Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society

An Overview by Scott Shiffer

Founder/ Leadership

Charles Taze Russell was the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the late 1870's. Russell was born on February 16, 1852 and in 1870 he started a Bible study group; he was 18 at that time.  In 1876 he was elected to be the pastor of the group.

However, he was only the pastor from 1876 to 1878 when he resigned because of an issue regarding his beliefs about the atonement of Jesus Christ.  After leaving the pastorate, he began The Herald of the Morning, today it is called The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom.  In 1884 Russell began the Zion 's Watch Tower Tract Society and in 1886 he published Studies in Scripture, now called the Millennial Dawn, and The Finished Mystery.  By this time Russell had met a man named Judge Rutherford.  At the time when The Finished Mystery was published it caused a split and the larger group followed Rutherford .

Judge Rutherford became the successor to Charles T. Russell and under his leadership the group took the name Jehovah's Witnesses.  Today the main office is still in New York in Brooklyn where it began many years ago.  Russell continued preaching until his death in 1916.  Apparently Russell controlled all of the finances until his death and was engaged in many legal disputes.  He was found guilty of perjury in court.  He lied about having been ordained, knowing the original Biblical languages, and his products (especially wheat) were found not to be miraculous as he claimed they were. Don Adams is now the President of the Group, being the sixth, he was elected in 2000.

Authority

There are several authoritative books for Jehovah's witnesses.  First, they have their own translation of the Bible, The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.  Second, they have a booklet entitled, Reasoning from the Scriptures (1985 and 1989).  The Bible itself is not to be read apart from the writings of the Church.  In many cases, the writings of the Church are to completely replace the writings of the Bible.  They have a set of Bible study aids which include the following: My Book of Bible Stories, Revelation: It's Grand Climax at Hand, Mankind's Search for God, Questions Young People Ask: Answer's that Work, The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, Life: How did it get Here? By Evolution or by Creation.  Additional books include the following: Knowledge that Leads to Everlasting Life, The Bible: God's Word or Man's, Let Your Kingdom Come, Happiness: How to Find It, The Secret of Family Happiness, True Peace and Security: How Can You Find It, and Listening to the Great Teacher.  Major pamphlets include the following: What does God Require of Us, Look! I am Making All Things New, Jehovah's Witnesses and Education, How Can Blood Save Your Life, The Divine Name that Will Endure Forever, Should You Believe in the Trinity, and Jehovah's Witnesses in the Twentieth Century.

On man's end, authority is set up as an autocracy; all authority is given to the governing body.  Russell is not exalted as a divine man; in fact, he is often shunned. The church claims to hold no connection today to the doctrines that he taught so many years ago, but if one takes a closer look they might notice that all the basic tenants of the faith are the exact same.  The governing rulers at any given time make the laws.  Jehovah's Witnesses call their meeting places Kingdom Halls and that is where they go to worship.  Kingdom Halls are divided into circuits made up of about 20 congregations.  These are then divided into districts; there are 22 in the United States .  Districts are divided into branches.  This is the order of governing authority in the Church.

Doctrine of God

According to Jehovah's Witnesses, God the Father is a Unitarian God in Nature.  There is one God, Jehovah.  Jehovah is the Lord God, the Father.  God is personal, and he is worshipped through weekly services, Bible Study, and ministry.  As far as the doctrine of the Trinity is concerned, they deny it claiming that it is from Satan.  The Holy Spirit is an invisible active force of God.  The Holy Spirit is not a person, and it can be seen as a substance like electricity.  God uses it to accomplish his purposes, but it is not a person or part of the Trinity.

Christology

In the theology of Jehovah's Witnesses, Christ is not God, only a god.  Christ was the first created being and he was resurrected as a Divine Spirit Creature.  He no longer has a physical body; indeed he did not take a Human body to Heaven at his resurrection or ascension.  Christ is not equal to God, but rather he is less than God.  Christ existed before coming to earth but not as part of the Trinity.  Jehovah conceived him in Mary, but not sexually.  Rather, he placed Christ in the Virgin's womb.   Jehovah did not impregnate her in any way similar to that by the Holy Spirit in Mormonism.

Christ entered a human body, but did only that; he did not have a human soul.  His sacrifice on the cross was the perfect sacrifice purchasing back for Jehovah exactly what Adam lost.    His death removed the effects of Adam's sin and the effects of sin in his offspring.  Christ of course remained sinless through the Holy Spirit, God's active force.  When Jesus came back he did not come as a human, but as a spirit person.  Because men cannot see the Father, they also cannot see the glorified son.  When Christ returned it was not visible; Christ is up in the heavens ruling where we cannot see Him.  Christ was said to have returned in 1914 in the sense that then is when he received all the power God promised him.  When that power was given to Christ he cast Satan and his followers to the earth.  That is why it has gotten increasingly worse since 1914.  All governing authority is now given to Christ.  A Jehovah's Witness may not ascribe to any national or other government power authority over themselves or other members of their faith.  To salute any government flag or so forth is to commit idolatry.

Doctrine of Salvation

Adam sinned and thus all sin is passed on to his children.  Man is a combination of dust and soul, or a physical and a spiritual component.  The human soul is mortal.  Life ends at death, the dead do not feel or know anything. The soul dies.  There is no Hell.  Satan made up this rumor.  If God is loving, he will not punish anyone for eternity.  The people that do what God requires of them will be resurrected and will live on the earth forever.  To do what God requires means that one must become a Jehovah's Witness, attend worship five times a week and a book study once a week.  Jehovah's witnesses are also required to do fieldwork, which averages out to about 1,200 hours per year.  They must also do a specified amount of community service project hours every week.  If they do not do these things they may be cast out.  If a member is cast out, then when judgment comes he may be found in an unfavorable light.  This means that Jehovah's Witnesses can and do lose their salvation if they apostate.  They do have a good retention rate.  The 144,00 will be born again and rule with Christ in Heaven as spirit creatures.  The ones who are not part of the 144,000 will receive eternal life on the earth.  The 144,000 are first class saints and have special privilege; the rest are referred to as the bride and that is the next best thing.  All who do not inherit eternal life in Heaven or earth will cease to exist.  There is no concept of an afterlife for those who are not Witnesses in the faith.