The Jehovah's Witness Religion

Since the Jehovah’s Witness religion was founded, it has grown tremendously, starting small and then adapting to modern times with its own beliefs, religious practices, complicated and unique governmental structure and faithful followers.
The Jehovah’s witness religion was founded by a small group of bible study students towards the end of the nineteenth century. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the students analyzed the Bible and compared church teachings and doctrines to the sacred text, publishing and sharing their findings in newspaper articles and stories such as The Watchtower. One very important member of the group was named Charles Taze Russel, an agnostic. Russel took the role of editor of The Watchtower and took his work with Bible study
extremely seriously, guiding and leading the others on the path to religious success. Many people began to accept the Jehovah’s witness Followers and then, decidedly, joined their beliefs. The modern-day Jehovah’s witness followers base their religion off of the roots of Christianity and consider Jesus Christ their founder, though this is true, Charles Taze is a founding figure that many people associate the origins of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Many members of the Jehovah’s witness religion believe in preaching the word of the Lord to their neighbors and fellow citizens. Though the Jehovah’s witness religion was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, its teachings and followers have spread to almost all parts of the world. Similar to Mormonism, the Jehovah’s witness religion isn’t esoteric, which means that Jehovah’s Witnesses teach and share their doctrines to all people and members, instead of only sharing certain information to a select few. Jehovah’s witness followers believe that there is no Hell and instead of enduring such punishment, the wicked are annihilated and no longer exist in this world or another. Another belief is centered around the Bible, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the Bible is both a gift and guide from God. This belief means that Jehovah’s witness followers look to the Bible for guidance from God during difficult times. Another belief within their religion is dependent entirely upon Biblical interpretation as a certain paragraph instructs the Jehovah’s witness witnesses not to take part in blood transfusions no matter how dire the circumstance. This is because they believe that it is wrong to take or remove blood from another because in doing so, you are damaging the sacred blood of Christ. Like any other religion, Jehovah’s witnesses practice certain rituals to fulfill their religious beliefs. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not take part in politics or salute the flag as their sole focus in life is to serve Jesus Christ and their lifestyle is based solely off of the word of God. Since Jehovah’s Witnesses are scattered throughout the world, their means of conversion and contact is fulfilled through the means of assemblies. These religious gatherings include singing, religious lectures and dancing. Attendance to Religious services are another Jehovah’s witness practice that occurs three days a week on Sunday, Saturday and Friday. Evangelism is another important aspect of Jehovah’s witness practices. As briefly mentioned above, Jehovah’s Witnesses expand in their community by preaching the ways of their faith to all people, through the means of introductions to neighbors and preaching and teaching the faith to the community in public spaces. Jehovah’s Witnesses follow only one sacred scripture, the Bible, as all their ways and beliefs are based off of direct Biblical interpretation.
The organizational structure of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is separated into hierarchical divisions made up of seven main branches. The governing body oversees six different committees responsible for managing evangelizing activities. Both groups supervise around one hundred branch officers who are in charge of traveling overseers. Traveling overseers are those directly appointed by the governing body and work to oversee congregations, preforming around two to three visits yearly with each circuit. Congregations are religious meeting of about two hundred Jehovah’s Witnesses who meet is Kingdom Hall, the meetings are usually made up of an elder body, baptized publishers, unbaptized publishers and children. Throughout the history of Jehovah’s witness, there has been no record of any famous
practitioners. Jehovah’s Witnesses and Catholicism share many may similarities and differences.
One pertinent and common belief shared between the two religions is connection to the world’s basic creation, the roots of Christianity because they both believe that Jesus died for the sake of our sins and was crucified under Pontius Pilate. The differences begin when the Jehovah’s witness religion denies the idea of three separate beings within one God, interpreting the Nicene creed differently than Catholics by believing that Jesus is not God but instead his influential power and creation. Catholics believe that each and every individual being is blessed with a separate spirit that will carry us to salvation, the Jehovah’s witnesses believe that people do not have separately existing spirits and will either die and join Jehovah in Heaven or simply cease to exist. Aside from these differences, both religions believe in preaching the word of the Lord and spreading the faith, but both religions do so in very different ways. While Jehovah’s Witnesses preach from door to door, Catholics preach the Gospel at mass. Both Jehovah’s Witnesses and Catholics attend a service of some sort on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Catholicism and Jehovah’s witnesses differ from each other in many ways, yet similarities between the two religions remain. The Jehovah’s Witness religion is enriched with its own unique ways including religious practices and faithful followers. All parts of the religion make the
Jehovah’s witnesses who they truly aspire to be.