Jehovah's Witness

Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a religion who, although identifying themselves as Christian, are not generally considered as Christians by mainstream Christianity because they are non-trinitarian. They number around eight million. Their headquarters are in Warwick, USA. The Jehovah's Witnesses are an international organization known for their extensive preaching and publishing activities. They are well known for their rejection of blood transfusions and their specific version of the Bible.
==History of Jehovah's Witnesses==
The Jehovah's Witnesses had their beginnings in the late 1870s when a small group under the leadership of Charles T. Russell began to question a number of accepted Christian doctrines including the Trinity and Hellfire.
==Beliefs==
The Jehovah's Witnesses teach the following as core doctrine, basing them on certain passages. Some of these interpretations, in particular, Jesus as a created being, are in direct conflict with orthodox Christianity.
* There is only one true God (Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:6; John 17:3; 1 Corinthians 8:5-6)
* God is named Jehovah (or Yahweh) (Exodus 3:15-16; Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18)
* Jesus is God's son (John 10:36; John 20:17)
* Jesus was created by God (Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14)
* The Bible is God's Word and true (2 Timothy 3:16; John 17:17)
* Christ lived a perfect life (1 Peter 2:22)
* Christ died for all mankind (Matthew 20:28; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 1 Peter 2:24)
* Christ only had to die once for all mankind (Hebrews 9:25-28)
===View of Jesus===
According to the Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus was created by God as his first act of creation and came to earth and lived a sinless life that ultimately ended in his death. His death is seen as a sacrifice for all sinful humans.
===View on blood transfusions===
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The Jehovah's Witnesses are well known for their refusal to receive blood transfusions. This is based on their interpretation on a number of passages in the Bible. These include Genesis 9:3-4, where God commanded Noah and his family to not eat blood. This command is re-iterated in Leviticus 7:26, Deuteronomy 12:16 and again in the New Testament. In a list of things that Christians were forbidden to do, since there was confusion because the Law had been abolished, the disciples said that Christians were supposed to abstain from blood (Acts 15:28-29).
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that this declaration applies to all forms of taking blood into the body because the Scripture in Acts does not say that you cannot eat blood but that you must completely abstain from blood. They claim that taking a blood transfusion would not be abstaining from blood.
==Jehovah's Witnesses today==
There are around 8,400,000 Jehovah's Witnesses today. They spend billions of hours preaching every year and hold millions of Bible studies in an effort to teach people what they believe the Bible really says. They have the most extensive publishing operations in an effort to print Bibles and Bible aids in every language to reach all people with the Gospel. Many find their international operations to be surprisingly impressive.
==External links==
* Wikipedia - Jehovah's Witnesses
* Official website - www.jw.org
* Wikipedia - New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
* New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures at jw.org
* About Jehovah's Witnesses at jw.org
* Frequently Asked Questions about Jehovah's Witnesses at jw.org
Jehovah's Witnesses