![]() ![]() Witnesses believe that the meal was the annual Jewish Passover celebration, and that it occurred on the fourteenth day of the Hebrew month Nisan, which fell on 7 April in 2020. However, Jesus gave one definite instruction to his disciples: they should continue celebrating the Last Supper – or, as Jehovah’s Witnesses prefer to call it, the Lord’s Evening Meal, or the Memorial – “Keep doing this in remembrance of me” ( Luke 22:19). Witnesses therefore continue, in the meantime, to engage in “informal witnessing”, telephoning acquaintances (but not cold calling), and using electronic media, where possible, and to carry on with Bible instruction that inquirers have requested. Jesus commissioned his disciples to preach the gospel to all and, although they believe that house-to-house evangelism was a first century Christian practice, Jesus’ “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:19) did not specify the precise method of doing so. Jehovah’s Witnesses are committed to obeying civil authorities, unless a state requires them to be disloyal to Jehovah’s laws, as set out in the Bible. Isaiah said that Jehovah’s people would “drink the milk of nations” (Isaiah 60:16), which they interpret as meaning that they can use the benefits of those outside the Society. ![]() Despite their conservative theology, Jehovah’s Witnesses have always been amenable to using the latest technology. The Watch Tower Society is also well prepared technologically, having had an Internet presence since 1997, and offering means of evangelism online, for example their Online Bible Study Course. Now that they are being forced to stay at home rather than leave, some Witnesses jokingly refer to these supplies as their “stay bag”. An article in Awake! magazine recommended that readers should anticipate such emergencies by having a “go bag” ready, containing items such as blankets, warm clothes, a torch, a first aid kit, toilet utensils, and even a face mask. The coronavirus is simply another indication that Armageddon is, as they typically put it, “just around the corner”.īecause Jehovah’s Witnesses expect massive disruptions of these kinds, they are well prepared. Witnesses do not believe that the Bible specifically predicted Covid-19 it is not regarded, for example, as one of the seven plagues mentioned in the Book of Revelation, but they view it as one of several signs of the end, which include war, famine, earthquakes, and “pestilences”, the last of which is taken to mean widespread diseases or epidemics. In accordance with the lockdown that has been imposed by the British government, Witnesses discontinued the practice of holding public meetings in their Kingdom Halls. House-to-house visits were suspended, and literature carts were no longer to be displayed in towns and cities. Jehovah’s Witnesses responded to the coronavirus before government restrictions came into force. ![]()
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