Jehovah

Jehovah’s Witnesses is a Christian-based religious movement with nontrinitarian beliefs that can is distinctive from mainstream Christianity. The members of this movement are most popular known for spreading awareness from door-to-door, distributing evangelical literature and converting non-members to what they perceive as the truth. They perceive themselves as a universal brotherhood that believes the objective of their movement is to restore first century Christianity. The witnesses endure their lives and support their beliefs based on the early Christian Church as well as the contents of the Bible. Like many of the mainstream Christians, the witnesses rely on the words of the Bible, worship one God and trust in Jesus’ resurrection for salvation; on the contrary, some of the beliefs of Jehovah’s witnesses contradict from mainstream Christianity, mainly with the rejection of the doctrine of the Trinity and as well as Hell’s existence. There are currently about 7 million active witnesses in the world; the movement has spread to approximately 235 countries as of 2007. Witnesses believe that Jehovah is the sole true God, the inventor of all existence in the world, and the “Universal Sovereign”. Charles Taze Russell formed an independent group in 1872 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to study the Bible[1]. Russell denied the concept of eternal punishment, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit and the deity of Christ. He taught his followers that hell did not exist. In 1879, Pastor Russell launched the magazines Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. The purpose of the publication was to draw attention to God’s kingdom, which Jehovah’s Witnesses perceived to be the real government that will soon overrule earthly governments. In 1890, Poems and Hymns of the Millennial Dawn was published, which featured more than 300 hymns and poems. By 1909 the movement and works had become international, resulting in the movement of the headquarters to its current location in

Bibliography: 1. BBC. "Jehovah 's Witnesses." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2012. . 2. The English Standard Version Bible:  Containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha.  Oxford:  Oxford UP, 2009 3 4. Macklin, Ruthe, “The Inner Workings of an Ethics Committee: Latest Battle over Jehovah’s Witnesses” The Hasting Center Report, Vol 18. No.1 (1988): 15-20 5 6. Gruss, Edmond C. Jehovah 's Witnesses: Their Claims, Doctrinal Changes, and Prophetic Speculation: What Does the Record Show? Fairfax, VA: Xulon Press, 2001 7 [2] BBC. "Jehovah 's Witnesses." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2012. .