World Religions
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- Category: History: Religion
- Date Submitted: 06/12/2011 02:09 PM
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World Religions: Jehovah Witnesses
By: Robyn Torgrimson
Humanities 130
June 11, 2011
Introduction to Jehovah Witnesses
Jehovah Witnesses have always been a religion that perplexed me and that is why I chose it as the religion to research for my final project. Jehovah Witnesses started out just being a Bible study group formed and led by Charles Taze Russell in the early 1870’s, who also later created the Watch Tower, which is a specific publication for Jehovah Witnesses. The religion quickly spread and later changed their name to Jehovah Witnesses to distinguish themselves from other “Christian” religions. Jehovah Witnesses are known for going door-to-door and preaching about God, end of times, loneliness and many other topics, used as a starting point of their recruitment to get people to visit them for a service. Jehovah Witnesses refer to themselves as Christians, although many other Christian groups tried to exterminate their existence many times since being established; in fact, the religion was banned in Canada in 1940 and they also fought many court battles in the United States but won most of these on the grounds of freedom of religion. Many feel that Jehovah Witnesses are a cult, whether this is because of certain things they believe or are aware of or if it is the fact that Jehovah Witnesses, comparatively speaking, are a pretty new religion and many “new” religions receive this title. After conducting my interview at a local Kingdom Hall, I found many similarities and differences to not only my view of Christianity and the bible but also to another religion we studied in this class: The Muslim Religion. Conservative religious believers and followers are not taught to be open-minded in most cases regarding other religions, and my actual opinions have not changed much but I have been enlightened to my ignorance of just assuming that any other religions were nothing like what I was raised in: Baptist and Nazarene based Christianity.
Name,...
By: Robyn Torgrimson
Humanities 130
June 11, 2011
Introduction to Jehovah Witnesses
Jehovah Witnesses have always been a religion that perplexed me and that is why I chose it as the religion to research for my final project. Jehovah Witnesses started out just being a Bible study group formed and led by Charles Taze Russell in the early 1870’s, who also later created the Watch Tower, which is a specific publication for Jehovah Witnesses. The religion quickly spread and later changed their name to Jehovah Witnesses to distinguish themselves from other “Christian” religions. Jehovah Witnesses are known for going door-to-door and preaching about God, end of times, loneliness and many other topics, used as a starting point of their recruitment to get people to visit them for a service. Jehovah Witnesses refer to themselves as Christians, although many other Christian groups tried to exterminate their existence many times since being established; in fact, the religion was banned in Canada in 1940 and they also fought many court battles in the United States but won most of these on the grounds of freedom of religion. Many feel that Jehovah Witnesses are a cult, whether this is because of certain things they believe or are aware of or if it is the fact that Jehovah Witnesses, comparatively speaking, are a pretty new religion and many “new” religions receive this title. After conducting my interview at a local Kingdom Hall, I found many similarities and differences to not only my view of Christianity and the bible but also to another religion we studied in this class: The Muslim Religion. Conservative religious believers and followers are not taught to be open-minded in most cases regarding other religions, and my actual opinions have not changed much but I have been enlightened to my ignorance of just assuming that any other religions were nothing like what I was raised in: Baptist and Nazarene based Christianity.
Name,...