This page compares the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses with those of evangelical Christianity. Click to see what is taught about the following beliefs:

 

The Purpose of Life   (Return to top)               

Watchtower Society Evangelical Christianity
The purpose of life is to bear witness to the truth about Jehovah and his kingdom. This includes proving our loyalty to him and his organization through faithful endurance and obedience in the face of suffering, opposition, and persecution. The purpose of life is to have an intimate relationship with God whereby he indwells us in the person of the Holy Spirit and supernaturally conforms us to the image of Christ. Christ working in and through us is the way in which we exhibit the glory and greatness of God.

 

The Nature of God    (Return to top)

Watchtower Society Evangelical Christianity
The Trinity is a pagan, God-dishonoring doctrine. God is a Trinity. The three Persons constitute the one God.
Only the Father is Jehovah God. The Father is Jehovah God.
Jesus is Michael the archangel, God’s unique Son, the first and greatest creation of Jehovah God, “a god,” but not Almighty God. Jesus is also Jehovah God.

He is not a created being.
Holy spirit is neither Jehovah God nor a person; it is Jehovah’s impersonal, active force. The Holy Spirit is also Jehovah God.

He is not an impersonal force.
Prayer may properly only be directed to the Father. Prayer may properly be directed to the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
As the first and greatest creation of God, God’s Son, the archangel Michael, had a beginning. As God, the Word (who became Jesus) existed from all eternity.  
Jesus was miraculously conceived in Mary’s womb by “holy spirit,” which is an impersonal force from God. Jesus was miraculously conceived in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit, who is God.  
Unlike other human beings, Jesus was born without a sin nature inherited from Adam. Unlike other human beings, Jesus was born without a sin nature inherited from Adam.  
When Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, Jehovah transferred the impersonal life-force and the personality pattern of Michael into Jesus. Jesus is God in human flesh.  
Jesus was the perfect equivalent to Adam—a perfect man, no more, no less. Jesus is God in human flesh, greater than Adam.  
Jesus lived a sinless life. Jesus lived a sinless life.  
Jesus was born again at his baptism, which meant that he obtained a conditional right to life in the heavens if he remained faithful to Jehovah through testing. Jesus did not need to be born again.  
Jesus was resurrected in spirit form, once again becoming Michael the archangel. Jesus never stopped being both God and man.  
       

 

The Nature of Man    (Return to top)

Watchtower Society Evangelical Christianity
As descendants of Adam, human beings are born with inherited sin. As descendants of Adam, human beings are born sinners.
Human beings are souls; there is no separate, immaterial soul that survives physical death. Each human being has a conscious soul that will leave the body at and survive physical death.
A spirit is an animating, impersonal, active force analogous to electricity. When it stops functioning, the person dies. Each human being has a spirit that will leave the body at and survive physical death. (Some believe that the soul and spirit are two names for the same entity).
Human beings have no consciousness in the spirit realm after physical death unless and until Jehovah resurrects them. We continue to think, feel, and make choices in the spirit realm after our physical death.

 

 Authority—Bible vs. Organization (Return to top)

Watchtower Society Evangelical Christianity
The Bible is God’s infallible and inspired Word. The Bible is God’s infallible and inspired Word.
The Bible is insufficient for understanding Jehovah’s arrangement for salvation without the writings and explanatory teachings of the faithful and discreet slave (the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses). The Bible is sufficient for understanding God’s arrangement for salvation.
Only Jehovah’s Witnesses are Christians because Jehovah God is only using one organization, the Watchtower Society. There are genuine Christians in many different churches and denominations.
Salvation requires affiliation with God’s theocratic faithful and discreet slave organization, the Watchtower Society. Salvation does not require affiliation with a religious organization.
We must come to God’s theocratic organization, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, run by the faithful and discreet slave (Governing Body) which was appointed by Jesus. We must come directly to Jesus Christ to repentance and prayer.
Apostasy includes those who abandon Jehovah’s organization. Apostasy involves a renunciation of faith in God/Christ.

 

Salvation    (Return to top)

Watchtower Society Evangelical Christianity
There are two classes of Christians:

  • The “anointed” (144,000 only), with a hope of life in the heavenly kingdom.
  • The “great crowd”, with a hope of life in the earthly kingdom.
 All true Christians are one flock, with one faith, one hope, and one baptism.
There are four requirements for salvation:

1.  Taking in accurate knowledge of Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, including knowledge of God’s purposes regarding the earth and of Christ’s role as earth’s new King

2.  Obeying God’s laws, conforming one’s life to the moral requirements set out in the Bible. This includes refraining from a debauched, immoral way of life

3.  Being associated with Christ’s spirit-anointed brothers and sisters, the 144,000, and serving in obedience to Jehovah’s only channel, his organization, the Watchtower Society

4.  Supporting Jehovah’s Kingdom government by advocating his Kingdom rule to others, sharing this good news of the kingdom throughout one’s life (preaching door-to-door for this purpose). 

