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Jehovah's Witnesses: Key facts

Information: This section contains a brief summary of the history and key beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses. A version of this article was originally published on the website www.faithnet.org.uk.

Jehovah's Witnesses are probably the most well-known modern-day religious sect, as most people at one time or another have encountered them on the doorstep of their home.

The founder of this group was Charles Taze Russell, who in 1870 (aged 18) organised a Bible study group in Pittsburgh aimed at renouncing organised religion (probably in response to the strictness of his Congregationalist upbringing).

In 1879, Russell began publishing a magazine called Zion's Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence, which would later be renamed as The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom (aka The Watchtower). From an initial 6,000 copies, the magazine now has a monthly distribution of over 17.8 million copies in 106 languages, whilst its sister publication Awake has a monthly circulation of 15.6 million in 34 languages.

Since 1908 the Jehovah's Witnesses have been based in Brooklyn, New York.

Picture of the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters in Brooklyn, NYC (Source: Wikipedia)

Similar to Latter Day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah's Witnesses are very missionary minded people. Charles Taze Russell himself went on many preaching journeys across America, in order to inspire 'a great awakening' in people (about God's truth). His successor - Joseph Franklin Rutherford (a prolific writer) - also began to emphasise the importance of door-to-door work, the distribution of literature and extending the religion overseas.

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Although Jehovah's Witness consider themselves to be Christians, they break fellowship with the mainstream Christian Church (which they refer to as Christendom) over a number of issues.

Jehovah's Witnesses promote the importance of knowing, learning from and understanding the Bible (especially the Old Testament). To aid this they have their own translation of the Bible called The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. This translation was commissioned by Nathan H. Knorr (Joseph Rutherford's successor), in 1950 (revised 1951 and 1961).

To aid the reader in understanding the true meaning of a text, the translators sometimes added words in [brackets]. For example, the New World Translation of Colossians 1:16 reads, 'by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens upon the earth.' Now this verse refers to Jesus, and in the Greek texts where this verse originally comes from the word [other] does not appear. However, as Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe Jesus was God, they have added the word [other] to draw attention to what they believe is the correct teaching about him; that he was simply a being created by God, who then went on to create everything else. 

The New World Translation of the Bible

Jehovah's Witnesses deny the doctrine of the Trinity, and claim that the Bible actually teaches that God is One. They also deny that Jesus Christ was fully God, but was also a being created by God. They also claim that Jesus was resurrected as a spirit after his death (only appearing to be human). They also believe that Jesus returned to the earth invisibly in 1914, and that only 144,000 true believers will be saved to reign with him in heaven at the end of time (the rest staying on earth).

Witnesses believe that in order for a person to be saved that they must first be baptised into their church, and then make a great effort to show their commitment to God by spreading God's teachings and attending meetings.

The place where Jehovah's Witnesses meet each week to study and worship is called a Kingdom Hall. This Kingdom Hall is in South London (England), and is in an old Baptist Church building.

Jehovah's Witnesses are famously pacifist, and refuse to serve in any nation's military. They also refuse to salute a country's flag, believing this to be a form of idolatry. For this reason they also do not celebrate Christmas, birthdays or any other public holidays.

Their most controversial teaching is the refusal to accept blood transfusions, as they believe doing violates the Old Testament teaching against eating blood. They also refuse blood transfusions for health reasons too. However, they will allow organ transplants where a blood plasma substitute is used.

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