Who Founded The Jehovah's Witnesses

First of all, it’s “Jehovah’s Witnesses

The religion is actually an offshoot of a bible student movement in the 1880’s by a man called Charles Taze Russell. He and his acquaintances started a study group that shared some things in common with the Seventh Day Adventists religion. They believed that Armageddon would come in the year 1914 and usher in a paradise on the earth. Russell believed himself to be Gods appointed servant on earth.

When he died there arose a schism. A man called Joseph Rutherford took some of the Bible Students beliefs and convinced some of them that he was the true successor for the religion. Many simply gave up because of the 1914 prediction that didn't come true. It was Rutherford who changed their name to Jehovah’s Witnesses in the 1930s. It’s worth noting though, that he brought about changes in doctrine too such as a prediction that 1925 would bring about the earthly resurrection of some bible characters like Abraham, Elijah, David and Isaiah etc. They were supposed to live with him in a mansion in California called Beth Sarim.

So strictly speaking, it was Joseph Rutherford that founded the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Since him, the religion is barely recognizable now. The beliefs are almost entirely different and their continued failed predictions such as 1975, “Millions now living will never die” statement and constant retracting of statements has made them just another doomsday cult that didn't die out.

Bradley Madd

Jewish. Author, copy writer, linguist, philologist.

58w ago

While Charles Taze Russell is generally referred to as the founder of Jehovah’s Witnesses, in reality that religious group was started by Joseph Franklin Rutherford.

Charles Taze Russell founded what is known as the Bible Student movement, a restorationist form of Christianity that holds the Protestant canon of Christian Scripture as the ultimate form of divine revelation from God. The movement (which still exists in various forms) was originally centered around the formation of Zion’s Watch Tower Society, a religious tract distribution group that was started in 1881.

The Bible Students would become divided again and again based on controversies arising from Russell’s habit of altering his teachings, often fundamental ones, on a regular basis. The first schism occurred as early as 1909, but others followed when Russell’s time calculations based on predicting the arrival of Armageddon in October of 1914 failed, followed by his death in 1916.

Confusion, disillusionment, and claims of organizational intrigue following Joseph Rutherford’s election to replace Charles as president of the Watch Tower Society in 1917 caused Russell’s Bible Study movement to split further into several different movements.

While to a general extent, the different Bible Student groups held to the basic tenets of Russell’s theology, Rutherford made grand changes and reinterpretations for the group that followed him. New ideas and even full rejections of previous teachings of Russell were introduced, branded as directed by heaven by Rutherford, with one such decision of his (to give his group the unique name of “Jehovah’s Witnesses”) declared the very fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

This new group developed unique features not found among the Bible Students, the most outstanding being it’s claim that they alone were the sole channel of Bible interpretation, divinely appointed to teach an unfolding and ever self-clarifying truth from God. It would even go as far as to completely revise Bible Student history, claiming that God had enlightened Russell to preach that 1914 was the foretold Biblical date assigned to the beginning of world troubles preceding the world’s end, a fundamental doctrine of Jehovah’s Witness theology.

“Bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble.”—Charles Taze Russell, Zion's Watch Tower magazine, July 15, 1894, p.226.

Ingolf Nudler

studied Computer Science (1991)

1w ago

Charles Taze Russel, a 7-days adventist did disagree with some of their teachings, so he left in the late 1800’s with some others and called themselves bible students. He inherited a printing facility and consequently began publishing his ideas and interpretation of the bible in several publications. After his death, John F Rutgerford took over who believed the new group needed a structer organization to facilitate growth.

Many congregations disagreed, left and continued as “buble students”, using Russel’s original teachings. JFR on the contrary founded a strict “governing body” in New York and eventually rebranded the group as “Jehiva’s witnesses”

Laurens Moet

Founder at Nocostlotto.net

59w ago

The founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses was a New York businessman by the name of Charles Taze Russel. He used to be a clothing-business person until he decided to start a publishing business surrounding the bible.

That business is called the Watchtower bible and tract society of Pensylvania, and is the corporate aspect of the cult that goes by the name Jehovah's witnesses.

Kind regards,

Laurens - founder of No Cost Lotto and ex jw

Madison Worden

49w ago

Well, as a Witness, I'd say Jehovah God himself ;)

But, in terms of recorded and accepted historical accuracy, it was Brother J. B. Rutherford, who first unified the "Bible Students" of old under Charles T Russell as Jehovah's Witnesses officially.