Wednesday, March 27, 2013

20. Mormons v. Jehovah's Witnesses

While both groups are profess to be Christian faiths and are identified to a greater or lesser degree with a public preaching work, there are many notable doctrinal differences between Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).

The Mormons have a book called "The Book of Mormon" which they also view as God's Word.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe ONLY in the bible to be God's inspired word (1 Tim 3: 16), although they do have reference literature that they use as teaching guides that they claim is Bible based. Any points of reference are listed and cited validating that their teaching is from the Bible.

Mormons believe that God still calls prophets and apostles to guide his people.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus Christ was the last of the prophets.

Mormons believe that Jesus is Jehovah of the Old Testament
Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jehovah is the name of Almighty God, the father of Jesus Christ

Mormons refer to God as Elohim
Jehovah's Witnesses call their God JEHOVAH (Psalms 83:18.) The New Catholic Encyclopedia explains what took place some time after the Jews returned from their Babylonian exile in the sixth century B.C.E. It says: “The name Yahweh [the Tetragrammaton with vowels added] began to be considered with special reverence, and the practice arose of substituting for it the word ADONAI [Lord] or ELOHIM [God]. . . . The practice led in time to forgetfulness of the proper pronunciation of the name Yahweh.” Thus, people stopped using God’s name. Eventually, the exact ancient pronunciation was lost and the divine name became ineffable to them. This is the precise reason that Jehovah's Witnesses put God's name Jehovah on high and use it rather than calling on Elohim or Adonai.

Mormons believe "that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent"
Jehovah's Witnesses believe the New Jerusalem is a HEAVENLY rulership established not in America but in heaven.

Mormons or LDS missionaries (as I understand it) preach for a set period of time.
All Jehovah's witnesses (male or female, young or old) preach their Bible message about Jehovah's Kingdom as often as they can from the time they come to learn these Bible Truths for the remainder of their lives.

Mormons believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes".
Jehovah's Witnesses believe because of the Jew's rejection of Christ that the nation of Israel had permanently lost its privileged position as God's special people. Thus the Jews no longer (after that point) figure as "a people" or as God's people in later Bible prophecy.

Mormons (LDS) believe "that Christ will reign personally upon the earth"
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Christ will RULE FROM HEAVEN as a spirit and will never again return to earth as a person. See JW.Org Will Christ return in a manner visible to human eyes? Ref: John 14:19 “A little longer and the world will behold me no more, but you [Jesus’ faithful apostles] will behold me, because I live and you will live.” (Jesus had promised his apostles that he would come again and take them to heaven to be with him. They could see him because they would be spirit creatures as he is. But the world would not see him again. Acts 13:34: “He [God] resurrected him [Jesus] from the dead destined no more to return to corruption.” (Human bodies are by nature corruptible. That is why 1 Corinthians 15:42, 44 uses the word “corruption” in parallel construction with “physical body.” Jesus will never again have such a body.)
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101989263?q=Jesus+return+to+earth&p=par#h=6

Mormons don't believe in Adamic sin.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe according to Romans 5:12 that human death is the result of Adamic (from Adam) sin;

Mormons believe that there are multiple 'levels' in the afterlife
Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in an "afterlife" but in a resurrection of the dead.

Mormons believe that our spirits were created long before our bodies.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe our existence begins at conception.

Mormons believe that all Christians receive the gifts of the holy spirit through "the laying on of hands" (gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues)
Jehovah's Witnesses believe this was a first century arrangement limited to the period of the apostles and as such, these miraculous "gifts" have ceased (See 1 Corinthians 13: 8, 9)

To a degree, both Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons claim their organizations reflect the "Primitive Church" (follow the first century Christian model).

I believe that both Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons believe in a future earthly paradise, but I wonder how the Mormons say they believe in a paradise on earth when according to my understanding after death they are transferred to multiple levels of life, which is why they call it "the afterlife".



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