I just had to send a letter to the editor (see my next post) after the Waynesville, North Carolina local newspaper published this lovely little puff piece about Jehovah's Witnesses.
The last parts about blood transfusion and the "loving practice" of disfellowshipping were so absurd!
Link to the article: CLICK HERE
Who are the Jehovah's Witnesses?
Kenneth M Johnson - Special to the Mountaineer
The current location of Jehovah's Witnesses in Haywood County is just off U.S. 19-23, between Clyde and Waynesville on Kingdom Hall Road.
Those in the congregation refer to their church building as Kingdom Hall, which houses two congregations: The Waynesville meeting, which convenes at 10 a.m. each Sunday, and the Clyde meeting, which meets at 1:30 p.m. each Sunday.
In the near future, they plan to relocate on Counsel Place, off of East Street in Waynesville. Their quick-build construction will enable an all-volunteer labor force over a weekend or a period of four days to construct the new Kingdom Hall.
Elders, who manage the Kingdom Hall services, are unpaid, but circuit and district overseers receive a small financial living allowance.
All baptized Witnesses are regarded as ordained ministers, and are expected to provide religious instruction to others. Males are encouraged to qualify to become elders. Teaching takes place in the Hall; preaching in house-to-house visitations. Within local congregations, the role of women is minimal in terms of responsibility, but they carry out a large proportion of the preaching work.
Attending the two-hour teaching service of the Waynesville Jehovah's Witnesses meeting provides one with a unique perspective on religion in Haywood County.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not claim to be part of the traditional church, although they accept the New Testament as part of their sacred writings. Their Sunday meeting is not called worship but simply meeting. No offering is received.
During the first hour recently, a visiting elder from Mountain City, Ga., lectured on the question, Does Your Hope Rest on Science or the Bible? Tom Hoy listed both the virtues and the vices of modern science, concluding that the Bible offers many of our scientific conclusions. He cited Genesis 2:19 as the beginning of science. Throughout his 45-minute talk, Hoy referred to God as Jehovah God or Jehovah.
In their large-print song book, Sing Praise to Jehovah, one noted that all of the songs are based upon some biblical text and are written by Jehovah's Witnesses. Texts and music arrangements are both melodic and singable.
After a standup break and another song, the second hour was devoted to a Bible study, that Sunday on the theme, Keep Conquering the Evil with the Good. (Romans 12:21)
Joe Michael, an elder in the Waynesville meeting, presided over this session, assisted in the reading of each paragraph in the Watchtower study guide by Boris Jekic. The moderator asked related questions after paragraphs were read, which were then answered by different people in the meeting, men and women and even some children each one being recognized by the moderator with the title Brother or Sister. Michael's memory was impressive, including the surname of practically all of the participants.
While women aren't allowed to teach,Michael said after the meeting, they may respond to questions related to the subject matter.
Only one religious symbol was visible in the Hall, a verse from Zephaniah 1:14, The great day of Jehovah is near, which was printed in large letters across the wall behind the platform.
The people who gathered in the local Kingdom Hall wore their Sunday best, the ladies in attractive dresses and the men in suits, coats and ties.
The visiting elder closed the meeting with prayer.
How are Jehovah's Witnesses sometimes misunderstood? Tom Uchtmann, another elder in the Waynesville meeting, answered in a later conversation.
Some people do not understand that we are a Christian religion; we do acknowledge Jesus' sacrificial death as the means to our salvation, Uchtmann said.
Uchtmann also mentioned that, contrary to the beliefs of some, an unlimited number of people will be saved on the Day of Judgment not just 144,000.
As to the Jehovah's Witnesses position toward governments, Uchtmann said, We believe in subjection to all governments in obedience to their laws, as long as they do not conflict with God's laws.
On two other controversial matters, he said, Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe it is scriptural to mix Christian teaching with non-Christian teaching.
Holiday events are not part of our religious tradition, he said.
Those in the church are also opposed to blood transfusions.
We believe there are acceptable alternatives to blood transfusions, said Uchtmann. For this reason, Jehovah's Witnesses respectfully decline this service based upon our understanding of biblical teaching.
Those who fail to follow the church's teachings are temporarily ousted through an arrangement called disfellowship.
Disfellowship is a loving arrangement whereby any member who commits a serious transgression of the scriptural law and refuses help can be put out of the organization, said Michael. We'd hope such action would cause that member to repent; whereupon their membership is restored.