Jehovah's Witnesses
You may have heard them talked about, in a derogatory way most probably. They may even have visited you once or twice, but does anyone really know who 'Jehovah's Witnesses' are?
In the early 1870's an inconspicuous bible study group began in Pennsylvania, USA, now known as Jehovah's Witnesses. I was intrigued to learn that Jehovah is Gods personal name. 'Yahweh', translated as 'Jehovah' appears almost seven thousand times in the original Hebrew Scriptures, however most Bibles today substitute 'God' or 'Lord' for it. A book of the Psalms presented to all year seven students at my school contained a passage referring to 'Jehovah.' This was literally crossed out and written
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The meetings involved discussions on topics relevant to today's society. A copy of the Bible lay on each lap, constantly in use as every piece of advice and every opinion were backed up by reference to the Scriptures.
In addition what continued to surprise me were the people I had the pleasure of meeting, each showing genuine warmth to friends and strangers alike. The Jehovah's Witnesses seemed to me to be happy, something rare among the dissatisfied population in the present day.
I began by learning a number of unexpected facts, which before I had simply accepted without question, and I wondered how there could possibly be so many inaccuracies in Christianity today. Not being a particularly religious person it was purely the realization of people's propensity to accept the words of bishops, vicars, priests and popes rather than the inspired word of God, the Bible.
Much of the religion has originated from pagan festivals. Nowhere in the Bible does it give a date as to the birth of Jesus Christ. How did the Roman church fix upon the date of 25th December?
Long before the Christian era itself a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of year in honour of the Babylonian son of the queen of the heaven.
At the end of Baldwin's 1952 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, John Grimes, the young protagonist, has an epiphany or what is more commonly referred to as a visionary conversion experience, a staple of American religious life. He embraces Jesus and endures a state of ecstatic mysticism in which he experiences "his drifting soul ... anchored in the love of God" (204). John's rebirth in Christ, his being "saved," is an affirmation of one of the strongest bulwarks in the African American community during slavery, and especially since its abolition: the black church. (2) Baldwin has said that "everything in Black history comes out of the church." It is "not a redemptive force but a `bridge across troubled water,'" Kalamu
Jehovah's witnesses’ faith allows them to seek medical help; however, they do not accept blood transfusions. This belief arises from a biblical passage that states "Only flesh with its soul- its blood-you must not eat (Genesis 9:3-4), "You must not eat the blood of any sort of flesh, because the soul of every sort of flesh is its blood. I will set my face against that person who eats blood...Anyone eating it will be cut off” (Leviticus 17:10, 13-14). These passages are interpreted by Jehovah's witnesses as forbidding the transfusion of any blood products. The following presentation will address legal and ethical issues that can arise from this scenario.
Family, heritage, ethnicity, beliefs, values, knowledge, experiences, attitudes, religion, education, roles, language, and cuisine are all items encompassing culture. Culture is what influences your outlook on life itself as well as behaviors and rituals. Culture is the way different groups of people do things. While some cultures have overlapping cultural behaviors or aspects, most cultures vary significantly. Culture, for the most part, is something you are born into, your innate programming, however, it some aspects can be changed or evolved. "Only part of culture is conscious" (Spector, 2013).
Jesus Camp is a contentious documentary about the idea of Evangelical christianity itself and how it ties in with politics at the time. The basis for this film is a Evangelical camp of rare devotion in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. The pastor hosting this camp is Becky Fisher and her ministry, “Kids In Ministry International”.
Many studies about Jehovah Witnesses state that they are the strictest religion out there. They have rules that should be followed or the person ends up condemned. They do not believe in other religions whatsoever, in any shape or form. Jehovah Witnesses God’s name to them is Jehovah. The sociological concepts discussed will be social class and norms, a function and a dysfunction of Jehovah Witness religion, a symbolic ritual, and an aspect of this religion that entails conflict.
The Jehovah Witnesses beliefs contrast very heavily from that of Protestant, Catholic, along with other secs of Christianity. In this paper the start of the Religion, the differences, and founding fathers of the religion will be touched on and gone over.
