Maybe one day someone rung to your door to bring you the “good news”, if that's the case you were brought face to face with a Jehovah's witness! In this article, I will try to explain you who the Jehovah's witnesses really are, which are their beliefs and observes, but also what they try to dissimulate...
Originally, the movement was borned in the XIXth century (1870) in the United States of America with Charles Taze Russel. At first, he joined a religious group called « The Bible Student Movement », where he became really influential in the course of time, and become a pastor.
In 1881, after being influenced by several adventists (an adventist is a member of an evangelist group waiting for the return of the Christ) Georges Stows, Jonas Wendell and Nelson Barbour and by the pastor Joseph Seis, he created the « Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society » which will be mainly financed by his father.
Russel gave off his doctrine across The Bible Student Movement which defended his thesis, and also with speeches across the world.
He got together all his vision of the Scriptures in a succession of 6 volumes called « Millennial Dawn » or « Studies in the Scriptures ».
The 31st of October of 1916, Charles Russel died at the age of 64. A funeral oration was published in the The WatchTower (one of the magazines distributed by the WatchTower Tract Society).
After his death, the Bible Student Movement found themselves all alone, without a leader, they are thrown. Furthermore, their prophecy Armageddon predicted for 1914 didn't happen ; so this is a grand period of question, those followers were perplexed.
This is without knowing that Joseph Franklin Rutherford took the advantage of the situation to take the control of The WatchTower.The 17th of July of 1917, he published a new volume called « The finished mystery » (consequently there are now 7 volume), in order to meet the expectations of the followers. This publication created a real bomb in the group, they were very surprised but they also saw in Rutherford a potential successor of Russel.This seventh volume accused the catholic line management: the war, the patriotism and the conscription. Rutherford also predicted a new prophecy for 1918 but once again it didn't become reality, it caused an enormous disappointment.
But given that we are in 1917 when the volume is published, we are in war and the criticism of the patriotism in wartime caused the incarceration of Rutherford and seven other leaderships the 8th oh May of 1918. They were released on bail after the war in time of peace the 25th of March of 1919, and all the legal proceedings were abandoned in 1920.
Immediately, Rutherford took up the reins again and reorganized the movement. In 1925, thanks to the offerings of the worshippings, they could build a villa in California called Beth-Sarim in order to greet patriarchs of the Old Testament : « Scriptures definitely fix the fact that there will be a resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other faithful ones of old, and that these will have the first favor, we may expect 1925 to witness the return of these faithful men of Israël from the condition of death...Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophet of old,...the new order is coming, and that 1925 shall mark the resurrection of the faithful worthies of old and the beginning of reconstruction, it is reasonable to conclude that millions of people now on the earth will be still on the earth in 1925...we must reach the positive and indisputable conclusion that millions now living will never die. » Extract from a brochure called « Millions now living will never die », this brochure was distributed in a million of copies.
Over again, this prediction was not realised, and over again it provocated tensions, and directly provocated in 1931 (at the instigation of Rutherford who wanted to erase little by little Russel's teaching) a break up, a separation, a sort of schism between the ones more loyal to Russel, the Bible Student Movement and the ones more loyal to Rutherford who adopt a new name “The Jehovah's witnesses”.
Some years later, in 1933, with the assumption of power by the Nazis in Germany, the Jehovah's witnesses were forbidden in Germany and during the Second World War they were emprisoned and deported in concentration camps. They were rejected as well in the countries of the Axis Power and also in the countries of the allies.
Today, the WatchTower took precautions and didn't take the risk to plan ahead the date of Armageddon, they just said that it will not be long.
The headquarters took place in USA, in Brooklyn (NYC), all is managed here.
The WatchTower affirms that, in 2012, the Jehovah's Witnesses were 7 782 346 in the world and 19 millions persons assisted to the Memorial of Christ's Death. They are very present in the Americas, in particular in the USA with 1,2 Millions officials members in 2012, Brazil and Mexico which bring together 1,4 Millions of members and Canada with more than 100 000 members.
Now, I will explain to you which are the Jehovah's witnesses beliefs.
First, they considered them like christians,their only reference is the Bible (if a member doesn't follow the Bible, he risks the excommunication) they believe in Jesus because he said that: “I [Jesus] am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”(chapter 14).
