Do Jehovah's witnesses go to heaven?

Answer 1

This is a highly subjective question since for many individuals the expressed "to be saved" relates to an individuals being approved by the God they believe in. Below are various opinons on this matter

Opinion

The Jehovah's Witness belief is that they have been saved from a life in this present system of things in opposition to God and therefore a path to death without hope and are in an approved condition. They believe millions will have the opportunity to also be saved from literal destruction (death) if they aherere to the words of Matthew 24: 13 which reads

"But the one who endures to the end will be saved."

-- New Living Translation (©2007)

Other opinions....

JW's believe that only 144,00 have the "heavenly hope" to go to heaven and serve and rule with Michael the Archangel. The rest of them are just working and trying to endure to the end in hopes that they may be saved. They don't seem to know what's going to happen to them during the Tribulation or the Battle of Armageddon. So the question may need be clarified as to "Saved from what or who?" Additionally, they believe that Jesus actually came back in 1918/1919 to inspect their organization as the one and only true organization that he could use to teach his people after he started reigning in heaven in 1914.

I personally believe that I am saved because:

1. I actually believe that Jesus, the son of God, came to earth, lived as a man, healed the sick, raised the dead and died for my sins.

2. That after he died, he rose in bodily form and returned to heaven to prepare a place for those who believe #1 enough to do whatever it is that he directs me to do in my daily relationship with Him and His Father God through communication with the Holy Spirit who He sent to be with us until he gets back. All according to what I actually read in the scriptures for myself and not through someone else's interpretation of what I should believe.

AnswerWitnesses accept Jesus' role and know that it is only thru him that you can get to the Jehovah. There are some religions that teach that Jesus is Jehovah. This is what witnesses know to be untrue. John 14:28 is one scripture that refutes this. Because of this, people think they don't believe in Jesus and that is absolutely UNTRUE. As far as witnessing, that is a command of Jehovah's, to teach others about him and his kingdom. Because doing Jehovah's will is a commandment, and they actually try to do as commanded, they witness, door to door (as well as other methods) just like JESUS did. He is the role model. As far as being SAVED goes, they do get baptized but realize that you must also do his will. Just being baptized is not enough. Funny how people don't go beyond that, just being baptized is not enough. Not according to the Witnesses, it is according to The Bible. AnswerIn general, Jehovah's Witnesses do not recognize that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, so, in general, they do not accept Him as Savior. They tend to place much more value on being a "witness."

• Since I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I can say first hand that the above statement is incorrect. The fact is, we do accept Jesus as our ONLY means of salvation. We recognoize that only by exercising faith in the value of his ransom sacrifice that he provided, can we gain everlasting life, and thus, salvation. In fact, it is because of this stand, that in many lands JW's are percecuted. In Nazi Germany, JW's refused to even say the "heil Hitler" salute, because that phrase means "salvation comes from Hitler." But because we recognize that salvation comes from Jesus, many were actually put to death in the concentration camps, because they viewed even saying that salutation as compromizing their faith in Jesus. It is also because of our faith in Jesus, and our obedience to his command to preach (Matt 28:19,20;Matt 24:14), that we witness, going door-to-door, preaching about the kingdom that he is now enthroned as ruler of.

AnswerNo guarantee that JW's or any member of any denomination will be saved. It depends on the whim of God. He may even make another Great Deluge to kill all of His creation.

Matthew 7:21 Not every on that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Jeremiah 14:12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

Ezekiel 8:18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

Micah 3:4 Then sall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time.

A clarification of the above scriptures cited:The person who posted the above scriptures suggests that a person's salvation hangs in the balance apon the "whim" of God. The person quoted the above scriptures to give a futile outlook to those who would try to obey God. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Matthew 7:21 quoted above says that "Not everyone saying to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter into the kingdom of the heavens." The very next sentence goes on to say, But the one doing the will of my father, who is in the heavens, will." The clarification is made here that Jesus was not expressing a futile view of serving God. Jesus was talking about those who would render to God simply lip service would not enter the kingdom, but only those DOING God's will WOULD enter into the kingdom.

Jeremiah 14:12, Ezekiel 8:18, and Micah 3:4 were condemnations apon the rebellious nation of Israel. God would not listen to them because while performing perfuctory service to God, they were not OBEYING him, therefore they were worthy of the punishment that was coming apon them.

These scriptures give us valuable lessons today, illustrating the importance of obedience to God, and doing his will.

The original question was "Are JW's saved?"

