Why were you baptized?

bluecanary

Inspired by another thread.

I was baptized at 12 years old. I had a cousin, two years older than me, who was prettier, more outgoing and more popular in the hall than I was. I couldn't beat her at any of that stuff, but I figured I could be a better JW than she was. One day in service, an older sister asked her if she was going through the baptismal questions. No, but I anounced loudly that I was. Not one to be beat, she immediately started the questions and we got baptized on the same day, though I was nervous enough to hang at the back of the line with the other girls, and she raced to the front of the line so she could get baptized first.

You can see how valid it is for a 12 year old to make such a life-altering vow.

Why were YOU baptized?

loosie

No one will marry you if you aren't baptized. So I got baptized at 21, married at 24. I was an old maid in my congregations. The average age for getting married was 19.

lancelink

I wanted to keep my drug-using, alcoholic, religiously hypocritical friends in the congregation.

After i was baptised we called ourselves the "evil jw's.

God, what a bunch of morons we were, and the elders always thought we were so "spiritually mature"

Kahlua

I was also 12 and have no idea what possessed me. Guess it was what everyone else was doing at the time.

That was about 1961 I think - before all the questions.

wizardca

I was 16 and believed what I was taught...and thought it was expected of me. I do remember at the time thinking it was a bit...odd that my JW mom questioned me wanting to make sure that's what I wanted to do. If I only knew then how I would feel about it now.

leavingwt

I was baptized at age 15, out of fear of dying at Armageddon.

The Almighty Homer

There an enormously amount of pressure to get baptized even for pre-teens by parents and peers alike.

Armageddon is coming soon so you better get baptized or you'll be doomed. It also labels you as a good person,

one that has matured and faithfully devoted to their terrible god Jehovah. One that gets baptized gets a gold star

on their chest and is proudly aware of it. I never did myself , but I remember by best friend at the time who did

at a summer assembly, afterward we celebrated by smoking a cigar at the back of the stadium. We were both 15.

Midget-Sasquatch

I was 19 coming on to 20 when I started the questions and got baptized. My sib (18 months my younger) also did it at the same time. She completely believed in all the stuff the WTS taught. I honestly didn't believe in a fair portions of it, like the end coming soon, and was learning alot about their flips-flops etc. I've always had a hard time believing alot of the odder stuff from both the JW side and the Catholic side. I guess the blessing of growing up in a religiously divided house is that both sides point out the flaws of the other. Just so happened that using an objective measure for both ended up with neither really offering up a sure thing.

But all the JWs seemed happy. Many of the teens at Catholic school weren't big on ritual and religion but they firmly believed in their version of God and the afterlife and they seemed happy. I didn't feel the same kind of zeal, joy, and healing that others apparently were experiencing. I was coming up with nothing. So feeling like the tinman without a heart, I wanted to see if having a go at baptizing myself would change things for me. I got baptized to earnestly give spirituality a shot. Maybe I was more like the scarecrow without a brain for thinking that the JWs would be the path to spirituality.

Mind you alot of the questions, I just gave rote answers to and I basically wanted to internally do this more on my terms. But no relationship developed. The internal nothingness was still there and while I wanted to believe in several things, I really wasn't persuaded to by anything. I'd like to think I was open-minded with my attempt. In some ways I sorely regret getting baptized because this org is just all about control and I opened myself up to that, however there was stuff I needed to test out.

crapola

I think it was because I thought it was expected of me. I don't remember making a dedication in prayer. I just went along with the crowd.

Was 14 at the time.

straightshooter

I was investigating various religions. Nobody in my family were JWs. So I started researching the teachings of JWs. I liked their explanations about hellfire, trinity, and idolatry.

So at 19 years old I got baptized.

Why were you baptized?

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