My parents got baptized when I was 10 yo. When I was 18, I was told to get baptized or to leave home. So I got dunked.
If you weren't born in, how did you get in?
by ecuador 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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almostbitten
I'm not a witness, but I got tangled up with them when I asked a friend of mine (who is a Witness) what they believed as I am not the type of person to rant on someone else's religion when I don't even know the facts. This led to a Bible study. I didn't get hooked, but during a study, one lady said that she and her husband became Witnesses (she was unaffiliated, he was Baptist) when he heard that Witnesses didn't really believe in hell and "Why would a loving God torture a person for eternity with hellfire for only about seventy short years of making mistakes." They were sold. FadingAway, I'm like you-- a loner. But the love bombing at the KH and at a convention didn't work. If anything, it's irritating. Hell, anytime you show up at most churches for the first time, people are always schmoozing. Love-fests are definitely NOT a selling point with me.
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independent_tre
Was getting invited to all sorts of places, but now realized they were doing it to count service time.
Sucks doesn't it? It was the same for me when I was studying, until one day 6 months or so down the road, I was running late from work. I called the sister to tell her that I was on my way on the train, but that I'd be about 30 minutes late.
"Oh just forget it!" she said in an irritated tone. "I'll already be done with my time for today."
Hit me like a ton of bricks. We weren't real friends. I was just some time to report.
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DanTheMan
I met a girl at college who had been raised by an on-again, off-again JW mom. At the time, her mom was on, and so was she. I called her one evening and she talked to me about the Witnesses for several hours. I was really floored by her enthusiasm - I had never met a religious person that was so sincere about their faith as she was. We dated for a very short time after that, and during this time she gave me several pieces of JW literature. I wasn't well-read or critically-minded, and I pretty much accepted everything in the publications at face value. I really thought that I had "found the truth" as they say. I immediately started going to the KH, and I just fell in love with it all. The JW's of the Westerville OH congregation were a very friendly bunch, and I felt so welcomed and accepted by them. About a year later I got baptized, but by then doubts had already started to creep in, but I still hung on for another 9 years, ugh. What a weird thing to have in your past.
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purpleplus
Quandry, your experience with the elders is awful!!!! Urghhhh!!! It's a good thing you left after that. After high school I began studying with an acquaintance and attending meetings. I got baptized a couple years later. During that time and shortly thereafter was rock bottom form me. I felt guilty for fooling around with my then boyfriend. But I had since enough not to talk to the elders. There were some family problems as well, how convenient. I bought the whole thing because I was impressed with how much the used the bible compared to the mind-numbing churches I attended (I know not all churches are that way).
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ecuador
Purpleplus, are you attending a church now?
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Solace1998
"and u found literature and on it's own merit u studied? "
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purpleplus
Equador: Nope, but I have made a couple visits. It just so happens that the churches I attended when I was growing up were not what I wanted. That made me easy prey for the WTBTS.
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DJ_Q
I am so sorry for you and your daughter. My brother and I went through a lot of the same things. We were young and we did some stupid things, but nothing major. It always seemed like we were getting counseled for playing sports, or because someone had seen us drop off one of our friends at their house. There never seemed to be any positives, just negatives.
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ecuador
I appreciate the information. I am trying to figure out why an intelligent adult would get involved.