What's the Difference?


04/28/2002 - Jehovah's Witness



She died on her sixth birthday from critical injuries sustained in a car accident. But she could have lived. A blood transfusion would have saved her life. But her father, a chiropractor, didn't want it. He refused to have the life-giving procedure performed on his daughter. Instead, he quoted verses from the Bible that forbid the eating of blood and said that taking blood through the veins was the same as eating it. And so she died.

Her father also doesn't believe in living wills and donating organs and receiving transplants. He doesn't vote, salute the flag, recite the pledge of allegiance, sing "The Star Spangled Banner," or serve in the armed forces because he believes all human government is evil. He doesn't celebrate Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day or anyone's birthday. He wasn't planning a birthday party for his six year-old daughter when she died. His religious convictions wouldn't allow it. In fact, the only birthday he celebrates is the birth of his religious group the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, otherwise known as the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Who are the Jehovah's Witnesses and why do they believe these things? Today we continue our series called What's the Difference? with a look at Jehovah's Witness. Last week, we looked at Mormonism and concluded it fit the definition of a cult, even though Mormons would deny it. We talked about the difference between a religion and a cult. Religions, like the ones we've studied, make no claim to be Christian. Cults on the other hand do. They parade under the banner of Christianity and refer to God, Jesus and the Bible, yet they deny the central truth claims of the Christian faith.

There are three marks to every cult. They all have another leader besides Jesus. For Mormons its Joseph Smith, for Jehovah Witnesses its Charles Taze Russell and for Christian Science, the group we'll look at next week, its Mary Baker Eddy. Jesus is just not enough. They all have another authority besides the Bible. For Mormons it's The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, for Jehovah's Witnesses it's their own unique translation of the Bible called The New World Translation as well as Watch Tower materials, and for Christian Science it's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. The Bible is just not enough. And third, they all deny the deity of Jesus Christ. Don't be fooled. They may call Jesus god, or a god, or even the Son of God as in an offspring of God the Father. But he's not the Son of God as in the second person of the eternal Trinity, which is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Once again, with cults as with the major world religions, Jesus is the issue.

Now, like every cult, Jehovah's Witness has a founder and his name is Charles Taze Russell. Charles Russell was born in 1852 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh. He was raised a Presbyterian and worked for a time as a partner in his father's clothing store. Although things went well for him in business, spiritually he was very troubled. As a boy he had developed a tremendous fear of hell. It's been said that he often went around writing on sidewalks warning people about hell fire.

When he was seventeen he got into a long discussion with a person who didn't believe in the existence of hell and Charles wound up convinced that that person was right. Later he would write, "A God that would use his power to create human beings whom he foreknew and predestinated should be eternally tormented, could be neither wise, just nor loving. His standard would be lower than that of many men."

When he was eighteen he wandered into a church where they were discussing the second coming of Jesus Christ and that really fired Charles up. In fact, he got so interested in the return of Christ that he started a Bible study with a number of other young men determined to figure out when Jesus was coming back.

Two years later, in 1872, at the age of twenty, he felt like he had figured out the date of Christ's return and wrote a pamphlet called The Object and Manner of Our Lord's Return. The pamphlet was a complex collection of unrelated Scriptures with an intricate method of computing time and concluded that Jesus Christ would return in the fall of 1874. When he didn't show up, Russell admitted he made a mistake and was off by forty years changing the date to 1914.

But to avoid embarrassment, he also said that Jesus' did actually return in 1874, but his return was spiritual and invisible. In other words, Christ came back but nobody saw him. That's tough to verify. His physical return, he said, would come in 1914.

Somehow he got away with it and in 1879 began to publish a magazine called Zion's Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence. The first issue had a printing of 6,000 copies. By 1880, there were thirty new congregations meeting in seven states and in 1884 the movement was officially chartered. It was first known as the Zion Watchtower Tract Society and then in 1931 became known as Jehovah's Witnesses a name coming from Isaiah 43:10, "You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen."

