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The most distinctive of the Witnesses' sacred stories is the one concerning the Battle of Armageddon, which the Witnesses call Har-magedon. This great cosmic battle began in heaven in 1914, and its conclusion is very near.

The Witnesses' personal name for God is the distinctive "Jehovah," which is the movement's transliteration of the tetragrammaton, or the name God spoke from the burning bush in Exodus. Jesus is not God incarnate, but is God's only son.

Human nature is universally sinful, because all humans inherit the original sin of Adam and Eve. That sin was disobedience to God. Jesus' sacrificial death redeems all those who believe, and saves them from death.

Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Satan is the source of all evil, and is spiritually present among humans, seducing them with such evils as pornography and violence. We can protect ourselves through prayer, Bible study, and associating with good people.

Witnesses teach that the dead are completely unconscious, but that the great majority of the dead will be resurrected to live in an earthly paradise. A handful of others, 144,000 in total, are anointed to rule with God in heaven.