By what right does a member of any particular sect define the doctrines of other sects they are not members of?

jp let's put it this way, I could call myself king of kamchatka....doesn't really make me a king. Jesus has teachings and if you ignore his teachings calling yourself Christian doesn't make you a Christian.

Mat.7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

They have no right. Christians are footstep followers of Jesus. As Jesus did, we have brought to light the false teachings and practices of the churches ie Trinity, Hellfire, Immortal soul and many other things. Those who embrace these teachings should do research, have an open mind and listen. Many preachers, priests, rabbis, etc, know what they are teaching is wrong but they choose to continue for whatever reason.

We know these churches will not change, but there are honest hearted ones attending that are truly seeking God. Those are the ones we are sent to find.

And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14

THANK YOU!!!!

It is arrogance to claim to *know* what another religion believes as you can not understand fully unless you are a member of that faith. Especially whether or not another person is a Christian. Surely that is between the individual and their Savior. The dictionary defines a Christian as

"a: one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ"

Therefore if any person or group professes to believe in Christ (such as JW, Catholics, Mormons, etc) then they ARE christian.

It is my opinion that if you want to redefine "Christian" you should hold that definition for you and you alone.

The Bible only mentions "Christian" 3x (correct me if I am wrong) and those times it refers to the followers of Christ.

Its ironic that so many would make such claims (of who isnt a christian) considering that the bible says to "judge not" or "with what judgement you judge you will be judged".

"We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may." (11th Article of Faith)

Excellent question! Why do people care anyways? I think when people criticize other religions (saying their not christian etc) they are generally doing it to make themselves feel better about their own religion. Kind of a process of elimination thing. ie

"Well those damn JW's think that blah blah blah so they're obviously not christians...one down 10,000 more religions to go"

It's really quite infantile.

I think the right way to go about discussing differences between religion is this: when you have some piece of truth that you know is truth and you want to share it with somebody BECAUSE YOU CARE ABOUT THEM! that's the key -because you care about them-

*Then* I think you have the right to talk about differences, but if you're just doing it to bring down another person or religion, then you have no right to be flapping your jaw, and really should shut your mouth...(or fingers if on Y!A)

Non-Jehovah's Witnesses say that we are not Christian because we don't believe that Jesus is God.

Q) Where in the bible does it say that you must believe Jesus is God to be a Christian?

A) Nowhere

In answer to your question "by what right.."...

By their own proud self-righteous attitude they judge these things.

Very unchristian-like if you ask me

Jehovah's Witnesses are Christians

Nice query.

I am a Christian, one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

I always try to remember when someone tells me they are a believer of a certain belief system, that it is NOT my place to tell them What they believe. While I might have my views about their beliefs, I can only what they even are if they explain them to me. Then, if They want my opinion, I will strive to explain, what I view is, the Bible's stance on it.

I wrote a couple of college papers on a similar topic many years ago. Basically, if you want to know about math, you don't go to the psych. If you want to know about history, you don't go to the botanist.

Likewise, if you want to know about Mormons you don't go to Catholics. If you want to know about Jehovah's Witnesses, you don't go to the Baptists.

If you want to know about any given subject, you go to the source of that subject. Find out from the primary source what the information is that you seek. Anything else can be categorized as hearsay.

The only way you would know the doctrines of another religion or denomination would be to read their own official statement of doctrine.

Most organized religions will furnish this to people.

But I think your question is really more about who has the right to decide if another group is Christian.

No one can know that for sure except the individual and God.

Arrogance

Your question is like asking by what right anyone at all has to define anything at all. One does not have to be a member of anything in order to know exactly what that thing stands for. Unless a sect, organization, club, etc. keeps their information a big secret, there is no way one cannot find out. He/she simply has to be able to read.

Again, your question is like asking by what right someone who is not a member of a football team has to define the rules of the game.

I think you have completely forgotten that there is something out there called research.

There are millions of people who know a lot about things to which they do not belong. You do not have to be a member of something to know as much or more about it than even the members themselves.

There are people who devote their lives to researching other's ideas, beliefs, claims, etc.