The Jehovah's Witnesses Beliefs

This research paper will cover the religious group the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I will discuss the group’s origins from their original start to their current history. I will also touch on a few of the Jehovah’s Witnesses beliefs as well as some of their most prevalent practices of yesterday and today. By the end of this paper you will have a better understanding of this modern, in terms of length, religion.

History

According to the Christian Apologetic & Research Ministry (CARM) in a piece written by Matt Slick, “The Jehovah's Witnesses was begun by Charles Taze Russell in 1872. He had great difficulty in dealing with the doctrine of eternal hell fire, and in his studies came to deny not only eternal punishment but also the Trinity, the deity

of Christ, and the Holy Spirit. When Russell was 18, he organized a Bible class in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1879, he sought to popularize his aberrant ideas on doctrine. He co-published The Herald of the Morning magazine with its founder, N. H. Barbour, and by 1884, Russell controlled the publication and renamed it The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom and founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society (now known as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society). Russell claimed that the Bible could be only understood according to his interpretations--a dangerous arrangement since he controlled what was written in the Watchtower magazine. This kind of assertion is typical among leaders of cult religions.” (Slick, 2000)
There have been several leaders in the Jehovah Witnesses history including a Missouri lawyer named “Joseph Franklin Rutherford, who took over the presidency of the Watch Tower Society in 1916, after the death of Russell, when the group was known then as the International Bible Students Association. In 1931, he changed the name of the organization to "The Jehovah's Witnesses.” which it is know as today.” (Slick, 2000)
“Other leaders include Nathan Knorr, Frederick William Franz, and Milton G. Henschel, who was president of the society until his death in 2003.” (Slick, 2000)
In fact according to the NY Times obituary, “Mr. Henschel was a member of the staff of the world headquarters since 1939 and was the president since 1992 of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society Inc. of Pennsylvania and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society Inc. of New York State, two of the corporations that the Jehovah's Witnesses use to conduct their business affairs, which include publishing Bibles.
He was also president of the International Bible Students Association. A native of Pomona, N.J., Milton George Henschel had several years of religious training at Jehovah's Witnesses training institutions in Brooklyn Heights. He was ordained a Jehovah's Witness minister in 1934 and traveled to 150 countries while overseeing, and taking part in, ministry activity.” (Times, 2003) He had a very lengthy relationship with the Jehovah Witness religion.
According to JW.Org, a governing body leads the Jehovah’s Witnesses. As of April 2015, the members of the Governing Body are Samuel Herd, Geoffrey Jackson, Stephen Lett, Gerrit Lösch, Anthony Morris III, Mark Sanderson, and David Splane. They serve at the world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. (JW, 2015)

Beliefs
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have several beliefs that are considered controversial in different religious circles. According to their website JW.Org, the Jehovah’s Witnesses “strive to adhere to the form of Christianity that Jesus taught and that his apostles practiced. Here is a summary of their basic beliefs.
God. We worship the one true and Almighty God, the Creator, whose name is Jehovah. He is the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.
Bible.

They recognize the Bible as God’s inspired message to humans. They base their beliefs on all 66 of its books, which include both the “Old Testament” and the “New Testament.” Professor Jason D. BeDuhn aptly described it when he wrote that Jehovah’s Witnesses built “their system of belief and practice from the raw material of the Bible without predetermining what was to be found there.”

While they accept the entire Bible, they are not fundamentalists. They recognize that parts of the Bible are written in figurative or symbolic language and are not to be understood literally.

Jesus. They follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ and honor him as their Savior and as the Son of God. Thus, they are Christians. However, they have learned from the Bible that Jesus is not Almighty God and that there is no Scriptural basis for the Trinity doctrine (controversial)

The Kingdom of God. Their belief is that this is a real government in heaven, not a condition in the hearts of Christians. It will replace human governments and accomplish God’s purpose for the earth. It will take these actions soon, for Bible prophecy indicates that we are living in “the last days. (controversial)

Jesus is the King of God’s Kingdom in heaven. He began ruling in

1914.

