They believe 144,000 make it into heaven (those who are celibate and adhere to the strictest form of JW worship), but the rest of those who have true faith will enter paradise after armaggedon.
Also they are no more a cult than Catholics. Nothing they believe makes them a cult. Misuse of the term is dangerous.
My girlfriend is from a Jehovah's Witness family. There's A LOT of fucked up things in that religion, much more so than other religions.
- You're not allowed to associate yourselves with non Jehovah's Witness people, if at all possible. Basically, outside of any situations that make avoiding non-JW's an impossibility (work, school, etc) - you're not supposed to make a conscientious effort to befriend, associate or date non-JW's.
- They're REALLY big about public shaming. If you do something the church doesn't agree with, they will publicly air it - if not directly then heavily hinted at / implied - and you will be shunned by other JW's.
- If you break any rules, there's the possibility of being disfellowshipped. Meaning that you JW's are no longer supposed to interact with you. If your child is disfellowshipped for example, you're obligated to shun them. My girlfriend was kicked out of the house at 16, and sent to an Aunt's house after being disfellowshipped. And her parents didn't talk to her at all, and they still don't
- Physical abuse, and pedophilia are a HUGE problem with the JW church. So I suppose that's not so different from the Catholic church.
- They literally push for JW's not to pursue higher education, but instead, to pursue a higher education in the ways of the religion / church. Because what better education is there than God's teachings? It's by far the least educated religion I believe.
- The basis of the religion is literally isolating one's self from the world, which the church teaches is filled with 'worldly' things that will tempt you away from God's teachings. They discourage independent thinking in a BIG way.
- Opposite sexes are not allowed to be with one another without a chaperone, unless they are married.
- When a JW woman handles any responsibility that should be handled by a man, such as organizing groups for their preaching work, she needs to wear a head covering. They're do this in an act of submission, to show that they're not taking on duties reserved for men.
- You shouldn't accept a blood transfusion, even if death is a possibility. My girlfriend literally had a card on her, which she had no control over as a minor, saying not to give her a blood transfusion.