Kingdom Ministry, “Harmonizing Our Employment with ‘Love of Neighbor’”
“If a dedicated, baptized Christian finds himself working in such an objectionable type of employment, he should arrange within a reasonable time, perhaps three months, to find other employment that would not be out of harmony with the requirements of the Scriptures for Christian living. On the other hand, if after such time period he would decide to remain in the objectionable employment, it would be necessary for the congregation to take action and expel the individual from the congregation.”
The congregation newsletter extends the 1973 tobacco ruling to employment: tobacco farmers, shop owners who stock tobacco, salesmen and factory workers are given about three months to change their work. It sets out how tobacco allotments, tenancies, partnerships and signed contracts are to be handled, and says growing tobacco ‘is as objectionable as using tobacco personally’.
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Provenance and verification note for Kingdom Ministry, Harmonizing Our Employment with ‘Love of Neighbor’
Confidence note. Article opened on the Watchtower Online Library on 19 September 2026 and read in full. The quoted paragraph sits between the page 4 and page 5 markers, so the page is 4; the article runs pp. 3-6.
Corroborated by. src-chg-p-jv-1993-ch13-tobacco
Notes. The same article lists gambling, producing idolatrous objects, work contrary to Isaiah 2:4, producing Christmas goods and employment by ‘Babylon the Great’ as other kinds of work that could lead to removal from the congregation.
Accessed. 19 September 2026 · Source ID. src-chg-p-km-1974-02-employment-tobacco