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| Jehovah's Witnesses | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Classification | Millenarian |
| Orientation | Restorationist |
| Structure | Hierarchical |
| Region | Worldwide |
| Founder | Charles Taze Russell (founded Bible Student movement) |
| Origin | 1876: Bible Students founded 1931: Named Jehovah's witnesses Pennsylvania and New York, USA |
| Separations | See Jehovah's Witnesses splinter groups |
| Congregations | 119,485 |
| Members | 8.6 million |
| Official website | http://www.jw.org |
| Statistics from 2019 Service Year Report Includes Largest Baptismal Figure in 20 Years | |
Jehovah's Witnesses is a religious group with more than eight million members around the world. They believe that God, who they call Jehovah, will end crime, violence, sickness and death by destroying all badness in the world. They say God's kingdom will restore God's original purpose for the earth: bringing about peace for all humans who live by Bible standards.
In the 1870s, a preacher named Charles Taze Russell started a Bible study group in Pennsylvania in 1876, which became known as the Bible Students. They started a religious magazine called The Watchtower. After Russell died, Joseph Franklin Rutherford took over, and the Bible Students who stayed with him became known as Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931.
Some of their beliefs, especially about who God is and what his plans are for humans and the earth, are different from what is taught in most Christian churches. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only 144,000 people will go to heaven and that all the other people who obey God will live forever in paradise on earth. They do not believe that God is a Trinity. They believe Jesus died on a single pole rather than a cross. They do not use images or symbols such as the cross. They teach that when people die, they remain in the grave until God resurrects them when God's kingdom rules over earth.
Jehovah's Witnesses are best known for preaching from door-to-door and in other public places, and offering their magazines, The Watchtower and Awake! They are also well known for refusing to join armies and refusing blood transfusions.