Who are the Jehovah's Witnesses and what are their beliefs?

The sect known today as the Jehovah's Witnesses started out in
Pennsylvania in 1870 as a Bible class led by Charles Taze Russell.
Russell named his group the "Millennial Dawn Bible Study." Charles T.
Russell began writing a series of books he called "The Millennial
Dawn," which stretched to six volumes before his death and contained
much of the theology Jehovah's Witnesses now hold. After Russell's
death in 1916, Judge J. F. Rutherford, Russell's friend and successor,
wrote the seventh and final volume of the "Millennial Dawn" series,
"The Finished Mystery," in 1917. The Watchtower Bible and Tract
Society was founded in 1886 and quickly became the vehicle through
which the "Millennial Dawn" movement began distributing their views to
others. The group was known as the "Russellites" until 1931 when, due
to a split in the organization, it was renamed the "Jehovah's
Witnesses." The group from which it split became known as the "Bible
students."

What do Jehovah's Witnesses believe? Close scrutiny of their doctrinal
position on such subjects as the deity of Christ, salvation, the
Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and the atonement shows beyond a doubt that
they do not hold to orthodox Christian positions on these subjects.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus is Michael the archangel, the
highest created being. This contradicts many Scriptures which clearly
declare Jesus to be God (John 1:1,14, 8:58, 10:30). Jehovah's
Witnesses believe salvation is obtained by a combination of faith,
good works, and obedience. This contradicts countless scriptures which
declare salvation to be received by grace through faith (John 3:16;
Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). Jehovah's Witnesses reject the Trinity,
believing Jesus to be a created being and the Holy Spirit to
essentially be the inanimate power of God. Jehovah's Witnesses reject
the concept of Christ's substitutionary atonement and instead hold to
a ransom theory, that Jesus' death was a ransom payment for Adam's
sin.

How do the Jehovah's Witnesses justify these unbiblical doctrines?
First, they claim that the church has corrupted the Bible over the
centuries; thus, they have re-translated the Bible into what they call
the New World Translation. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
altered the text of the Bible to make it fit their false doctrine,
rather than basing their doctrine on what the Bible actually teaches.
The New World Translation has gone through numerous editions, as the
Jehovah's Witnesses discover more and more Scriptures that contradict
their doctrines.

The Watchtower bases its beliefs and doctrines on the original and
expanded teachings of Charles Taze Russell, Judge Joseph Franklin
Rutherford, and their successors. The governing body of the Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society is the only body in the cult that claims
authority to interpret Scripture. In other words, what the governing
body says concerning any scriptural passage is viewed as the last
word, and independent thinking is strongly discouraged. This is in
direct opposition to Paul's admonition to Timothy (and to us as well)
to study to be approved by God, so that we need not be ashamed as we
correctly handle the Word of God. This admonition, found in 2 Timothy
2:15, is a clear instruction from God to each of His children to be
like the Berean Christians, who searched the Scriptures daily to see
if the things they were being taught lined up with the Word.

There is probably no religious group that is more faithful than the
Jehovah's Witnesses at getting their message out. Unfortunately, the
message is full of distortions, deceptions, and false doctrine. May
God open the eyes of the Jehovah's Witnesses to the truth of the
gospel and the true teaching of God's Word.