Jehovah's Witnesses

Okay, so it's a little rambling, but this is what I managed to get out of her.

Of note, though, is that she included contact info for the main location for the info, so getting ahold of them may be your best bet.

Sorry if this isn't really helpful.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are people who study the bible diligently and who are generally concerned about their neighbor’s spiritual wellbeing. We take time out from our secular activities to bring about a messianic message of peace and how one day Jehovah God will restore this earth back to its original paradise state, once inhabited by Adam and Eve. We believe what is stated at (2 Timothy 3:16) that all scriptures are beneficial for teaching, reproving, and setting matters straight. We believe that Jesus Christ is Jehovah God’s only begotten son and was created by God and is subordinate to him. We believe that Jehovah will rule over the earth with his son Jesus Christ. We believe as it is brought out in (1st Corinthians 6:9-11) that keeping separate from the world means avoiding immoral conduct that is common today including lying, stealing, homosexuality, blood transfusions, idolatry, and other things condemned in the bible, we maintain a neutral position toward the political affairs of the
nations and we also abstain from premarital relations before marriage as stated in (Hebrews 13:4) about letting marriage be honorable among all. (1st Corinthians 7:2)

Who is Jehovah God? Many ask, in (Psalms 83:18) it brings out that Jehovah alone is the most high over all the earth and he is the creator and sovereign of the universe. His name means “He causes to become” in other words Jehovah causes himself to become Creator, Judge, Savior, and Sustainer of life in order to fulfill his promises. Jehovah’s qualities are mercy, slow to anger, gracious, and abundant in loving kindness. In his due time he will correct the injustice that is all around us.

As a Jehovah’s Witness I feel that I have personally benefited from learning about Jehovah by the wholesome good association with the brothers and sisters from the organization, having abstained from immoral conduct, having a spiritual relationship with Jehovah and being able to share this information with you and others I have met.

Although it is impossible to cover all the beliefs about Jehovah’s Witnesses here, we invite all who are interested to obtain further information at:

Watchtower, Bible, and Tract Society
25 Columbia Heights
Brooklyn, New York
11201-2483

Huh. Reads like an essay or something.

2007: Dance of Ashes

Actually, that does help! Thank you so much.

Ech, this is going to prove difficult for me one way or another... My character needs to be faithful but give into temptation. I suppose everyone has faults? I'll just have to make her exceptionally weak in that area, hah. But thank you very much!

If anyone else has any information, I would greatly appreciate it. Are there any aspects of the faith that are practiced daily? Do they have any special way of praying, eg: praying in the morning, and night, at meals, certain words/phrases that they use when praying? Anything and everything that would make my character a more realistic Jehovah's Witness (rather than me just guessing!) would be great.

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Moderator at The Young Writer's Society.

My NaNoWriMo LJ!

Oh, I can answer any question you want about Jehovah's Witnesses, seeing that my mother is one and I have many friends who are. There really isn't anything outward that is practiced daily; Jehovah's Witnesses are supposed to pray incessantly, as 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, which is to maintain a a personal relationship with him (Jehovah, as it is God's name, mentioned above). They normally pray before meals, in restaurants quietly to themselves. To be honest, though, most of them are very easygoing, peaceful people. Note that they are told to stay away form watching R rated movies, swearing, reading/watching anything having to do with spiritism, degrading music, pornography, celebrating any holidays (anniversaries and weddings aside, which are more of celebrations). Some of my really good friends have a psycho-billy band, and you could never guess that they were Witnesses!

