Freshman Selah Clasen is part of a religion called Jehovah’s Witnesses. Being a part of it means sharing the religion with others and spreading the kindness in their community. Her religion has a great impact on her life.

Jehovah’s Witnesses is a Christian religion that is non-trinitarian, and is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination. Their god is Jehovah, the God of the Bible and creator of all things. There are only around 0.8 percent of the United States population that share in the religion Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Clasen’s religion is very important to her. She wants people to know about her religion and that everyone is welcome into their community. She feels that her faith gives her a purpose in life.

“To be one of Jehovah’s witnesses means that I am one of the 8.5 million Christian people around the world from 967 languages and different ethnic backgrounds that share a common goal. That goal being worshiping Jehovah the god of the bible (psalms 83:18) the creator of all things. As Christians, we follow the examples and teachings of Jesus Christ and strive to be honest, peaceful, law abiding citizens. We follow Jesus’s example and regularly spend time helping people learn about the bible and what it teaches. Because we ‘witness’ or ‘talk’ about Jehovah God and his kingdom we are known as Jehovah’s witnesses,” Clasen said.

Clasen’s friend, sophomore Madison Grayden, shares her religion and even goes to the same church as her. They go to different services, but they are still able to grow their faith together.

“We are Christians, but we do differ greatly from Christendom. For example, we don’t celebrate pagan holidays, we baptize when we are old enough to understand what we are doing and we also don’t follow their doctrines concerning such things as Hell (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 1 John 5:8) and the Trinity (Deuteronomy 6:4, John 17:3) both of which we disagree with. As far as rules go, we follow the teachings of Christ which include avoiding violence (Psalm 11:5), alcoholism (Galatians 5:21), and blood transfusions (Leviticus 17:14) to name a few. It’s important to me because it gives my life a sense of purpose and because it’s a refreshing contrast from the rest of Christendom. I think people should also know that we welcome people of all different backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures (Acts 10:34,35),” Grayden said.

Both Clasen and Grayden have had the same French teacher for three years. Though their relationship is no different then any other teacher-student one, Mary Jo Dougherty does know a little about their religion.

“I’ve learned a couple of things from them. You know, I would say that the first time I even knew that that was the case for them, was during somebody’s birthday in class. And so, you know, how we do in class, we stand up and sing to this person in French the Happy Birthday song and they just approached me after class and explained, we just wanted you to know why we weren’t singing, it’s because we don’t we don’t do that in our religion. And I hadn’t experienced that before. So that’s when they told me that they were Jehovah’s Witness’s,” Dougherty said.

Religion is very important to both girls; and Jehovah’s Witnesses is a religion meant to be shared with the world.

“My faith and relationship with Jehovah God has allowed me to have a more positive outlook for my future and that of the whole world. God promises in the bible that he will end all suffering Revelation 21:4 ‘And He will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away,’ And bring peace to the entire earth through his kingdom like commonly said in the Lord’s Prayer. I have experienced a world wide brotherhood traveling to other countries where I meet Witnesses and can have instant friends. We are truly united by our faith,” said Clasen.