Jehovah’s Witnesses spend a substantial amount of time on Bible study and evangelizing door to door. Such doctrines distinguish Jehovah’s Witnesses from mainline Christian denominations, which hold that God is “triune” in nature. The “ Holy Spirit,” then, refers to God’s active power. Instead, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus is distinct from God – not united as one person with him. For most Christians, God is a union of three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the idea of the Trinity. Given the group’s belief in a literal thousand-year earthly reign of Christ, scholars of religion classify Jehovah’s Witnesses as a “ millennarian movement.” What are their beliefs? But they still look forward to the Golden Age that Russell and his Bible students expected. Over the years, Jehovah’s Witnesses have reinterpreted elements of this timeline and have abandoned setting specific dates for the return of Jesus Christ. Other faithful Christians would be reunited with dead loved ones and live on a renewed Earth. They also believed that after Armageddon, Jesus would rule the world from heaven with 144,000 “faithful Christians,” as specified in the Book of Revelation. Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, expected that the Battle of Armageddon would be worldwide, with Jesus leading a “heavenly army” to defeat the enemies of God. Armageddon specifically refers to Mount Megiddo in Israel, where some Christians believe the final conflict between good and evil will take place. The name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” was formally adopted in the 1930s.Įarly Jehovah’s Witnesses believed 1914 would be the beginning of the end of worldly governments, which would culminate with the Battle of Armageddon. Russell died in 1916, but his group endured and grew. This “Golden Age” would see the Earth transformed to its original purity, with a “righteous” social system that would not have poverty or inequality. Russell and his followers looked forward to Jesus Christ establishing a “millennium” or a thousand-year period of peace on Earth. These students understood “ Jehovah,” a version of the Hebrew “ Yahweh,” to be the name of God the Father himself. The group was led by Charles Taze Russell, a religious seeker from a Presbyterian background. The story of Jehovah’s Witnesses begins in the late 19th century near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a group of students studying the Bible. Georg Wendt/picture alliance via Getty Images Early history A man crosses himself outside the Jehovah’s Witnesses building in Hamburg where several people were killed during a shooting March 9, 2023.
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