Does anyone know when and where the Jehovah wittiness cult got its start?

Question

I would also like to know where it got its charter.Do thay have a day of worshipe, and what day of the week is it.

Answer 1

Jehovah's Witnesses is not a cult.

The official name of the religion is "Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses", and so they believe their religion to be a restoration of the worship and pattern of the apostles and other first century C.E. Christians. Of course, the bible cites Jesus Christ and also Adam's son Abel as "Witnesses" and the beginnings of pure worship.

(Hebrews 11:4;12:1,2) Abel... had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness... Because we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also put off every weight and the sin that easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, as we look intently at the Chief Agent and Perfecter of our faith, Jesus

(Revelation 1:5) Jesus Christ, “the Faithful Witness”


The modern history of the religion began in the 1870's.

Learn more:
http://www.jw-media.org/people/who.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/jt/index.htm?article=article_02.htm

Answer 2

The basic differences between a cult and a religion are: 1. Time of existence, cults often die out when the leader/first generation dies 2. Geographical dispersion, cults are often localized. 3. Public acceptance, cults are often not publicly known. Generally speaking all major religions started as cults. The christian community uses the word "cult" to mean any organization that disagrees with their tenants. There is another definition or type of cult that identifies the more dangerous type of mind controlling cult. Edit: Both of these groups have been considered cults when they were forming but now could probably be considered religions in their own right. Edit: Cults are not specific to the christian world, and to limit the definition of "cult" to specific christian interpretations is a very closed minded approach. It should be noted that basically many christians now use cult to mean the same thing as heathen or pagan originally meant.

Answer 3

Well,
First off---- you don't know what a cult is, obviously,

They are indeed a legally organized religion, with branches all around the world with millions of peaceful members.

They have no set day to worship, but most in the U.S. have two services on a Sunday.
Mainly because Sunday is a traditional day of worship in the world here and therefore causes less interference with the work week.

If a certain Kingdom Hall has a large amount of members attending it, there could be services daily/nightly.
Why? Because they chose to keep their congregations small.

Answer 4

According to the Bible, the line of faithful witnesses of Jehovah God reaches back to faithful ABLE.
Hebrews 11:4-12:;1 said: " By faith Able offered God a sacrifice of greater worth than Cain
...By faith Noah, after being given divine warning of things not yet beheld, showed Godly fear...By Faith Abraham, WHEN HE WAS CALLED, OBEYED IN GOING OUT OF THE PLACE WHERE HE WAS DESTINED TO RECEIVE AN INHERITANCE
By faith Moses, when growing up , refused to be called the son of the daughter of Pharaoh

So then , because we have a great crowd of Witnesses surrounding us, let us also put off the weight and the sin that easily entangles us, let us run the race of endurance, the race that is set before us.

With reference to Jesus Christ, the Bible said . That These are the things that the Amen said, The faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God" Of whom was He a witness? He himself said that His Fathers Name be made manifest. Jesus was the for most witness of Jehovah.



The modern day history of Jehovah's Witnesses began with the forming of a group for Bible Study in Allegheny Pennsylvania, U;S;A in the early 1870's. At the first they were known only As Bible students. but IN 1931 the Scriptural mane of Jehovah's Witnesses.( Isaiah 43:10-12) Their beliefs are NOT new , BUT are part of restoration of the first century Christian congregations

Answer 5

A clothing store manager Charles Taze Russell did some Bible study with 2 other cults - 2nd Aventists and Christadelphians in the mid 1800's in Allegehny Pennsylvania (now on the north side of Pittsburgh). That is where it started. They worship on Sundays.

Answer 6

Jehovah's Witnesses are not a cult. We follow the whole bible and live our lives accordingly. We believe Jehovah is the almighty God as brought out at Ps. 83: 18 and that Jesus is his only begotten Son and the promised Messiah.

We worship Jehovah everyday. We have three meetings a week, they maybe on different days if more than one congregation shares a Kingdom Hall. The traditional days are Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. But some of Monday, Friday and Sunday and some may have Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. We do not celebrate the sabbath, so the day is not important, it's the taking the time out to learn and honor our God.