The Sermon on the Mount is a sermon given by Jesus Christ found in the book of Matthew in the Holy Bible. The beginning of this sermon includes a list of blessings called the Beatitudes. Jesus uses these to explain God’s favor towards those who are striving for righteousness. For those who had come to believe and follow Jesus as the son of God, every word that he spoke in the Sermon on the Mount was intended as words of encouragement for Jesus’s disciples and were taken as such. For those who were skeptical, the crowd, that Jesus was truly the son of God, Jesus’s words took on a totally different meaning. The Beatitudes, simple words that promote the humility of man, were explicit words of encouragement for Jesus’s disciples. Yet at the same time, to the crowd listening, the Beatitudes were an implicit invitation to become men of God by believing that this man is God in the flesh, God in spirit, God almighty, God omniscient, God omnipresent, and God omnipotent.
The sermon at the mount is a collection of teachings and sayings that Jesus preaches to people at Galilee. It takes place after Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist. This is the longest teaching by Jesus in a single preaching. It is found in the New Testament in the book of Matthew. It transverses chapter five to seven of the Gospel of Matthew. The main theme of sermon of the mountain is how people should relate with other people and God. The sermon is preached at a mountain when Jesus saw the crowd and his disciples’ were following him, he sat at a level ground on the mountain and started to preach. The Preaching’s can be divided it four major parts; The Beatitudes, Lord’s Prayer and parables.
On November 18, 1978 more than nine hundred people died in one of the largest mass murder/suicides in history. The man that implemented and carried out that atrocity was James Warren Jones, otherwise known as Jim Jones, a self proclaimed Second Coming (God). His exposure to an intensely emotional Pentecostal church service influenced and shaped his future beliefs and actions. In 1960, despite his lack of theological training, Jim Jones became an ordained minister. He made racial equality one of goals. Jim Jones also used fear arousal to recruit his followers by Genocide and thermonuclear war.
The word that Jehovah spake concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet. 2 Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed; her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed. 3 For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they are fled, they are gone, both man and beast. 4 In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God. 5 They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces
While the Bible does not directly answer the question, ‘When was Jesus born?’ it does describe two events surrounding his birth that lead many to conclude that he was not born on December 25....
was owed a great sum of money by one of his servants. The king let the
Living in a country where we are entitled to freedom of religion, many of us have grown to have our own beliefs and ways of viewing religion on a whole. There are others who have been pressured by family or friends to believe in God and him alone. Sometimes with the pressure of others, we can begin to believe in something that we truly do not feel is right. In the essay “Salvation” by Langston Hughes, the main character faces a struggle of wanting to be saved by God. Does he want to be saved for his sake? Or has his salvation been influenced and forced upon by family members?
When analyzing conflicting sources on specific topics, it is important to consider the background of the author to reveal his or her motivation behind writing the piece. When writing about cults, there are inside sources (current members) and outside sources that encompass everything from ex-members to the media. Jessica Longaker, a non-affiliate of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, posted a critique of the patriarchal influence on Mormonism and how it affects the role of women in the church. Sheri L. Dew, a current member of the church that serves as the Relief Society General President, gave a speech was published on the Church’s official website. In this speech, Dew describes how Mormonism empowers women and emphasize the importance of their role. When analyzing conflicting sources, it is crucial to analyze the author’s position in order to detect motivations and bias that can influence the message that is being portrayed. In order to offset this bias and gain a complete understanding of the topic, researchers must analyze points of intersection, similarities, and differences between the two sources.
The book, connect, has largely four sections. The first section explains how important the relationship between others. In other words, in order to be connected with students, one-on-one communication is necessary in youth ministries. Also, the first chapter deals about how to balance the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. The second section deals with how to approach to students who do not know God, are not interested in God, and ever had no spiritual conversation with others. The section three talks about how to train and develop disciple students. In this section, it deals with students who have at least heard about Jesus, but not yet fully understood who God really is. These students’ spiritual levels are also diverse, but it is aim for discipleship rather than reaching out them. Lastly, the final section deals with how to have a real approach to students when it comes to one-on-one relationship. Also, it talks about how to set up some boundaries but at the same time have a close friendship with them. It includes useful information that minister might want get.