Jehovah's Witnesses

Overview

Jehovah's Witnesses are a religious organization that grew out of a Bible study group begun in the United States in the 1870s by Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916). Its corporate name is the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and its worldwide organization is directed by the Governing Body.

In Korea, the group's activity began in 1912 with the evangelistic work of the American Robert R. Hollister. The first Korean adherent is reported to have been Kang Beom-sik. As of 2019, the group reportedly had about 102,000 adherents and 1,266 congregations (local gatherings) in South Korea.

Principal Claims and Doctrines

• God and Jesus: The group holds that God's personal name is "Jehovah" (Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18); in Korean it refers to God as Haneunim. It does not accept the Trinity as a biblical teaching and does not regard Jesus Christ as equal with God. It understands the Holy Spirit not as a person but as God's force.
• The soul and hell: It denies the teaching that the soul does not die (the immortality of the soul) and rejects the doctrine of a burning hell.
• The end times: It teaches that Jesus' Second Coming took place invisibly and spiritually in 1914. It distinguishes between the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 7 and the "other sheep."
• Scripture and practice: The group uses its own translation, the New World Translation. It has no clerical hierarchy and does not practice the tithe. Citing political neutrality, its members do not take part in political activity. On the basis of passages such as Acts 15:20, which instructs believers to "abstain ... from blood," they refuse blood transfusions.

Assessments by Major Korean Denominations and Interdenominational Bodies

At its 99th General Assembly in 2014, the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) adopted the "Research Report on Jehovah's Witnesses" prepared by its Committee on Heresies and Cults and declared the group heretical. The report cited the following grounds:

• Symbolic and arbitrary interpretation of Scripture
• Denial of the Trinity and of the deity of Christ and of the Holy Spirit
• Denial of hell
• Advocacy of salvation by works (the claim that salvation is obtained through deeds)

The report also pointed to social issues such as the refusal to salute the national flag. The Korea Evangelical Holiness Church, the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Kosin), the Korean Methodist Church, and other bodies are also reported to have declared the group heretical. The Korean Association of Christian Heresy Counseling Centers criticizes the prohibition of blood transfusions as a teaching derived from a mistranslation of Scripture.

The Group's Position and Rebuttals

Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that they are not a sect that broke away from Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, or Protestantism. Their position is that they represent a restoration of first-century Christianity. They regard the doctrines of the Trinity, the immortality of the soul, and hell not as biblical teachings but as pagan ideas that were absorbed into the church. They explain their political neutrality as following the example of Jesus.

Social Controversies

The most prominent controversy has concerned conscientious objection to military service on religious grounds. On November 1, 2018, the Supreme Court of Korea, sitting en banc, overturned its earlier precedent by a 9–4 vote, ruling that genuine conscientious objection constitutes "justifiable grounds" under Article 88(1) of the Military Service Act. The overturned precedent had been handed down fourteen years earlier. In February 2020, the acquittals of 111 adherents became final. The courts, however, require that an objector's convictions be deep, firm, and sincere, and they do not grant acquittal merely on the basis of membership in the group. The group's refusal of blood transfusions and its refusal to salute the national flag have also drawn criticism. In addition, the group has been criticized for having taught dates for the end of the world in the past, predictions that did not come to pass.