by cappytan 59 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
One more buffoonery about JW child baptism is WT publishes a 'Simplified Watchtower' study magazine for adults and young alike who don't have mastery of the English language; yet they, up til now, haven't come out with a 'Simplified 110 Questions For Youthful Baptismal Candidates'!
The current 'Organized To Do Jehovah's Will' book beginning on page 182 has approximately 110 'one size fits all' questions that even a 9, 10 or 11 year old is expected to answer? That is really odd!
Young baptisms were common in my mother's generation of JWs.
So many of you are "appalled" and sickened by this push to get children baptized. I am not.
My mother was baptized when she was 6 years old, in 1939. She described it to me recently. She said that "...there were brothers from the Society sent out all across Canada to baptize everybody because we thought Armageddon was happening. I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that it made Mum and Dad happy. Lots of kids got baptized. The parents were scared."
Historically, the push for child baptism is not new - it occurred in 1941 with the Children of the King conventions held that summer. The convention report said that children as young as six years old were baptized at the St. Louis convention:
There have been thousands of children at other Watchtower assemblies, but never before were 15,000, who had been previously registered, seated entirely by themselves in the main portion of one of the world's greatest auditoriums. Never before were more than 1,300 children immersed at one time.In 1941, the Watchtower machine had more up their sleeve than just recruiting children to sell literature. Those "Children of the King" that were baptized were recruited to challenge First Amendment rights. I wonder what the WTS is up to this time.
BU2B,
"Just the other day she threw out a little "magic toy pony" because it was magic and Jehovah hates it."
I hope you fished it out of the trash and put it somewhere secure. She might grow out of the religion as she grows older and would probably cherish the thought of still having that childhood toy.
Re: The snowman
This stuck in my mind. I could see myself as a child, so longing to play with other kids, and realizing that there was no way. The only thing a child of that age. in *my* kind of born-in family, has to 'live' for is the approval of their parents. So, like the child in the vid, I pretended to be someone I was not, because I wanted my parents to love me.
; ' (.
This particular piece of propaganda really sickened me. The indoctrination of their children is one of the most despicable things that any cult does, from my pov.
So, yes, the snowman scene is disturbing, to say the least.
xx
So, on a more positive note - I saw the JWS at their cart today, and said hi, took some pics. I asked "No Bibles?" No, we just sold the last one. [sold?] "The new Version?" Oh yes! "Oh, cool. Thanks, see ya."
Maybe, I could pose a question about this video that I saw online. I write the occasional article for local free rags, so no problem posing as a journalist. And I have no intention of posting any pics or ridiculing them in any way.
Looking for *thinking questions* re this video that would be something for the average JWS to chew on. Kind of a 'hmmm', provocative yet not unfriendly. :)
It's great to analyze these things and pick them apart. As you can see, *this* anarchist has gotten a good strategy from the thread. Thanks to the OP!
I like to do my own thing to fight the Tower. Writing to newspapers to let them know a JW child molester has been arrested, or to comment on an article; putting signs on the lawn of a KH or two; anti-Witnessing when appropriate (eg, when asked by health care workers why I have no NOK), picking up pamphlets in doctor's and hospital waiting rooms, and ensuring they are destroyed.
: D
carry on
OrphanCrow -
The difference between then and now is that prior to 1980, or thereabouts, someone could disassociate themselves without the enforced shunning that someone today would experience in those circumstances. Plus world conditions probably made it seem considerably more reasonable to make that particular bet and get baptized, with WWI a recent memory and WWII starting in 1939.
Today, world conditions are better than ever and armageddon is clearly nowhere near the horizon. Meanwhile, the punishment for changing your mind is much harsher. This time it's clear that the motivation is 100% control, not some altruistic desire to see these children survive the wrath of the desert god.
In 1941, the Watchtower machine had more up their sleeve than just recruiting children to sell literature. Those "Children of the King" that were baptized were recruited to challenge First Amendment rights. I wonder what the WTS is up to this time.
I think I got it. Maybe...
I think that the WTS is needing to get the children to declare their membership into the church. That way, whatever a child tells the elders is protected under clergy confidentiality. In other words, the elders don't have to reveal what a child who has been baptized tells them in testimony during judicial hearings. The clergy confidentiality only applies to church members.
I think that the WTS is trying to cover their ass in potential future child abuse cases.
Disgusting.
They don't know themselves at that age, they certainly don't know what they are committing to, giving up, nor the consequences should they change their mind, and the Borg doesn't give a damn as long as They get to add one more number to Their end of year tally.
Again, DISGUSTING.
