Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses: Through Personal Experience

I did not know what a Jehovah's Witness was until I met my best friend back in 2002. From the media, I sort of grasped that the mainstream viewed them as pesky and ascetic. All I really knew about them was that they walked around on Saturday mornings knocking on doors, spreading the word of Jehovah and their religion. I did not even know who Jehovah was. Was he a saint? A leader? A dictator? No, I learned that it was just another name for God.

The closer I got to my best friend, the more I learned about her religion and the more I realized that it was much different that what the media made it out to be. It is another denomination of Christianity, but a much stricter one. Religion is part of their everyday lives and mundane decisions. They read the same common Bible, yet with simpler syntax. It lets God become more understandable and close. But the Bible is not the only literature their beliefs are based on.

The Watchtower is a magazine published by Jehovah's Witnesses that they use in their preaching and what they distribute when they walk around spreading their religion to different homes. They dress up in dresses, heels, and slacks and tidily groomed when they go out on "Service". Jehovah's Witnesses have Book Study two nights out of every week, go on service on Saturday mornings, and on Sunday afternoons the get together again. Their meetings are at Kingdom Hall's, equivalent to a church or synagogue in other religions.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe in restored Christianity and deviate from mainstream Christianity and its corruption. They reject things such as the Trinity and immortality of the human soul. In the world, there are about 16 million inactive and active Jehovah's Witness preachers. The organization of their religion is as follows, with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania being the highest.

The Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses is in charge of the door-to-door preaching while the Religious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses directs the activities of those who do full-time service. Lastly, Kingdom Support Services, Inc coordinates the construction of new Kingdom Halls.

As the years passed with my best friend, some things came to the surface that I saw as strange, not necessarily in a negative tone. My best friend has never been to a birthday party. Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate their birthdays because Jesus did not do so and it was not in the Bible. I asked her, when does she get birthday presents? She answered that for good grades and good demeanor, her parents periodically gave her gifts. Along with birthdays were Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even New Years. Events such as wedding anniversaries and graduations are celebrated, though.

Another thing that struck me was when her grandfather was in the hospital and had the option of a blood transfusion, which was not actually an option, but the only method for survival. Her family turned that down. Why? I asked her one day as I looked through one of her photo albums. She told me that Jehovah's Witnesses regarded blood as sacred and not to be shared. She also told me that if this doctrine was violated, Jehovah's Witnesses could be disfellowshipped, or excommunicated.

I asked her for what else could she be disfellowshipped. She answered, for drugs, premarital sex, abortion, gambling, and homosexuality. Jehovah's Witnesses abstain from any events that may be nationalist such as voting or singing the national anthem. They belong to God's Kingdom, and not to the country in which they reside in.

Those who criticize the Jehovah's Witnesses religion for being cult-like and evil are wrong. These people do more good than the average Joe. They are actively involved in relief work and aid after natural disasters. Though they help people lives get back on track while simultaneously giving hope through their preaching, they do not go to soup kitchens or donate clothes or other things along those lines. The other day my best friend told me about how her Kingdom Hall went to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and how good it felt to help out those in need.

All religions should be equally respected, including this one. On the surface, these people may seem very ascetic or strict, but they do live in the 21^st century and they do know how to have fun. My best friend is an example of this, loyal Jehovah's Witness and an expert meringue dancer at the same time.