Jehovas Witness Online

By Susan Field

Although they are devout Christians, Sunday was just another day for Ryan and Jessica Knight.

Ditto for Chelsey and Brock Gietzen, and Sean and Kelsey Szukhent.

Ryan, Chelsey and Sean don’t set aside one day to worship Jesus.

As Jehovah’s Witnesses, they study the Bible deeply and live every day of their lives as the Bible instructs.

Major decisions are brought about through prayer, and they don’t simply read the Bible.

They study it, and reflect on its teachings through deep thought, and apply the teachings to their lives.

An often misunderstood religion, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in Jesus and God (Jehovah), and follow God’s teachings but do not celebrate religious holidays or birthdays.

Instead, Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrate milestones like anniversaries and graduations.

One of the reasons they don’t celebrate Christmas is because Dec. 25 is not the birthdate of the historical Jesus.

In fact, according to Jehovah’s Witnesses belief, Jesus’ birth date can’t be narrowed down to any specific date but can be estimated counting back from the day of his death when he was 33 1/2 years old, Ryan said. Continued...

Sean added that Jesus’ birthday is not in the Bible, and that Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t recognize the date because of that.

Chelsey said Dec. 25 being recognized as the birth day of Jesus came from the Pagan tradition of the birth date being near the winter solstice.

Pagans worshiped the sun God and tried to convince Christians to observe their tradition by telling them it was Jesus’ birthday, she said.

A misconception about the religion is that Jehovah’s Witnesses altered teachings in the Bible, but Suzukhent said the religion translated the words to modern English so it could be more easily understood.

Another misconception is that Jehovah’s Witnesses go door to door to try to convert others to the religion.

That isn’t true, Ryan said.

They do so with the hope of encouraging others to read the Bible and understand it, Ryan said.

“We don’t coerce,” she said. “We share.

“It’s a command from Jesus.”

Sean and Ryan, along with their wives, are members of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Mt. Pleasant. Continued...

Chelsey and her husband are members of the Kingdom Hall in Remus.

Being a member of a non-traditional Christian religion is their way of live, and Chelsey knows that others might at times not understand.

Jesus was not loved by everyone, she said, so it stands to reason that some of his followers would be treated the same way.

Sean said some don’t think Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in God, but that’s not the case.

They don’t believe the Holy Trinity is one deity and that Jesus is God’s son and is a separate entity.

While believers of other Christian religions celebrate the holiday, Chelsey, Ryan and Sean, and their families sometimes take the time off to go on vacation.

This year, Christmas was just a typical Sunday.