 Only requirement for salvation is personal repentance of sin and faith that God will forgive all the person’s sins based on Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.
1.  Christ’s ransom sacrifice made atonement for Adamic sin, thus making it possible for a person to be resurrected.

2.  A person’s own sins committed during this life are acquitted by his own death. If he is resurrected based on the ransom sacrifice, his past sins won’t be held against him.

 1.  Christ’s sacrificial death was a blood atonement for all sins, not just Adamic sin.

2.  There is no second chance after death. Faith in Christ’s sacrifice in this life is required for salvation.
Salvation is appropriated by faith and by works based on that faith. Salvation is appropriated at a specific moment in time by a sinner’s repentance of sin and placing of faith in Christ to forgive him of all the believer’s sins based on Christ’s sacrifice.
Entrance into both the heavenly kingdom and the earthly kingdom require works as well as faith. Works have no role in saving a person. However, a truly saved person will produce good works because God the Holy Spirit will work through him to produce good works which God has prepared in advance for him to do.
One will never know until the end whether he has proved worthy of everlasting life.

The 144,000 “anointed” will be tested and need to prove worthy in this era. If they do, they are instantly perfected after death at their spirit resurrection, as Jesus was.

The great crowd will have an additional 1000 years on earth to become perfect with help from Christ and the 144,000. They will have to prove loyal to Jehovah during this entire time, including Satan’s final test at the end of the 1000 years.

 Someone who has repented and put his faith in Christ can know that he has indeed received eternal life.
Baptism is not seen as outward evidence of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit when a person places saving faith in Christ. Rather, baptism is a public pledge of dedication to do the will of Jehovah God through Jesus Christ. Baptism is a public identification of the believer with Christ, testifying that the believer has been born again and has therefore spiritually died, been buried, and be raised from the dead to walk in newness of life.

 

 New Birth and New Covenant    (Return to top)

Watchtower Society Evangelical Christianity
Only Jesus and the “little flock” of 144,000 “anointed” Jehovah’s Witnesses receive a new birth, which is a designation that they have the hope of eternal life in heaven rather than on earth. The new birth has nothing to do with inner transformation. Becoming a Christian requires a new birth, which is an inner spiritual transformation.

Jesus did not need to be born again.
Only Jesus and the 144,000 are in the New Covenant. All genuine Christians are in the New Covenant in Christ’s blood.
Strictly speaking, Jesus is the mediator only for those in the New Covenant, the 144,000. Jesus is the mediator for all true Christians.

 

 Resurrection    (Return to top)

Watchtower Society Evangelical Christianity
At physical death, Jesus’ body died and there was no separate conscious soul or spirit. At physical death, Jesus’ soul/spirit continued conscious existence in the spirit realm.
Jehovah dissolved Jesus’ physical body and raised him in a spirit body. Jesus rose from the dead in a glorious body of flesh and bones that still bore the wounds from his execution.
Jesus manufactured physical bodies in order to prove his resurrection to his followers. After his resurrection, Jesus displayed his own physical body to His disciples and others.
Jesus ascended to heaven as an invisible spirit creature; the disciples saw him go up and then disappear. Jesus ascended bodily to heaven; his disciples saw this.
The Father, Jehovah, raised His Son from the dead using his impersonal, active force, the “holy spirit”; Jesus had no consciousness after death, so he did not participate in raising himself from the dead. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all participated in raising Jesus from the dead.
Some human beings will not be resurrected:

·       Those who are destroyed at Armageddon

·       Those who have committed unforgiveable sins (known only to Jehovah), those who “willfully disbelieve”

 All human beings who die—righteous and unrighteous—will be resurrected from the dead.
Resurrection is a re-creation of the person’s memories and personality into either a spirit body or a physical body, as Jehovah decides. Resurrection always involves the resurrection of the body, a reuniting of body, soul, and spirit. Our current bodies are the “seed.”
Like Jesus, the 144,000 “anointed” Christians will receive a spirit resurrection. All others will receive a bodily resurrection. All Christians will be resurrected in a glorified physical body, like Jesus was.
Those of 144,000 who had died before 1918 were resurrected into a spirit body in 1918. Those of that class who died or will die after that date are immediately be resurrected into a spirit body. The resurrection of the “great crowd” has not yet occurred. No one but Jesus has yet been resurrected.
All who are raised in physical form will be raised after Armageddon at various times during Christ’s millennial reign and have a chance to prove worthy of everlasting life. Those who placed saving faith in Christ will be resurrected at the beginning of the 1000 year reign of Christ; those who did not will be resurrected at the end and face judgment, not a further chance for eternal life.

