Jehovah's Use Of Apocalypticism As A Religion

Apocalypticism is the belief that the world will end. There are many groups in society that believe in the apocalypse. ‘The apocalypse involves a revelation both of the end of one world and the beginning of another.’ Hence, these groups expect that the world will end but a new world exclusively for the worthy will be established. The question is should we take apocalypticism as a religion, understanding its serious message; or can we use it for entertainment dismissing the message it is conveying. Apocalypticism is best understood as a ‘serious religion’ rather than a ‘popular entertainment’ source because the base for many apocalyptic media, such as movies or books, originate from the serious beliefs of apocalyptic religions. This essay

One prominent attendee, who became influential in the group, was Charles Taze Russell. He had previously lost his faith, as many other people due to the Enlightenment, but he renewed it when he attended a Seventh-day Adventist meeting. The Zion Watchtower and Tract Society published magazines proclaiming a new way of interpreting the Bible, increasing members. Today there are 8,457,107 members. These members belong to ‘a world-renouncing puritanical movement that claims to monopolize truth’. The religion prides itself on knowing the truth and that they are the true religion. However, it is interesting that the membership is more than eight million due to its strict policies on numerous aspects of modern life. For example, they reject Christmas and Easter because in the modern age they are littered with secular images, distracting away from the Word. Finally, it is a world-renouncing religion due to their apocalyptic beliefs, which will be explained in the following

This could be due to their practices they engaged from the onset. From 1870 onwards, the society wrote their interpretations of the Bible in their two magazines, Watch Tower and Awake!, and pamphlets were published in various languages. Another practice that allowed them to gain members was the door-to-door recruitment. Devotees carried a portable gramophone with records of leaders preaching sermons. This practice changed in the post- Second World War period, as devotees were given training to preach their own sermons, carrying just the latest issue of Watch Tower or Awake! Members can participate in this practice as they believe that employment is a means to an end until Armageddon arrives. They rarely go further than post-compulsory education or have successful careers, instead, they have careers that have little social interaction, or they are self-employed. Belief in the imminence of the end prevents the advancement of plans and