Running head: COMM 2150 PROJECT #1 1

COMM 2150 Project #1

Brian Hardman

Salt Lake Community College

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COMM 2150 Project #1

Overview

I chose to investigate or learn more about the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion. I chose this

religion for a couple of reasons. First, I have seen them visiting my neighborhood and the knock

on my door a few times every year and I never use to give them the time of day. This was until

my own daughter became a religious missionary, I became much kinder and always welcome

them into my home. Second, they have a church close to my home and it was going to be

convenient to visit one of their services. Finally, I have some extended family who are Jehovah’s

Witnesses and they are always posting about their religion and what they call Assembly – and I

wanted to know more about it…but not from them directly.

What I knew before I investigated Jehovah’s Witnesses was fairly minimal. I knew they

did not celebrate holidays. Growing up my cousins never had a visit from Santa Claus or the

Easter Bunny and they would always let you know how untrue those “fictional characters” were.

This made my mom so mad! I also knew they sent out missionaries similar to the LDS church

and I knew they believed in Christ and wore their “Sunday best” to church.

Religion

From my study I learned; Jehovah’s Witness is a Christian religion, which I knew. They

believe in God as a supreme being and creator. They believe Jesus Christ to be a lesser God and

that he was spiritually resurrected, not physically. They believe the Holy Spirit is an “impersonal

force of God.” (Neffinger) From what I think I understand, they believe only a few select people

will move on to a higher state of being and the rest will basically remain on a “paradise earth.”

(Carter)
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Religious Function

We, I took my wife with me for moral support, went to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s

Witness in West Jordan Utah. We had driven by and found meeting times on the door and visited

them during one of their services on a Thursday night. We went a little early, so I could explain

why we were there. Right from our first introduction we were welcomed and ‘assigned’ a

member to sit with us. This member was a nice woman who provided us with a few handouts

and a bible and introduced us to other members as we found our seat. We met in an assembly

hall and the first part of the meeting was signing, a bit of preaching/direction from a

gentleman/pastor type and then there was a great video geared toward children and getting along.

My wife and I sang along with the congregation and the atmosphere was one of welcoming and

Christian learning and living.

Value Theory

Because I chose a Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are a Christian religion, it was easy for me

to choose which value theory to work with. The Comparison of Beliefs of Major Religions.

Unfortunately for me, the chart only lists “Christian.” I explained a few of the Jehovah’s

Witnesses beliefs earlier and now I will explain how they differ from other Christian beliefs:

 They do not believe in the Trinity, whereas most Christian religions do.

 They do not believe Jesus came in the flesh as a God and part of the Trinity.

 They believe only 144, 000 souls will make it to their heaven, yet they have a

reported 8 plus million following.

 They do not believe in a Hell.

(Bradley)
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Analysis

There are several major differences between Christianity as I know it and what I have

learned in visiting their place of worship and my research. However, here is what I am sure of

having now been to their church and engaged in one of their meetings and visited with a few of

their members; they welcomed me and my wife, they were kind and thoughtful, their sermons

involved uplifting commentary and they recited bible verses similar, if not the same, as the bible

I am familiar with. Finally, I believe they are working to better themselves and their

communities and I think that is a wonderful thing.

Because it was a Christian religion and I had to go with the Comparison of Beliefs of

Major Religions, I thought a little bit about the other two theories and I wondered how Jehovah’s

Witnesses fit with the Hofstede’s Value Orientation. (Martin, 2013, p. 108). Jehovah’s

Witnesses do have a hierarchy (Jehovah’s Witnesses) in their religion through their groups and

leaders and they also have what I believe to be a bit of “gender specific roles.”

(Martin/Nakayama) I learned that women were not allowed to pray for the entire group in

meetings or when men are around, and they were not allowed to address the congregation from

the pulpit or stage, nor are they allowed to teach or instruct. They also would fall under the

orientation of long term versus short term – they are very harsh when it comes to judging the

world and those who are not in their group and “shun” those who leave it. (Jehovah’s Witnesses)

Reflection

Honestly, I was not excited to attend another religion. I considered doing my project on a

quinceanera our friends just had for their daughter. It was a different cultural function than I had
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been to and we had a great time, but in order to stretch my thinking for this class, I chose to do a

religion project and I was happy that I had.

Through visiting and investigating, I learned quite a bit about the Jehovah’s Witnesses

religion. The biggest thing I leaned was how similar to my religion it actually is. They gather and

worship in similar ways and they provide time for a lot of discussion from those in attendance.

Through my studies, as I mentioned I also learned they treat females second to male, for

instance, women are not allowed at the pulpit and cannot pray on behalf of the entire group, this

was a bit bothersome to me. (Grundy)

Going to one of their meetings gives me a better understanding of why Jehovah’s Witness

send people out into the world as missionaries, my religion believes in missionary work and I

have always wondered why this religion did as well. I learned they really desire people to come

unto ‘Jehovah” or God. They do this through sharing their love of, and testimony or ‘witness’ of,

God. This project helped me reach outside of my comfort zone and although I was a bit resistive

at the beginning – and had apprehension about being given a ‘hard sale” from a Jehovah’s

Witnesses but because of the understanding I garnered, I was happy I chose the project and

religion I did.
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References

Bradley, M. (n.d.) Jehovah’s Witness. Retrieved September 29, 2018, from https://www.bible-

knowledge.com/jehovah-s-witnesses/

Carter, J. (2017, October 31). 9 Things You Should Know About Jehovah's Witnesses. Retrieved

September 29, 2018, from https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/9-things-you-

should-know-about-jehovahs-witnesses/

Grundy, P. (n.d.). Facts About Truth and Jehovah's Witnesses. Retrieved September 29, 2018,

from https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/quotes/women-submission.php

Jehovah's Witnesses Practices. Retrieved September 29, 2018, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses_practices

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.).

New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Neffinger, V. (n.d.). 10 Things Everyone Should Know about Jehovah's Witnesses and Their

Beliefs. Retrieved September 28, 2018, from https://www.christianity

.com/church/denominations/10-things-everyone-should-know-about-jehovah-s-

witnesses-and-their-beliefs.html