by awakening 24 Replies latest jw friends
What does "exit free of consequence" mean, exactly?
Not disfellowshipped?
Not going to happen.
From a legal standpoint, when the elders say "you are no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses" that's all it is - an announcement.
It is meaningless without the willing consent of the entire congregation to shun you.
How is a "claiming your baptism null and void" going to convince 100+ members of your congregation that they should decide not to shun you?
All of them are in fear of their own status.
A reminder, again, "official" only in their eyes. The various status of believers is an internal matter of the WTS. The rest of the world gives a flying hoot.
There is no need, no requirement, to validate your "status" with this organization. No matter what you call yourself, the elders and congregation may override you anyways. There is no requirement for "justice".
Only do it if you need closure. I personally think you would get as much out of it by writing the letter and having a burning party in the back yard.
I have read some of you talking about baptism not being a legaly binding contract as, for most it was undertaken as a minor. Has anyone successfuly nulled their baptism and exited free of consequence?
It depends on what you're talking about. If you're saying what I think you are saying, the reasoning would go like this:
"I was baptized as a minor and since minors are not able to enter into an agreement legal or otherwise, the baptism doesn't count. Therefore I'm no different than someone who walked away from JW's as a minor and never got baptized and was therefore never a JW."
This won't work if you continued as a JW past the age of majority, because you've validated that baptism by your actions as an adult.
No, it's not a plan. It's absurd.
At one time they may have been able to claim that is was between you and God but now that they are baptizing you into an organization that story doesn't hold water.
Even if it were legally a legally binding contract (which it is not) it would be declared null and void because they misrepresented themselves to you to get you to accept them as God rep. They lied to you about their history. They lied about how and when they were selected by God. They did this to get you to sign up for package they claimed to be the truth but the whole thing was build on false prophecies and lies.
If this gives you some mental freedom, you can write to bethel and explain what you are doing this. The elders will still announce you as no longer being one of them-- It's not a get out of jail card as far as avoiding shunning, if that is your plan. Besides, you really don't have any sort of contract with WT org.- no money was exchanged and no signatures afixed to any baptismal document.
There are no legal avenues to do this. Baptism of a minor is simply an intent of association with a religious organization in the same manner that babies are baptized as catholics. It is not a binding contract.
It's association into a private club. And the owners of the private club are free to kick you out if you don't follow their rules. It's religous law and the state does not regulate religious law. Even when the two conflict, civil law prevails at a civil level, while religions law is ignored but not forced to be changed.
It's the same issue with trying to make the case that when you got baptized, you were pledging allegiance to God and not the Watchtower society. There were several lawsuits after the "Bethel purge", and none of them was successful in convincing a court that the Org did not have the right to disfellowship based on those baptisms.
Instead, the only result was for the Org to adjust the baptism question to make them more in line with the concept of subjection to God through the organization.
So, forget it.
The elders will still announce you as no longer being one of them-- It's not a get out of jail card as far as avoiding shunning, if that is your plan.___MOSHE
" The person who disassociates himself by repudiating the faith and deliberately abandoning Jehovah's worship is viewed in the same way as one who is disfellowshiped. A brief announcement is made to inform the congregation, stating " this person " is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses" ____Organized to do Jehovah's Will book page 155
Which goes to show that the public edition of the WTS literature is very MISLEADING
" No one should be made to choose between thier family and thier religion "____2009 July Awake
Hmp !!!! The lies they tell
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which brings me to the question - if we are no longer JW, we are worldly, but yet we are treated worse than worldly. Why?
Queen Witch
That's because your eyes are opened, they hate the folks they can no longer lead blindly