But in their opinion, he said too “My father is greater than I.” (chapter 14), this is why they are not devoted to him, they don't vow a cult to him, he's not God almighty.
They believe in an unique god : Jehovah. To us the Christ is originally an archangel created by God called Michel the bigger being created, who created all the creatures on demand of God. The term “Jehovah” comes from the Bible, they think that God has a name which comunicated to Moses in the form of a tetragrammaton (term composed of 4 letters) : JHVH, they are not sure of the pronuncation but they maintain that this the most used.
They are a restorationist movement, so they think that God restored the real christianity by them, they are the inheritors of the primitive christianity. They reject the Trinity beacause Jesus was created by God and the Holy Spirit is in fact God's powerfull.
They don't believe in the Purgatory, they affirm that this is an invention of the catholic's clergy.
They also believe in Armageddon, that is to say that Jehovah will come to destroy all the people who haven't followed him and then will start the Christ's reign which will last during 1000 years. During this millenary, wars, diseases, nastiness, etc... will not exist anymore. Human being will find again his initial perfection.
They believe in The Virgen Mary and accept that Jesus was born by her but they don't venerate her.
They believe in Satan but in their opinion, he is originally a perfect angel created by God, but he wanted to dominate and he rebelled against God in tempting Eve to eat the apple in the form of a snake. Then all the angels who followed him became demons.
The Jehovah's witnesses have a characterisc which distinguish them from the other christians or even the “normal” people, the non Jehovah's witnesses because they don't celebrate no parties like Christmas because in their opinion, Jesus requested that to celebrate his death and not his birth; furthermore nothing proves that Jesus was born a 25th december and to finish, this celebration comes from a pagan party. They also don't celebrate Halloween, birth anniversary, mother's and father's day, National days, etc...
An other characteristic which distinguish them from the other christians is that they don't consider the cross like their symbol, to us, Jesus didn't die on a cross but on a simple post.
Jehovah's witnesses also do the baptism but it is really different from catholic's baptism. Being baptised is the only way to being considered like a real Jehovah's witnesses (nobody was born Jehovah's witness), a concerning and an activing member, and especially to escape to Armageddon. To be baptised, the adult (they don't baptise children) has to request the leaderships, after he will search informations about the way of life of the person, and then 104 questions present in the book “Organized to do Jehovah's will”will be asked to the candidate. After being reassured about his knowledge they will decide if yes or no he could be baptised. The baptism takes place during the Assembly, the candidate is presented to all the persons present, and then he is taken to a pool. During the baptism, a leader asks 2 questions to all the candidates who have to answer yes and then he will immerse them on the water a few seconds. In 2011, The WatchTower affirmed that 263 131 persons were baptised in all the world this year.
They have a bad vision of the other religions, they assimilate them to Babylon The Great (Babylon is an antique city, the Bible describes it like the symbol of corruption and decadence), they were perverted and enriched by the kings, have pegan's observes... All the religions are a Satan's organisation and keep out the mankind of God. Only God will be able to make Satan's kingdom disappear.
I said that before, a member who doesn't follow the Bible could be excommunicated and, in this case, the members of the Congregation can not talk to the excomunicated person. He can be reinstated under some conditions.
Sexual relations are forbidden apart from the marriage, furthermore, a member can only get married with an other member (a marriage with a Jehovah's witnesse and a non Jehovah's witnesse is impossible).
Concerning their daily, they have 1 or 2 religious services each week and a big celebration each year (the only celebration). This celebration is called the Memorial of Christ's Death, in 2011, 19 millions persons assisted to his Memorial. This commemoration falls on the day before the Jewess Easther and begins after the sunset to celebrate The Last Supper “Do this in remembrance of me [Jesus]”. The bread and the wine, the “emblems” circulate among the assembly. This year, the Memorial will take place the 14th of April of 2014. So, like I said, the Jehovah's witnesses get together every week in the “Kingdom halls”, this meeting is free and open to the public. They begin and finish with a hymn and a prayer. This weekly reunion serves to teach the Jehovah's witnesses' knowledge to the adults and the children and they also teach to the members how to do
the door-to-door to spread out the “good news”.
Now that you know the origins and the beliefs of the Jehovah's witnesses, you also have to know that there are scandals...