Salvation. Deliverance from sin and death is possible through the ransom sacrifice of Jesus. To benefit from that sacrifice, people must not only exercise faith in Jesus but also change their course of life and get baptized. A person’s works prove that his faith is alive. However, salvation cannot be earned—it comes through “the undeserved kindness of God.”
Heaven. Jehovah God, Jesus Christ, and the faithful angels reside in the spirit realm.
A relatively small number of people—144,000—will be resurrected to life in heaven to rule with Jesus in the Kingdom.
Earth. God created the earth to be mankind’s eternal home. God will bless obedient people with perfect health and everlasting life in an earthly paradise.
Evil and suffering. These began when one of God’s angels rebelled. This angel, who after his rebellion was called “Satan” and “Devil,” persuaded the first human couple to join him, and the consequences have been disastrous for their descendants. In order to settle the moral issues raised by Satan, God has allowed evil and suffering, but He will not permit them to continue forever.
Death. People who die pass out of existence. They do not suffer in a fiery hell of torment. (Controversial)
God will bring billions back from death by means of a resurrection. However, those who refuse to learn God’s ways after being raised to life will be destroyed forever with no hope of a resurrection.

Family. They adhere to God’s original standard of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, with sexual immorality being the only valid basis for divorce. They are convinced that the wisdom found in the Bible helps families to succeed.
Our worship. They do not venerate the cross or any other images. Key aspects of their worship include the following:
1 Praying to God.
2 Reading and studying the Bible.
3 Meditating on what we learn from the Bible.
4 Meeting together to pray, study the Bible, sing, express our faith, and encourage fellow Witnesses and others.
5 Preaching the “good news of the Kingdom.”
6 Helping those in need.
7 Constructing and maintaining Kingdom Halls and other facilities used to further our worldwide Bible educational work.
8 Sharing in disaster relief. (JW.Org, 2015)
There are a few more, but this is a great summary of some of the controversial views and differences that have divided other Christian factions from the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Practices
Some of the practices that the Jehovah’s Witnesses have are they go door to door with their ministry, they don’t accept blood transfusions, and they are resistant to war.
The reason for the door-to-door ministry according to JW.Org is to follow the example of those early Christians that went out into the world to preach the gospel and they find that the door-to-door ministry is a good way to reach people. (JW.Org, 2015)
The reason they don’t accept blood transfusions because of religious issues rather than a medical ones. According to the bible they use both the Old and New Testaments clearly command them to abstain from blood. Also, God views blood as representing life. So they avoid taking blood not only in obedience to God but also out of respect for him as the Giver of life. (JW.ORG, 2015)
According to JW.ORG, for the following reasons, Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t go to war:
1. Obedience to God. The Bible says that God’s servants would “beat their swords into plowshares” and not “learn war anymore.”

2. Obedience to Jesus. The apostle Peter was told by Jesus: “Return your sword to its place, for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Jesus thus showed that his followers would not take up weapons of warfare. 
Jesus’ disciples obey his command to be “no part of the world” by remaining strictly neutral in political matters. They do not protest against military actions or interfere with those who choose to serve in the armed forces.

3. Love for others. Jesus commanded his disciples to “love one another.” They would thus form an international brotherhood in which no member would ever wage war against his brother or sister.

4. The example of early Christians. The Encyclopedia of Religion and War states: “The earliest followers of Jesus rejected war and military service,” recognizing those practices as “incompatible with the love ethic of Jesus and the injunction to love one’s enemies.” Likewise, German theologian Peter Meinhold said of those early disciples of Jesus: “Being a Christian and a soldier was considered irreconcilable.” (JW.ORG, 2015)

In conclusion, the Jehovah’s Witnesses have taken the basis of Christianity and used it to build a new religion.

Their interpretation of the bible as well as their practices have clearly divided them from mainstream Christianity, even though they believe they have the true Christian religion. Whether the Jehovah’s Witnesses are legit in the eyes of other Christians may be questionable, with 239 Lands where Jehovah’s Witnesses worship, 8,201,545 Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide, 9,499,933 Free home Bible courses conducted, 19,950,019 Attendance at the annual Memorial of Christ’s death, and 115,416 Congregations, their reach is not.

(JW.ORG)