Look around and see for yourself,if they have any it must be invisible.

The writing, printing, and distribution of publications published by the Watchtower Society is considered an important part of the work performed by the Witnesses. This is frequently done by going out among the population and witnessing to people on a personal level. The Bible considers this an important activity that all Christians should perform. It is not unlike the role that Gideons International has taken for itself. The Gideons are somewhat different, in that they are not a Christian sect themselves, but act as missionaries for the Christian faith. They accomplish this by printing copies of the Bible and distributing them freely among the populace to help win converts for Christianity. These are both examples of organizations that see an important role in the dissemination of religious material. These can both be considered examples of charitable work within that context, as they are trying to save individuals by encouraging them to accept a faith. The Gideons claim to have 250,000 members and I have never heard one person criticize them for their activities. The Witnesses, on the other hand, have many detractors who criticize them for doing, essentially, the same thing. It's a funny old world. ________________________________________ Re: "Llke the Gideons Jehovah's Witnesses are not true Christians" You are the first person I have encountered who calls the Gideons "not true Christians". You must have the enviable position of deciding who is a Christian and what Christians should do and say. Your comments carry little weight with me, since are one of the many who speak with the same voice - a person who creates multiple user ids to circumvent restrictions on this site and saturate it with your messages of hate. ________________________________________ Re: "Giving magazines to the public is not "charitable" work" The Jehovah's Witnesses, along with other organizations such as the Gideons, undertake the task of spreading the word of Christ, as Christians are instructed to in the Bible. Is it not charitable to bring faith to the faithless, a person who might otherwise perish outside of the grace of Christ? Do not evagelical Christians do the same when they become missionaries for Christ and take Christ's word, as interpreted by authorities in their religious sect, to the people? How do these activities differ from those of the Witnesses, who work to spread their word of Christ? While I have no personal interest in the Jehovah's Witnesses or any other religious sect, I do take offense when a group, some of whose 'members' are individuals operating under multiple user ids, try to warp any conversation to their own hostile agenda. It is simply amazing the number of 'users' who provide such commentary in this one section of the Answerbag and nowhere else among the hundreds of subjects on this site. Users who all appeared within a few days of one another. One would almost think they were working together to drown out all voices but their own. There are none more deceitful than the self-righteous.

I am not aware of any charitable organisation run by Jehovah's Witnesses, and I have never personally seen a Jehovah's Witness involved in charity or mercy work. However, this does not mean they do not exist. I'm sure there would be some Jehovah's Witnesses out there who are involved in mercy or charity ministries.

Yes, Jehovah's Witnesses devote over a billion hours a year (for several years in a row now) to their ministry work. Much of this work involves comforting and counseling individuals who have been fighting addictions, are victims of abuse, or have other problems. It is not time all spent reading the Bible. We do not get paid for this work. It helps lighten the load of social workers who are already overburdened. The tax money only goes so far.( We are taxpayers too!) My wife and I have personally helped many people this way. We have been thanked by them and by the social workers, the local police and by local officials for assisting our neighbors in this manner. We have helped many people knowing that they had no interest in coming to our Kingdom Hall. During Christmas week, we traveled to Alabama and Mississippi to help put roofs on homes that had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Not all of the people that we helped were Jehovah's Witnesses. I am sorry that we appear to be invisable. What a contrast to many self promoting clergymen. Remember what said Jesus to his listeners at Matthew 6:3 \"But you,when making gifts of mercy, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing.” Not letting the left hand know what the right is doing,’ therefore, would mean that a person would not advertise his charitable deeds.

Of course, if you call knocking on people's door to announce the end of the world (which always seems to keep getting pushed back) a charitable work. As for disaster relief, they do assist in rebuilding--their OWN Kingdom Halls and members' homes. They NEVER give money or time for worldly people's relief, nor do they donate money to organizations for worldly people's needs after a disaster. But you can be sure that they will continue knocking on their doors with the "good (?)" news as soon as those worldly people return to the stricken areas.

excellent reply perryman.

There have been a number of natural disasters where Jehovah's Witnesses were the first to start helping people (not just other Witnesses...but especially old and infirmed) to begin cleaning and rebuilding their homes. In fact, they were on scene and already had some home rebuilding under way while local authorities were still trying to decide where to start (I've seen it for myself). Their charitable work does exist, although they do not run any "official" charity organizations. Most of them are very caring people.

