The Jehovah's Witnesses as a faith, began sometime in 1879. The original founder of the organization was Charles Taze Russell. Russell was born in 1852 and while still a young man, began to develop a terrible fear of hell. At age 17, Russell got into a long conversation with a man who denied the existence of hell. Russell believed the man was right.
At age 18, Russell ended up in a church where the 2nd coming of Christ was being discussed. Russell became interested in when Christ would come and started studying the Bible. Soon after, he believed he had it figured out.
Russell published a pamphlet called, The Object and Manner of the Lord's Return. This pamphlet was a lengthy, complicated, and incorrect interpretation of completely unrelated verses combined with an intricate method of computing time. The end result of the work he put into these time frame calculations was that Christ would return in the year 1874.
Needless to say, his theory was incorrect. When it didn't happen then, Russell changed his story and said he would come back in 1914. Also when Christ came back, he said it would be a spiritual 2nd coming, meaning we wouldn't see him. This additional belief was most likely tacked on to make sure he wouldn't have to change his date once again when nothing happened in 1914.
In 1874, Russell became a pastor of a Bible class that he had been teaching for 4 years. This event was the real start of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Note the year, 1874, a new religion starts and is somehow the only true religion. Hard to believe? Exactly.
In 1879, Russell started publishing the magazine, "Zion's watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence". This step proved very helpful in expanding the Jehovah's Witness movement. By the year 1880 there were 30 new congregations in 7 states. By 1881, Zion's Watchtower and Tract Society established themselves and it was chartered in 1884. The Jehovah's Witness religion was now official.
In 1912, a Baptist pastor by the name of Rev. J.J. Ross spoke out against Russell in a pamphlet. Once Russell found out about this, he immediately sued Ross. While on the witness stand, Russell was caught in a couple of lies. He was asked whether or not he knew Greek, the original language of the New Testament. He answered, "Oh, yes," but later when he was asked to read some Greek letters he admitted that he in fact, did not know Greek. Also, Russell claimed to be an ordained minister, but under oath he admitted that he was never actually ordained by anyone.
And these are just the lies that we know about. How many more would have surfaced if Russell were examined closer? Are these huge offenses? Not really, but this type of willful perjury does not speak well for the founder of "the only true religion".
I am not implying that all Jehovah's Witnesses have inherited the deceitful characteristic that Russell had (directly), but it would be nice if the founder of the "God's organization" was himself, an honest man. Come to think of it, it would give me better peace of mind as a Jehovah's Witness to know that I didn't have to wonder if what I was being told today was a lie or not. Because if Russell found it acceptable to break the law and lie in court, how much more comfortable was he with lying to his own congregation?
After Russell died in 1916, Joseph Franklin Rutherford A.K.A. "Judge" Rutherford, was elected as the new leader of the Jehovah's Witness movement. Rutherford picked Brooklyn, New York as the headquarters for the Watchtower organization and the Jehovah's Witness faith grew faster than it did under Russell.
Once Rutherford died on January 8, 1942, Nathan Horner Knorr became the next president of the organization. Unlike the first two presidents, Knorr was quiet and tried to stay out of publicity as much as possible. Under Knorr's leadership, a new emphasis was placed on training programs for Witnesses. A new translation of the Bible was also put out called The New World Translation of the Christian Scriptures.
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