Essay/Term paper: An analysis of the jehovah's witnesses' religion

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Religion

An Analysis Of The Jehovah's Witnesses' Religion


When the name of Jehovah's witness arises, most of the public of
differing religions, a picture of an overly nice person or group of people all
dressed in suits and nice clothes, arrive at your door and offer a sampling of
pamphlets, (large or small). To most of the general public, the religion is a
far cry from Christianity, but this is untrue, as a visit to one of the
services that the congregation provides.
Upon arriving at the building Kingdom hall of Jehova's Witnesses,
there was nothing especially different about it except there was no cross on
the outside nor a steeple. Arriving about a half an hour early we were greeted
with a handshake and a almost too friendly smile from a member of the
congregation. As we waited for the service to begin, more and more people
started to pile into the building. Slowly conversations between members and
nonmembers, including myself. After about twenty minutes, the talking reseeded
and people started to seat themselves. The inside of the room was well lit up
with no pews, but there were many chairs connected by metal bolts on the bottom
of each chair. Amazingly though there was no cross and no altar. First the
service started with singing, as any ordinary church would. We sung out of a
book of songs that they provided for us.
After the singing there was a guest speaker from Bagley, Minnesota.
The speaker spoke to the congregation about topics in the bible, his speech
lasted about three fourths of an hour. Afterwards the priest came to the
podium and thanked the guest for coming. Then the priest leaded another song,
sung from the song book. Next the congregation headed a bible discussion from
an article from a Jehovah's Witness weekly magazine The Watch Tower.
The article had to deal with what is paramount in our lives. The
discussion lasted for another hour and a fifteen minutes, with questions at the
end of each paragraph. The different thing about the questions was that people
in the congregation actually answered some of the questions with the help of two
men that stood in the back and held microphones on sticks so that they could be
heard. After the bible discussion was over with, the service was ended in
another song from the song book.
The priest supplied me with the Watch Tower magazine that was discussed
over during the service, and some further information on the church itself.
Some of the beliefs of the church are most like that of most Christian religions
with the exceptions that they do not regard the cross as highly as most
Christians do. The Jehovah's Witness religion believes more in the guidelines
of the Bible.
One of the elder members of the Church was happy to answer some
questions that I had. He was an elderly man with a full head of white hair, and
a wide unreal smile. The members of the church were extremely friendly. However,
as I talked with him, I realized that they were not entirely tolerant to the
beliefs of others.
On the standards of beliefs on the controversial subjects today such as
abortion, same sex marriages, doctor assisted suicides, and Gay rights, they
stand on similar ground along with other Christian religions. They do not
believe in marriages of the same sex, not in abortions, nor doctor assisted
suicides, and the concept of being gay is considered blasphemous in many parts
of the bible as in Corinthians 1:8 and 1:9 so gay rights seems a mockery to the
church.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Christ/Jesus was the first divine
creation of Jehovah/God and that he died on a torcher stake as ransom for the
human race. Similar to the Christian faith, except that the emphasis on torcher
stake was unnerving.
The church views on other religions outside itself are as the an elder
member said are like misguided sheep. I was slightly disturbed by this slightly
rude and intolerant statement, but i had to respect their beliefs, so I said
nothing.
Kingdom Hall's members are concerned about the youth of today. The
youth of today as they see it are relentlessly tempted on a regular basis by
society and the press and fellow teens. Now more than ever, teens have more
pressure on their beliefs than adults.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe in most all of the bibles of today, but
stick to the traditional versions such as the King James or the King George
versions. But as for the newer bibles such as the new testament, or the man's
Bible, or the woman's bible, they consider these versions a misguided
representation of the bible.
As I see the Jehovah's witnesses religion, as friendly as they were, was
as closed minded as most other Christian religions. It had the same feel and
atmosphere of A Christian religion, but it did not have the same beauty of a
church, more like a seminar. As I went through the service, I learned that a
Jehovah's Witness is not that different in their lives or in their beliefs. I
find it hard to see why other faiths see the religion as straying from the
Christian faith, when they follow the guidelines of the Bible itself. The
reason for misunderstanding is ignorance and with knowledge that gape can be
bridged, but even with knowledge gained, sometimes acceptance of that knowledge
does not, as is all to true in religious society. Sadly there are to few
religions that accept other faiths, religions that teach tolerance, maybe the
religion is not at fault, maybe it is the people's basic stubbornness. From
what I have seen religion today is like a cola you drink, a type of pizza you
eat, a certain style of clothes you wear, rather than a way of life. From what
I have seen, a small percentage of a religions people do not follow it's way
outside of their place of worship, and outside of their homes.