Jehovah's Witness

Many of us are familiar with Jehovah's witnesses are a group of canvassers handing out religious literatures. The are professing to be the true witnesses of God. Jehovah is one of the biblical names for God and they are witnessing to mankind about God, hence the name. They are no different for other evangelical groups that believe Jesus was born of a virgin mother, they believe in the teachings of the bible, and they disagree with homosexuality, abortion, divorce and premarital sex. They believe satan to be an immense influence on the world and also on the monotheism of Jehovah being the Supreme Being, that the Holy Spirit is a separate entity and an energy force.

One popular act of the Jehovah's witness is they refrain from all blood products. Refusing medical treatment that includes receiving or giving, instead opting for non blood interaction treatments that they stand by even to death.

They would rather die than take a blood transfusion and have gone through the court system to enforced this right. Many JW will carry a signed medical directive refusing to have blood transfusion in the event of an accident.

The Church's website stated that they not have any sort of treatment involving blood, it is unacceptable and they advocated the effectiveness of non-blood therapies.

They also believe the soul does not exist after death except for those that have sinned against God and the Holy Spirit, those will be resurrected and judged by God according to their deeds. They believe only Jehovah's witnesses

who have obeyed God's word according to their beliefs will be annihilated and saved, then allow to live on Paradise Earth. Then, residing in heaven is 144,000 Jehovah's Witnesses that are born again will be allowed to enter, and

they were the only ones allowed to take communion when they were on earth. At this time 8,600 of the 144,000 members are still residing on earth.

To become a JW one has to become a dedicated follower since the belief system is so rigorous. Studying the bible and the literatures are mandatory for at least 6 month, before baptism a series of questions must be answered before a panel of elders to determine if one is ready to join the sect. One must dedicate 5 evenings per week for study and schedule a time weekly for canvassing literatures and acquiring donation to further their cause. Men are not allowed to have long hair or beards, they are considered head of the family, leader of the pack or the head knight. Women are considered second class citizens, they must dress modest, submit to their husbands and not allowed to have any leadership roll in their organization. This is a hard group to follow and not cooperating will get you dis fellowshipped and shunned by the members.

In a recent study done by http://www.carm.org/jw/mental.htm the numbers for admission to the mental institution shows or suggests that either the Jehovah's Witnesses sect tends to attract an excess of pre-psychotic individuals who may then break down, or else being a Jehovah's Witness is itself a stress which may precipitate a psychosis".

If a member has decided to leave the faith it can be a difficult task, they usually feel ostracized by friends and family that are still members. Once out, they are not sure how to cope in everyday life as before the sect controlled their experiences with simple things such as voting, birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas. They feel alienated in the everyday world and many times situations like this may lead to depression or even suicide.