Disfellowshipped and disassociated individuals may eventually be reinstated if deemed repentant. Baptized individuals who formally leave are considered disassociated and are also shunned. Congregational disciplinary actions include disfellowshipping, their term for formal expulsion and shunning, a last resort for what they consider serious offenses. They consider human society to be morally corrupt and under the influence of Satan, and most limit their social interaction with non-Witnesses. Adherents commonly refer to their body of beliefs as "The Truth" and consider themselves to be "in the Truth". They prefer to use their own Bible translation, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, although their literature occasionally quotes and cites other Bible translations.
They do not observe Christmas, Easter, birthdays or other holidays and customs they consider to have pagan origins incompatible with Christianity. They reject Trinitarianism, inherent immortality of the soul, and hellfire, which they consider to be unscriptural doctrines. They consider the use of God's name vital for proper worship. Jehovah's Witnesses are known for their door-to-door preaching, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake!, and for refusing military service and blood transfusions. Rutherford made significant organizational and doctrinal changes, including adoption of the name Jehovah's witnesses in 1931 to distinguish them from other Bible Student groups and symbolize a break with the legacy of Russell's traditions. A leadership dispute after Russell's death resulted in several groups breaking away, with Joseph Franklin Rutherford retaining control of the Watch Tower Society and its properties. The group emerged from the Bible Student movement founded in the late 1870s by Charles Taze Russell, who also co-founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in 1881 to organize and print the movement's publications. They believe that the destruction of the present world system at Armageddon is imminent, and the establishment of God's kingdom over earth is the only solution for all problems faced by humanity. The denomination is directed by a group of elders in Warwick, New York, United States, known as the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, which establishes all doctrines based on its interpretations of the Bible. As of 2022, the group reported a worldwide membership of approximately 8.5 million adherents involved in evangelism, with 19.7 million attending the annual Memorial of Christ's death. Jehovah's Witnesses is a nontrinitarian millenarian restorationist Christian denomination.
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