by sweetstuff 67 Replies latest jw friends
Lies and duress - that says it. I recognize that I was stupid and vulnerable.
Anyway, I was baptized in 1965, at age 17. The baptism vow was different then. So hasn't it been invalidated by the borg anyway? Shouldn't people who were baptized back then have to be redunked under the more recent dedication to the organization requirement?
Regards,
SandraC
I learned early in life to read the fine print in anything written that I sign.
People hate it when they say, "Just sign here." I slow down the entire
process because I read and ask questions.
I guess I was taken by the cult. I got up there and said "Yes" to a couple
of questions without really researching the entire thing.
Physically saying "yes" is not really much of a contract. Besides, there
really isn't any permant clause in the verbal agreement. You meant it
then, but it is no longer applicable.
This is one of those debates that gets silly. It's just semantics to
argue over "recognizing" the baptism. Nobody is pretending it didn't
happen. We are just deciding whether it was binding or still is.
The vast majority understand that it is not binding, so we decide
what this huge mistake in our past means to us, personally.
I think the thread is good, the answers should be personal and
not a call on what others should recognize about their own past.
Absolutley not. I had no choice but to get baptised. My father was an alcoholic, bitter ex MS, my mother a self righteous religious nut.
I had to get away! The only way to do this was to get baptised and get married quick sharp.
My baptism meant nothing to me, only freedon from the hell of home life!
Shell
This is the deal at baptism: You have to give up your whole life. You have to spend all day distributing Puketower literature. You have to give up a decent job and education. You cannot have any fun. You cannot later decide to do something with your life, ever. You are expected to devote as much time as they feel you can in the field misery. You are accountable for anyone that gets left behind because you miss a number or you didn't feel like staying out past 8 or 9 PM instead of noon one day or because you didn't feel like giving up your job. Anything that is fun is off limits.
And what does Jehovah have to do in exchange for all this? Exist. That's His "end" of the deal. He owes you nothing, even though He can prevent you from ever fulfilling your hopes and desires that He made you with. He doesn't even owe you getting out of your way to fulfill your own dreams! All He has to do is exist.
What kind of fxxxing deal is that? I, for one, do not see any value whatsoever in fulfilling my end of the deal, since Jehovah doesn't even owe me life itself! I could do all the things I am "supposed" to do, only to have Jehovah decide I could put in one more yoctosecond (a septillionth of a second) in the misery and destroy me for that. Or, I could get in only to find nothing but celibacy and stagnation and Jehovah angrily crying out that I ought to be thankful for the "privilege" of just getting in.
As a result, my dedication and baptism have been officially revoked. I will not go out in the field misery. I will not go to the boasting sessions, ever. I will continue celebrating holidays despite their insistence that these are wrong. I will not give a fxxx if people die because I did not go out in service instead of staying home to light my "sun-worship" tree or put up apostate posts and blogs online.
A warning to any family or group that thinks they can recapture me and force me to do Jehovah's will: I promise to make your life as miserable as I can. You better hope you don't have a computer because I will leave every apostate Web site open that I can access. If you entrust me with literature to place, you had better make sure to watch me every second because I will attempt to write apostate Web site links in every tract and magazine I can. You had better watch your car, because I will try to remove and hide the spark plug so you will not be able to attend the boasting sessions, making especially sure to sabotage your attendance at the Crapmorial. And, if I am taken on a call that's within reasonable distance from my real home, I will pull out my copy of Crisis of Conscience and my Ouija board and take these with me in service. Hopefully I will be able to stumble the whole group out of the Tower. Failing that, I will (and I promise) to bring in as many demons as I can into your group.
Yes, I do. I dedicated myself unreservedly to the Most High God to do His will, and symbolized that dedication by undergoing water baptism on October 13, 1974.
I affirmed that I would continue to seek His will under the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit. Well, the Holy Spirit has enlightened me to the true nature of the WTS. That is why I have obeyed the call to COME OUT OF HER!
Snowbird
No, I do not recognize my "baptism". I underwent "water immersion" in 1953 when I was a lad of 18. I do not recognize it as a valid baptism since it was not actually dedicated to God but to the "new world society" instead. But still, it was not until the 1980's that I started questioning the validity of the Society and it was still years afterwards that I officially broke free, but I still feel the affects daily and so does my family of which many are still inside the Tower.
Outrageous promises were made by both parties. Neither party kept their promises. What are they going to do, sue me? They defaulted on their promises as much as I did. I don't lose sleep over it. I hope God and the WTS don't either.
No.
When asked the two questions from the platform to the group I didn't say yes. I let 5 of friends from my cong get in line ahead of me, wanting to back out.