Charles Taze Russell was the first president of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, as a legal corporation, it must have a president. We do not follow Russell, but are thankful to him and the other bible students that were searching for the truth in the bible. They never claimed to be infallible and may have been off on some things, but they were right on some much more. Decades before, they concluded by study and dates provided in the bible that the Gentiles would end in 1914 and something would happen that year. What happen in 1914, the First World War. A very tramatic event. As Rev brings out, Christ is ruling in heaven and the first thing he did was cleanse the heavens of Satan and his demons and hurled them to the vacinity of the earth. Rev. 12: 12

For those who critize Russell, saying he was afraid of hell, that is a lie. You maybe interested in reading what one minister said about him in his book written in 1958:

Below is an interesting excerpt from the book Where Else but Pittsburgh! Pittsburgh : Davis & Wade, Inc., 1958 rF159 .P6 S86 .
It's a book written by George Swetnam , an ordained Presbyterian minister, who wrote for years for the Pittsburgh Press newspaper , and is regarded as the foremost historian of the Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania areas.
"It is an amazing thing that no Pittsburgh history has ever even so much as contained the name of C.T. Russell, since his influence has easily been the widest of any man who ever lived in a city...including Andrew Carnegie.
"He was a pioneer in the Chain store, the Motion Picture industry and other important ventures. He was one of the most prolific and widely read authors of his day, turning out many books and a column carried by more then 1500 newspapers, with some 15 million readers. Russell traveled over a million miles, delivering more than 30,000 sermons and lectures.
"He was always interested in religion, writing Bible verses on the sidewalks with chalk when a youth. As a boy he was quick & alert, so his father took him into partnership in his general store at the age of 11. When he was 15 he was sent out as a buyer.
"Like many other youths Charles was troubled in mind. He battled over the doctrine of predestination and was pondering these things for while he was unable to accept religion he was unable to let it go. It was a successful but skeptical businessman of 18 that he stepped into a dingy basement to see if a handful who met there had anything more sensible than the creeds of the churches. What he heard set him searching the Bible again, which he did for 46 years!
"Soon he rented a hall & started a Bible School where for 5 years he lectured. Then, convinced he had a divine mission, he did a strange thing for a young man of 26 with no formal theological education. He invited ALL the ministers of Pittsburgh to a meeting, explained his beliefs and urged them to unite with him! The fact that they accepted his invitation shows how high young Russell stood in the community. Yet after hearing they declined his offers..
"Rebuffed by the ministers in his home town Russell turned himself to a life of evangelism. He carried on his haberdashery business for some time but his interest in commerce gradually waned and he closed his store for the next year.
"Russell was nearly 6 feet tall, well built, with piercing gray eyes. His manner was always CALM, stressing argument rather then emotion, sometimes adding a touch of humor. In later life he was snowy haired, white bearded, and saintly in appearance.
"In 1914 he completed work on the first epic motion picture: "The Photo Drama of Creation" 15 years before any other sound pictures were produced. It ran for eight hours and was viewed by some eight million people!
"Late in life he set up his entire fortune, by now amounting to well over a million dollars, into a trust fund for the W.T.B.& T Society, the business organization for Jehovah's Witnesses.
"He made many close friends and bitter enemies. He was the target of many stories accusing him of all sorts of crimes and wrong doing in regard to his marriage, although there appears to be little if any basis for such charges.
"All through his life Russell told his followers NOT to revere him; He taught them this so well that the publishing house he founded has never published a biography of "Pastor Russell".
"The movement he founded now has worldwide scope & is still one of the worlds fastest growing religions. In 1958 some 250,000 came to NYC to hear the same doctrines Russell preached to the unreceptive clergy 80 years earlier."

Answer 7

A good book to read is 'thirty years a watchtower slave'. If you can find this book it will open your eyes to the truth of JW, how they came to be, and how members lost the right to free will when it comes to the study of the bible.

And by the way, they cannot be be Jehovah witness because the 'J' did not come into existence until the fourth century. The book of Acts Jesus tells us we are to be witness for Him. And Hebrews teaches that in these last days God is speaking to us through His Son.

Answer 8

All I know is they worship on Sunday At least the ones here do.

