I thought I would make a new thread to see what everyone thinks about this.

happydad said:
"I often wonder about this and I hope and pray that....if they are sincere.....although misled.........there would still be a chance for them to be in heaven even though they themselves don't believe they will be there.
My thoughts from being an ex JW and an elder is..........we accepted Jesus as our Savior in our own corrupted way. We were victims of a cult mind manipulation and since God is an all knowing and all forgiving God.....wouldn't it be possible for our still corrupted family to be granted mercy upon their death? "

Adam and Eve I'm sure believed whole-heartedly in God and then misled. They were sentenced to death.

2Cor. 11:4 talks about coming with a different Jesus or Gospel.

Do you think JW's could possibly go to heaven?
I really don't know and I know its not up to us to judge but I am just curious what everyone thinks.

These are my thoughts:

The Apostle Paul clearly counsels:

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." -Romans 10:9 Jehovah's Witnesses say they believe in Jesus and they do, but to confess Him and accept Him for who he truly is; they fall short there of completely doing so.


As for whether or not Jehovah's Witnesses will make it to heaven....? They adamantly declare only 144,000 will ever get there and deny heaven for the rest of themselves. As well they say John 3:3 only applies to the 144,000: "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God".

True, the larger populace of the Jehovah's Witnesses I believe are truly deceived, that is why it so important for ministries like ours to keep chipping away at the "bricks in the watchtower 'tower' " to help such ones see the truth. However, by adamantly rejecting though the truth of scripture even when having been shown, they consign themselves their own fate.

I for one can't see how they can go to heaven when they reject Christ' deity, put the Watchtower as Lord over their life instead of Jesus Christ, and even say they will not be going anyhow.

-Just my thoughts.

Blesisngs;

Hi Gabby,

In addition to what Life After stated (which is right on the money), the Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:15 - "Therefore He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant." According to the WTS, who are those that receive the eternal inheritance?

Their publication "Worldwide Security Under the "Prince of Peace" (1986) pp.10-11 ch.1 The Desire for Peace and Security Worldwide states the following:

16 Just as the ancient nation of Israel was in a covenant relationship with Jehovah God through the mediator Moses, so the nation of spiritual Israel, "the Israel of God," has a covenant relationship through a mediator. (Galatians 6:16) It is as the apostle Paul wrote to his Christian fellow worker: "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5) Was Moses the mediator between Jehovah God and mankind in general? No, he was the mediator between the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the nation of their fleshly descendants. Likewise, the Greater Moses, Jesus Christ, is not the Mediator between Jehovah God and all mankind. He is the Mediator between his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, and the nation of spiritual Israel, which is limited to only 144,000 members. This spiritual nation is like a little flock of Jehovah's sheeplike ones.—Romans 9:6; Revelation 7:4.

Since, then, the majority of Witnesses accept that Jesus Christ is not their Mediator, they have basically rejected the heavenly hope. They have replaced Jesus as their Mediator and have put the organization in His place. For this reason also I believe that they are not saved.

That being said, let us remember who sees what is in each of our hearts (Acts 1:24, Romans 8:27). Only God knows what is truly in the hearts of each and every Witness, and I believe many of them are still in the org only because they don't want to see their families torn apart, but they realize their salvation comes from Christ. Those, I believe, are saved, and Jesus knows who they are.

Blessings,

Mrs. R

Good point Mrs. R.

In my humble opinion , I believe we all have the chance of being saved - even at the time of our death. Revelation 3:20 says "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me". Jesus doesn’t say, “I stand at the door while you are alive”.

Several years ago, I was told a story that a nun saw a vision of Jesus and had a conversation with Him. She asked Jesus up to what point in our lives does He allow us to accept Him as our Saviour. The nun said that Jesus answered that up until the moment our soul leaves our body, He reaches out His hand and gives us one last opportunity to follow Him into heaven.

Whether the story is true or not, I understood the “moral” of it. Jesus’ love for us is infinite. And I couldn’t help but think that, if Jesus’ love for us is unconditional and everlasting as it states in the bible, then I could believe it to be true that, even at the time that our soul departs our humanly body, He would be there, with His hand reaching out – giving us one more chance. Praise God!

I also think about the stories many of you had said about how you truly believed everything you were being taught when you were a JW. Remember, many of you began questioning things when something happened (or rather, didn’t happen ) that didn’t seem right to you. And for many of you, it still took a long time before you acted on these questions, which have led you to the point in your life in which you are now, because you truly believed what you had been taught. I remember that as a young girl (9 - 11 yrs old), I believed the JWs to be the only true religion. This was because of the KH we attended. Yes, I was very young, but the atmosphere in that KH seemed to point to the “truth”; it seemed to me that everyone there was following God’s teachings according to the bible. I also remember that, when I was 11, we moved and changed KH. It was almost immediately that I began having questions about many things; questions that at first I didn’t dare ask out loud. Why did I have these questions? Because of the overall atmosphere in this new KH among the “brothers” and “sisters”. Things didn’t seem right; we weren’t welcomed as I expected would happen in the “true” religion. I soon came to realize that the main reason for these questions was that you were expected to follow the “rules” based on your status in the KH. Those who had houses or were financially secure seemed to be treated better or allowed to do things (ie: college) that those of us who lived in housing projects or didn’t have much money were told we couldn’t do. Of course, as I got older, my questions grew to the point that I would ask “if it isn’t okay for us, why is it okay for Elder X’s family?”. That was the beginning of my turn away from the JWs.

