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Living for God

Witnesses believe that the point of their life is to live in the service of God. They are expected to live in accord with the beliefs and moral code of the movement.

They live in a tightly knit social structure which supports them in both their everyday lives and in fulfilling their religious mission.

Separation

Jehovah's Witnesses maintain a degree of separation from the world. They claim that they are in but not of the world.

Unlike the members of more extreme separatist movements, Witnesses both live and work among the secular community and send their children to secular schools.

Witnesses discourage participation in university education for its own sake.

They also refuse military service, voting in elections, and taking part in most religious festivals and secular celebrations like birthdays. In countries with compulsory national service most Witnesses will accept civilian service as an alternative to military service. Certain civic obligations, such as jury service, are seen as a matter for individual decision according to the dictates of conscience.

Missionary work, known as 'witnessing' ©

The time spent on missionary work to non-believers prevents Witnesses from becoming significantly separated from the rest of the community.

Missionary work

In 2005 Jehovah's Witnesses around the world spent over 1.2 billion hours on missionary work. All Witnesses who are physically capable of it engage in missionary work.

Much missionary work involves visiting door-to-door to discuss scripture with people they meet. A successful discussion will lead to return trips, and possibly to home Bible studies.

The aim is to persuade a non-believer of the rightness of their cause so that they eventually become a Witness themselves.

Witnesses place little emphasis on sudden, dramatic conversion experiences. True conversion is a slow intellectual process which gradually convinces a non-believer that Witness beliefs are true and rational, and that they should commit themselves to a spiritually rewarding life that will bring eternal benefits.

Witnesses do this work without pay and some, called pioneers, spend 70 hours a month in door-to-door witnessing.

Witnesses believe that missionary work should take priority over career, so many will choose lower-paid jobs with limited hours so as to have more time to devote to their faith.

Discipline and disfellowshipping

Jehovah's Witnesses are expected to accept the movement's core beliefs and practices. If they act in a way that is incompatible with such beliefs and practices, they may be disciplined.

But for an allegation to be proved against someone, that person must confess or, in line with the Bible's teaching, there must be two witnesses:

Serious transgressions are dealt with by quasi-judicial local hearings. When someone either confesses to or is accused of a sin or spiritual transgression, he or she is questioned by elders.

If they are found guilty they can be punished by spiritual restrictions, public reproofs or expulsion from the congregation, which is called 'disfellowshipping'.

Disfellowshipping is the Witnesses' highest form of discipline. It is reserved for deliberate apostasy or unrepentantly practising serious sins such as drunkenness, stealing or adultery.

The punishment is based on 1 Corinthians 5, which directs believers to "remove the wicked from among yourselves". Witnesses believe it is necessary to take this action to preserve the moral integrity and cleanliness of their faith. But Witnesses also see disfellowshipping as a loving act that may cause offenders to repent so that they can eventually be readmitted to the faith.

Disfellowshipped persons can be reinstated into the congregation after demonstrating that they are repentant.

Elders disfellowship 50,000 to 60,000 Witnesses around the world every year. Each year, however, 30,000 to 40,000 are reinstated having "come back to their spiritual senses".

The consequences of being disfellowshipped are that the person concerned is 'shunned'. Witnesses will not have spiritual fellowship with anyone who has been expelled from a congregation. They also avoid social fellowship with an expelled person.

This rules out going shopping or to a theatre with disfellowshipped persons, or even having a meal with them. However, normal, day-to-day household dealings and activities within the family are permitted (other than religious activities).

The name

Members of the movement were originally called Bible Students. The name Jehovah's Witnesses was adopted in 1931.

The name Jehovah's Witnesses is derived from a Bible passage:

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• Christian missionaries