By Unique Larry
There are over 7.3 million active Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide. Although this religion is practiced all over the world there are still many people that have the wrong idea about the religion. Among this 7.3 million is Haley Anderson along with her fellow Kingdom Hall members Jeff Scott and Choni Brown.
Sophomore Haley Anderson was a bit wary about her knowledge of the religion and how her family would react when she first began to practice Jehovah’s Witness in 2007 but overtime she began to enjoy her religion.
“Once I learned more about it and did a Bible study I began to like it a lot,” Anderson said.
Anderson and her parents go to Kingdom Hall, The Jehovah Witnesses place of worship, twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays. Though they go to Kingdom Hall twice a week, Anderson still goes out every day determined to spread the word of Jehovah to everyone that she can.
“I go out from seven to nine but during later hours we go out in groups for safety,” Anderson said.
Anderson has made various changes in her life when she converted, like changing her attitude and sorting out her personal priorities.
“The hardest thing about conversion was telling my friends and my grandma about me converting but now they are a little bit more accepting,” Anderson said.
Despite Anderson’s dilemmas she looks forward to Judgment Day.
“When Jesus resurrects the dead I will get to see my mom again and just knowing that I can always trust in Jehovah,” Anderson said.
Jeff Scott studied various religions such Islam, Catholicism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. After all of his studies he could not help but to prefer Jehovah Witness as his religious choice.
“At first I was a bit skeptical but then I had to accept the truth,” Scott said.
Witnesses are organized under a “theocratic government”, reflecting their belief that it is a form of God’s organization on earth.
“ We are not an offshoot of any church nor do we look to any human but rather Jesus Christ as our leader,” Brown said.
Witnesses have a system set up to where everyone is equal and everyone has a chance to participate in the Kingdom Hall meetings.
“We encourage people to read the bible themselves, do not believe what your told go back and verify it for yourself,” Scott said.
Other beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses include that they should not have blood transfusions, and should remain neutral in politics and wars. “Men are not able to rule themselves obviously so that is why we do not vote, God is a much better ruler than any man so we think of Jehovah as our ruler,” Anderson said.
Witnesses do believe in the authority of the Bible and trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection for salvation. They do not believe, however in the trinity or in the existence of a “hell”.
“Before the Bible was translated there was three different meanings Sheol,Hades, and Gehenna that were all translated into one word hell,” Scott said. They believe that once dead one will be in a state of unconsciousness but an “elect” few will go to heaven, or live in paradise on earth.
”I believe that Jehovah is going to resurrect me here on earth and I shall live on paradise,” Anderson said.
Witnesses do not partake in any holidays such as Easter, Halloween, Christmas or even birthdays that are all believed to be pagan ideas and are not compatible with Christian beliefs. Some may believe that the witnesses do not celebrate any holidays at all, however they do recognize the celebration of Jesus’ death (his memorial) as a holiday.
“For the memorial we go to Kingdom Hall, say a prayer, pass the bread around, say another prayer, pass the wine around, and say a final prayer,” Anderson said.
There are many wrong assumptions about Jehovah’s Witnesses like that they do not believe in Jesus, that in the future Anderson would like to clarify.
“I hope to travel the world preaching to people in other countries and sort out misconceptions of my religion,” Anderson said.
Another fallacy of her religion is that they think of themselves as “perfect” people.
“We are just normal people and we make mistakes too,” Anderson said.