Jehovah’s Witness
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November 7, 2010

Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witness are a religion that is very different from other mainstream religions. Jehovah’s Witness are not only a very reverent religion, but they also have many ideals that many people could never grow to accept. When speaking with my friend, Stacey Brown, she told me some information about her religion that, to be honest, was very surprising. I also learned interesting information about the Jehovah’s Witnesses place of worship, which they call a Kingdom Hall, which I was unaware of before this paper. Jehovah’s Witnesses are essentially a group of organized Christians, who proclaim that Jehovah is a loving and just God, who is deserving of humanities love and also obedience. Most Jehovah’s Witnesses, including my friend, used to be Catholic or Protestant but have converted. The basis of every one of the teachings that the Jehovah’s preach and study is found in the Bible. She informed me that studying the Bible daily is very important to Jehovah’s Witness. One thing that they do insist is that they are awaiting fulfillment of many of the various prophecies.
The reasoning behind Jehovah’s Witnesses going from door-to-door proclaiming their faith is that they are following the example that Jesus set for them when he journeyed from city to city preaching and declaring the good news of the kingdom of God. Contrary to what many may believe, they do not interpret every passage that is in the Bible as a literal record of events or stories of the past. They also do not tend to do any type of demonstrations or violence against anyone who disagrees with him or her. In this religion every person is to follow the example of Jesus and the apostle Paul, who preached in public places (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. 2009).
To become a Jehovah’s Witness prospective converts must complete a Bible study course. Each potential convert must then make a personal promise to God to obey him. Each person has to take part in the door-to-door preaching of their beliefs and regularly attend the meetings. Following all of this, they are then asked a series of questions by the Elders of the community to make sure that the converts wanting into the religion understand and accept the beliefs of the Witnesses. The preceding is done when a person is preparing for baptism, a ritual consisting of the prospective convert totally immersed in water. Then the converts must make a public statement declaring their belief and dedication to God. One thing that Stacey explained to me that is unlike many other religions that I have learned about or know about is “that people who drift away from proper behavior, such as drunkenness, stealing, or adultery are disfellowshipped” (S. N. Brown, personal communication, October 23, 2010). Disfellowship is a term that basically means that the congregation, including the person’s family, is not supposed to talk to him or her unless it is necessary (S. N. Brown, personal communication, October 23, 2010). They are still able to attend services and also to receive spiritual counseling from the elders of the religion. They do this in the hopes of returning to the faith someday. One of the main reasons behind the idea of disfellowship is to give the other followers a clear idea regarding “what will happen if they stray from the right path” (S. N. Brown, personal communication, October 23, 2010). Following the disfellowship a person is then shunned within the congregation. The shunning is done to keep the community from associating with any person who may be a potential undesirable influence for anyone else. If a person does not shun a member who is in disfellowship that itself is an offensive act as well. The person in disfellowship is only communicated with outside of the congregation if he or she is an immediate family or a business associate. Even in a situation of a family or coworker, communication between any person and the disfellowshipped person is usually only allowed when necessary (S. N. Brown, personal communication, October 23, 2010). S. N. Brown (personal communication, October 23, 2010) stated, if a member of the Jehovah’s community is found to be guilty of breaking any minor rule, such as that of associating with someone who is not a Jehovah’s Witness, that person can be marked. A mark will change the way the community interacts with this member, others from the community may only converse with that person when he or she is at the Kingdom Hall. This is similar to disfellowship but not nearly as serious an offense within the community. The Kingdom hall is the name of the place of worship for people of the Jehovah’s Witness faith. Meetings usually take place three days a week typically, some open meetings, and some closed meetings with song and prayer. A typical meeting consists of Bible readings, Bible discussion as well as discussions pertaining to family life, life as a Christian, or the prophecies. Another matter that is usually present at every meeting is that of The Watchtower magazine or some other Jehovah publication material. Witnesses will usually always meet at the Kingdom Hall before doing any door-to-door ministry as well. I visited a Kingdom Hall in my town at 2470 County Road 2720 Mineola, Texas. When I arrived at the location, I missed the drive way because the sign stating the name of the building is on the opposite side of the property away from the entrance next to a main highway. The building was very small, and looked more like a recreational center rather than a house of worship. The building is a brick building and what is odd is it has no windows. The areas of the building where windows were at one time have bricks to match the outer walls of the building. The only access to the building is the front glass door and a rear fire door. Upon entering the building the first area one comes to is a foray with a small table to one side with Watchtower publications freely available. Further inside the Kingdom Hall I found a well lit open room inside. I did not find wooden benches that stretch halfway across the room and come together in the middle to form an aisle. The type of seating they have is much more like a couch rather than a bench and more comfortable to sit on. I did not see any type of symbols anywhere in the Kingdom Hall, no cross, angels, or any symbols other religions may have. The Kingdom Hall was not lavishly decorated, it did have a number of reading materials and the seating seemed more inviting, almost like asking someone to sit and study a book. Something I did not like about the site is, though it was a modest building and very nondescript with the lack of windows I though the site wanted to hide something. On the other hand, the lack of windows may help a Bible study by removing the distraction of the outside world.
