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Many studies about Jehovah Witnesses state that they are the strictest religion out there. They have rules that should be followed or the person ends up condemned. They do not believe in other religions whatsoever, in any shape or form. Jehovah Witnesses God’s name to them is Jehovah. The sociological concepts discussed will be social class and norms, a function and a dysfunction of Jehovah Witness religion, a symbolic ritual, and an aspect of this religion that entails conflict.
According to dictionary.com (n.d.), Jehovah witnesses are a part of a Christian Sect. Henslin (2012) states that a sect is like a cult, but larger than the cult. Dictionary.com (n.d) states that Jehovah Witnesses were founded in the late nineteenth century, which believes in the imminent destruction of the world’s wickedness and the establishment of a theocracy under God’s rule. Henslin (2012) says that there are one thousand, six hundred members in the United States; this is point seven percent of United States adults. Jehovah witnesses expect a millennium to begin in a couple of years (dictionary.com, n.d.). Jehovah is the only God of Jehovah Witnesses. According to dictionary.com (n.d), Jehovah Witnesses deny the Trinity and consider Jesus to be the greatest of the witnesses of Jehovah.
A sociological concept for Jehovah Witnesses is social class. The social class most Jehovah Witnesses is in is the working class. In most religions, Jehovah Witnesses make the least family incomes annually. The average family income for Jehovah Witnesses is twenty-seven thousand dollars a year (Henslin, 2013). Jehovah Witnesses have the lowest amount of college degrees in their group. The percent of Jehovah Witnesses with college degrees is only seven per...
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...ah witnesses. (n.d.). Dictionary.com. Retrieved November 29, 2013, from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jehovah+witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses. (n.d.). Ethics and Values of Jehovah's Witnesses. Retrieved
November 30, 2013, from http://www.religionfacts.com/jehovahs_witnesses/ethics.htm
Jehovah's Witness. (n.d.). The Free Dictionary. Retrieved November 30, 2013, from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Jehovah's+Witness
Library. (n.d.). Rituals and Worship. Retrieved November 28, 2013, from http://www.patheos.com/Library/Jehovahs-Witnesses/Ritual-Worship-Devotion- Symbolism
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Jehovah’s Witness started as a bible study movement in 1870 by Charles Taze Russell. In 1879, Russell started a magazine called Zion Watchtower and the organization became the Zion’s Watchtower Track Society in 1884, and in 1908 Russell moved the headquarters to Brooklyn, New York where the organization has been based ever since. After Russell’s death in 1916, the organization was lead by a man called Franklin Rutherford. Rutherford led the organization very successfully and in 1931 the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” were adopted. Rutherford wrote over hundred books and fundamentally shaping group’s theology. The Jehovah’s Witness publishes magazines “Watchtower” and “Awake” which circulates about twenty seven million and thirty two million copies respectively nowadays. And because Jehovah’s Witness do not have professional clergy, the Watchtower magazine also functions as means of distributing its doctrine and practice to faithful worldwide.
Religions are broad in their scope of history, beliefs, and rituals, using many systems to support their individual ideologies. Rituals, such as baptism within Christianity and Judaism, are markers for the distinct values and meanings that are associated with specific doctrines, and can be viewed and interpreted in several different ways. Theorists often view religion with different outlooks, classifying the institution as having a social background or a cultural emphasis, such as what Clifford Geertz defined. Geertz focused on the importance of symbols in religion, their cultural perceptions, the meanings that are attributed to the act, and how it relates to the the society’s value systems. By applying his theory about religion as a culture to the baptismal ceremonies in Judaic and Christian religions, the ritual can be viewed as an important cultural symbol, signs of various cultural views, and as a reinforcement of an ethos.
Molloy, Michael. Experiencing the World's Religions. 5th Edition. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2010. 320-322. Print.
The Baha’i Faith is the newest of the Abrahamic monotheistic faiths. In Baha’i Faith, there is one and only one God, meaning there is no Trinity. God is the one that created the world and everything that is on it. God is too great and subtle for human beings; therefore humans cannot capture a clear picture or have a full understand of God. One cannot see God at all because God does not have a body nor does he take shape in human flesh. One can learn about God through prayer, meditation, and study. Baha’is believes that God chose different prophets throughout history to display his will to the world. That being said, Prophets like Moses, Muhammad, Krishna, Jesus, Abraham, Buddha, and many others are considered to be messengers of that one God. Baha’u’llah is considered a prophet of god for this age. You may ask, what about individuals of different religions who pray to God by different names? Baha’is would say that even though they using different names they are still praying to the same God.