First off, they use a translation of the Bible, not a version. It's called the "New World Translation," and is basically a King James, only easier to read. My mom knows Witnesses who used to use the King James and New Jerusalem before the New World Translation; nothing different is said in either of them, just the wording. They do not believe that Jehovah, Jesus, and the holy spirit are a Trinity, but rather, Jesus is God's son, Jehovah is Almighty God, and the Holy Spirit is his active force. They also do not believe in hellfire or the majority of humans going to heaven. They believe, as stated in Revelation 7:4, that a literal 144,000 humans from after Jesus died were chosen to be resurrected to a heavenly spirit life, to rule as "kings and priests." They believe that after Armageddon, the remaining humans will live on Earth forever, and there will be a mass resurrection of those both the "righteous and unrighteous" (Acts 24:15), but not the wicked, and that there is no immortal soul: the human is considered a soul and as Ecc 9:5 says, "For the living are conscious that they will die, but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all." They also do not use crosses or symbols in worship, as they believe that is idolatry. They do not approve of homosexuality, which is something I have a personal problem in dealing with.

Also, there are a few things to keep in mind. There are five meetings Jehovah's Witnesses attend weekly. The ones my mother goes to are on Sunday morning for two hours (10:00-12:00, times change depending on the size and number of book studies in a single "Kingdom Hall," which is the title for their churches), one on Tuesday night (from 7:30-9:15) and one on Thursday night (from 7:30-8:30). The Thursday night meeting is a smaller group, normally at a household of a fellow Jehovah's Witness, where they discuss publications Jehovah's Witnesses have published (all based on the Bible, might I add. They're called "Bible study aides"). They don't approve of passing a money plate around, everything is free of charge, although they accept donations and turn them in to the Branch when they receive any.

There are "unbaptized publishers" and "baptized publishers," which "publisher" just means that when they go out preaching from door to door (and perhaps your door!) they are counting their time and sending it in to the "Branch" in New York (there are many branches around the world. The one in the United States is in Brooklyn). There is no money gained, it is merely all voluntary. Counting time is for stats and personal time spent serving Jehovah. It's not shared with others personally or publicly. There are "auxiliary pioneers," and "regular pioneers" who have a minimum of 50 and 70 hours, respectively, that they have vowed to turn in monthly. A normal publisher doesn't have a minimum/maximum. If your character is a baptized Jehovah's Witness, then giving into temptation is a huge deal. If it's something serious, such as "fornication" (sex out of wedlock), murder, etc., (and is not repentant) she can be disfellowshipped from Jehovah's Witnesses. The communication between other JWs, even her family, would be severely limited. If she's an unbaptized publisher, this merely means that they are making steps to getting baptized, or giving their life to God, to serve him whole souled. And if she did such a thing and in that state, she can be merely taken off the ranks as a publisher. Either way, little to no communication occurs when this happens.

Wow... that was a lot. Any more questions, you can PM or ask here. Hope I helped.

Art | Blog

Oh, also. Their official website is

http://www.watchtower.org Notice that is it NOT .com. watchtower.com is an "apostate" website and actually says things that Witnesses do not believe.

Art | Blog

Interestingly, at least of October 4 2007 at 13:40 CDT, www.watchtower.com redirects to the .org site. So does www.watchtower.net.

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Uncle Cosmo, why do they call this a word processor?
It's simple, Skyler. You've seen what food processors do to food, right?

hi! um, if you'd like, feel free to contact me while you're in the course of writing. i'm a JW and i'd love to give you any info you need on the faith of JWs and all. and yes, you're right that some people are 'weak' when it comes to premarital sex. my sister, brother and i were all raised as JWs, but my sister really didn't believe as strong as say... my brother. so, you've got this continuum---my sister, who lived with her boyfriend and got pregnant, but still wants to become a JW; me, who is still having issues with the whole concept and trying very very very hard not to give in (but it's very very very hard not to); and my brother, who's about as virtuous as they come, despite him being the oldest of us all.

so. yeah. feel free to contact me. i'll answer private messages here, emails to ambrosia18 at gmail dot com, or IMs at any of the following screennames:
riyoamaya at aim
morggiefroggie at yim
my email addy at msn or on googletalk

yeah. easily contactable.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2003: A Search for Truth (fail)
2004: Phoenix Rising (fail)
2005: life @ 23, The Longest Day (fail, fail)
2006: The Round Table (fail)
2007: sanpit (hopeful)

Really? Fascinating! For a while in the past it wasn't like that. Thanks for clearing that up!

