Even the CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA got it wrong about JW's!

New Catholic Encyclopedia

JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
A sect, originally called Russellites, founded in the early 1870s by Charles Taze RUSSELL. In 1931 the title Jehovah’s Witnesses was proclaimed by Joseph F. RUTHERFORD, the second president of their legal corporation, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, at their convention in Columbus, Ohio.
‘‘Judge’’ Rutherford introduced important changes in the Witnesses’ creed and transformed the congregational structure of the sect as it was under ‘‘Pastor’’ Russell into a rigid theocracy. The third leader, ‘‘Brother’’ Nathan H. Knorr, gradually replaced the offensive convert-making tactics of the Rutherford era by suave manners that have gained the Witnesses their current reputation as one of the best-behaved groups in the world. In legal battles that they have often carried to the highest courts of many free countries—and by appealing to freedom of speech and religion—they have acquired the right to exercise their proselytism without interference. They hold that other religions and worldly power are the devil’s instruments in keeping people away from the Truth.
Doctrine. According to Witness doctrine, there is but one God, and since 1931 they have insisted that He should be called Jehovah (Ex 3:15; Is 42:8). They condemn the Trinity as pagan idolatry and accordingly deny Christ’s divinity.
They consider Jesus as the greatest of Jehovah’s Witnesses, ‘‘a god’’ (so they translate John 1:1), inferior to no one but to Jehovah. Before existing as a human being, he was a spirit creature called the Logos, or Word, or Michael the Archangel. He died as a man and was raised as an immortal spirit Son. His Passion and death were the price he paid to regain for humanity the right to live eternally on earth. Indeed, the ‘‘great multitude’’ (Rev 7.9) of true Witnesses hope in an earthly Paradise; only 144,000 faithful (Rev 7:4; 14:1, 4) may enjoy heavenly glory with Christ. The wicked will undergo complete destruction.
Russell had announced that Armageddon—the ﬁnal clash between the forces of good and evil—could not happen later than 1914. From 1920 on Rutherford proclaimed that ‘‘millions now living will never die’’; he also expected the princes of old, Abraham, Isaac, and the others, to come back to life by 1925 as rulers over the New World. The Watch Tower Society of the mid-20th century no longer speciﬁed an exact date; but it repeated that ‘‘this generation will by no means pass away until all things occur’’ (Lk 21:32). Thus, Witnesses are deeply convinced that the end of the world will come within a very few years. This vivid belief appears to be the strongest driving force behind their indefatigable zeal.
Way of Life. The fundamental obligation of each member of the sect is to give witness to Jehovah by announcing His approaching Kingdom. He may do this by door-to-door calling, by meeting with others for home Bible studies, or by standing at street corners to display Watch Tower literature. Preaching the good news is the only means of salvation. Baptism—which Witnesses practice by immersion and usually in mass demonstrations—is in no way a Sacrament but only the exterior symbol of their dedication to the service of Jehovah God.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have attracted publicity by refusing blood transfusions even when it meant death to themselves or to their children. Except for birth control, which they leave to the couple’s own decision, their conjugal and sexual morality is quite rigid. They abide by taboos such as those against smoking and the celebration of any kind of feast.
They regard the Bible as their only source of belief and rule of conduct, but the Witnesses’ Bible aids are apparently used more abundantly than the Bible itself. They are allowed no other books than the Bible and the society’s own publications, which includes its own translation of the Bible with an impressive critical apparatus. The work is excellent except when scientiﬁc knowledge comes into conﬂict with the accepted doctrines of the movement. In their so-called New World Translation, the term Kyrios is rendered Jehovah instead of Lord everywhere in the New Testament (237 times) except at Philippians 2:11, where St. Paul refers the word to Christ. In their book Jesus’ words at the Last Supper become: ‘‘Take, eat. This means my body’’ (Mt 26:26). And they add but one word to the phrases of Col 1:16–17: ‘‘By means of him [Christ Jesus] all other things were created in the heavens and upon the earth. . . . All other things have been created through him and for him. Also he is before all other things and by means of him all other things were made to exist.’’
The rate of growth of the movement reached a peak in the late 1930s, when membership increased almost 25 percent annually: from 1938 to 1942 it grew from less than 50,000 to more than 100,000. Since then, growth has slowed somewhat.
Bibliography: Sources. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (rev. ed. Brooklyn 1961); Let God Be True (rev. ed. Brooklyn 1952), 18,900,000 copies in 54 languages; From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained (Brooklyn 1958). Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses (1926–). The Watchtower (1879–), pub. semi-monthly or monthly in 68 languages; Awake! (Brooklyn 1919–), pub. semi-monthly or monthly in 26 languages. Literature. H. H. STROUP, The Jehovah’s Witnesses (New York 1945). W. J. WHALEN, Armageddon Around the Corner: A Report on Jehovah’s Witnesses (New York 1962). G. HÉBERT, Les Témoins de Jéhovah: Essai critique d’histoire et de doctrine (Montréal 1960).

Even the CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA got it wrong about JW's!

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