Bridge of Reason

  The Watch Tower Society identify their followers as Jehovah’s Witnesses. By what name did early Christians identify themselves? Were they known as ‘Jehovah’s,’ or ‘Jehovah’s Witnesses’? Even Jehovah’s Witnesses admit, ‘ We simply do not know how God’s ancient servants pronounced this name in Hebrew,’ saying their pronunciation is mere convention. - The Divine Name in Hebrew Scriptures . See also The Name: it isn't Jehovah  on the Reachout website. If it’s so very important, why hasn’t the pronunciation been preserved, alongside the name? Followers of the Way The earliest Jesus followers were followers of ‘the Way.’ Paul, in his defence before the governor Felix, confessed to being one of their number (Acts 24:14; cf. Acts 9:1,2; 19:9,23; 22:4;24:22) This name and title comes from Jesus’ own teaching, ‘I am the Way…’ (John 14:6) The Bible tells us, ‘in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.’ (Acts 11:26) This reflects their beginning to have a distinct identi...

  On their website the Watch Tower asks, 'Is it Necessary to Belong to an Organised Religion? In  Reasoning from the Scriptures ( pp. 283/4 ) Jehovah's Witnesses offer seven characteristics that identify Jehovah's organisation: (1) It truly exalts Jehovah as the only true God, magnifying his name.—Matt. 4:10; John 17:3. (2) It fully recognizes the vital role of Jesus Christ in Jehovah’s purpose—as the vindicator of Jehovah’s sovereignty, the Chief Agent of life, the head of the Christian congregation, the ruling Messianic King.—Rev. 19:11-13; 12:10; Acts 5:31; Eph. 1:22, 23. (3) It adheres closely to God’s inspired Word, basing all its teachings and standards of conduct on the Bible.—2 Tim. 3:16, 17. (4) It keeps separate from the world.—Jas. 1:27; 4:4. (5) It maintains a high level of moral cleanness among its members, because Jehovah himself is holy.—1 Pet. 1:15, 16; 1 Cor. 5:9-13. (6) It devotes its principal efforts to doing the work that the Bible foretold...

Someone over at Quora asked this question and I was curious to know the answer. The reply on Quora, from an inactive Witness with a still faithful family, talks about video conferencing among other things. The Memorial Meal, where gathering was prohibited, took place online, with a leader giving the talk on Zoom. They made bread according to the prescribed recipe, had some wine, and afterwards threw it away in the kitchen bin I imagine. It will come as no surprise to find everyone dressed for this as though they were going to the Kingdom Hall, even though they were at home. The door-to-door work and the cart witnessing are cancelled of course. However, undaunted, they have resorted to telephone witnessing, calling back their call backs on the phone. Some are letter writing, again no surprise given the way the Society can marshal their army of members to mass produce letters of protest at the drop of a hat, clogging up the already burdened mailing system. You can r ead more here. ...