Personal Narrative: Jehovah's Witnesses

The Jehovah’s Witness religion is a well-known religion in the United States that began in the 19th century. Jehovah’s Witness is categorized under the Christian denomination; whose followers believe that others have misinterpreted the true teachings of Jesus. This religion is very heavy on the emphasis of spreading their faith around to the whole world. Around fifty years ago the Jehovah’s Witnesses numbered fewer than 100,000 members. Currently there are a million of them around the world. They don’t have churches like other religions; instead they have what they call as “Kingdom Halls.” These halls are normally rented buildings: an auditorium, a gymnasium, or a simple building. Inside they usually consist of:

To begin, I was nervous about attending a service for a faith to which I did not belong and which was not even part of

In addition, going to the baptist church made me realize that no matter what your culture is, humans all want the same things. People want a sense of meaning and purpose, and to feel inspired, hopeful, unconditionally loved, accepted, and uplifted. People want to have an understanding of who they are, and what that entails. When people are feeling scared and insecure about the present and future, they demand explanations for the unknown, or the difficult elements of their life. Furthermore, people need order, structure, and security in their lives by being told what they should think/believe, how they should behave. People also seek a sense of belonging and community. Overall,it doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish, Christian, Caucasian, or African American, at the end of the day, humans generally all want the same thing, but just have different ways of showing it or expressing it.

Church, temple, sanctuary, or the Lords’s house, these are just a few names that your average person might call the place you come to worship God, I have always called it home. The Church I have been attending, Memorial Baptist Church, which is also where I attend high school, I have been attending since I was the age of three years old. Moving to the area that my family lives in now, I do not believe is any accident. At the age of two years old, my father was stationed in Tennessee for the military. After passing away from brain cancer, my Mother moved my two older sisters and me to Killeen Texas, to be closer to her family. Memorial Baptist Church was the only church we have ever been members of since moving to Texas, it has always felt like

They had lied to me and choose to go on the first one. To make matters worse, I was going to miss my winter formal because of the retreat. To further my hurt, I found out that those “friends” had done it on purpose because they did not want to have me around with my bad background. I thought I was still a good person, just a kid who had made bad decisions. For the first time in a while, I prayed the night before we left. I prayed to just to be happy during my retreat, not the smile and laughter I put on for people, but to have that self-warming happiness. As I arrived at the church camp, I knew no one. No familiar faces but just teenagers I've never seen before. A day went by and I made a friend. Another day, a couple more. Half way through the week, it seemed that I had some sort of connection with everyone! Each person was who I wanted to evolve into. We laughed, played games, sang songs, and laughed more. The second to last day I remember vividly. We stood in line waiting for one of our Father’s from church to wash our past sins away and open the doors to heaven once again. They had given us a pamphlet with all the sins that we would say if we had done them. I took a deep breath and sat down next to him. He asked me about my sins and I began to cry telling him each one. As I was reading

It was a beautiful summer day at church. I was just 12 years old when I heard his voice. I heard him before I saw his face. This was the day that I met someone who has changed my life.

With renewed devotion to the miracle of the gospel and a desire to meet with my fellow saints, I searched for the church in the phone book. I called the bishop and organized a ride to church the following Sunday for Reggie and me. Reggie decided not to attend anymore. I waited for my ride that never came. I was unaware, but I lived in a very dangerous neighborhood. Once the person at the other end of the phone found out where I lived, it must have deterred them. It was a blessing in disguise. What I did not know was there existed another latter-day Church, The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now called the Community of Christ. I had called a splinter group that had nothing to do with the church I had joined. If someone

Born and raised in Marion, Iowa and into an evangelical church, my parents “Baby Dedicated” my life to christ. At age 5 my family moved to New Covenant Bible Church. When I was young I didn't think much of church, it was just something you did and was merely going through the motions. But when I hit middle school my parents made me go to church every Wednesday and Sunday. Key phrase, made me. At this point in my life I didn't like church, at all. As I grew older, I wanted to be at church less and less. And I dreaded going every time Sunday morning rolled around. I had the mindset that the world had more to offer me than Christ did. And so I made excuses and put up fights and soon I rarely went to church. My family went but I stayed

They practiced practical Christianity and help all night bible studies that I was required to go to every month. These people practiced dress reform, veganism and abstain from wordly entertainment. Being in that environment, surrounded by those people, I was protected. Nothing from the out side could get to me. I wasn’t allowed to use the internet freely, we had daily family worships where everyone had to learn a new verse everyday and we changed our diet and style of dress. I thought that I believed it. I thought that I was in it for the long haul. However, when I graduated High School (homeschooled 10th-12th) and went to Southern, I was exposed to everything and basically stopped doing everything that I was doing at home. I realized that I did all those things because my parents didn’t give me a choice and it was tradition. My parents we’re having a real and thriving relationship with Jesus while I was just following them. I was full of biblical information, I knew verses and theories and spirit of prophecy passages but I still don’t know God. I know that God will take care of us and that he guides us and I know all these promises but I don’t have any real

Jehovah’s Witnesses did not submit to their beliefs and that soon became a big problem. ¨Jehovah’s Witnesses were a thorn in the side of the regime.¨ says the book

Have you ever been in a service, the preacher preached a powerful message? You chose to visit the altar and make vows to God that you would start a fast and that you would begin to pray every day. Then the next day someone would offer to buy your lunch? Or they would bring pizza for everyone on your job. At the beginning of the year, you make a New Year's resolution to read the Bible through in one year. Have you ever sat down to read and the telephone would ring? Or what about those touching messages you heard about the souls that are dying and going to hell, yet no one seems to be doing enough. Have you ever tried to witness and it seems that you have a family member that seems to invite their selves to your house?

Recently I was contacted by a good friend of several years who had stopped coming to church about a year or so ago, When Jeffrey contacted me I was initially very happy to hear from him, as the conversation progressed I noticed something about him had changed. I then enquired if he had started attending church again and to my relief he said he had I asked him where he was fellowshipping he responded that he was now a member of the Jehovah Witnesses, I was stunned. Jeffrey then asked me how I was doing in my walk I told him I was fellowshipping with other Christians. He then asked if we could make a time to catch up so he could show me what he had found that had brought him to join the Jehovah Witnesses, he wanted to share this truth with

I was one of the “older” kids and didn’t have many friends, or trusted adults within the church, this added to my decline in attendance. I finally entered atrium three when I entered middle school. This was a big deal for me because I was now with all the older kids and was able to join the youth group. After a few weeks of attendance I saw myself getting into a lot of trouble for being disruptive during bible studies. I was forced to sit next to the teacher which was something I was not to happy about. Due to these mishaps I looked for a way out.

My family, particularly my mother’s side, is very religious. Ever since I could remember, I went to the same local church for a very long time. I knew everyone there and they were like uncles, aunts, and cousins to me; at a distance, but there. I was very shy, so socializing wasn’t a fun pastime for me, even if I knew the person. Some years passed, and we started going less and less. My mother was and still is kind of emotionally unstable. I can hardly predict her behavior or when she’ll explode next. By middle school, I had figured out what was really going on with my parents, and that my mother had been lying about my father and how he

In my life I have never been a person to attend church or religious ceremonies. I have gone twice to church and I personally didn’t like because I think that one doesn’t need to go to church to worship god. I believe that as long as you have faith god would never abandon you. My experience in the Jehovah`s Witness ceremony was very interesting because they are very similar to Christianity but their believes are different.