JW's like myself do believe that we are saved depending on our continued obedience to Jesus and his father, Jehovah. The Bible's counsel is to not be overconfident of our standing. 1 Cor. 10:12 says "Consequently let him that thinks he is standing beware that he does not fall." The idea of "once saved, always saved," does not agree with the Bible. Jesus said that "He that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved."-(Matthew 24:13) So our salvation is dependant apon our endurance in doing God's will "to the end," whether "the end" is the end of our present life, or until God brings about "the end" of this system of things, whichever comes first.

ANSWER"Unless a man be BORN AGAIN he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

Well, this "religion" does NOT believe in the "born again" experience, the Blood of Jesus Christ to atone for their sins NOR do they believe the testimony of Jesus Christ as being the ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF THE FATHER.

Well, I think you can draw your own conclusions. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but BY ME".

Unless a person becomes BORN AGAIN of the SPIRIT of GOD they are NOT SAVED. Unless a man repent of their sins and receive the blood of Christ as the sin sacrifice, THEY ARE NOT SAVED!

Need ANYONE say more?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The above answerer is incorrect in their assertion that we do not beleve in being born again. We know from the scriptures that those who go to heaven MUST be born again. This referrs to the fact that each one who receives a heavenly calling must be born along by holy spirit.

To find answers concerning the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses, it is best to get that information directly from us, rather than from those who claim to know what we believe, yet may not actually know.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The truth of the matter is that God is the only one who can truly judge the heart of a man. It is not our job or place to decide who goes to heaven or not. By taking a side on this matter, we are essentially playing God by saying who can go to heaven and who cannot. But here's the facts. In John 17:3 it says this is how we get eternal life, " And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the One true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Many people will look at this verse and say that they know God and think that they are saved and that they are going to heaven. But if this verse meant just that, then almost everyone would be going to heaven. But this is untrue. Essentially there are two different meanings to the word know. One simply means to know (have knowledge or recognition) about, and the other means to know to the extent that you have a relationship. In the Spanish language it is much easier to understand because there are two words for KNOW and they are CONOCER and SABER. SABER is the KNOW that mainly deals with the facts. For example I know that the sun is yellow. But CONOCER means to know on a personal basis or have an INERACTIVE RELATIONSHIP. For example I know my best friend Kristina and i have a relationship with her.

In English, we only have one word for both these different kinds of KNOW, but when looking at this verse, we must replace the word KNOW with the CONOCER meaning because it is translated using that specific word. When we replace it we get, " And this is eternal life, that they may have an INERACTIVE RELATIONSHIP with You, the One true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." To know about God simply is not the way to inherit eternal life. But we must know Him (CONOCER) and have a relationship with Him. Now, does having a relationship with God simply mean doing works because I am told to? I believe not. I am not a good friend to my friends because I have to be, but I CHOOSE to be. And my relationship with my friends requires sacrifice and diligence. I do not expect them to do be doing all the work, because if that happened, I would loose a lot of my friends quickly, but I also am giving effort into this relationship. It is the same with God. We must choose to have that relationship with Him and once we have it, we must pursue it with diligence.

Now, going back to whether Jehovah's witnesses are saved, I believe that of course no one will ever truly know whether someone is saved or not, except for God. For it also says in 1 Samuel 16:7, "...For the LORD does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." We can only see the outside of what man does, and that is not enough. For Scripture also says in Jeremiah 17:9-10, " The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know (CONOCER) it? I, the LORD search the heart..." God is the one who looks at the heart. We cannot see a man's true heart. We cannot know whether they are decieving us by displaying with their works what looks like a saved person. We are not God. We cannot know this. But by looking at John 17:3 and understanding it, we can see that ANYONE who has an interactive relationship with God, is saved. This includes all types of people, Christians, Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc... Let them decide for themselves whether they are saved or not. God is there, waiting, you choose.

Answer"Don't judge, lest you be judged." AnswerThis discussion, which unfortunately can be very easily turned into an argument, because of its sensitive nature, is not about judgment. It is about salvation, which comes down to a fundamental issue; OUR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. There is only way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ, and our FAITH in Him. Salvation has nothing to do with following a set of strict rules/laws, this is what religion likes to tells us.

As Isaiah 64:6 puts it, "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." This is saying, it doesn't matter what we do; we can be the most self-obtained righteous person in the world, helping old ladies across the the street and all that; we will still NEVER be good enough for God!

Galatians 2:19-21 says, "For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." How blunt can someone be! How wonderful is the grace of our God!!