Answer 9

This is my answer in studying religions...

The Jehovah's Witnesses as a faith, began sometime in 1879. The original founder of the organization was Charles Taze Russell. Russell was born in 1852 and while still a young man, began to develop a terrible fear of hell. At age 17, Russell got into a long conversation with a man who denied the existence of hell. Russell believed the man was right.

At age 18, Russell ended up in a church where the 2nd coming of Christ was being discussed. Russell became interested in when Christ would come and started studying the Bible. Soon after, he believed he had it figured out.

Russell published a pamphlet called, The Object and Manner of the Lord's Return. This pamphlet was a lengthy, complicated, and incorrect interpretation of completely unrelated verses combined with an intricate method of computing time. The end result of the work he put into these time frame calculations was that Christ would return in the year 1874.

Needless to say, his theory was incorrect. When it didn't happen then, Russell changed his story and said he would come back in 1914. Also when Christ came back, he said it would be a spiritual 2nd coming, meaning we wouldn't see him. This additional belief was most likely tacked on to make sure he wouldn't have to change his date once again when nothing happened in 1914.

In 1874, Russell became a pastor of a Bible class that he had been teaching for 4 years. This event was the real start of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Note the year, 1874, a new religion starts and is somehow the only true religion. Hard to believe? Exactly.

In 1879, Russell started publishing the magazine, "Zion's watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence". This step proved very helpful in expanding the Jehovah's Witness movement. By the year 1880 there were 30 new congregations in 7 states. By 1881, Zion's Watchtower and Tract Society established themselves and it was chartered in 1884. The Jehovah's Witness religion was now official.

In 1912, a Baptist pastor by the name of Rev. J.J. Ross spoke out against Russell in a pamphlet. Once Russell found out about this, he immediately sued Ross. While on the witness stand, Russell was caught in a couple of lies. He was asked whether or not he knew Greek, the original language of the New Testament. He answered, "Oh, yes," but later when he was asked to read some Greek letters he admitted that he in fact, did not know Greek. Also, Russell claimed to be an ordained minister, but under oath he admitted that he was never actually ordained by anyone.

And these are just the lies that we know about. How many more would have surfaced if Russell were examined closer? Are these huge offenses? Not really, but this type of willful perjury does not speak well for the founder of "the only true religion".

I am not implying that all Jehovah's Witnesses have inherited the deceitful characteristic that Russell had (directly), but it would be nice if the founder of the "God's organization" was himself, an honest man. Come to think of it, it would give me better peace of mind if I was a Jehovah's Witness to know that I didn't have to wonder if what I was being told today was a lie or not. Because if Russell found it acceptable to break the law and lie in court, how much more comfortable was he with lying to his own congregation?

After Russell died in 1916, Joseph Franklin Rutherford A.K.A. "Judge" Rutherford, was elected as the new leader of the Jehovah's Witness movement. Rutherford picked Brooklyn, New York as the headquarters for the Watchtower organization and the Jehovah's Witness faith grew faster than it did under Russell.

Once Rutherford died on January 8, 1942, Nathan Horner Knorr became the next president of the organization. Unlike the first two presidents, Knorr was quiet and tried to stay out of publicity as much as possible. Under Knorr's leadership, a new emphasis was placed on training programs for Witnesses. A new translation of the Bible was also put out called The New World Translation of the Christian Scriptures.

They also believe in salvation through works. You have to pay lots of cash to join their religion, a year or more of service, house-to-house visitation, and member fees. They go to "church" once a week at sundays. They are well trained in forcing people to believe.

NOTE: JEHOVAH'S WITNESS IS NOT I REPEAT NOT A PART OF ORIGINAL CHRISTIANITY. IT IS LISTED AS A CULT, I REPEAT A CULT, IN WORLD PUBLIC. IT IS NOT IDENTICAL TO CHISTIANITY SINCE THE LEADERS PUT IN OTHER REGULATIONS, FEES, AND CONDITIONS TO GET SAVED. IT HAS LOTS OF DIFFERENCES TO ORIGINAL CHRISTIANITY. I REPEAT IT IS NOT A RELIGION.

Answer 10

Pittsburgh, Pa.