There are many communities around the world that have deemed themselves as religious,

designed to benefit their groups, yet exhibit concerning behavior. The religion known as the

Jehovah’s Witnesses has a very particular set of beliefs. This is because they must follow the

teachings of their Bible, which is titled, “The New World Translations of the Holy Scriptures”. It

is implied that members cannot celebrate any holiday that praises anyone other than their God,

nor any holiday that originates from paganism. Being a part of this community can also be

physically dangerous, considering they are restricted from participating in certain medical

procedures. And lastly, they are discouraged from closely associating with non-Jehovah’s

witnesses and even cut ties with those who have abandoned the faith, regardless of whether they

are family members or not. For these reasons alone, one would find themselves justified in

defining the Jehovah’s witness community as a cult.

When Jehovah’s Witnesses go to hospitals for life-threatening injuries, they may need a

blood transfusion to save their life. However, according to their Bible, it is said that it is against

God’s will to take blood. It states that it is God’s will to “abstain from blood” The New World

Translations of the Holy Scriptures, (Gen. 9:4). Through these scriptures, members of the church

have decided to reject any procedure that may involve receiving a blood transfusion, regardless

of how it is received. This all stems from their belief that a human must not continue life through

the use of another's blood regardless of how the blood is transmitted. They believe if these

treatments are performed, then they will lose eternal salvation. Because of the large number of

members of this religion, physicians are taught the challenges of treating a Jehovah’s Witness,

which usually involves using facts to instill fear in them, until they ultimately decide to choose

themselves over the church.

 Another principle Jehovah’s Witnesses must follow is the refusal to observe most

holidays or events that most other Americans traditionally celebrate. There is a verse in The New

World Translations of the Holy Scriptures, (Matt. 4:10) which states, “It is Jehovah your God

you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.” This means that

Jehovah’s Witnesses are not allowed to celebrate some holidays because of the implication that a

different individual is being honored on those days. They even go as far as to refuse to celebrate

Christmas, a holiday celebrated even by atheists because it is not a certainty that Jesus was even

born on that date. One can assume that this is cult-like behavior because the reason this rule was

implemented was so that the church may have more control over the lives of its members.

Without participating in these celebrations, Jehovah’s Witnesses are less likely to cut ties with

the religion and remain closely knit to their only sense of belonging, at church.

Generally, Jehovah Witnesses are told to cut ties with all ex-Jehovah Witnesses and non-

believers. They are only expected to keep other Jehovah witnesses in their social circles. They do

this because the religion views outsiders to be of bad influence; they feel as though they are

disobeying the orders of God by forming close relationships with non-members of the church.

Their Bible states: “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” The New World

Translations of the Holy Scriptures, (1 Cor. 5:13). When family members become ex-members

of the church, the rest of the organization shames that individual for their decision. By doing this,

they hope that it will shame these individuals into returning to the congregation and ward any

other current members from making the same decision. This helps drive the objective of forming

a cult, which is that the more isolated members are from the outside world, the less likely they

are to remove themselves from the church by means of self-realization.

 To sum up, Jehovah’s Witnesses exhibit many cult-like behaviors due to the teachings of

their Bible. They disallow forming relationships with those of other faiths to keep members from

being influenced by outsiders. They are obligated to refuse medically necessary procedures and

they are disallowed from celebrating non-Bible approved holidays. Using these said methods,

which are enforced by the church, the population of members in the Jehovah Witness

congregation has thrived and has been a consistently growing community for the past 75 years.

This will continue to be an unfortunate reality until this organization ceases to isolate its

members from anyone who seems to contradict their beliefs, and returns their God-given right to

freedom.