Contrary to the other religions, there is a real social isolation, the members are deliberately isolated of the society given that they believe that this world will disappear. They are not aware of this isolation because all is calculated. Many things prove it, like the ban of celebration to Christmas, or Halloween, etc... This ban is a real break up with the population especially for children who don't understand why they can not have fun like the other children during this celebration, but they are not the ones and the only who don't celebrate Christmas, for example the jews, the muslims are not concerned by this party; by the way they don't celebrate birthdays but wedding anniversaries, death anniversaries.
Moreover, they refuse to be involved in the political life so they don't vote, they don't do the national service, but they don't transgress the law given that they are registered in the electoral register. The WatchTower encourages them to go voting but they ask them to not put the ballot paper inside the envelope: it doesn't matter, a lot of persons do that.
They have a job, their children go to school, so where is the problem?
This isolation also permits to separate a person to his closes relations who are not members, and reduces the risk that the person wish to leave the group: if the person is alone, without friends, family, he will not want to leave the group. The leaders don't give time to the members to have fun, work, study, etc... in order to be entirely dedicated to Jehovah. This sort of brainwashing works! The members think that they are protected from a dangerous world.
An other distinction owned to the Jehovah's witnesses is the refusal of blood transfusions (they were also suspicious with the vaccine but not anymore). The blood transfusions were forbidden in 1945 with Rutherford. So, if a member accept to do a blood transfusion (also for a vital reason), it will be considered like a sin, and if the member doesn't do anything to be forgiven, he will be excommunicated. This refusal comes from The Old and The New Testament which ask to abstain of blood. It also implicate food containing too much blood, but once again Jehovah's witnesses are not the ones and the only to have a special diet, the jew and the muslims have also a special diet...
So, like you could understand, the Jehovah's witnesses always have an answer, a get ready answer in order to be considered like a religion and not like a sect, and don't hesitate to take the pretext of true religions.
They also forbid lies, drugs, alcohol, abortion...But these things are more “ordinary”, many real religions like the Christendom, the Islam, the Judaism, etc... forbid them.
I will broach now the most horrifying and terrible thing, unfortunately really often present in sectarians groups, including the Jehovah's witnesses, pedophilia.The Jehovah's witnesses is a rich and powerfull organization, so for a very long time, they succeeded to find agreements and solutions to hide pedophile's affairs. The situation changed in 2012, when the WatchTower lost for the first time a trial with Candace Conti, a young girl of 26 years old. Indeed, Candace Conti stated loud and clear that she was sexually abused by Jonathan Kendrick, a Jehovah's witnesses, between 1995 and 1996 when she was minor. Apparently, Candace Conti was not the first victim of the accused Jonathan Kendrick because he already was summoned and punished by the leaders of the sect, but the police never knew anything about it because of a Jehovah's witnesses' law who said that: if the child's aggressor denies the accusations, the leaderships can establish that the rape took place ONLY if someone else can testify, otherwise, their manual recommend them to leave the problem between Jehovah's hands. This is thanks to this law that Jonthan Kendrick could escape the justice, keep the family's trust, and go on without problems. Candace Conti decided to fight, and for two years, she tried to obtain from the Jehovah's witnesses some confessions, she wanted them to break the silence, in vain, so she lodged a complaint to the police. Jonathan was declared guilty for the rape of Candice and many otherchildren. But Candice didn't want to stop right there, and lodged a complaint against the WatchTower of Freemont in California with this reason: the WatchTower knew what happened but they decided to do nothing. To Candice, it was the only way to reveal the truth about the WatchTower. So the 13th and the 14th, after a long trial, The Watch Tower was sentenced for the first time by the Tribunal of Alameda in California to transfer some millions in reparation, the leaders were sentenced for negligence but the justice impute more responsabilities to the WatchTower.
So, some millions of Jehovah's witnesses children suffer from sexual agressions due to their horrible law, The WatchTower always paid the victims for their silence, etc... But Candice Conti was not interested in money and set the record straight, she said that “I wanted to be an exemplary Jehovah's witness but I think that I do more good helping the other children, than I never did when I was doing door-to-door to spread out the good news”. Her story was published in the worldwild, in famous magazines like the NewYorkTimes, USA today...
Here some videos about the Jehovah's witnesses Organization:
I let you now judge by yourself if the Jehovah's witnesses are Yes or No a sect like they are defined by the medias, the sociologists and the major part of the population. Thanks for reading me.
