OH! And Cheez, don't worry about the peddling literature thing...this time, it actually MEANS something! I'm definitely going to order that book when I get my next paycheck!!! In the future, when my kids ask who they can thank, I'll tell them "good ol' motorboatin' Uncle Cheez" lol.
A baptism question for Morbidzbaby (and the rest of ya'll).....
by Mr. Falcon 25 Replies latest jw experiences
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FollowedMyHeart
jgnat: I remember having a similar experience. Right after I was baptised I felt cleaner, more pure, lighter as if a load had been taken off of me. I was only 12!!! The worst I had done, as far as sins to be forgiven for, was I had had little boyfriends in school! Anyway, it wasn't too long after, maybe a year or so, that I realized I no longer had that "fresh start" feeling any more. I was so dissappointed that it didn't last.
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Franklin Massey
I was just a kid. It was a rite of passage. I had hit all of the benchmarks thus far (Theocratic Ministry School talk #1, unbaptized publisher, TMS talk #4, comments in my own words) so the next logical step seemed to be baptism. That's what I was always told to encouraged to do next. Plus, two of my contemporaries were getting baptised at the next assembly so I had to keep up. I did the dedication prayer because I was told that's what you had to do before you took the dip. The emphasis was always on the baptism - not the dedication. "You can do this when you're baptized" "When you're baptized, you can do that." Never, "Once you have made that personal, private dedication to God..."
It's weird though, because no one asked me about when I made my private dedication. No one clapped. No hugs. No one bought me a suit, bookbag, necktie for what was supposed to be the most important part of the whole ritual. None of that came until the day of the Big Show. According to JW doctrine, the public thing is supposed to be the less important outward symbol of the more important one-on-one dedication that a person makes with God. If that is the case, then why the big ceremony? Couldn't a person (a mature adult - not a kid that just started having wet dreams) make their dedication i private and just carry on? Why the celebration?
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whathappened
My mother forced me to study with a pioneer sister for 3 years when I was 13 years old. She said she just couldn't study with me herself, saying that it would lead to arguments. No other option but to get baptised. No other religion was allowed to be considered. Of course I thought I was doing the right thing. The literature makes everyone who isn't a JW out to be evil personified. I was truly dedicated to Jehovah but know realise I dedicated my self to an organization. I was only 16 and believed I was mature enough to decide what was to be for the rest of my life. All my friends basically fell into the same scenario. No other options were presented or allowed. Decision is made.
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DesirousOfChange
Mr. F, do you have a phone number for her?
no, but I do have a restraining order against me from her.
Obviously, any closer examination would risk getting you into trouble with the law. It would be better for me to help you out with that.
(Always willing to take one for the team.......)
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Morbidzbaby
LMAO you guys are hilarious