The Canon · No. 088
Jehovah's Witnesses
Bible Students; the Watch Tower movement
1870s CE – present · Abrahamic · Living · Worldwide, in 240 countries
VII. THE MODERN AGE — 1800 – 1945
How many
About 8.8 million active publishers; roughly 20 million attend the annual Memorial.
Who began it
Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916), a Pittsburgh haberdasher. Reorganised decisively by Joseph Franklin Rutherford (1869–1942), who adopted the name Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931.
What it is for
To vindicate Jehovah's name and to announce his kingdom before Armageddon.
What it worships
Jehovah, one God, personal, using that name deliberately and constantly. Nontrinitarian: Jesus is God's first creation, identified with the archangel Michael, and is not to be worshipped. The holy spirit is God's active force, not a person.
What it holds
Christ began ruling invisibly from heaven in 1914. Armageddon is imminent. 144,000 anointed ones will rule with Christ in heaven; the great crowd of the faithful will live forever on a restored paradise earth. No hell — the wicked are simply annihilated. Rejection of the cross as a pagan symbol, and of Christmas, Easter and birthdays as unscriptural. Political neutrality: no voting, no military service, no saluting flags, no national anthems. Refusal of blood transfusions, based on Acts 15:29.
What it does
House-to-house preaching, the practice for which they are universally known; publishers report hours monthly. Weekly meetings at Kingdom Halls. Annual Memorial of Christ's death, at which almost no one partakes of the bread and wine, since only the anointed do. Baptism by immersion. Disfellowshipping and the shunning of former members, including by immediate family, which is the most criticised practice and the subject of several national inquiries.
After death
No immortal soul and no hell. The dead are unconscious. At the resurrection the great majority are raised to a paradise earth under Christ's thousand-year rule, with an opportunity to prove faithful; those who then rebel, and the incorrigibly wicked, are destroyed permanently. The 144,000 go to heaven. Death is thus not a moral endpoint for most people but a pause.
Its texts
The New World Translation of the Bible, produced by the movement and criticised by outside scholars particularly at John 1:1. The Watchtower and Awake!, printed in over 500 languages — among the most widely distributed periodicals in history.
Its branches
The main body under the Governing Body; various Bible Student groups that never accepted Rutherford's changes.
Of note
An unusual double legacy. Their refusal to conform produced landmark legal protections for freedom of conscience in the United States and Canada that now protect everyone. Their internal discipline has produced serious and documented harm to members who leave.
Its timeline
- 1870s CE Russell's Bible study group forms in Pennsylvania.
- 1879 CE Zion's Watch Tower begins publication.
- 1914 CE The date Russell identified for the end of the Gentile Times; the outbreak of world war is taken as confirmation of the invisible enthronement.
- 1916–17 CE Russell dies; Rutherford takes control amid a schism.
- 1931 CE The name Jehovah's Witnesses adopted.
- <strong>1933–1945 CE</strong> Persecuted under the Nazis for refusing the Hitler salute and military service. Roughly 1,500 die; they are marked in the camps with the purple triangle. They were the only group who could obtain release by signing a renunciation, and the great majority refused.
- 1940–1943 CE US Supreme Court cases on flag salute — Gobitis (1940) goes against them, and West Virginia v. Barnette (1943) reverses it, establishing that the state cannot compel expression. It is one of the most important First Amendment rulings in American history, won by an unpopular minority.
- 1975 CE Widespread expectation of the end; the failure causes substantial defections.
- 1990s–present Bans in Russia (2017), Singapore and several other states.
- 2015–present The Australian Royal Commission and other inquiries find serious failures in the handling of child sexual abuse, particularly the two-witness rule.
Sources
Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.