26. (a) To what responsibility did the Bible Students give more and more emphasis? (b) What clearer understanding of the Bible did the Bible Students receive?

²⁶ During the 1920’s and 1930’s, the Bible Students gave more and more emphasis to the early Christian method of preaching​—from house to house. (Acts 20:20) Each believer had the responsibility to witness to as many people as possible regarding Christ’s Kingdom rule. They came to see clearly from the Bible that the great issue before mankind was that of universal sovereignty and that this would be settled by Jehovah God’s crushing Satan and all his ruinous works on earth. (Romans 16:20; Revelation 11:17, 18) In the context of this issue, it was appreciated that the salvation of man was secondary to the vindication of God as the rightful Sovereign. Therefore, there would have to be on earth faithful witnesses willing to testify to God’s purposes and supremacy. How was this need satisfied?​—Job 1:6-12; John 8:44; 1 John 5:19, 20.

27. (a) What momentous event took place in 1931? (b) What are some of the Witnesses’ distinctive beliefs?

²⁷ In July 1931, the Bible Students held a convention in Columbus, Ohio, during which the thousands present adopted a resolution. In it they joyfully embraced “the name which the mouth of the Lord God has named,” and they declared: “We desire to be known as and called by the name, to wit, ‘Jehovah’s witnesses.’” Ever since that date, Jehovah’s Witnesses have become known worldwide not only for their distinctive beliefs but also for their zealous house-to-house and street ministry. (See pages 356-7.)​—Isaiah 43:10-12; Matthew 28:19, 20; Acts 1:8.

28. In 1935 what clearer understanding did the Witnesses receive regarding Kingdom rulership?

²⁸ In 1935 the Witnesses came to a clearer understanding regarding the heavenly Kingdom class, who will reign with Christ, and their subjects on the earth. They already knew that the number of anointed Christians called to rule with Christ from the heavens would be only 144,000. So, what would be the hope for the rest of mankind? A government needs subjects to justify its existence. This heavenly government, the Kingdom, would also have millions of obedient subjects here on earth. These would be the “great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues,” who cry out: “Salvation we owe to our God [Jehovah], who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb [Christ Jesus].”​—Revelation 7:4, 9, 10; 14:1-3; Romans 8:16, 17.

29. What challenge did the Witnesses perceive and accept?

²⁹ This understanding about the great crowd helped Jehovah’s Witnesses to see that they had before them a tremendous challenge​—to find and teach all those millions who were searching for the true God and who would form the “great crowd.”

[Box/​Pictures on page 356, 357]

What Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe

Question: What is a soul?

Answer: In the Bible the soul (Hebrew, neʹphesh; Greek, psy·kheʹ) is a person or an animal or the life that a person or an animal enjoys.

“And God went on to say: ‘Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind.’ And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul.”​—Genesis 1:24; 2:7.

Animals and man ARE living souls. The soul is not something with a separate existence. It can and does die. “Look! All the souls​—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son​—to me they belong. The soul that is sinning​—it itself will die.”​—Ezekiel 18:4.

Question: Is God a Trinity?

Answer: Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jehovah is the unequaled Sovereign Lord of the universe. “Listen, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) Christ Jesus as the Word was a spirit creation and came to earth in obedience to his Father’s will. He is in subjection to Jehovah. “But when all things will have been subjected to him [Christ], then the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone.”​—1 Corinthians 15:28; see also Matthew 24:36; Mark 12:29; John 1:1-3, 14-18; Colossians 1:15-20.

The holy spirit is God’s active force, or energy in action, not a person.​—Acts 2:1-4, 17, 18.

Question: Do Jehovah’s Witnesses worship or venerate idols?

Answer: Jehovah’s Witnesses do not practice any form of idolatry, whether it involves idols, persons, or organizations.

“We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even though there are those who are called ‘gods,’ whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords,’ there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him.”​—1 Corinthians 8:4-6; see also Psalm 135:15-18.

Question: Do Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrate Mass or Communion?

Answer: Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in transubstantiation, a Roman Catholic teaching. They do celebrate the Lord’s Evening Meal on the date corresponding to the Jewish Nisan 14 (usually in March or April) as an annual memorial of Christ’s death. At this meeting they pass around the congregation unleavened bread and red wine in symbol of Christ’s sinless body and sacrificial blood. Only those with the hope of reigning with Christ in his heavenly Kingdom partake of the emblems.​—Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:29; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Revelation 14:1-5.e

[Pictures]

Jehovah’s Witnesses meet regularly in Kingdom Halls for Bible study

Kingdom Halls: Ichihara City, Japan (previous page), and Boituva, Brazil

[Footnotes]