 

End Times    (Return to top)

Watchtower Society Evangelical Christianity
The “last days” began in 1914. The “last days” have nothing to do with 1914.
Jesus/Michael returned invisibly in 1914 in that he turned his attention to the affairs of earth; the wicked will “see” him with “eyes of understanding” when he executes them. Jesus will return soon; every eye will see Him.
Jesus will come again in judgment. Jesus will come again in judgment.
One day, Jesus will rule the earth for 1000 years from heaven. One day, Jesus will once again be present on the earth and will rule for 1000 years.
Some human beings will never experience death. Some human beings will never experience death.
Those who die go out of existence until the resurrection, except for the 144,000 spirit anointed Witnesses of Jehovah. Since 1918, all of them immediately receive spirit bodies upon physical death and go to heaven to rule with Christ. Those who die continue conscious existence as a soul/spirit until the resurrection of their bodies.
Only 144,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses will go to heaven. The great crowd will live on a paradise earth in physical bodies. All true Christians go to heaven immediately in spirit form when they die. After the resurrection, they will live on a paradise earth during the 1000 year reign of Christ.
Heaven and earth will always be separate. In the end, heaven and earth will be united so that the distinction between them will be abolished when God dwells with His people.
Those who are not deemed worthy of resurrection, those who die in the battle of Armageddon, and those who displease Jehovah during the 1000 year reign of Christ will be annihilated; that is, they will permanently cease to exist. The souls/spirits of those who have not been saved go immediately to a place of conscious punishment in Hades, and these people will be cast into Hell—a place of everlasting, conscious punishment—at the last resurrection and final judgment, following the 1000 year reign of Christ.
Those who survive Armageddon or are resurrected to earthly life will eventually be accepted or condemned by God based on their conduct—not in this era of life—but throughout the 1000 year reign of Christ (unless Christ destroys them sooner) and on whether they pass or fail a final test by Satan at the end of this 1000 years. Everyone will be accepted or condemned by God solely on the basis of their faith or lack of faith in Christ in this life; there will be no opportunity to repent after death.

 

 Watchtower Signature Issues    (Return to top)

  Watchtower Society Evangelical Christianity
The Name of God God’s name is Jehovah and this name should be used when speaking to or about Him. God goes by many names in the Bible; Christians properly call him “Father,” “God,” or “Lord.”
Blood Transfusions Whole-blood transfusions constitute “eating blood,” which is forbidden by Jehovah. There is nothing wrong with Christians donating blood or receiving blood transfusions.
Government Christians should not participate in worldly governments or patriotic observances because they oppose Jehovah’s kingdom. It is proper for Christians to participate in government so long as their primary loyalty is to God.
Military True Christians would not participate in the world’s wars or kill Christians on the “other side.” Worldly governments are opposed to Jehovah’s kingdom. It is proper for Christians to serve in the military and to go to war so long as the war is a just war. (Some Christians believe that it would be wrong for them to kill someone even in a just war.)
Flag Because they consider it idolatrous, Jehovah’s Witnesses will not salute or pledge allegiance to a country’s flag. It is proper for Christians to pledge allegiance to their country’s flag as long as their primary loyalty is to God.
Birthdays Birthday celebrations are not biblical because they have pagan origins. It is appropriate for Christians to celebrate birthdays.
Holidays Holidays such as Christmas, Easter, New Year’s, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and political holidays are not biblical because they have pagan origins or involve compromise with worldly governments. It is appropriate for Christians to celebrate Christian and secular holidays. (Some Christians believe it is wrong to celebrate some holidays, mainly Halloween.)
Paid Clergy A separate clergy class is unbiblical. Christian workers in local congregations should be volunteers. Those who preach God’s Word should be paid because the worker is entitled to his wages.
Collections Collection plates impose worldly pressure on people to make public donations. An anonymous contribution box is the preferred biblical method for collecting contributions. There are many acceptable ways to raise funds for the church. Passing a collection plate is a traditional and acceptable method.
The Cross Jesus died on an upright, one-piece torture stake, not a cross. The cross is a pagan sex symbol. Christians should not have or wear crosses; they symbolize Christ’s unjust torture and death. Jesus died on a cross. The cross is a symbol of Jesus’ atonement and victory over death.