I was also 12 - too young to have a supposedly be able to decide anything else for myself, but they encouraged me to make a contract with GOD that and if I broke anything the WTBS said I would be condemed to die? Then why couldn't I decide whatever else I wished to do since EVERYTHING else should have paled in comparison?
Don't get me wrong I SO wanted to do the right thing, to make my mom proud, to be accepted. We had 19 of us kids baptised at that assembly - our cong was #1 in numbers for that. It was also something they boasted about, which I thought real strange. There we so many of us we had the question and answer sessions for baptism conducted like a bible study group. We took turns each reading the answers from the book. The youngest by the way that day was ****5**** years old. I wonder how they got educated answers on loose conduct with that wee girl. She probably couldn't even sensibly choose her wardrobe daily. And Jesus waited until he was 30? The Son of the Almighty God was 30 - and here we kids were choosing a cult that would RULE every fiber of thought, action, and well-being in our lives.
I was SO scared if I didn't get baptized I'd die since I "knew" the truth. That was drilled into my head all the time. *sighs*
Which reminds me also of my cousin who got baptised to avoid military service (he went to prison) but a few years later got re-baptised because he got "baptised for the wrong reasons the first time". So if we think our first baptism was not valid God overlooks it and erases it? I thought it was a thing once done it was a non-negotiagble contract. Any thoughts?
The elders NEVER knew I didn't aswer yes - I wonder if I didn't even have to go through all those JC meetings Inquistions after all if they had known that. Any formers elders know?
*ponders*
This is the deal at baptism: You have to give up your whole life. You have to spend all day distributing Puketower literature. You have to give up a decent job and education. You cannot have any fun. You cannot later decide to do something with your life, ever . You are expected to devote as much time as they feel you can in the field misery. You are accountable for anyone that gets left behind because you miss a number or you didn't feel like staying out past 8 or 9 PM instead of noon one day or because you didn't feel like giving up your job. Anything that is fun is off limits.
And what does Jehovah have to do in exchange for all this? Exist. That's His "end" of the deal. He owes you nothing, even though He can prevent you from ever fulfilling your hopes and desires that He made you with. He doesn't even owe you getting out of your way to fulfill your own dreams! All He has to do is exist.
What kind of f xxx ing deal is that ? I, for one, do not see any value whatsoever in fulfilling my end of the deal, since Jehovah doesn't even owe me life itself! I could do all the things I am "supposed" to do, only to have Jehovah decide I could put in one more yoctosecond (a septillionth of a second) in the misery and destroy me for that. Or, I could get in only to find nothing but celibacy and stagnation and Jehovah angrily crying out that I ought to be thankful for the "privilege" of just getting in.
As a result, my dedication and baptism have been officially revoked. I will not go out in the field misery. I will not go to the boasting sessions, ever. I will continue celebrating holidays despite their insistence that these are wrong. I will not give a f xxx if people die because I did not go out in service instead of staying home to light my "sun-worship" tree or put up apostate posts and blogs online.
A warning to any family or group that thinks they can recapture me and force me to do Jehovah's will: I promise to make your life as miserable as I can. You better hope you don't have a computer because I will leave every apostate Web site open that I can access. If you entrust me with literature to place, you had better make sure to watch me every second because I will attempt to write apostate Web site links in every tract and magazine I can. You had better watch your car, because I will try to remove and hide the spark plug so you will not be able to attend the boasting sessions, making especially sure to sabotage your attendance at the Crapmorial. And, if I am taken on a call that's within reasonable distance from my real home, I will pull out my copy of Crisis of Conscience and my Ouija board and take these with me in service. Hopefully I will be able to stumble the whole group out of the Tower. Failing that, I will (and I promise) to bring in as many demons as I can into your group.
OUUCCHHH. JEEEZZZ, THAT'S WHAT I CALL BITTERNESS. NOT THAT I BLAME YOU. BUT, HOW COME YOU ARE SO MAD AT GOD HIMSELF? I ASK YOU IN A CURIOUS WAY. I AM READING A BOOK CALLED "God is not great", by Christopher Hitchens, AND WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT WAY. I AM WRITING MY THOUGHTS ON MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND ALSO LIKE TO KNOW WHY OTHER PEOPLE THINK THE WAY THEY DO, CERTAINLY YOURS IS VERY INTERESTING. DO YOU HAVE YOUR STORY IN HERE SOMEWHERE WHERE I CAN READ IT?
Whatever contract or agreement is made on the basis of a deception is null and void from the start, it's a joke that anyone would hold himself to honouring an agreement with an elaborate hoax like the WTS religion or cult. The whole thing is nothing but a concoction of lies from start to finish.
