Bro Andrew Richard Article: 10 Things Everyone Should Know about Jehovah's Witnesses and Their Beliefs

Bro Andrew Richard Article

Jehovah's Witnesses are a people of faith that many of us likely don't know that much about. We may remember them as the people who often come to our homes in order to evangelize, but do we actually know what they believe? Below are 10 facts about this group which branched off from orthodox Christianity in the late 1800's. We answer the questions of how they got their start, what their core beliefs are, and how many people ascribe to this faith in the world today below.

1. When were the Jehovah's Witnesses founded?

Jehovah's Witnesses started in 1870 when a man named Charles Taze Russell led Bible studies in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Jehovah's Witnesses movement came out of the Bible Student movement, also founded by Taze. When Taze began disputing some of the traditional views within Christianity, the Jehovah's Witnesses were born.

During his ministry, Russell quarreled with many tenets of mainstream Christianity, including immortality of the soul, hellfire, predestination, the fleshly return of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, and the burning up of the world.

In 1876, Russell encountered Nelson H. Barbour; later that year, they together produced the book Three Worlds, which combined restitution views with end-time prophecy.