Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, “Chapter 14: “They Are No Part of the World””
“During the war years, the circumstances into which individual Bible Students were thrust varied. The way they dealt with these situations also varied. Feeling obligated to obey “the powers that be,” as they referred to the secular rulers, some went into the trenches at the front with guns and bayonets. … Though Jehovah’s Witnesses quickly discerned some issues that involve a Christian’s relationship to the world, other matters required more time. However, as World War II gathered momentum in Europe, a significant article in The Watchtower of November 1, 1939, helped them to appreciate the meaning of Christian neutrality.”
The organisation’s own history of the First World War records that Bible Students took different courses, some bearing arms while firing into the air, others refusing all military service and going to prison. It dates the settled understanding of neutrality to the article of 1 November 1939.
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Provenance and verification note for Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, Chapter 14: “They Are No Part of the World”
Confidence note. Chapter opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026. The first passage follows the page 191 marker and the second precedes the page 194 marker; the two are joined here by an ellipsis. The Watchtower of 1 November 1939 was not opened: it is not on the Watchtower Online Library, which begins in 1950.
Corroborated by. src-chg-p-idx-beliefs-clarified-1930-1985
Notes. The organisation’s index lists ‘1939, neutrality’ among the beliefs clarified, citing The Watchtower of 1939, pages 323-333.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-p-jv-1993-ch14-neutrality