by rockkchick30 19 Replies latest jw friends
hi ive been studying for 2 years and i feel really under pressure to make a move and get baptized!!! i attended all meetings and live my life according to the way Jehovah's requests, (as best i can) i feel a bit lost and under pressure!!!
any advice is more than welcome
You wouldn't be talking about stress and pressure if you *wanted* to get baptized. Follow your gut feelings and don't get baptized.
Before making this fateful decision, I highly recommend you thoroughly examine all the information and links on this website www.freeminds.org
You cant begin to imagine the symphony of grief that awaits you should decide to join this "organization"......
Do you really think an organization that has lied and/or been wrong about so many dates in the past (1874, 1914, 1925, 1975 to name only a few) can actually be considered "gods organization?"
Do you honestly believe a "god of love" would tell his followers to let their children die over something as silly as refusing a blood transfusion?
THE WATCHTOWER LIED.......PEOPLE DIED........and millions once living are dead......
Love bombing takes a great effort for people who know nothing about love. They're tired of love bombing you, and they want you to get baptized so they can stop it already!
Seriously, don't give in to pressure. The pressure to "do more" will only increase after baptism, and any "personal interest" they've been showing you will decrease.
W
Trust me, your never going to be happy till you free yourself. Your not baptized so if you do leave there is no reason why people should be funny with you.
Its a lie, God wouldn't condone the covering of abuse, the lies about things and the false prophecies. The bible says itself, no one knows when the hour is coming, so how come the WBT Society have in the past predicted the date?
You can leave and cut your ties and even though its difficult, you sometimes have to lead by example and show those putting you under pressure that life can work without the Society.
You could stop going NOW. Not go to a meeting again and you are without commitment.
hi ive been studying for 2 years and i feel really under pressure to make a move and get baptized!!! i attended all meetings and live my life according to the way Jehovah's requests, (as best i can) i feel a bit lost and under pressure!!!
I know what you're going through. After I became an unbaptized publisher, everyone was pressuring me to get baptized. It was a strange feeling. It was almost as if a stranger was telling me "Go ahead Billy, take the candy. It won't hurt you." I didn't get baptized, and now I'm glad I didn't. If I had, I currently wouldn't be able to speak to my parents because I would have been DFed by now.
If your gut is telling you something's wrong, it's usually right. If this was the one true religion, you'd have no doubts about getting baptized.
If you feel like you are being pressured, TELL THEM SO. If you aren't ready to take that step, you aren't ready, plain and simple.
If you were dating someone and they started pressuring you to get married, you would know that something just wasn't right. A person who really loved you and cared about you would not pressure you. They would wait until you were sure and were ready to make such a huge commitment.
Women who have been abused by their husbands are often surprised at how quickly the guy changed from "romantic" to abusive as soon as the ring was on their finger. They are misled into believing that "pressure" to get married is a sign of deep love and devotion, when in reality it is a control tactic.
Just so you know, JWs will do and say whatever they need to do in order to lead someone to get baptized. Once you are baptized, though, expect that the friendships will cool off while they move on to their next recruiting target.
Why don't you take a vacation for a few weeks from going to the meetings, etc. and see how they treat you when you do that. You aren't under any obligation to go to all the meetings - you aren't baptized - maybe tell them that you want to discuss this very important decision with your family. Watch how they react. They will probably tell you that it's a bad idea, and that your family will try to stop you. What they are trying to do is come between you and the people who love you unconditionally and truly care about your well-being. JWs, on the other hand, only care about you on the condition that you attend all the meetings and go door-to-door and do everything that the WTS instructs you to do.
Just don't feel that you HAVE to get baptized. You don't. This is YOUR life. It's YOUR relationship with god. It's YOUR decision. Don't let anyone pressure you into it.
Jesus followed the bible for thirty years before getting baptized. You should NEVER do anything due to feeling pressure. If YOU want to do it for YOURSELF then do it. If not, put it off.
DON't DO IT
Dismembered
I wasn't going to say this earlier, but I decided that you need to know about the mindset of JWs toward their Bible Studies™.
To them, getting someone to start a Bible Study™ with them is quite an accomplishment. They get to report it on their monthly Field Service Report™, and the statistics are compiled by the congregation and forwarded to the WT headquarters. It gives them some status among other JWs to have their very own Bible Study™.
The next step in the process is to get their Bible Study™ to attend Meetings™. Usually they'll start by inviting them to the Public Talk™ on Sundays. After a while, they start wanting you to stay for the Watchtower Study™. Still later on, they invite you to the Book Study™ in someone's home. Later still, they invite you to the Ministry School™ and Service Meeting™. Eventually, they will invite you to join them in going Door-to-Door™. This slow process of induction into the group by gradual increments is leading the potential recruit to their ultimate goal: Getting them BAPTIZED.
Each step along the way gives the JW leading your Bible Study™ a little bit more status - even if it is only in their own mind. They believe that having someone Study™ with them is evidence of Jehovah's Blessing™ on THEM, not on you. Getting you to the point of baptism is like receiving a trophy for them. Notice how they introduce you to other JWs. Do they say, "This is my friend, rockkchick"? Or do they say "This is my Bible Study™, rockkchick"?
They are pressuring you because you are not going along with the expected agenda - they want you to be their "trophy".
