As a JW Kid Were You Expected To Get Baptised By Your Parents/ Congregation (page 2)

White Dove

My story is different.

I wanted to be baptized since I was 8, but my mom kept saying no not yet.

Like every other JW kid, I couldn't do anything like sports or have friends over. Nothing.

My mom said things like your time doesn't count because you aren't baptized, yet.

Your prayer doesn't even count. She'd have to say one right after me because JH doesn't hear unbaptized people's prayers.

I could conduct studies but they didn't count as much as a baptized person's study would.

She'd say all that prohibitive stuff to me and still prevent me from getting baptized.

I really wanted to be dunked by my teenage years.

I wanted to be able to do something that counted for something and be a part of it.

I wanted to belong. I was a nothing who couldn't do anything at all.

So, finally, I approached the elders when I was 17 and asked to be baptized.

I didn't tell my mom until they said sure.

She was very happy when she found out.

I was dunked on 1/11/86 in Woodburn, OR.

Motive for getting baptized had nothing to do with loving JH, although I thought it did.

It was really to belong to something I thought was very important and big at the time.

I wanted to count for something. Be somebody.

You know what the whole problem is with baptism of born-ins?

There is not one shread of anything on which to base a comparison.

Nothing. This was all we ever knew.

Heartofaboy

I wanted to get baptised because two of my friends in the cong' got baptised without telling me & I was miffed........so I guess it was peer pressure.

I was stuggling with masturbation & I knew I was gay at that age so thought if I got baptised I would really feel Jah's spirit on me as I tried to do his will. I really tried to feel his HS on me as I took my vows of dedication, of course nothing of the sort happened.

My mother didn't want me to get dunked as I was only 15, my father didn't have a lot to say as I recall.

highdose

the pressure was on within my peer group from the age of 10.

True no one dragged us into the baptisum pool. but it was made very clear that you were not spirtual and there fore no good, if you were not wanting to get baptised.

I got baptised aged 14. I was still playing with dolls........ Hadn't reached puberty yet, had no idea of what i was doing at all. All i knew was that this is what i had to do if i didn't want everyone to think i was the pits.

While i was "working my way to baptisum" i was showered with love bombing and attention, which at the time having grown up with this set of people i found abit false. Anyway that all went as soon as i had done the deed.

PaintedToeNail

I was almost 19. I didn't want to get baptised, but my dad said he wouldn't come to my wedding unless I was dunked. I wanted to have an outside wedding but he demanded one in the KH. So I got baptised. Had my wedding. Got divorced 4 years later. I always felt I was emotionally blackmailed by my dad. I don't know if I would have ever gotten baptised if it hadn't been for the ultimatum issued by Dad.

outsmartthesystem

The younger you are the better as far as they are concerned. The older you get without being dunked....the greater chance there is that you may just do some research instead of trusting everything they say.

essjay

I guess my story's a little different. I wasn't brought up in the truth, as it used to be called, but I started a b/s when I was 12. my dad's parents were j.w's and my grandfather claimed to be of the annointed. My dad's 2 brothers were witnessses and my dad and his other sibling were not. My dad had a study and my step mother too. they dropped out but I carried on. went to my first assembly which was an international one at wembly in 1969. it made a great impact on me, I made a decision to become one of j.w's there and then. When I got home that night my dad said I wasnt to go again, ever. I did go, but my dad and I clashed big time. Well eventually i was introduced to my dad's brother and his wife and at the age of 16 I went to live with them and carried on going to meetings. I got baptized alongside my cousin Phillip at southend in 1971...was quite emotional for me cos they did husbands and wives together first and then discovered we were cousins so they baptized us together. a nice touch. so I made the decision to be baptized on my own but it was also tinged by the need to be accepted, I also had other issues that would make this type of religion more easy for me to accept. Sadly I am no longer one of j.w's, I was disfellowshipped in 1992, i had been married for 20 years and had 4 children. all of a sudden my home, my husband, my children, my friends, my way of life was gone just like that...it was tough but I am a survivor and now I am enjoying life again. Oddly enough my ex husband still is one of j.w's, has married again and...surprisingly, my eldest daughter is now having a study at the age of 33...and so it begins again.

Morbidzbaby

I was one of those little zealots who wanted to get "warshed" at a young age... I was 8 when I started asking. My mom thought I was too young, even though I BEGGED (which just goes to show that a CHILD isn't capable of making such a decision because here I am!). I finally decided to approach the elders about becoming an unbaptized publisher when I was 10 (I was always out in field circus, but could never count my time...talk about not being recognized for your hard work!). They said I needed to comment more and go in service more (*sigh* it was NEVER enough, no matter how much I did).

Finally they conceded and allowed it. About 6 months after that, I did my baptism questions and surprisingly, even though I couldn't answer about 1/3 of the questions, they let me get dunked.

I regretted it very soon after when I wasn't imparted with any more of a helping of Holy Spirit, and I was still ignored by the cliquey bitches in the congregation.

My brother was pretty much pushed into it, though. He was 18, and they gave him the whole "you're an adult now, you're held responsible at Armageddon and if you're not baptised..." He was DF'ed less than a year later, remained that way for about 8 years, was reinstated, and now is faded like me.

flying under the radar

I think that even if there is no outspoken preassure to get baptized, you still feel that there is an expectation of it.

I know I did at least. My parents and friends was never on me to get baptized, but I still felt the preassure

from the organization, since you only hear it a million times growing up.

Personally I don't think you should be able to get baptized until your old enough to get married.

You always hear that marriage is the second most important decision you can make.

Just think it's strange that you can make the most important decision (to get baptized) before you're mature

enough to make the second most important deciosion....

worried

My parents always stated that they would never push me into getting baptized, but also frowned upon some of the teenagers in the congreation, who had turned 18 without getting dunked.. Talk about indirect manipulation..

Bella15

I'd say you start getting seriously pressured into baptism around 12 years old up ...

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

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