by minimus 48 Replies latest jw friends
I joined willingly, but recently discovered that the entire process is pressure to do so.
Therefore, I challenge any claim that it is purely willingness that causes one to join JW's.
Actually, I wanted to get baptized at 8 but my mother held me back until I was old enough.
How old is "old enough" ? 10 or 11? Maybe 13?
I was pressured.
I kept putting it off. Somehow in my own way of thinking, I thought that maybe I should wait until I was 18 to make such a big decision. But with everyone my age and younger getting baptized, I kept getting more and more pressure from my parents and elders to make my dedication. I finally gave in at the age of 16 and was the last of my age group to do so.
I guess my instinct was right. Making a big decision like that is too much for immature ones.
I'm learning that many of my instincts that I ignored growing up and as a JW adult were more accurate than I would have imagined. If I had listened to my instincts, things would be much different as far as my association with the JW religion went, I'm sure.
I was baptized when I was 15. All my friends and relatives were baptized 2 years before. I was the only one in the group that wasn't baptized. I started hearing comments like, "you won't be considered good association if you aren't baptized", "what if Armageddon comes and you're not baptized", "you won't find a brother to marry you if you're not baptized". I was a good little Witness girl but I definitely felt the pressure. If I hadn't of been pressured I doubt I would have done it that young. After I was baptized I started crying uncontrollably. I don't if it was the reality of the huge commitment I just made finally hitting me or because I felt closer to God. I don't know. All I do know is that I desperately needed a hug and all I got was cold stares. My own mother looked at me like she was embarrassed by my outburst. Another thing I remember, my cousin and my best friend both received gold bracelets with their names and baptism date engraved on them when they got dunked. I really liked the bracelets and was fully expecting to get one. When my day came I didn't get a bracelet, a present, a card or anything. I was pissed!!!
I was 17, but my friends were all baptized at a younger age. They kept giving talks on why wait to be baptized... like some teenagers were putting it off so they could do bad stuff and not be DF... made me feel guilty so I went for it. My parents never pressured me, though.
I knew I'd seen something similar to this before.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/94566/1.ashx
Sylvia
I willingly got baptized in 1970 and my wife in 1971. Our boys were born in 1972 and 1973. 1975 loomed big before us. "The Truth Book" known as "The Blue Bomb" was very persuasive.
It had "The Carrot" and the carrot kept getting bigger and bigger as the years went from 1969 the year I opened that door and started studying until 1975 came and went.
I was thinking of saving my self and my family from "The End" that was to come in 1975. I really did not know Jehovah and had no personal relationship with him. I wanted my family to live forever on a paradise earth. So, I willingly got baptized by the pressure induced from The Truth Book. I was not alone MILLIONS got baptized along with me because of the 1975 teaching that has yet to be fulfilled.
The numbers went up and up and up until 1975 then statred to decline and even out. Still many believe that "The End" is near and willingly submit to baptism. Many have left.
Blueblades
BTW. Mini. Have you had your baptism annulled? I remember that the Watchtower asked us to write a letter to our church asking to have our baptism annulled from the Catholic church which I did at that time.
Now the situation is reversed. Is it worth the bother to ask to have our baptism annulled from the rolls of the Watchtower? I know that an announcement would follow from the platform that so and so is no longer one of Jehovah's Witness. It's been five years since I left the Watchtower by stepping down and doing the fade and finally moving away. I don't think that contacting them is worth the trouble to follow.
As far as I'm concerned my baptism never did count because the Society hid thier past history from me and was not truthful about passed changes that were made concerning the end times and other doctrines. So, I was duped from the get go.
Blueblades
I was 12 and I begged. My parents let me even thought they thought it was a bad idea at that age.
My dad didn't get baptized until he was 25 and so he thought it was a good idea to wait. I found out later that he wasn't allowed to get baptized earlier because he was being molested and they wanted him to repent first.
When I was 13 my dad told me that either I had to get baptized and dedicate my life to Jehovah or find somewhere else to live. So, I got dunked.
nj
I knew I'd seen something similar to this before.
I saw it last week.