Philippians 3:8-9 says, "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." Witnesses unfortunately tend to interpret faith in Christ or as they put it "exercising* faith in Christ" as living in the same manner that Jesus did, I'm not going to say for a second that this is the wrong thing to do, but it is somewhat impossible. Translate John 1:1 however you want, but the divinity of Christ is unquestionable; it is impossible for Man to even come close to Christ's righteousness. Not only that but it just creates a whole load more rules that we have to follow.

* The words exercise, exercising, exercised, exercises has been added into the NWT 27 times whenever faith in Christ is mentioned. They have no backing from Greek and can alter the meaning.

God wants to be friends with us; it took Jesus dying for our sins for that to be able to happen. And now through Jesus and the Holy Spirit we can have a loving interactive relationship with the Father where we are considered by him blameless on a level without sin.

So in answer to the question. Unless a Jehovah's Witness has a PERSONAL relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit, they shall not be saved.

Answer 2

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only 144,000 go to heaven as mentioned at Revelation 14:1 which rule with Jesus in heaven. The rest believe that they are going to stay on the earth which is going to be a Paradise as mentioned Psalms 37: 9 - 11,29.

Answer 3

Answer 1: They believe that the Bible states that salvation comes through God's Kingdom which will eventually take over rule here on the Earth. According to their beliefs, salvation can be achieved through 2 ways:

1. Being loyal until the judgment day (the end)

2. Being resurrected after a person has died into that Kingdom as either a ruler in heaven, or in a future Earthly resurrection on Earth and then being loyal to God after that resurrection.

As far as who will obtain salvation, Jehovah's Witnesses official stance on this issue is that God along with his son, Jesus Christ, are the ones who decide who will receive salvation and who will be deemed unworthy of everlasting life. The Bible states many conditions needed for an individual to obtain salvation. (Luke 18:18-30) However, if it were up to any imperfect human, no one would be able to achieve those conditions perfectly. Jehovah's Witnesses strive to do their best to conform to these Biblical requirements, and to teach others what these requirements are in order for them to also strive to obtain salvation.

Another Answer: (Some references out of date)"They must appreciate that identifying themselves with Jehovah's organization is essential to their salvation." Kingdom Ministry1990 Nov. p.1

Only Jehovah's Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the "great crowd," as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer, have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil." Watchtower 1989 Sept. 1 p.19

"Similarly, Jehovah is using only one organization today to accomplish his will. To receive everlasting life in the earthly Paradise we must identify that organization and serve God as part of it." Watchtower 1983 Feb. 15 p.12

"Is it presumptuous of Jehovah's Witnesses to point out that they alone have God's backing? Actually, no more so than when the Israelites in Egypt claimed to have God's backing in spite of the Egyptians' belief, or when the first-century Christians claimed to have God's backing to the exclusion of Jewish religionists." Watchtower 2001 June 1 p.16

"During the final period of the ancient world that perished in the Flood, Noah was a faithful preacher of righteousness. (2 Peter 2:5) In these last days of the present system of things, Jehovah's people are making known God's righteous standards and are declaring good news about the possibility of surviving into the new world. (2 Peter 3:9-13) Just as Noah and his God-fearing family were preserved in the ark, survival of individuals today depends on their faith and their loyal association with the earthly part of Jehovah's universal organization." Watchtower 2006 May 15 p.22 "Are You Prepared for Survival?" Paragraph 8

Answer 4

Jehovah's Witnesses view 'Salvation' quite differently than most religious people. For us, 'Salvation' is not the number 1 priority.

General steps towards 'Salvation'.

a) 'Learning' or 'accurate knowledge' about Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. (This goes beyond simply 'believing' that God exists, and that Christ Jesus died for us.) It means leaning about Jehovah's 4 cardinal qualities; learning about his purposes(plural); and

b) 'Learning' about Jehovah's righteous requirements for mankind;

c) and then conforming our lives to how he wishes us to live and conduct ourselves.

d) Drawing close to Jehovah God; developing a relationship with him.

Along this path comes:

e) Repentance and realizing that we need the value of Christ's blood.

f) Dedicating our life in personal prayer to Jehovah God, to do his will, whatever that will may be. (God's will changes for mankind as time progresses; ie: Noah was to build an ark; Abrahamm was to leave Mesopotamia; etc)

g) Baptism, in the name of the Father, his Son, and the holy spirit.

h) Making 'public declaration' of our belief and faith to others.

i) Enduring in faithfulness, to the end.