Jehovah's Witnesses, over the years, have owned some 4.5 million square feet of New York City space, including 30 buildings. Since 2004, the religious group has been selling off its assets, with several money-making deals inked this year.
Jehovah's Witnesses fund their activities, such as publishing, constructing and operating facilities, evangelism, and disaster relief via donations.
Watch Tower publications describe house-to-house visitations as the primary work of Jehovah's Witnesses in obedience to a "divine command" to preach "the Kingdom good news in all the earth and (make) disciples of people of all the nations".
Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas, birthdays, or any holidays with a pagan origin. They are also prohibited from entering into what they consider unclean practices such as receiving blood transfusions, and entering military service is prohibited.
Each congregation is cared for by a group of scripturally qualified individuals known as the body of elders. The majority of elders are family men and maintain secular employment to support their families. Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a salaried clergy nor any employees.
Monogamy between one man and one woman and sex only within marriage are requirements in the Witness religion. But Witnesses do permit divorce in certain cases, believing that the only valid ground for divorce and remarriage is adultery. Divorce is not allowed except in extremely limited circumstances.
Jehovah's witness beliefs about blood
Many Jehovah's Witness patients have completed an advance decision document, which they carry for use in an emergency and to inform treatment planning before elective surgery. These signed and witnessed documents set out which specific treatments they find acceptable.
DIET - Jehovah Witnesses believe it is forbidden to eat blood or blood products. Although meat is usually acceptable, because animals are bled after slaughter, some Jehovah Witnesses may be vegetarian. Patients may wish to pray silently before eating and at other times.
They limit contact with non-Jehovah's Witnesses
People who are “worldly” are seen as bad influences or “bad associations.”
Jehovah's Witnesses believe life is sacred and the willful taking of life under any health care circumstance would be wrong.
Jehovah's Witness ethics
Witnesses believe that worshipping God properly means living properly - which includes living honest, truthful and sober lives. They base their moral code on the Bible, following the words of Proverbs 3:5, 6: "Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding.
The Jehovah's Witnesses Funeral Service
The service is brief (generally between 15 and 30 minutes) and the body of the deceased is usually present. Following the service, the body is transported to either the crematorium or to the cemetery for a graveside service and burial.
Jehova's Witness Burial Ceremony
Any cemetery is suitable and there are no particular rituals that should be performed. That said, another brief session of scripture and prayer led by the elder at the graveside is a common practice among Jehovah's Witnesses.
A Kingdom Hall or Assembly Hall may originate from the renovation of an existing structure, such as a theater or non-Witness house of worship. In areas of repeated or reputed vandalism, particularly in cities, some Kingdom Halls are built without windows to reduce the risk of property damage.
An estimated 70,000 Jehovah's Witnesses are disfellowshipped every year — roughly 1% of the church's total population, according to data published by the Watchtower. Their names are published at local Kingdom Halls. Of those, two-thirds never return.
Marc John Jefferies, who you'll recognize from films like “Losing Isaiah,” “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” and “Notorious,” was raised in the Jehova's Witness faith as a child. Like sister Serena, Venus was also raised in the Jehovah's Witness faith by their parents.
Those who leave the faith are called "apostates" and are "disfellowshipped", a term for formal expulsion and shunning, where members are "prohibited from talking, and even from saying 'hello' to them", according to Ohmyjw.
When a judicial committee decides that a baptized Witness has committed a serious sin and is unrepentant, the person is disfellowshipped. A person who believes that a serious error in judgment has been made may appeal the decision.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the entire earth will be a sanctuary in the eternities and that includes being a peaceful place for animals.
Jehovah's Witnesses – According to the Watch Tower Society, the legal corporation for the religion, Jehovah's Witnesses do not encourage organ donation but believe it is a matter best left to an individual's conscience. All organs and tissues, however, must be completely drained of blood before transplantation.
Jehovah's Witnesses love life and do whatever is reasonable in order to prolong it. Hence, they seek quality health care and accept the vast majority of medical treatments. However, for Bible-based religious reasons, Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept allogeneic blood transfusion.
Do Jehovah's Witnesses drink coffee? There is no “one size fits all” answer that one can just apply to a particular group that consists of millions of individuals with their own preferences. So whether or not an individual drinks coffee will depend on the particular individual. Yes, some do and no, others do not.
Since Jehovah's Witness (JW) patients diagnosed with leukaemia refuse blood transfusions, they are often denied intensive chemotherapy for fear they could not survive myeloablation without blood transfusion support.
In the case of elective treatment or surgery, a medical practitioner who believes that a blood transfusion may be necessary may refuse to treat or perform surgery on a Jehovah's Witness patient who has refused to consent to a blood transfusion being administered, provided that the practitioner is not already involved ...
BOSTON – For the first time since its first heart transplant was completed in 1985, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) on Friday, March 10 successfully completed a heart transplant for a Jehovah's Witness patient while using no outside blood products.