Would I still have had these questions if we hadn’t changed KH? Probably, because I’ve always been a “but why” person. But maybe my questions wouldn’t have come so soon. Then again, maybe I would never have questioned anything if the atmosphere I felt there as a child had remained as I grew older. If that had been the case, should I not have had the opportunity to be saved and go to heaven? We were all taught that anything anyone said against the JWs was because they were being led by Satan but “we” were being led by Jehovah. This was believable because we were taught, as Matthew 24:11 says, “And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.”

So, if someone has been raised in the “truth” and because of their beliefs, has not allowed themselves to be exposed to others’ beliefs, should this person not have a chance at eternal life in heaven? Think of it this way (if the story of the nun is true): At the time of your death, you are still a faithful JW. After dying, Jesus comes to you and asks you to follow Him to heaven for eternal salvation. Would you look into Jesus’ Holy face and say “Yes, Lord, I will follow you”? Or would you say, "hey, wait a minute, this can’t be real because I was taught the bible says death …. "

I leave you with that.

God bless you all.
CCGirl

I'm not sure that goes along with Scripture, though. The one that comes to mind now is 2 Corinthians 5:10 - "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body." I will study this further, but my understanding from Scripture is that we are judged by our lives on earth, not after death. This does not mean His love is conditional - we have many opportunities to follow Jesus while here on earth. It is our individual choice whether we take that path or not.



I know exactly where you're coming from! The first KH we attended, the people were so genuinely loving. I have many fond memories of the brothers and sisters from that KH. The second one we attended was much colder, and everyone was so concerned about financial status that it didn't feel like a Christian atmosphere.



I believe I would have questioned things as I got older, because even when I was most into the religion I had questions, doubts. Whether I would have voiced them, I can't really say. I understand when people say they stay in the org because of family, and that may have been the issue with me. I'm so glad, though, that Jesus showed me who He really is, so that I could make a better informed decision as to the direction my life would take. I realize now that while in the org my decisions were made for me, and they weren't very well informed. Now I can read for myself and figure out for myself what God wants for my life.

Blessings,

Mrs. R

Personally I am not sure I can say whether Jehovah's Witnesses are saved or not.

The way I put it together with my limited understanding of God's unsearchable ways is:

Jehovah's Witnesses have a false doctrine that teaches a false Jesus and it seems to me that can only equal a false salvation.

But what God has in store for them in His mercy I just do not think we can say for sure.

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you all for your responses. Like I said before, I was just curious on what y'all thought.

Isn't it amazing how some of us doubted at such an early age? I remember the very first time I didn't think the WBTS was right. I was 11 years old. I don't know exactly why I thought this but I remember I did. My next door neighbor and I had some serious doubts. So, we did the only thing we could. We ran away to her parents travel trailer (in her backyard). We brought with us as many watchtowers and awakes we could carry and we ran away till dinner. We read through pages and pages of magazines. I don't really know what we were looking for but we were looking! After many (2-3 hours) of exhausting work of reading things we didn't understand we came to the conclusion that the WBTS was right. After all the Society said they were. We also had nothing else to compare it too. I guess looking back at that time now we probably shouldn't have brought the societies magazines but hey, we were 11, it was all we knew.
I laugh now at my naivety but see how I had doubts all along.

I wasn't saying I believed the story; I haven't found anything in the bible to prove or disprove it completely. When I was told the story I took it like an Aesop's fable . What I was pointing out with the story was that it could be believed if you consider Jesus' love for us. What I wanted to point out more so (maybe I didn't do such a good job ) was that if someone such as a person raised as a JW hasn't had the chance to hear the real truth before they die - considering that no everyone dies at an old age - should they not be allowed to go to heaven? That was my point at the end of that looooooooong story. It just makes you think .... and isn't "thinking" what got us here in the first place?

CCGirl

Then in that case I reiterate what I posted before - only God knows what is in our hearts. If a Witness were to die without learning about the true Jesus, and this person were true of heart, then I believe they would have the opportunity to go to Heaven. Our minds are too puny to understand God's grandious ways. We only know that He is loving, and He is just. We leave everything in His Hands, and have faith that He will always do what is right.



Definitely, my brain was smoking that day!



I believe (just my opinion) the WTS would lose at least half of their members if these were allowed to have something to compare to, rather than only being allowed to read WT material. I believe ignorance is one of the main reasons so many are still in the org, especially those raised in it and who have no clue what other religions believe except what the Society tells them, which in most cases is incorrect. I can't tell you how many things have shocked me about my church, because I believed what the WTS said about "Christendom" and what they did and believed, only to find out it was false information. Some examples:

1 - I thought only JW's preached the good news. Man, was I wrong! Not only do I see more informal preaching in my church, and new persons coming every day (this church has gone from 7 people meeting in a home to 400 getting ready to move to a new church building in just 5 years), but we have missionaries in other countries that we support financially, and who come back periodically to inform us of the work God is doing in Kenya and in the countries near Russia.

2 - There is no collection plate passed at my church. While tithing is recommended, it is not an obligation. And no one gets treated better because they tithe.

3 - Many come to church in their Sunday best, while others come in jeans. No one is pointing out who is wearing what, nor preoccupied with who's dressed appropriately for church and who is not.

4 - We have Sunday service, but there are also youth ministry meetings, bible studies, many more activities than just going to church on Sundays. The difference? You are not obligated to go to every meeting, and you will not be called "inactive" if you only go on Sundays.

Church for me has been an awesome experience, a true blessing, not like I thought it would be thanks to all the falsehoods I'd read in the WT magazines. Yet they call themselves "the truth".

God bless,

Mrs. R