' these days or 'run out of town" going door to door.

Another source of derision is their belief that only active JWs will survive the oft-preached 'end of the world', or Armageddon, meaning that all non-JW's will be destroyed by God at that time, including women and children. That this belief is arbitrary and based on selective interpretation of Scriptures does not resonate among the 'true believers'.

Closely tied to this is their belief that only they possess the "truth" and that, out of all the religions and belief systems in the entire world, only their WT Org is "spirit-directed', exclusively. All other religious groups are judged to be part of the harlot, Babylon the Great. (Rev 14) Again this is an arbitrary, subjective and self-serving interpretation of Scripture, typical to WT theology.

Outside of the factors noted above, JW's enjoy peace, especially in the Americas, Europe etc... wherever they live and are viewed, in general, as good neighbors, good workers, honest in their dealings with others. I think that most people have come to terms with JWs not saluting the flag, not serving in the military, not voting, not celebrating Christmas, Easter and so forth. In the eyes of most people, these oddities are of no concern.

Answer 3

Prejudice is when someone judges you about something, like: Religion skin color, racism ect.....

Answer 4

Some are just prejudiced against Jehovah's Witnesses because they don't want to be converted.