by Bumble Bee 20 Replies latest jw friends
The day you are baptized as a JW is supposed to be one of the most important days of your life. If this is so, why don't they present you with a baptism certificate, or something noting the importance of the occasion? I forgot the date of my baptism and had to ask my mom! I had nothing to go back to as a reference.
BB
Hm I've never thought of that. When I got baptised at my church last year I got a baptism certificate which I promptly framed.
Wonder why the society doesn't have certificates for their newly baptised?
Josie
Did Jesus get one?
Nuff said
How do you know he didnt get one?
lol
because if he did the org would never pass up an opportunity like that to make money on baptism certificates.
oops another money making opportunity missed!
I got mine for free
Ah but i bet it doesn't have squeaky clean cheesy looking people cuddling tiger cubs on it
:)
The date is on your publishers record card. You know the cards no one gets to see, except the turd who has to compile the "field service time".
Dismembered
I suspect it has to do with the Watchtower Society not wanting to establish an Agency relationship with JWs. This is to protect them from legal liability should the JW ever get sued while doing JW related activities.
Right now when a JWs is sued as a result of something they did while going door-to-door they Watchtower Society denies any association with the JW. They tell the court that they have no control over what JWs do and that the JW was acting on his own.
Kingdom Ministry of Feb 1989Our Identification as Jehovah’s Witnesses As ministers of the good news, we are known publicly as Jehovah’s Witnesses. Our voluntary participation in the field service is motivated by love of God and neighbor. It is not carried on at the insistence of any man or organization but is according to our God-given commission to preach the "good news" and make disciples. (Matt. 24:14; 28:19, 20) Therefore, publishers do well to avoid representing themselves as agents or representatives of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., or any other corporation used by "the faithful and discreet slave" to advance Kingdom interests.—Matt. 24:45-47.
In case of an accident or an emergency or if problems are encountered while working trailer parks, apartments, or certain other territory, publishers may need some form of personal identification beyond giving their name along with a brief Scriptural explanation of the nature of our religious work. If questioned, or when asked for credentials, baptized publishers may use the identification card (S-65) signed by the presiding overseer, which shows one is preaching the good news of the Kingdom in association with the local congregation named on the card.
A supply of identification cards (S-65), which may be issued to baptized publishers when there is a need, will be included with the annual shipment of congregation forms. If any publishers use a personal name card in connection with their field service activities, they should not print thereon that they are representatives of the Watchtower Society.
Why no baptism certificates?
I think I am in a legal sort of mind.
For most of my life I used my baptismal certificate from when I was baptized as a baby in the United Church. It was often used as a legal document for identification. In fact many churches were the only places of recording births, marriages and deaths.
The WTS does not baptize babies. Therefore any certificate they dispensed most likely could not be used as a legal document in the way most mainstream religions use baptismal certificates as legal documents.
Another aspect of the use baptismal certificates is that since they don't give them out there is no record that the person has to prove their baptism into the society. The only record are the cong records which again would not be legal documents in a court of law. And since the WTS is allergic to providing any type of legal documents that might at some time be used in a future courtcase I can't see one reason they would be wanting to hand them out.
One more issue.
WTS is a business. Business don't usually privide ID papers for their workers.
