Anglican

Anglicans are Christians groups associated with the Church of England. The encylopedia Britannica states that they have "a form of Christianity that includes features of both Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. " Doctrinally therefore, differences between Anglicans and Jehovah's Witnesses would be similar to those between JW and most mainstream Christian religions.

SIMILARITIES

** Quotations from the Church of England Website

* both Jehovah's Witnesses and Anglicans are described by Wikipedia as being Christian

* both view "Old and New Testaments 'as containing all things necessary for salvation' and as being the rule and ultimate standard of faith."**

* both Anglicans and Jehovah's witnesses "believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God [...]"

* Although Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a clergy-laity division, both Anglicans and Jehovah's Witnesses hold that ministers do NOT have to "vow the estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage" -- The 39 Articles 1801, article 32.( (2 Tim 4:3a)

DIFFERENCES There are however notable differences in biblical interpretation between the two faiths:

*Anglicans state "Our God is a triune God" -- Statement of Anglican Primates on the Doctrine of God (Art. #3)

Jehovah's Witnesses reject the trinity as unscriptural (Deut 6:4)

*Anglicans believe Jesus is "the essence of the Father, God of God" (Nicene Creed)

JW believe Jesus to be a created being, separate and subject to his father (1 Cor 11:3; Rev 3:15)

*Anglicans believe God tortures the wicked forever in hellfire

Jehovah's Witnesses believe God is love and that eternal burning in hell is not a biblical teaching (Jer 7:21)

*Anglicans give no special prominence to the Divine name (Yawheh/Jehovah)

The JW believe that God's name should be Sanctified, honoured and praised (Math 6:9)

*Anglican church members generally do not preach the gospel publically

JW are well known for their public ministry (Math 28:19:20)

*Anglicans "recognizes the archbishop of Canterbury as its nominal head." (Encylopedia Britannica)

JW only recognise Jesus as their leader (Mat 23:10)

*Anglican Churches accept the use of idols in their worship

JW completely reject the use of any idols (1 Cor 1:14)

*Anglicans have a clergy/laity class of ministers

JW consider all their members ministers and all partake in preaching and teaching (Matthew 23:9)

*Anglicans have no formal system to ensure their churches are free from members that follow unscriptural practice.

Jehovah's Witnesses apply the bible principle of removing unrependent members that insist on living contrary to scriptural norms (1 Cor 6: 9, 10)

For further details see RELATED LINKS below

A Comparison between Anglicans and Jehovah's Witnesses?

Someone has truly said that comparisons areodius.

How-and-ever, As to the individuals I should imagine that the J-Ws hold their own at least, but in regard to the Church there is in my estimation no comparison to be made between the two organisations and what they believe.

The Anglican Church is part of the Body of Christ here on Earth. Its members are made Children of Christ through Baptism and Apostolic Faith, i.e. Right Belief. It holds to the Apostolic Succession in both teaching and orders. The faith of the apostles is summed up as Revelation, Scripture and Tradition, this latter through the Holy Councils and ancient fathers.

It doesn't claim to be the whole Church. but simply a Communion of Catholic Believers

within the Catholic Church, it casts no aspersions on other Church's but holds rigorously to the traditional teachings of two millenia.

The Jehovha Witnesses hold to a totally different faith, holding nowhere to Tradition and do not hold to the Trinity . It needs me to go no further it is all above for anyone to read. It is an honest belief, rigorously held. Good luck to them.

Yes.

Henry VIII virtually banned it and created the Anglican Church in its place.

Thank you, I didn't know that?

But you don't give us any information regarding the break as to why or wherefore? What were the instruments of separation,? Was it Henry himself who broke away, Parliament or Convocation? Just when did this happen? When Henry's son and his elder daughter were on the throne, the English Church was in communion with Rome, indeed it was for some forty years or more before the break came, why was that?

Or could it be that you just don't know!

I don"t get this. Saint Aeden"s in Jersey City- installed a large and complex bell tower facility in the past few years. Bells are rung at masses, and pneumatic chimes- controlled by the organist, are even used in Funeral Masses! Bells are an integral part of worship. I never heard of any bell- silencing rules in Catholicism.

