As a JW Kid Were You Expected To Get Baptised By Your Parents/ Congregation

by Hairyhegoat 27 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Hairyhegoat

  Here is a quote from a ex-jw about this subject, I myself had alot of pressure from my family to get baptised and finally gave in at 14, Wish I had left them a present on the way out of the pool that floated..at the Dudley Assembley hall

  1. I can't justify my entire family (parents, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandma) and friends shunning me because I chose not to uphold a dedication I made at TWELVE years old. Sure it was my "choice" to get baptized. But anyone that was raised from childhood in the religion knows what's expected and encouraged as a JW youth. (Especially having a father as an elder. If you're 16, 17 and still not baptized, trust me.. the other brothers will look at your father as a poor spiritual head.. cuz clearly he must be doing something wrong.) You are praised for going out in service, studying etc. Baptism is the commendable choice. They never say wait until you're out of the "bloom of youth" (adulthood) cuz they want you to do it while you're young, when you're most impressionable. It's by design… they want u young so u never have the option to leave when you're older. Once you're baptized, if you leave, you know the consequences. It's designed to keep you in line.
  2. Manipulation, plain and simple.

  Well what age were you expected to be baptized by?

  HHG
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  blondie

  I knew of jw parents that kicked out their child at 18 if they were not baptized but that was rare probably because most were baptized by then. I know a young woman that never got baptized...but then her father was not a jw. There is no official age for baptism. But the WTS has said that if some hold back from baptism, they are still responsible before God baptized or not. Of course, if they do something "wrong" they can't be df'd which means their parents can technically still associate with their children.
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  NewChapter

  It makes no sense that they allow children to make a lifelong decision and hold them to it forever. If you are mature enough to make such a decision, you are mature enough to get married. 12-year-olds don't get married because everyone understands they don't have the ability to make such a decision. Yet they all just nod and cheer when the little ones get dunked. It's insane.

  NC
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  mrsjones5

  All of us kids were expected to do it but my parents never pushed that aspect. Not that I would have complied anyway but I am grateful my parents didn't make it an issue.
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  designs

  The pressure is huge when you are in High School to get baptized.
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  Broken Promises

  Baptism was expected but not as a child. My dad was an elder but he considered it something to be done when we were mature enough to make the decision.

  My older sister was 18 when she got baptised, and I was 19 when I got dunked. I would have done it a year earlier if not for family troubles which hindered things.
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  ShirleyW

  Never got dunked, when I was a teenager my father wasn't in Da Troof yet, but my mother SURPRISINGLY never pushed it !! When he got dunked (and later became an elder) I was 19 but still at home never any pressure, not that it would've done any good !!
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  Black Sheep

  I packed my bags and took off at 17.

  Unwashed.
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  Anony Mous

  Off course. I won't raise my kids that way but many make the statement whenever they see a newborn that they are to be a "new disciple for Jehovah". I don't know if that's a recent thing but I have heard it a couple of times now.

  I was expected and pressured from when I was 14. My mom didn't want me to be so I held off until 18 and a girlfriend convinced me to do it and I did it for her. My mom eventually left (quick, total exit) 2 years later but I was stuck being freshly baptized and trying to please yet another girl. I only got to my senses less than a year ago.
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  J. Hofer

  my parents didn't push me (actually they couldn't, i stopped talking to my father at around 12), but several elders in the congregation would approach me every meeting to ask when i think to finally get baptized. hated it, as i already made the decision not to get baptized until i was of age. when i was 18 i still wouldn't have made that step if it wasn't for a girl who talked me into it and got baptized at the same time.