Contrary to popular belief, Jehovah Witnesses are not a cult. They are merely an organization who have made a dedication to God and whose primary interest is in other people's welfare. They believe the Bible. to be the Word of God, and that it also is astonishingly historically. accurate.
First, let’s take a look at a few beliefs of a Jehovah’s Witness. A Jehovah’s Witness does not believe that Jesus is Jehovah God. He or she believes that Jesus was the first thing that Jehovah created (Martin). A Jehovah’s Witness believes that Jesus is “the archangel Michael”, who was Satan’s brother (Lewis). He or she also does not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus- he or she believes He was “raised from the dead, not with a physical body, but as a mighty Spirit creature” (Martin). However, if Jehovah God had created Jesus first, and Jesus, or in the Jehovah’s Witnesses eye- Michael, created all other things, it would make Jesus Satan’s father, not Satan’s brother. (Defending) All these beliefs are very different from what Christian’s believe. When witnessing to a Jehovah’s Witness, it is important for Christians to bold, but not offensive, so we may stil...
Church Of God I. ORIGIN Most of the Pentecostal churches which bear the name "Church of God" can be traced to a holiness revival in the mountains of northwest Georgia and eastern Tennessee. In 1884, R.G. Spurling, a Baptist minister in Monroe County, Tennessee, began to search the Scriptures for answers to the problems of modernism, formality, and spiritual dryness. An initial meeting of concerned people was held on August 19, 1886, at the Barney Creek Meeting House to organize a new movement that would preach primitive church holiness and provide for reform and revival of the churches. Christian Union was the name accepted by the first eight members enrolled that day. Spurling died within a few months and was succeeded in leadership by his son, R.G. Spurling, Jr.
Many of your officials my argue that we are extremists, but that term is very misapplied. All around the world, Jehovah’s Witnesses are known for their good conduct, love for God and neighbor, and respect for our governments. The publications produced and the instructions we get from the branch are all embracing those thoughts. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
A place to which all people could live in peace and harmony while freely worshipping whomever they choose. Clearly though, America was not upholding the civil right to freedom of religion. Since the clergy especially did not appreciate the Witnesses exposing lies about their doctrines and teachings, they would raid their homes where meetings were being held and physically abuse the Witnesses. Even their Bible literature was banned or confiscated, though the amendments also grant rights to the freedom of speech and the press. When these cases were brought forth to the Supreme Court, however, they were often overturned. This article will state how the fight for religious freedom, in the United States, was won majorly through the efforts of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Also, freedom of religion leads to freedom of thought which in turn leads to freedom of conscious. This is a right granted for all religions. Specfically, As the Witnesses deeper understanding of the Bible grew they began to conscientiously refuse to engage in certain nationalistic requirements such as military service or saluting of the
For my first site visit, I went to a Kingdom Hall in Sunnyside, Queens NY with Valentina and Chelsea. Some of Valentina’s distant relatives are Jehovah’s Witnesses and we went with them to a meeting. The Kingdom Hall’s architecture looked simple and slightly aged on the outside. The walls were made up of a material that looked like bricks. In my town in Massachusetts, there is a Kingdom Hall that I used to drive by. Because it is in a suburb, it looked like a small, simple house. The one in Queens was bigger and fit in with city architecture. Once inside, I noticed that the Hall looked like a functional meeting place. That explained why the Jehovah’s Witness services are called “meetings”. There were no religious statues, paintings, or symbols throughout the Hall. The members were conservatively dressed, but were not extremely formal. Women are not supposed to wear pants to the meetings, instead they are supposed to wear skirts. Everything is moderate including any makeup. No one looked glamorous or extravagant at the Kingdom Hall, because they believe in practicality. ...
Jehovah’s witnesses claim to have the only true religion on earth; because they said that Jesus Christ did not agree with the idea of having many religions, all-leading to salvation. They believe that the father is almighty (all-powerful), and that Jesus was his only direct creation. For them God’s personal name is Jehovah and should be addressed by that name. They base their beliefs only on the text of the Bible and th...
If your thinking and organizations thinking is different, you are required to abandon your thought. The Jehovah’s Witness doctrine is the based on the fact that Jesus is not God. So by disqualifying this main point, they will lose theological ground in their term. We will show you one small video clip which gives ground for seeding the true gospel to Jehovah’s Witnesses visiting you.... ...
Disciples of Christ A disciple is someone who is a follower of Jesus Christ. We are all
Kaduna: Baraka Press, 2004. Magesa, Laurenti. A. African Religion: The Moral Tradition of Abundant Life. Nairobi: Pauline Pub., Africa, 1998. Mbiti, John S. Introduction to African Religion.