What do jehovah witness believe about salvation

This is the point that James makes in his epistle, in a passage commonly thought to contradict the evangelical view of faith and works James Evangelical Protestants strongly agree. The truth expressed in John is that eternal life is about knowing God and Christ personally, not about acquisition of doctrinal knowledge—and it certainly is not about studying Watchtower literature.

There is nothing wrong with producing literature to help people understand the Bible; Christians have published thousands of commentaries as well as innumerable other teaching publications. The Watchtower, however, insists that no one can understand the Bible adequately in order to be saved apart from its publications. That is a patently unbiblical claim, as we discussed in part 3 of this series.

We must not make the mistake, though, of thinking that salvation is dependent on mastering a religious system of doctrine. When that system of doctrine is itself woefully unbiblical—as we have been explaining in this series of articles is the case with Watchtower theology—accepting that doctrine actually becomes an obstacle to salvation.

The person who has faith will want to please God Heb. In his epistle to the Colossians, Paul warned against submitting to such man-made rules:. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh Col.

The specific rules change from one era to another and from one sect to another, but the principle such rules violate remains the same. The rules may be different, but they are still just man-made rules. Scripture never conditions salvation on being a member of the right organization.

True Christians will associate with and love their fellow Christians 1 John ; ; , but this association is more like a very large extended family, not affiliation with an institution or organization. There is indeed a close link between baptism and forgiveness of sins.

In these passages, the relationship of baptism to forgiveness is that of symbol to reality. That is, baptism symbolizes the reality of God forgiving us of our sins. The act of baptism symbolizes forgiveness of sins and expresses the acceptance of that gift by those who undergo baptism.

The rite or ritual of baptism does not save anyone, but what baptism represents is indeed necessary for salvation 1 Peter Of course, the vast majority of practicing Christians in virtually all denominations have been baptized.

No, it does not. The Watchtower teaches that only baptisms performed in their meetings, by members of their religion, are valid. There is simply no basis for this claim anywhere in the Bible.

Preaching Jehovah and the kingdom as having come in : In two previous articles in this series, we showed that the Bible does not treat the use of the name Jehovah as a matter of salvation. Here again, the Watchtower has invented a requirement for salvation not taught in Scripture and that actually conflicts with Scripture.

They believe that all intelligent creatures are endowed with free will. Based on their interpretation of Acts , they believe there will be a resurrection of righteous and unrighteous people.

They teach that the New Testament, which they refer to as the Christian Greek Scriptures, is primarily directed to the ,, and by extension, to those associated with them. Members who claim to be anointed are not given special treatment by other congregation members.

However, the Society attaches a vastly different definition of the word "believe" to this passage. The Society explains: "[Belief] involves taking in accurate knowledge of God's purposes and his way of salvation. Then faith has to be exercised in Jesus Christ as the Chief Agent of salvation. This places the Christian in a saved condition, but he must now persevere in doing God's will and continue to adhere to all of God's requirements for the rest of his life.

Only then will he be saved to eternal life" Watchtower, December 15, , p. To prevent any confusion regarding these requirements for salvation, the Society gives four requirements that must be fulfilled by each Jehovah's Witness.

The first requirement, as stated above, is "taking in accurate knowledge of God's purposes. This invisible kingdom includes the members of the , of Revelation 7 and 14, select humans, most of whom have already died, who will rule as "kings and priests" over the appropriately submissive Jehovah's Witnesses Knowledge that Leads to Everlasting Life, p.

Notably, the Governing Body or top hierarchy of the Watchtower Society are members of the ,; following their leadership is thus mandatory for earning salvation Watchtower, January 15, , p. The second requirement is to refrain from "an immoral, debauched way of life" Watchtower, February 15, , p. The Society defines this fruitless way of life according to 1 Corinthians "Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

The Society, finding this list incomplete, also forbids numerous other activities that are not explicitly forbidden in the Bible: smoking Keep Watch Over Yourselves and All the Flock, p. The Society states, "A third requirement is that we be associated with God's channel, his organization" i.

In fact, it is "essential" that people become Jehovah's Witnesses in order to be saved Our Kingdom Ministry, November, , p. The Watchtower teaches that people must belong to the Society because, "By means of his organization , including the elders, [God] provides us with direction and protection" Watchtower, January 15, , p. The direction provided by the Society is more than simply biblical preaching and teaching; it is for Jehovah's Witnesses the source of all knowledge pertaining to salvation.

The Society proclaims, "Unless we are in touch with this channel of communication God is using, we will not progress along the road of life, no matter how much Bible reading we do" Watchtower, December 1, , p.

Membership in the Watchtower Society is so vital for Jehovah's Witnesses that they believe non-members will receive no guidance from God Watchtower, July 1, , p. The most pronounced manifestation of loyalty to the Society is proselytism.