Charles Taze Russell was the founder of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. He was Presbyterian and converted to congregationalism. As Albanese stated, throughout Russell’s young age, he was unaccepting of the church beliefs towards divine intervention and hell. Due to this, he left the church. Further out into the future, he heard Jonas Wendell speak about how he rejected those beliefs and it encouraged Russell to return to the church but work along his own beliefs. He then began a group of young students and formed what was later on called the Bible Students. He had many strong beliefs on the returning of God that suggested He had returned in 1874 and therefore would take the church into heaven for everlasting life someday. He also believed World War II was the Armageddon which is the last battle on earth. (Albanese, 172-173).
The Jehovah Witness used to be referred to as Bible students as noted in the book, Jehovah Witnesses Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom. Early in time, they were considered Christians and not Jehovah Witness. There was an issue with that for them though. Many people of different races called themselves Christian despite what they believed. As mentioned in Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, “It caused a great issue during the 1600’s as it was loosely used” (Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom). Religions, especially Jehovah Witness, wanted to stand out from the Christian crowd for their beliefs. During the 1900’s there was a need for them to change their name. They saw themselves as more than just Christians, they wanted a name that stood out away from everyone else and would signify what their purpose in earth was. In 1931, the name finally changed to “Jehovah Witness” by J.F Rutherford who was the president of the Watchtower society (Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, 151-152). As Jehovah Witness, they have faced many obstacles within their religion and beliefs. As Zoe Knox mentions in her journal of religious history, “Throughout their history, the Witnesses’ biblical literalism, political neutrality, rejection of ecumenism, and emphasis on discipline have drawn criticism from governmental authorities, civic organizations, and mainstream Christian churches (The Historiography of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 157). With this, it is evident that although they have faced these certain challenges, they have not and continue to not care. They get through because they stand by the sidelines of their congregation.
The now called Jehovah Witness are as stated by How to be a perfect stranger, as a “Worldwide faith known for their assertive proselytizing and expectations of an imminent apocalypse” (Stuart M. Matlins & Arthur J. Magida, 124). They seek a purpose as a Jehovah Witnesses to share the God’s good news which is that He will bring his Kingdom to earth in the new system and remove all pain bringing only happiness to those who obey him.
They have many beliefs within their congregation. Most common ones include God which is the one they worship and call Jehovah. The Bible which a tool they believe in, including both the Old and New Testaments. They believe that Jesus is the Son but is not God and hold no proof in the Bible that He is. They also believe Heaven will reside on earth, and as it is told in the Bible, 144,000 will be taken and live an eternal life and hell will not exist (Jehovah’s Witness, What do Jehovah’s Witness believe?). The Jehovah’s Witnesses also stand by the belief that if someone is not a part of their congregation and truth, they will not be in heaven. Only those who believe and obey will enter the kingdom.
There is so much to be said about the Jehovah Witness. Aside from the religious aspect, there is more such as where they serve and what they do as part of an importance. Their worship space is called Kingdom Hall of Jehovah Witness, which is a building. All the meeting halls are called by this name. They do not refer them as churches, sanctuaries, etc. They are commonly medium sized structures containing chairs and a stage just as any regular church would in hopes of maintaining it simple. They also do not refer their stages as an altar or holy space. Many meeting halls offer seating in enclosed areas for anyone who does not fit in the outer area or may need it for a certain reason.
Worship is delivered from songs in a song book which typically holds about 150 different songs. As there are many languages, all meetings have their songbook in their language but all carry the same name. It is typically sung only with a piano as an instrumental background to help keep a beat and many other times, it is sung without any music. When the Jehovah Witnesses worship, they sing in unison. The pattern throughout the meeting includes the song in the beginning, following a prayer, and then giving a talk. Their messages being conveyed focus on the Bible and common issues that relate to the Bible as well as how a Jehovah Witness should live. In depth topics are about Heaven or Paradise as they wait for God to take church. As they realize many people suffer in many different ways, they share God’s good news that He will soon bring them happiness and remove all pain but they must live in obedience to Him. A brother from the Kingdom Hall or from a neighboring congregation, give the talk. The talk lasts about thirty minutes long. After that, they sing another song and continue the session by including the Watchtower Magazine for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. During study session, there is leader interaction. Questions are asked based on the Watchtower Magazine and answers are given. They conclude with one more song and give a final prayer.
Baptism is an essentiality in the religious aspect. They believe that once someone has dedicated their life to Jehovah in a personal prayer, they take a greater step of presenting that in public by becoming baptized as it is given by choice and not by force.
Jehovah Witness are known to not celebrate certain events. As mentioned in Albanese,
“Leaders prohibit celebrations for Christmas and Easter, along with observances for national holidays and even personal birthdays. The only Witness holiday commemorates the death of Jesus in a Memorial Supper (Albanese, 174). They do not celebrate these manmade holidays because they consider them pagan. To be more specific, they do not celebrate Eater, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and parties. It is a sign of disobedience to God.
Issues towards gender show that men and women are created equal. They are not separate them during meetings or talks. They believe that just as Jesus did not treat women as inferior to men, they will not either, although, women are not allowed to give talks in the meetings. The reason for that is because God gave the men the responsibility to lead the congregation. Class is not specific. In any religion, it does not matter. As for race, Jehovah Witnesses are very diverse. There is a great number of Jehovah Witness that come from different nations. The City of San Antonio ensures that the needs for them to understand what is being said is being met. Different meetings are available for the different languages. The religion of Jehovah Witness has widely spread from city to city and country to country. It has become worldwide in sharing its beliefs. The facts given by the Jehovah Witness homepage, show that over the world, there is 8,340,982 Jehovah Witnesses. There is 119, 485 congregations and 240 lands that have been preached to. (Jehovah’s Witnesses)
The Jehovah’s Witness are restricted from doing many things. For instance, as mentioned before, they are not allowed to celebrate certain manmade holidays as they are seen to displease God. They cannot receive or give blood transfusions because of Acts 15:29 which states in the Bible as, “That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.” (King James Version, Acts 15:29). They refer to this as a way that God tells them to abstain from the blood and believe that there are many other ways to seek medical help without doing that and disobeying God. Other restrictions include being unable to serve in the military due to the fact that they consider themselves politically neutral. They face many persecutions and consequences for the choice of abstaining from these worldwide practices.
There are many modern-day issues that are faced by this religion. One of the common ones is that Russia has recently banned the Jehovah Witness website and its gatherings as it declares the Bible as extremist (Jehovah’s Witness, Russia). Secondly, many people in this religion are being sent to jail because of their disobedience to their country for not wanting to be in the military or fight in the wars. The Jehovah’s Witness website confirms this by using the scripture, Matthew 26:52 as it states, “Return your sword to its place, for all those who take the sword will parish by the sword” (JW Why don’t Jehovah’s Witness go to war?).
As for any who extreme sins or wrong doings, they are faced with the consequence of being set aside. They are disciplined by the congregation and given the opportunity to fix themselves and get in the right spiritual track. If the person does not repent they do become shunned and disfellowshipped and not only by the church but their loved ones. (JW, Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Shun former members of their religion?).
To conclude, the Jehovah’s Witness are very different in many aspects and beliefs in their own religion to others. They stand for what they believe in and go to great deals to make sure they are being heard. They want people around the world to understand what they believe in hopes of converting others to the same beliefs so they may to, live an eternal and everlasting life as that is the sole purpose in the religious eyes for this world.