Another piece of information that Stacey shared with me was that the only fixed date that Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrate is that of “commemorating of the Memorial of Christ’s death” (personal communication. October 23, 2010). Throughout the year they do take part in parties, and picnics as well as a variety of other events, though most of these celebrations are not associated with any particular date. Most Witnesses do celebrate weddings and anniversaries because “they are not associated with pagan rituals” (personal communication. October 23, 2010). When I asked my friend why this is the religion she decided to follow, she said she thought this religion made sense to her (S. N. Brown, personal communication, October 23, 2010). When asked how this religion has shaped her life, she said “though I have not been with this religion as long as others, it has given me a freedom knowing I will live in Gods kingdom on earth forever, as long as I am true to my belief” (S. N. Brown, personal communication, October 23, 2010). I asked Stacey if she had challenges in practicing this religion, she said “some people don’t understand my beliefs, I will not salute a flag, or stand for the national anthem because that is idol worship, and this makes many people angry, but I want to be right in eyes of Jehovah, not mans” (S. N. Brown, personal communication, October 23, 2010). S. N. Brown (personal communication, October 23, 2010) stated she would rather be right with Jehovah than with people, Jehovah is forever, and people pass away.

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses are an outgrowth of the International Bible Students Association, which was founded in 1872 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania by Charles Taze Russell” (Jehovah's Witness, 2010). According to Encyclopedia Britannica (2010), In 1884 Charles Taze Russell founded the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, which publishes the Watchtower magazine. The Watch Tower Society’s publications are printed in more than 407 languages in all, including Braille (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 2010). Jehovah’s Witnesses can be found in more than 200 countries and colonies worldwide (Unknown, 1979).
One thing that surprised me to learn during the interview was that they do not believe in any kind of an afterlife. They simply believe that when a person dies that there is no part of him or her that lives on. They are not conscious of anything. In their religion they do not believe in the traditional view of purgatory. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe when a person dies this person no longer exists, and eternal damnation is not part of Jehovah’s Witnesses beliefs. When someone belongs to the Jehovah’s Witnesses they are never to salute the flag, no matter what nation it stands for as this is a form of idol worship. Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot recite the pledge of allegiance, vote, run for office, serve in the armed forces, or even stand, or sing the national anthem. That would seem to be a foreign concept to most people who always have done these things, as most people do not believe these are forms of idol worship.
One of the ideals that Jehovah’s Witnesses follow is one that deals with medical procedures, they are not allowed to take and blood transfusions. The reasoning behind this is in the Bible, it is forbidden to eat blood, and to them a transfusion is the same thing as eating blood because they are still taking it into their bodies. Before the 1950s it was forbidden for them to even have and vaccinations or to even have any organ transplants. Because of this old stipulation, many people died that should not have. They are allowed to have vaccinations and even organ transplants today, but blood transfusions are still not allowed.
The only traditional text used by the Jehovah’s Witnesses is the Bible. They study the Bible and all of its passages regularly and live their lives according to it. They also read through the publication named The Watchtower regularly. S.N. Brown (personal communication, October 23, 2010) explained that she will attend a Bible study on one-day of the week and a watchtower study on a different day of the week.
Unlike the religion of Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses have many beliefs that differ concerning specific aspects of the religions. One way that these two religions are different is that both follow different texts. In Islam they follow the Qur’an whereas Jehovah’s Witness they follow the Bible. Though both texts contain information about one central God, by tradition the Qur’an dictated to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel (Fisher, 2005). Jehovah’s Witnesses, on the other hand, consider the Bible to be the inspired word of God that is not only historically accurate but also most of it is literally true.
Another way that these two religions differ is according to Islamic belief there is an afterlife. Hakim (n.d.) states “The innocent ones will stay in Heaven, whereas, the corrupted ones will go to hell” (beliefs, papra.6.). Jehovah’s Witnesses believe when a person dies that there is nothing that lives on and he or she is dead.
In addition to their beliefs on the afterlife, another thing that makes this religion different from some of the other religions that I studied in class is that they, as a people, do not believe in anything close to what most religions call the Trinity. They follow a strict set of monotheism beliefs in which Jehovah is the one God. The Holy Spirit, which many other religions still believe in, is not a separate entity, but a force that helps Jehovah to interact with the world.
They do have a different idea of the way that Christ died as well; they believe that he died on a single stake and not on a cross. Following the interview I researched their beliefs about the cross itself. The only thing that I could find was that if anyone wears or is displaying one that person is worshipping an idol. This alone is a minor offense to the community (Tower Watch Ministries, 2007)
One way that Islam and Jehovah’s Witness are similar is both groups believe in only one central God, Allah for Muslims, and Jehovah for Jehovah’s Witness. Another belief that these two religions have in common is that of believing in angels or spirits. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that angels are spirits, just as God is a spirit, and there are millions of angels with exceptional power. Muslims also believe that there are angels among humans and that they interact with humans and each angel has a different purpose in this world.
To sum everything up, their religion has very simple roots and is very diverse from many other religions that I have learned about. They have varying different ideas about many aspects of life, ranging from home life to ideas about the afterlife as well. Though some of their ideas are thought to be somewhat unusual, they do still have some characteristics about them much similar to other religions. Learning more about this religion has opened my eyes to many ideas about the Bible, and interpretations of it that I would have known about if it were not for this interview. Charles Taze Russell. (2010). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/513182/Charles-Taze-Russell
Fisher, M.P. (2005). Living Religions (6th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Hakim, S. (n.d.). Religion of Islam. Minnesota State University. Retrieved from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/islam/beliefs.html
Jehovah's Witness. (2010). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/302393/Jehovahs-Witness?anchor=ref928435
Tower Watch Ministries. (2007). Highlights of the Beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Retrieved from http://www.towerwatch.com/Witnesses/Beliefs/their_beliefs.htm.
Unknown. (1979). Jehovah’s Witness found in World Book Encyclopedia. Childcraft International.
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. (2009). Watchtower. Retrieved from http://www.jw-media.org/ Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. (2010). Watchtower. Retrieved from http://www.watchtower.org/languages.htm