Today's Sacred Sunday post is The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses on Pisgah Church Road. In line with their avoidance of religious symbols or iconography of any kind, The Kingdom Hall, featured in this photo has only a sign at the road announcing the gathering place for Witnesses. While on site, we had the good fortunate to speak with one of the elders who answered our questions about his religion.
The religion is relatively new, getting its start in the 1870's with Charles Taze Russell and the Bible Students. They actively evengelize, discussing their beliefs and sharing their publications with all who are interested. The religion is Bible-based with Jehovah, the English translation of God's Biblical name as the focus towards which all worship should be directed. Jehovah Witnesses believe that the last days of the present world order are near. If you want to read more about the religion, much is available on the internet, especially at their Watchtower site and on Wikipedia. The denomination has no paid employees and operates exclusively on volunteerism.
I have a lot of fun with Jehovah Witnesses when they come knocking at my door for most of them know almost nothing about the Bible. They've been proclaiming the end of the world since their inception, but keep changing the date of that event because it never happens when they so predict.
Jehovah is not the "English translation," it is a mistranslation by people who did not know Hebrew. There are other names for God in the Bible, including Elohim, but again they didn't seem to know that. Jehovah is not a legitimate translation in any case. There are no vowels in Hebrew...thus the name is YWHW, often given an English transliteration of Yahweh.
Well, you got me going this morning! :-))
Hope you have a great day and thanks for your kind words on Ocala DP!
Posted by: Jacob | Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 11:49 AM
your composition is very nice and provides interesting angles and colors
Posted by: julie scottsdaledailyphoto.com | Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Interesting post...and interesting comment from Jacob. My brother-in-law was a Jehovah Witness so I've heard lots about that religion first hand. They're great evangelizers. In California, they've converted a lot of hispanics from Catholicism by going door to door. We Catholics should probably do more of that - evangelizing, I mean. Happy Sacred Sunday!
Btw, thanks for the great idea about persimmon pudding. Every year we look for new persimmon recipes.
Posted by: FA | Monday, October 26, 2009 at 12:35 AM