My mother was a Witness all her life and I attended meetings till I got out on my own. I would say giving to charities or doing charitable work was discouraged because they didn't want to give some aid to work being done by other religious groups (unknowingly)or give to a charity that supported causes that they don't agree to. Also, someone involved in the Witnesses wouldn't have time to help. If you attended meetings for several hours 3 times a week, prepare for meetings several hours a week by studying ahead of time, then go out trying to proseltyze people Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 to 12 or more, and if you work or take care of your family, there would be little time to spare. This was our schedule. They usually volunteer their time to help maintain and clean and build new Kingdom Halls and usually if any of their members have difficulty, anywhere they help these people.

When they came up our driveway (my husband's worst nightmare--he's shy AND hates evangelism), he was working under the hood of the car. Despite their white button down shirts they pushed up their sleeves and offered to help. Although he denied them, it was a charitable act.

Here is the way I see the charitable work I see JW's doing. My wife is a JW, after hurricane katrina hit my wife said this "Our brothers and sisters were the first ones to go down there to help-----------Jehovah Witness's". The only real help they offer to any needy is there own. Sure they try and trick the innocent and naïve into believing their false doctrine, but if you don't buy into their belief system they couldn't care less if you live or die.

Just for the record, the Bible based teaching they provided is from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, which is their own translation of the Bible with some fundamental differences about who Jesus is in terms of being God or 'a god'. I cannot bash Jehovah's Witnesses at all. A lady who was studying with me for approx. 2 years completely understands that I don't agree with their fundamental beliefs about Jesus, but still calls and we talk all the time. Though some of our debates got a little heated, never did I feel like she "didn't care whether I lived or died". We still talk Bible talk, and enjoy our fellowship. Having said that, the fundamental difference that I recognize is from John 1:1 regarding "the Word was God" and "the Word was a god".

I am just reading the thread the first time and I am afraid that there are a lot of personal opinions and hard feelings being expressed. I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses living in the Dom. Rep. After hurricane George, we worked 5 months in roofing 700 houses and building 45 houses (concrete blocks). Yes, true, we re-built 5 Kingdom Halls, too. While we did that, we lived in tents at the site. The voluntary helpers came from all over the world, as did the contributions we used for this action. Jehovah’s Witnesses have a well-practiced system for disaster relief. Similar activities are going on around the world whenever some catastrophe strikes. Check this: http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/2005/10/jehovahs_roofin.html Yes, of course, we help our brothers first and then the rest of the community. Anyone would help his own family members first and then the neighbors. I was informed that at this moment selected individuals among JW receive training from FEMA with all the bells a whistles, because JW are the most effective group and the first on site in those cases and a great help to the community. Whatever you think about our bible-based teachings is up to each one of you. If you find personal flaws in JW, or if you don't agree on how the organization of JW is being run, is a point of view. But: Do Jehovah's Witnesses do charitable work? You bet they do.

Apart from the preaching work, I know I've volunteered as a tutor on many occasions. I've helped out restoring airplanes at our local museum of flight. A few of us get together from time to time and do work with First aid/CPR/AED advocation. We currently have a project going to focus on teaching CPR classes. 80% of the tuition from any CPR classes our group teaches over the next year is going to buy AEDs for local law enforcement vehicles (the other 20% is spent buying the actual certification cards, so we don't pocket any money). (also, yes, our instructors are certified. The main teacher was an EMT for about 30 years) Then, there's always just the little stuff... Personally, I'm good with engines, so I always offer help any time I see someone with their hood up and a confused look on their face.

We are there following disasters...but do not promote secular charity... Our own brothers come first. And the preaching takes priority. Matthew 28: 19,20

Charitable deeds are left up to the individual choice of the members of Jehovah's witnesses if you want to do something charitable nobody is going to say anything against you for doing it

When there is a natural disaster you will find Jehovah's witnesses out in the neighborhood helping people in their neighborhood. When Jehovah's witnesses bring you tracks and books and magazines and bibles they pay for that out of their own pocket that's considered charity my friend if you want to donate please do. If you can't donate don't let that stop you from asking for the literature or a Bible. Jehovah's witnesses have chosen this obligation they are willing to put out their own money to bring you a Bible or Bible literature. Now Jehovah's witnesses don't run a public charity to hand out money for your bills or a food kitchen or clothing store. There are many organizations that advertise themselves for that purpose. But I will tell you the God's honest truth here if you ask an individual member of Jehovah's witnesses hey I'm hungry and I don't have anything to eat. I can guarantee you that that number of Jehovah's witnesses will find you some food even if they have to go home and get it out of their own kitchen.