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10. Jehovah’s Witnesses
- Johns Hopkins University Press
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CHAPTER TEN Jehovah’s Witnesses Jon Schiller, M.D. Few religious groups have proved as disquieting to contemporary society as Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are a number of paradoxes: • Although they are recognized as a law-abiding and peace-loving people, Witnesses have over the past century found themselves imprisoned for their convictions in virtually every part of the world. • Though biblical beliefs permeate their approach to life, they hold that religions, often under the guise of spiritual motivation, have proved a negative force in the world. • Known generally for a strong moral standard and a high regard for family life, they are accused of allowing family members to die rather than accept blood transfusions. To address the challenges Jehovah’s Witnesses present to the medical community , we need to examine what motivates Jehovah’s Witnesses to think and behave as they do. This chapter will consider three questions: 1. Who are Jehovah’s Witnesses? 2. How best can we face the singular challenge they present to the medical community? 3. What are some spiritual implications for the practicing clinician? 172 Major Traditions and Medicine Who Are Jehovah’s Witnesses? For that matter, who is Jehovah? Jehovah’s Witnesses identify Jehovah as the personal name of God. For them, this is not a small point, as they believe they can show multiple instances where that name has been expunged from Bible translations (one of the few left in some renditions being hallelujah, or “praise to Jah”). For them, God, Jehovah, is not a trinity, but the sole creator, the allpowerful Father; and Jesus Christ is his only-begotten, firstborn son. With this background, for our purposes we could group the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses into four main teachings. (The Jehovah’s Witness Web site, watchtower. org, discusses beliefs in much more detail.) 1. Death is the opposite of life. For the Jehovah’s Witness, when a person dies, he is dead, out of existence, and not living on somewhere in some other state of being. There is no immortal soul that leaves the body; there is certainly no fear of eternal torment in a hellfire. With this belief, Witnesses place a high value on life here on this earth and a high value on taking care of their personal health. The hope for the future of a dead person is for a resurrection through the ransom sacrifice of Jesus—a resurrection back to perfect health on a paradise earth as God originally intended. Witnesses are thus led to have a pragmatic view toward end-of-life matters, not expecting divine intervention or miraculous cures on their behalf. Nor do they believe in intercessory healing prayers. Though there were miraculous healings in the first century by Jesus and the apostles, Witnesses teach that these healings served the purpose of dramatizing Jehovah’s approval of the fledgling Christian congregation. “Once mature or fully established, rather than pointing to special gifts, the Christian congregation would point to its display of unswerving faith, hope, and love as evidence of God’s approval” (Watchtower Society 2009, p. 28). 2. The future worldview is optimistic. Witnesses believe in a positive hope for the future of mankind on earth, after the coming battle between the forces of good and evil, in the battle the Bible calls Armageddon. They believe this will be accomplished by means of a new government, a world government under Christ which in reality Christians have prayed for over the centuries: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” For now, the explanation for the bad things that happen lies in a combination of factors. In our imperfection, we humans tend to make poor decisions. Furthermore, this world is temporarily under the power of rebellious spirit creatures, who are the [3.236.139.73] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 16:09 GMT) Jehovah’s Witnesses 173 main force behind the death, pain, and evil on the earth today. Evil may find its way to any of us, good or bad, in the present world, but it may be endured with prayer. By this frequent communication through Jesus with the Father, Jehovah, the Witness maintains a close spiritual relationship that provides endurance for the trials that must come. Thus, although a Jehovah’s Witnesses would, in public and private, pray for someone who is ill, the prayer would not be for a special cure, but instead for wisdom, endurance, and integrity under trail. The Witness would also try...