What most people know about Jehovah’s Witnesses is limited — mostly that they cannot celebrate Christmas and they are big on spreading the Word of their religion. Oftentimes the religion is treated as a joke that ignores its beliefs and foundation.

Though there are misconceptions about the church, as there are for almost all religions, some of the more well-known ideas about Jehovah’s Witnesses are true, such as the absence of Christmas, birthdays and other occasions that other branches of Christianity practice.

Nancy Sun, a junior studying biology, identifies as a Jehovah’s Witness. However, Sun said she is not as devout as some and learned recently that her parents identify as atheist. 

“My dad thinks it’s a waste of time,” Sun said. “I found out neither of my parents believed when I eavesdropped on them in high school — the reason they wanted me to be Jehovah’s Witness was because my mother believed these people who were practicing were good and would teach good morals. I guess it was really only for having a good influence.”

Sun explained that, although the idea of not celebrating major Christian holidays might be strange to some, celebrating them would almost be akin to worshiping a false idol and not devoting oneself entirely to the worship of Jehovah.

According to Sun a big problem for her as a Jehovah’s Witness was the lack of a grey area.

“I was annoyed a lot by how inflexible the rules are,” Sun said.

Among the guidelines followed by Jehovah’s Witnesses is the rejection of blood transfusions. Many view transfusions as tainting the body. They believe that it is better to die pure than to be tainted. According to Sun, other guidelines include the denial of organ donation and transplantation, no performing or receiving abortions and no dating as a teenager.

“We also don’t believe in the cross,” Sun said. “I asked my Bible teacher once, and she said it’s bad to relate the cross to Jesus and that he died on a pole with his hands above him.”

According to Sun Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate anything that doesn’t have a biblical foundation. The only exception is the celebration of marriage anniversaries because it is considered as a sacred practice. 

Sun’s practice as a Jehovah’s Witness started long before she came to college. At the age of five, Sun moved from China to the United States. It was a few years later that she began to learn about the religion. She remembers going to what she described as “vaguely Christian churches” as a child, and getting more involved with the religion as she got older.

“I started Bible lessons when I was about 10-years-old, and I had a textbook that was in companionship with the Bible and basically said what to take away, all of the lessons were backed up by scripture,” Sun said.

Sun’s mother was the only person who ever learned along with her, with Sun receiving her lessons immediately before her mother.

Sun said she treated her Bible lessons and religious studies much like another class — she didn’t apply the lessons, and just did the “homework” for it, which included studying both the Old and New Testament.

“I took Bible lessons until my sophomore year of high school, but then I had to study for the SATs,” Sun said.

Before she ended her Bible lessons, Sun said she had questions about the attitudes of the religion, especially as it pertained to the LGBT community.

“I actually didn’t think LGBT people existed, which is funny coming from a bisexual person,” Sun said.

Sun asked her Bible teacher at one point how the Witnesses felt about the LGBT community and was told that Jehovah’s Witnesses love the LGBT community and its members, but they disapprove of what they do.

“It took me a few years, but I realized that being gay isn’t a hobby, and I realized that we disapprove of what they do but what they do is what they live,” Sun said.

According to Sun, it wasn’t just the attitude toward the LGBT community that pushed her away from attending services. There was a lot of pressure associated with what she describes as the top goal of a Jehovah’s Witness: to spread the Word as much as possible.

“Our number one priority is saving as many people as possible,” Sun said. “It was way too much responsibility. I was a freshman in high school — I couldn’t even drive yet.”

According to Sun, the doctrine of the Witness says that when the world ends, Jehovah’s followers and others who have not heard the Word will be given a second chance.

Sun explained that there is no belief in hell. However, if a person is not saved, he or she will just rot in the ground. After the followers of Jehovah and those who have not heard the Word are given their second chances, there will come a time when there is a second cleansing of followers to remove those who do not believe or accept the teachings of Jehovah.

“I feel I did a pretty altruistic thing in not spreading the Word at all — if you aren’t taught the Word, you still have a second chance,” Sun said.

Her decision not to teach others about her religion occurred early in high school, coinciding with her realization that she was bisexual. At that point, she was still deeply immersed in the religion, and even now she would identify herself as a Jehovah’s Witness.

“I feel it’s healthy to question your own religion and to not blindly accept the doctrine you are taught,” Sun said. “Some things [from Jehovah’s Witness] stuck, and I learned good morals — it definitely was not a waste of time.”

• ‘Faith is a house with many rooms’: Why we decided to talk about religion
• Religious practices change with generation, culture
• Religious organizations on campus
• Celebrating Diwali and still making it to class
• Christian Science and the ‘power of prayer’
• Religion professors strive to teach neutrality, understanding of other religions
• COLUMN: Terrorism has no religion
• COLUMN: A world at war: the danger of attacking religious freedom
• COLUMN: The nine universal vices and virtues