Art | Blog

Wow, that was a lot of helpful information! Thank you very much, everyone.

This is really going to be great to try and put my character together, I hope I portray her accurately!

One thing I did think of though (in relation to premarital sex) I did have a question on. My story is written during WWII, and the character is in a concentration camp. I know that the Jewish women (I have no evidence on whether they did this with the JWs as well, but I can only guess that they did) were "examined" by the Nazi doctors, and as a result many of them had lost their virginity. (examination is the best word I could think of ><) Since they would already feel they had lost their virginity, against their will, would premarital sex still be as horrible a sin? I can only assume so, but I thought it would still be something I would look into.

Again, thank you!

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Moderator at The Young Writer's Society.

My NaNoWriMo LJ!

Well, I'm guessing the "examination" would be considered rape, and there is no 'sin' in being a victim of rape (unless you don't try to reject the person or, in the case of the Nazis, too afraid to do anything about it, but mentally do not want it). But there would be no justification to later have premarital sex just because she had lost their virginity. Your story seems terribly sad, however :(

Art | Blog

Thanks for the reply! I didn't think so, I thought I would look into. Actually, it wasn't rape, it's just hard to explain? It really was an examination, but they did a lot of, ah, finger poking, I suppose you could say?

It is going to be terribly sad... I suppose that is what I get for writing this kind of story though, hm? X_X

By the way, I really like your novel banner-thing! hah, I looked at it for a moment and saw it cross out the "pr" in "princest" and it took me a minute, because obviously I assume it says "princess" so I laughed pretty hard when it occurred to me it was saying, "incest" I'd love to hear what your story is about, hahah.

--------------------------
Moderator at The Young Writer's Society.

My NaNoWriMo LJ!

Let's not forget that they shun anyone that does not agree with them. You may be able to go anywhere and 'get assistance' from a Kingdom Hall, but you can all be shun and disowned by them as well. So they are as mean as they are kind if you believe in Christianity.

Me, I have a strong dislike for most organized versions of religion because they all seem to preach one thing but do another. Go figure.

Okay, so I've had two very close Jehovah's Witness friends and my brother dated a Jehovah's Witness (so people always joked, since we're Mormon, that they were the "clashingest," "go-get-um-est" couple out there).

Basically what I gleaned that stuck out, was that they have no political affiliations or affinities (and they didn't say the pledge of allegiance) and that they didn't celebrate holidays and that kind of stuff. They were all very nice, and though I didn't believe in their religion, you could tell they were all highly spiritual. Since Mormons believe premarital sex to be absolutely out of the question as well, my brother and his girlfriend never really discussed it, because they both assumed it to be just not an issue between the two of them. So can't really help you there.

Nano 2005: Legend of Jael (Won)
Nano 2006: Diary in the Attic (Won)
Nano 2007: Reel Smuggling (Working Title, will not break the streak)

Okay, so I've had two very close Jehovah's Witness friends and my brother dated a Jehovah's Witness (so people always joked, since we're Mormon, that they were the "clashingest," "go-get-um-est" couple out there).

Basically what I gleaned that stuck out, was that they have no political affiliations or affinities (and they didn't say the pledge of allegiance) and that they didn't celebrate holidays and that kind of stuff. They were all very nice, and though I didn't believe in their religion, you could tell they were all highly spiritual. Since Mormons believe premarital sex to be absolutely out of the question as well, my brother and his girlfriend never really discussed it, because they both assumed it to be just not an issue between the two of them. So can't really help you there.

Nano 2005: Legend of Jael (Won)
Nano 2006: Diary in the Attic (Won)
Nano 2007: Reel Smuggling (Working Title, will not break the streak)

I'm not a Jehovah's Witness, but I do know one thing:

They do have a translation of the Bible. But it is not the same. Much of the wording is different, and they believe things that are not in the Bible.

They also don't celebrate any kind of holiday, including birthdays,

That's about all I know.

WARNING--KELA IS NOTED FOR BEING VERY SARCASTIC!

