What is the History of the Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Jehovah’s Witnesses emerged in the northeastern United States during the 1870s, though at the time they were known as “Bible Students.” Under the direction of founder Charles Taze Russell, the Bible Students believed they had restored the true doctrines of the Christian faith that were lost after the death of the apostles. In 1881, Russell founded a printing company that was moved to Brooklyn, New York, where it became known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (hereafter, WBTS). The corporation still exists there and serves as the legal and ecclesial authority for the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Russell used the press to spread the message that the world as we know it would come to an end in 1914. When it didn’t, Russell claimed that he had miscalculated and that the kingdom of God would be established by 1915. Shortly before he died in 1916, Russell explained that the Lord had “overruled” the expected timeline “for the blessing of his people.”

After Russell died, Joseph Franklin Rutherford succeeded him as the president of WBTS. In a book he published called Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Rutherford claimed that many who were alive in 1914 would live to see the end of the world—which would now take place in 1925. Rutherford also predicted that the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be resurrected and that God would transform earth into a paradise for the patriarchs as well as for the majority of believers.

In order to accommodate the resurrected patriarchs, Rutherford had WBTS construct a mansion in San Diego, California, that was later called Beth Sarim, or “House of the Princes.” Even though the mansion was built four years after the failed 1925 prediction, Rutherford still preached the imminent end of the world and served as Beth Sarim’s caretaker during the Great Depression.

In 1931, Rutherford changed the group’s name to Jehovah’s Witnesses in order to distinguish it from other competing “Bible Student” sects, many of which still exist. He also taught that God was the ultimate leader of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and WBTS served as his official “administrator.” Rutherford died at Beth Sarim in 1942 and was succeeded by WBTS’s third president, Nathan Knorr. 

Knorr was instrumental in creating programs that trained Jehovah’ Witnesses to deliver testimonies door-to-door. He also commissioned the publishing of a new translation of the Bible called the New World Translation (NWT). The NWT was published as a single volume in 1961, which WBTS claims “offer[s] no paraphrase of the Scriptures. Our endeavor all through has been to give as literal a translation as possible.” However, several Greek scholars have criticized the NWT for translating certain passages in ways that sacrifice accuracy in order to promote Jehovah’s Witness theology. 

Beginning in the mid-1960s, the group’s literature hinted strongly that the end of the world would come in 1975. In 1969, the group’s Awake! magazine said, “If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things. Why not? Because all the evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years.” Despite this failed prediction, Awake! continued through the 1980s to print at the top of the magazine’s first page the following text: “This magazine builds confidence in the Creator’s promise of a peaceful and secure world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away.” 

The “events of 1914” refer to Jesus’ invisible return, which WBTS was prophesied to happen 2,520 years after the fall of Jerusalem in 607 B.C., which would be A.D. 1914 (even though this contradicts mainstream historians, who agree Jerusalem fell in 587 B.C.). Since there is only a handful of people alive today who were alive in 1914, it seems all but certain that this prophecy too will be invalidated. Perhaps that is why in 1995, after carrying the banner in the magazine for thirteen years, the reference to the generation of 1914 was replaced with dateless prediction of a world “that is about to replace the present wicked, lawless system of things.” 

In response to these failed predictions, Jehovah’s Witnesses admit that WBTS is not infallible and say on their official website, “We have had some wrong expectations about the end. But we are more concerned with obeying Jesus and saving lives than with avoiding criticism.” Although it is noble to be ready for Jesus’ return, these failed predictions call into question the truth of WBTS’s claim to be “Jehovah’s channel of communication.”

Despite these setbacks, membership in the group has climbed steadily over the years, and today there are approximately eight million Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide. What’s remarkable about this growth is that Jehovah’s Witnesses have an incredibly high turnover rate. According to one Time magazine article, “Two-thirds of the people who told [the surveyors] they were raised Jehovah’s Witnesses no longer are—yet the group attracts roughly the same number of converts.” The article attributes this steady growth to the group’s zeal for door-to-door evangelism. 

Did you enjoy this excerpt? To learn so much more get The Big Book of Catholic Answers, Volume 2