Russell married Maria Frances Ackley in 1879 and she became the secretary-treasurer of the society and the associate editor of the Watchtower magazine, which eventually moved its operations to Brooklyn, New York. C. T. Russell was a master at promoting himself. During the first decade of the 20th century he began publishing his sermons in newspapers all over the country. At one point his sermons could be found in 2,000 newspapers reaching fifteen million people, prompting the claim that he had greater newspaper circulation than those of any other living man and a greater combined circulation than all the priests and preachers in North America put together. He was way ahead of his time in 1914 when he started using motion pictures to communicate his message.

But while some things were growing, other things were falling apart. As the years went by, Russell's wife got more and more upset with the way her husband treated her articles. It got so bad that she eventually left the work and her husband and sued for divorce on the grounds of "his conceit, egotism, domination, and improper conduct to other women."

Russell had other troubles as well. About that same time, a Canadian pastor, Rev. J. J. Ross, denounced him in a pamphlet to which he took offense and sued Ross. But on the witness stand Russell got caught making statements that were just not true. Under oath he was asked whether he knew Greek, the original language of the New Testament. He claimed that he did, but when he was asked to read some Greek letters, he admitted that he didn't. He also claimed to be an ordained minister, but then confessed that he had never been ordained by anyone.

When 1914 came and went and Jesus didn't return, again Russell was forced to adjust his calculations, setting the date at 1918. Since then it's been moved to 1920, 1925, 1941, and 1975. After that they finally stopped setting dates. Russell died in a train car in Texas on October 31, 1916, at the age of 64, while he was crisscrossing the country on a preaching tour.

His successor was an eccentric, dynamic man named Joseph Franklin Rutherford. Rutherford was a lawyer and went by the nickname "Judge." Under his leadership the organization grew by leaps and bounds. He's the one who taught that all human government was of the devil and as you can imagine that caused problems. In 1918, he was arrested along with eight other leaders for "conspiring to cause insubordination and refusal of duty in the US military and naval forces." They were all found guilty and sentenced to twenty years in prison, but were later released after petitions were sent to the government by the Witnesses.

The trial of Rutherford didn't discourage Witnesses from dodging military service. In World War II, 3,500 of them refused to serve their country. Rutherford died in January 1942 and was followed by Nathan Homer Knorr who was elected as the society's third president. Knorr didn't like publicity and stayed out of the newspapers, but under his leadership he developed training programs that further grew movement and also published a new translation of the Bible that fit the doctrines of the society called, The New World Translation of the Christian Scriptures. Since it's publication in 1950, however, the translation has been widely criticized because the translators chose to remain anonymous revealing no credentials or manuscript sources.

Knorr died in 1977 and was followed by Frederick Franz who served until 1992. Today the Jehovah's Witnesses number more than six million members, five million who live outside the United States in over 230 different lands all under the leadership of a governing body based at the world headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. Next to Mormonism it is the second largest "made in America" religious sect.

So that's the history of the movement. Now let's take a look at what Jehovah's Witnesses believe and see what's the difference.

First, they believe in Jehovah, but not in the Trinity. Jehovah is their name for God. It's a thoroughly biblical name based on the Hebrew word Yahweh which can also be translated "Lord." Last summer we did a whole series on the names of God and discovered that God has many names. But his two primary names are Elohim and Jehovah. He uses Elohim when he wants to describe his power and might and he uses Jehovah when he wants to emphasis his love and his intimacy with us.

But the problem is their Jehovah is not a Triune God. He doesn't exist in three persons as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Instead, they rob the Holy Spirit of a personality and call him an invisible force and they strip Jesus of his deity.

Second, they believe Jesus is a god, but not the God. Jesus is a significant figure for Jehovah's Witnesses. Once a year they have a memorial service to honor his death known as the "Anniversary Supper." But only certain ones can partake of the bread and the wine. They don't celebrate Easter because they don't believe in his bodily resurrection, but they have no explanation for the empty tomb.

