What are the similiarities among the Mormons, the Seventh-day Adventists, and the Jehovah Witnesses?

--all formed in the 19th century, Mormons 1830, 7ths 1844, Jws 1870s
--all missionary oriented
--all started as nontrinitarian; 7ths accepted trinity in early 20th
--all are insular
--all have charismatic figures at their birth, but JW leader (Taze) claimed no revelatory powers
--all stress abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and drugs, the 7ths less so than the other two
--all developed successful business practices that promoted their survival
--all have seen dramatic increases in their congregations from the 1950s on, with most new adherents being outside the US in generally Third World countries
--all are considered non-Christian by the larger Christian community


What do we make of this?

They all have common roots in the American "Second Great Awakening", stressing certain aspects of that religious movement more than the mainstream churches that were also involved in the Awakening (and made the most gains in membership).

As to the gains in membership in Third World countries: All churches, including the mainstream ones, have had growth in those countries in the same time. I suppose, but do not know for sure, that the Mormon growth in Latin-America, Africa etc. is proportionally less than the growth of say Pentecostal churches. Pentecostal movements and the Catholic church are said to be the two largest Christian groups today. Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovahs Witnesses are like tiny chihuahua dogs running around the feet of the real churches and barking up towards the ankles of the real churches.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2013 05:02AM by egomet.

I can't speak for SDAs, but... for a few years I had a S.O. who was ex-JW. Her parents were active JW's, and mine of course were mormon. It was an interesting experience having each set of parents absolutely sure that they were right, that the other parents were wrong, and that we were lost because we weren't followers in their respective systems. While the doctrines at times were starkly different, the organizations (and resultant pressures on their members) were remarkably similar.

One of my S.O.'s comments was that she had been taught that her society was Jehovah's 'true channel,' and that there were no other organizations like it. She found it very interesting to see the mormons in a somewhat parallel organization behaving/looking the same way. Being willing to look outside the box can be very powerful.

I'm not pushing or promoting the JWs here... but when mormons ask me "but what if it's true" I frequently reply that I think the JWs would have the upper hand over the mormons since they follow the bible strictly and don't have all the goofy history and racist doctrines that mormons have had. (Having not been there, most mormons have no reply to this.) To me, on the "what if" scale, mormonism is way down on the list of probables. (And it's even more infrequent that anybody brings up Eastern spiritualities or polytheisms.)

Or... when mormons testify to me about truth, or want to sway me to their way, I'll say, "Ya know, I know some JWs, some SDAs, some Baptists, some Catholics, some Born Againers. Let's all get together, and come to a consensus. Let's see if your mormon testimony will convert us all! Otherwise, your testimony has no more value than theirs, and it's a dime a dozen."

The point here is (aligned with the OP's), mormonism isn't as special as its sheltered members think it is.

I know in the impoverished community in which I work, the JW's and the SDA's recruit very successfully. There are other churches that families go to, of course, but it's obvious that the JW's and SDA's seem to recruit heavily among the poor.