The Jehovah's Witness movement was founded in by Charles T. Russell in Pittsburgh, PA, in the late 1800's. Russell was influenced by members of the Seventh-day Adventists and their belief in an imminent return of Christ to establish the millennial era. At this time it was 1872 and he was 20 years old. Russell grew up believing in the ideas of traditional Christianity. He established the International Bible Student's Association and predicted the millennial age would start by 1914. His organization became known as the Zion's Watchtower Tract Society where he printed the first magazine known today as The Watchtower. Russel's skills as a communicator really helped stimulate the interest in this new religion. He published his sermons, published a seven volume series entitled Studies in Scripture. This would become the doctrinal foundation. He even said it would be better to read his writings than the Bible.
Russell died in 1916 and Joseph Rutherford took his place in leadership. He published many writings and they became the standard for doctrinal and scriptural interpretation. He made significant changes which include:
- The Golden Age Magazine (now known as Awake)
- Reinforced door-to-door witnessing.
- By 1933, 403 radio stations were broadcasting Bible lectures.
- In 1931, to distinguish themselves from Christian denominations, the name of the group became Jehovah's Witness.
After Rutherford died in 1942, Nathan Knorr became president of the Witnesses. During this time the Witnesses were involved with many court cases stating their objections to certain political requirements. Between 1930-40, they won 43 cases before the Supreme Court. They did a lot for minority civil rights. Under his leadership, they grew from a membership of 115,000 to more than 2 million by 1977.
Knock, Knock !
Chances are you have had a Jehovah's Witness come by your house. On average, each Witness spends about 10 hours a month in door-to-door visits. They are concerned about your spiritual condition but this visiting is a requirement for their salvation. Jehovah's Witness has a works based salvation. The door-to-door evangelism has proven effective for them. They average about 5,500 converts per week. On top of those 10 hours the Witness must attend 5 hours of meetings each week. Interestingly enough these meetings do not include audience participation. No questions are allowed. Each member is instructed to accept the teachings of the Watchtower Society as authoritative, definitive and final. Jehovah's Witness is a tightly organized religion. Witnesses meet in their local Kingdom Hall. Strict guidelines on structure and doctrine are dictated from their headquarters in Brooklyn, NY. Today there are currently over 6,000,000 Witnesses in 230 countries in the world.
Beliefs
Bible
They believe that the Bible is the only authority. However, they believe that they alone interpret the Bible correctly. The have their own version of the Bible and it is the only authoritative one. This version is the New World Translation. Their Bible is similar to any Christian Bible but there are some major differences.
There is God, But No Trinity
The Witnesses believe that there is one God and the correct name is Jehovah. They believe that the exclusive use of this name is a mark of a religion being true. They do not consider Jesus to be the Son of God. Instead Jesus is actually Michael the Archangel who was the first of God's creations. When he came to earth he was called Jesus and after going back to heaven he was back to being Michael. Jesus isn't God and Witnesses can not pray to Him because it is heresy. Anyone guilty of this is disgraced from the organization. They have a concept of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a God but is an active force (like electricity).
There is life after death (for the Witnesses) but No Hell (for everyone else).
The Witnesses deny the existence of hell. There is no eternal punishment. All non-Witnesses are annihilated immediately upon death. For witnesses, there is an elite class of 144,000 who will actually get into heaven. The rest of the Witnesses will live on the earth during Jehovah's millennial reign. Until then, the spirits of past witnesses lie in a unconscious state.
There is Salvation, but You Have to Work for It
Because Jesus (really Michael) is not considered to be God then he doesn't play a significant part in the salvation process. His death on the cross only cancels out Adam's sin. Humans now have the opportunity to attain righteousness on our own. This happens by being a Witness and testifying for Jehovah.
Oppositions
Jehovah's Witnesses are famous for being oppossed to certain activities. They consider these to be immoral. They believe these claims are mandated in the Bible. They are as follows:
- Blood Transfusions
- Birthday Celebrations
- Christmas Celebrations
- Other parties and Festivities (i.e. - Thanksgiving)
- Patriotic Customs (Voting, Saluting the Flag, or Pledging Alligiance)
- Serving in the Military
Discussion
1. Please look back through the beliefs section of this blog. What are some of the major differences in Jehovah's Witness and Christianity?
2. As we saw in our study of Mormonism, Jehavah's Witness is even more famous for their door-to-door evangelism. What is the most effective way that we can get the Christian message out to non-believers?
3 comments:
HA! If I'm in a really good mood when the J.W.'s knock on my door...look out!:) Their approach is one of such concern for the lost. I NEVER TELL EM THAT I AM A CHRISTIAN, ESPECIALLY A MINISTER'S WIFE. Well, I let them give me the entire spill and I act interested. I am actually analyzing them...one is the trainer and the other is the trainee. When they get to the part when they think they have "hooked me..." I turn to the trainee and start quoting Ephesians..."for by GRACE are ye saved thru faith///NOT OF WORKS...the I tell the trainee he is being deceived by his trainer. At this point they are both kinda speechless and I proceed to give them the gospel. The trainer leaves mad and the trainee is confused; therefore a seed of doubt has been planted in the "trainee's mind" and I love it!
When we lived in Shreveport, they marked my house and after a few visits, no longer would come see me anymore. When we lived in Picayune, at the end of our conversation I would ask if a certain leader sent them to my house:). Her name was Pam. I guess Pam knew if they could convert me, they were pretty good. when they would leave, I would ask them to say Hi to Pam for me:) We have no local J.W.'s. I kinda miss them.
Seriously, I believe these folks are honestly seeking the Lord. They put so much of their time into their "works". We have an obligation to tell them the good news of Christ and the trainee is ready to hear!
Oh, I'm sorry...what was the discussion question?
Charlotte, I love it. I've never been with them long enough to go thru all that.
I've had several come to my door in the past. It has been a few years since. I do think they are very sincere in their beliefs. They are doing what they've been told they HAVE to do for salvation. One of my good friends was once a J.W. She and her family. She's told me stories of what they HAD to do to be good. She's said looking back on it now, she sees how FAKE it actually is. To put that much work into something that is false and that will not get you to Heaven. They leave out the one and only thing (person) that will.
But, like the mormons, they are not afraid to go around telling people of their beliefs and of their god. They share with any and everyone. Christians could definitely learn from both of the religions on this part!!!!! Why should we be afraid or ashamed of THE TRUTH!!! Especially when it will get the lost the true knowledge of how to keep out of hell and to know and love the only True God.
There are many differences between Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses. Just from the blog we can see that Jehovah's Witnesses believe that you can only call God Jehovah which Christians do not believe. God has many wonderful names that He is in the Bible, such as I AM and El Shadai. Also, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is actually Michael not God's son. Of course this is the biggest difference and most important difference between them and Christians. We know as Christians that Jesus is God's Son and the ONLY way to be saved, not by works. We also know that there is Hell for the unbelievers and Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe that. I do think that Christians should take notice of the witnessing techniques that Jehovah's Witnesses use because they are obviously doing something with so many converts. WE as Christians need to go door to door more and anywhere we can to witness, which we often fail at.
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