My uncle and cousins who were JW did not celebrate holidays or birthdays. My uncle was kicked out of his church for adultry. Also, I've met JWs who said they did not vote b/c they believed that was interfering with God's plan.

jehovah's witnesses take the commandment against ingesting blood very seriously - to the point where they will not accept blood transfusions. this can lead to a lot of excitement surrounding medical treatment, and often gets them confused with christian scientists. i seem to remember that they also don't believe in hell as a place of eternal torment - at least, i think the pamphlet on that topic that i found in a hedge (no, really! clearly god is an eddie izzard fan, because i literally found it in a hedge) was marked watchtower. and that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge on the subject.

Most major religions have an official website. I suggest you check that out or look it up in Wikipedia. Sorry, I don't know a lot about the Jehovah's Witness religion personally. Now, If you were to ask me about Christianity, I'd be more than happy to share a lot about that ;-)

Good luck with your novel!

Wow, I would really love to read this when you are done!

I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and while i do not claim to be one ((i would not want what I do to reflect upon the name of Jehovah's Witness)) i still believe everything I was taught and eventually would like to return to it.

I have had premarital sex, and although now I'm married ((don't think I'm an old biddy, I'm only 23!)), everytime I had sex I would always think about how bad it was what I was doing. Although I seem to be able to ignore my conscience very well, it still niggled at me. That kinda of put a dampener on sex for me! Now I'm married it's not so bad!

Anyway, my Opa ((my famiyl is Dutch)) was in a concentration camp during the war, and although he has now died I have heard some horrible things about what he went through. I'm sorry if i can't help more with yoru story about a female's perspective. You should try and find the Jehovah's Witness video called "Purple Triangles". It's a documentary about one family's struggle in a concentration camp, really full on so only watch it if you are ready for that kind of thing ((Which I assume you are since you are writing about it))

My Opa's father sold him out to the nazi's when my Opa was a teenager, and because he was a Witness. His mother hid him in an overturned boat near the river and pretended she was washing her knickers when the gestapo came. They went away but they eventually got him and threw him in prison. That part of my family's history has always been very hush hush and like a skeleton in a closet.

My mother wanted to write a book about his experiences, but he got dementia and it was really scary watching him in the nursing home, he thought he was still in the concentration camp. I hated it. The horrible thing is, a man who was in the same ward as him used to be a german policeman.

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NaNo07:: Marchen ((failed!))
Screnzy08:: Skating on Thin Ice ((lol fail))

Attacks of Amnesia:: 1
Secret Rendezvous between the Psycho Ex-Wife + The Gardener:: 1
Illegitimate/Unaccepted Children:: 3
Sabotage

This is a late response so may not be too helpful other than allowing me to put some personal experience in black and white.

The Witnesses - their tenets, their dogma and their baptismal requirements - are about as orthodox as any I've ever lived or investigated.

Pre-marital sex is clearly forbidden, as is extra-marital sex; both are likely to be dealt with by disfellowshipping of the Witness(es) involved, save the cases where the elder body feel there is proper remorse and no pattern of habit.

The Witnesses of the second World War were a different group - there were many beliefs and customs that governed the fellowship then that have changed significantly since then. Nevertheless, women were not and are not allowed to 'teach' in the congregations and are subservient to the men, who are the head of their own households.

As to camp survivor losing her virginity through forcible 'medical examination,' from all reports by the Witnesses both in their literature and oral history, a woman's integrity in such a case would be spiritual, in that she didn't consent.

Divorce among 'active' Witnesses is a whole other topic ...

There are some things for which I am grateful from my experience with the Witnesses. For the most part, though, I am still working to undo a lot of wholesale (mis)belief and to heal myself and my family. I have had moments since "leaving the truth" as it's termed by Witnesses where I've been as intolerant with them at my door as I was of individuals who were 'householders' when I came calling. I work hard to be respectful - and to recognize that we have the freedom - and the right to freedom - to choose our beliefs, our faiths and the demonstration of such. Sometimes it's a very fine line for me, though, a very fine line.

I see that you reached your 50,000. Congratulations!

DTW