According to Witnesses, Jesus was the first thing that Jehovah created. Jehovah made the universe through him. Before Jesus lived on earth they claim he existed as Michael the archangel. He lived a perfect life, died on a stake (not a cross), was resurrected as a spirit, though his body was destroyed and he is coming again. In fact, throughout their history Jehovah's Witnesses have been obsessed with the return of Jesus Christ, eight different times they have set dates as early as 1874 and as late as 1975. That's what fired up C. T. Russell, the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The most recent date of 1975 was set on the basis of their belief that human history will last 6,000 years. And by their calculations Adam was created in 4026 B.C. (4026 + 1974 = 6,000). When Jesus didn't come that year their President, Fredrick Franz, had an explanation ready to go. He said that the 6,000 year chronology really should start with Eve's creation, not Adam's. The problem is that no one knows how long Eve was created after Adam. That information hasn't been revealed yet to witness leaders.

Talking to Jehovah's Witnesses about Jesus can be very difficult. They'll tell you that Jesus is a god, but not the God. John 1:1 reads, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But they've changed it in their New World Translation to read, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. But that's not the way the verse appears in the original Greek language. They added the article to change it.

Jesus, of course, is the Word that John's referring to as he says later in John 1:14, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Of course there are many other places in the Bible where Jesus is clearly referred to as God. Titus 2:13 for instance, We wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Third, they believe in salvation by works, not by grace through faith in Jesus. The Watchtower Society makes no apologies that they are the only true, legitimate, God honoring religious organization on the planet. And if you're not part of their group when Jesus comes you'll face eternal annihilation. There is no hell, just complete extermination of the body and soul of all those who aren't Witnesses.

If you want to go to heaven some day you need to prove yourself worthy of Jehovah by obeying all of God's laws, beginning with baptism. You need to pledge your absolute allegiance to the Watchtower Society and it's programs of door-to-door witnessing, literature distribution and Kingdom Hall meetings. You need to devote ten hours a month to door-to-door evangelism. And then if you've proved yourself worthy you'll survive Armageddon the climactic battle that will end all human history and result in the annihilation of everyone who is not a faithful Jehovah's Witness.

But all Witnesses won't end up in heaven, only the 144,000 "anointed ones." That number comes from Revelation 7:4-8 and they believe it refers to the special leaders God has chosen. You can't get into that group because it's already filled up. But all the rest of the faithful, called Jonadabs or "other sheep," will experience paradise on a perfect earth, which will last for all eternity.

You got to understand that there is enormous pressure on a Jehovah's Witness. They have no assurance of eternal life. Many of them live with nagging uncertainty, fear and anxiety. If you woke up this morning and really believed that Armageddon could happen today and you have no way of knowing whether you'd survive unless you knocked on enough doors and passed out enough literature you'd be scared too. Any loss of zeal, any lapse in loyalty, any missed Kingdom Hall meetings will jeopardize your eternal destiny. Have I done enough, am I good enough, am I worthy enough are all questions that plague the minds of Witnesses.

And if you leave the Society you're shunned, disfellowshipped and considered dead. There is no honorable way out. Michael Jackson the most high profile Jehovah's Witness in our country recently left the sect and now must be shunned by his Witness friends and family, including his mother and two of his sisters.

Witnesses know nothing of God's amazing grace. They're trapped in a performance-based system that always results in a never enough, never enough, never enough deal. Which explains their incredible zeal, which is driven by fear.

How Witnesses need to hear the words of Jesus who said in Matthew 11:28, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

How they need to experience the words of the apostle Paul, who himself was once on the performance track to God, when he writes in Ephesians 2:8-9, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one can boast.

How they need to know the truth of the apostle John who wrote in 1 John 5:13, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

We can know we have eternal life, not because we're worthy. We're not worthy. We're unworthy sinners. But Jesus is worthy. He did the hard work for us by dying in our place on the cross and offers forgiveness and life to all who believe. Jesus said in John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Have you believed in him? Have you received that eternal life? No strings attached. No fear of death or hell or judgment for those who believe in Jesus. That's his promise.

Jehovah's Witnesses are wonderful people. They're kind and loving and zealous for their beliefs. But they're in bondage and need to be set free. They need to know that they're loved and accepted just they way they are. They are worthy enough for Jesus to give his life for them and they can have that eternal life that they want so desperately simply by believing in Him.