Are Jehovah’s Witnesses Christian?

Like Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Christianity died with the last of the apostles. They believe Christianity was not resurrected until their founder, Charles Taze Russell, began organizing the Watchtower Society in the 1870s. Hank Hanegraaff, the host of the 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘯 broadcast and the 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘜𝘯𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘥 podcast, notes in their view, the cross is a pagan symbol adopted by an apostate church, and salvation is impossible apart from the Watchtower. While the Witnesses on your doorstep consider themselves to be the only authentic expression of Christianity, the Society they serve compromises, confuses, and contradicts essential Christian doctrine. First, the Watchtower Society compromises the nature of God. They teach their devotees that the Trinity is a “freakishlooking, three-headed God” invented by Satan and that Jesus is merely a god. While Christians believe that all believers will spend eternity with Christ in “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1), the Watchtower teaches that only 144,000 people will make it to heaven while the rest of the faithful will live apart from Christ on earth. Thus, in Watchtower lore, there is a “little flock” of 144,000 who get to go to heaven and a “great crowd” of others who are relegated to earth. And under the threat of being “disfellowshipped,” Jehovah’s Witnesses are barred from celebrating Christmas, birthdays, or holidays such as Thanksgiving and Good Friday. Even more troubling are Watchtower regulations regarding vaccinations, organ transplants, and blood transfusions. While Watchtower adherents are often willing to do more for a lie than Christians are willing to do for the truth, these and a host of other doctrinal perversions rightly keep JWs from being considered Christian.