Britain is unique in the world that church bells within the Church of England (and many others) are traditionally mounted on wheels rather than on a bellstock. This means that the wheels are rotated by ropes and as a result the bell can be rung far more accurately. Because of this accuracy, bells are 'pealed' - they are rung in different permutations of the number of bells rung. For example, a church with four bells would have 24 different combinations (1234, 1243, 1342, 1324 etc). With eight bells there are 196992 combinations. Ringing all these combinations in sequence is known as a 'full peal'.

The rest of the world merely chimes bells using a stock that swing them, or a hammer that hits them. Therefore they have a totally different sound, and the lack of accuracy means that accurate pealing is impossible.

The British method of hanging bells has gradually found its way across the world into other Anglican churches (and some others too) but it is still almost unique to Britain and the Church of England.

I am aware that Catholic dogma disallows both divorce and remarriage unless it is annulled by the Church.

Biblically, Jesus explains the conditions for divorce and possibly remarriage.

Jesus says in Matthew 19:

Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?" And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said, `FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'? "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?"He said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."

This is a hotly debated verse for two reasons: 1. it is the only place Jesus allows for remarriage in all the gospels and 2. the word translated immorality is literally "pornea" which is either fornication before marriage or any type of sexual immorality during marriage including adultery. "Mochea" means adultery and it would have settled the issue quick but our Lord used a word which the writers translated into pornea and the debate continues.

Now, in church history, the early church (and I mean within 50 - 100 years after the resurrection and the giving of The Holy Spirit) the church was tough! Even widows could not remarry for the most part. That is unfortunate because Paul, the apostle distinctly allows for widows to remarry. But they understood from Paul's writing that marriage represented the union between Jesus and the church so it was highly regarded. In the early church, remarriage was completely disallowed even if the spouse committed adultery.

Nowhere does Paul (who covered the issue exclusively except for Jesus) allow for remarriage in my search of the Scripture. He does allow for divorce in the case of an unbelieving spouse leaving the marriage or adultery. But nowhere do I find remarriage in either case. "Until death do you part" meant the marriage contract lasted until one party died. Then the other is as free as a bird to marry anyone they want "but only in the Lord" says Paul, meaning, another Christian.

Here are all the other statement Jesus makes on the topic and he does not allow remarriage without adultery being committed:

Matthew 5:31ff

31 "It was said, `WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE'; 32 but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Mark 10:2ff

2 Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. 3 And He answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?" 4 They said, "Moses permitted a man TO WRITE A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY." 5 But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6"But from the beginning of creation, God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE. 7 "FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, 8 AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." 10 In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. 11 And He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12 and if she herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery."

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:10ff

10 But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband 11 (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife. 12 But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy. 15 Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

In summary, being human, knowing our weaknesses and the beauty of what marriage can be (though single myself) I must be merciful when giving counsel regarding divorce and remarriage. With eternity in mind, it may be most merciful to interpret Jesus' and Paul's instruction on divorce and remarriage as follows:

1. Stay married and do not divorce even if married to an unbeliever

2. You can divorce if the partner commits adultery or deserts you

3. You may not remarry till the partner dies.

SInce Jesus used the term "pornea" which can mean both fornicating before marriage or any sexual immorality during marriage, stay safe and do not remarry because:

First Corinthians 15:9

;

: "...do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." and

Hebrews 13:4

:

: "Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge." (Verses taken from New American Standard Bible.) _______________________________________________________________________________________________ == == The male chauvinists, who created most of the modern day religious theologies, dictated that women were to be considered the property of men in the same manner, as the slaves were the property of their masters. Under the oppressive Hindu religion, women were burnt alive upon the pyre of their dead husband. While the men in these chauvinistic (Abrahamic and Brahmanic) religions could have many wives, the women do not enjoy the same privileges. For all intent and purposes, religions like any other profitable enterprise, must conform to the dictates of the customers or they risk loosing their clients to the competitors. Religious leaders have been forced to amend their scriptures because of those social justice groups who have been advocating for the equitable treatment of women. Some of the fanatical followers of the Abrahamic and Brahmanic religions continue to maintain the old chauvinistic traditions that deny women the right to remarry.