Jehovah’s WitnessesJehovah’s WitnessesJehovah’s WitnessesJehovah’s Witnesses

Cults & New Religious MovementsCults & New Religious MovementsCults & New Religious MovementsCults & New Religious Movements

Jehovah’s Witnesses: Jehovah’s Witnesses: “Children of Jehovah”“Children of Jehovah”Jehovah’s Witnesses: Jehovah’s Witnesses: “Children of Jehovah”“Children of Jehovah”

1.What are some JW Publications?

2.What are expectations on JWs?

•Children’s roles?•Women’s roles?3.What do JW kids aspire to?

4.Why do people join / stay in?

5.What do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe about:

•God?•The human predicament?

•How to live a good life?

•The meaning of life?

•What happens when you die?

What surprised you most in this video?

Slide 3.

Jehovah’s Witnesses: Jehovah’s Witnesses: Charles Taze Russell Charles Taze Russell Jehovah’s Witnesses: Jehovah’s Witnesses: Charles Taze Russell Charles Taze Russell

• born to Presbyterian parents, • joined a Congregational Church at the age of fifteen.

• troubled by doctrines such as predestination and eternal punishment.

• attended a Second Adventist Bible study• 1869, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, began a Bible study

• determined that Christ's return would be an invisible or spiritual one.

• In 1884, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was organized as a corporation:

• "the dissemination of Bible truths in various languages by means of the publication of tracts, pamphlets, papers and other religious documents, and by the use of all other lawful means..."

Slide 4.

After RussellAfter RussellAfter RussellAfter Russell

• Charles Taze Russell died in 1916, leaving Joseph Franklin Rutherford in charge

• "Jehovah's Witnesses" became the name in 1931.

• Authoritative Texts: • The Bible (New World Translation) and the

Scripture Studies. • Size

• in 1997: 5.1 million across 232 countries.

Slide 5.

  PracticesPractices  PracticesPractices

• Learn official doctrines, proselytize actively, participate in all congregational meetings, be baptized into the faith.

• The 5 meetings to attend each week:• Public Talk on Sunday. • Watchtower Study follows the public talk. • Theocratic Ministry School evening weekday. • Service Meeting after Theocratic Ministry School. • Book Study sometime during the week.

• Don’t: salute a nation's flag, serve in the military, vote, receive a blood transfusion, or smoke

Slide 6.

    BeliefsBeliefs     BeliefsBeliefs • Protestant and Adventist, with the following differences:

• Name of God: Jehovah•  Trinity: No. Jesus is the first creation of God, fully human. Holy Spirit is a force. • Man: Everyone is born with sin (except Jesus). soul is mortal . some will experience

eternal life when they are resurrected, in the flesh and soul, simultaneously. •   Salvation: “Those losing faith in Jesus also lose everlasting life." • Kingdom of God: Jesus became king in 1914, Satan and his angels kicked out of

heaven to earth. Hence the wars, crime , etc. today. Jesus wil judge his people (some receiving everlasting life others non-existence), and Jehovah will rule again.

•   Heaven: where Jesus Christ and 144000 other "True Christians" will rule over the paradise kingdom of The Great Crowd , those who have chosen God and will live forever.

• Hell: No. God is loving . Sinners will simply disappear. • Holidays: Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate any holy days or even birthdays

except one: the Memorial of Christ's Death during Passover.

Slide 7.

Issues and Issues and ControversiesControversies

Issues and Issues and ControversiesControversies

• Main issues which cause criticism include failed prophecies, blood transfusions, and nationalism.

•  Failed Prophecies - admit erring in their calculations (1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, and 1941) for Armageddon.

•  Blood - blood transfusions is "eating blood," forbidden in the bible.

•   Nationalism - do not vote, sing the anthem, or participate in military duty.