Religious Fundamentalism

Full Reports on the Bible & Theology Course - 2004

Jehovah's Witnesses

Charles Taze Russel in 1870 founded the movement Jehovah's Witnesses. It began with the name "The Bible Students' Association" in Pennsylvania, USA. It was renamed in 1879 as "Zion Watch Tower". Later, it was again renamed as "The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society". It was in 1931, 15 years after the death of its founder, that the sect adopted its present title namely "Jehovah's Witnesses".

Jehovah's Witnesses deny the divinity of both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, casting a serious doubt over the sect's very claim of being Christian. Its doctrine is similar to the doctrine of Arianism, a heresy of the 4th century. The headquarters of the group is in Brooklyn, New York.

Joseph Franklin Rutherford took over as the successor of Russel during 1916-42. He taught that the special message of the Bible was the vindication of God's name - Jehovah.; that all who worship in the name of Jehovah are true worshippers. He strongly denounced denominational churches, especially the Roman Catholic Church. During 1942-77, Nathan Homer Knorr operated as the leader of Jehovah's Witnesses. During his tenure, in 1961, the group brought about their own translation of the Bible namely "The New World Translation".

Jehovah's Witnesses are taught that Bible interpretations that differ from those of the their own version are invariably false. It is very difficult to have an open, two-way dialogue with someone who is convinced from the very beginning that only Jehovah's Witnesses can understand Scripture. Jehovah's Witnesses very often follow a literal interpretation of the Bible and this sometimes turns absurd. For example, they prohibit their members from receiving blood transfusion. They justify this by referring to Lev 17:14 and Acts 15:20, which forbid eating of blood. They assert that blood transfusion is "feeding upon blood" and is therefore an "unscriptural practice". However, it is to be noted that they do not always interpret the Bible literally; they are ready to spiritualize Scripture passages whenever such spiritualization fits into their preconceived ideas. For example, they take literally the number 144,000 mentioned in Rev 7:4, but symbolically the distribution of these 144,000 into the twelve tribes of Israel as in Rev 7:5-8.

Introduction   Biblical Fundamentalism   Challenges Today
Book of Revelation & Fundamentalism   Jehovah's Witnesses   Teachings of JWs
Pentecostal Churches   Characteristics of Pentecostals

Copyright © 2003-2005, SyroMalabar.com.  All rights reserved.