G.B. TALK URGING CHILD BAPTISM!

by The Searcher 69 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  There was a noticable lack of scriptures in his rant. And then he talks about Jonah? Was Jonah a 10 year-old kid?

  And from his logic, if the parents study the Family Life brochure with their 8 year-old, does that mean it's time to trot them down the aisle to get married?

  If they're going to baptize these kids before they're at an age where non-believers could look on and say, "That's an adult making an informed decision." How is the WT practice of baptizing pre-teens any different than other churches baptizing infants? It's not!

  When my dad was called up before the draft board and he tried to use a minister exemption, he was asked, "How old were you when you were ordained as a minister." He had to reply, "14." So I was able to wait until I was 16. So now WT's policy is to ordain all these children ministers even younger and more uninformed than I was.
• 

  blondie

  *** yb11 pp. 58-59 Preaching and Teaching Earth Wide ***

  BAPTIZED AT SEVEN. Paola, who lives in western Mexico, is being raised by her grandparents. Her grandmother began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses when Paola was five years old. Paola listened in, and the truth took root in her young heart. Although her grandmother did not progress, Paola began to attend the meetings by herself. She would ask her grandparents to help her get dressed and to help her cross the street to get to the Kingdom Hall.

  As soon as she learned to read and write, Paola enrolled in the Theocratic Ministry School and became a publisher. Because of her love for Jehovah, she got baptized at the age of seven.

  *** w12 7/15 p. 17 Jehovah Taught Me to Do His Will ***

  My sister, Lesley, who was five years older than I, was baptized next, and I was baptized in 1940 when I was nine years old.

  *** w96 2/1 p. 32 Irina’s Favorite Songbook ***

  NOT long ago, Irina, a nine-year-old girl from Sofia, Bulgaria, was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. She loves to sing and particularly enjoys the songs in the book Sing Praises to Jehovah. Irina therefore made it a goal to learn a few songs by heart every month.

  *** w90 7/1 p. 11 Jehovah’s Blessing Has Made Me Rich ***

  When I was nine years old, I determined to dedicate my life to Jehovah and be baptized. Because of the persecution, we were not told the location of the meeting, but we were led to a place in the forest where a large group of Witnesses were enjoying a “picnic.” There my older sister Eleanor and I were among the many who were baptized in the cold waters of a nearby lake.

  *** w88 3/15 p. 15 par. 21 Trust in Jehovah Leads to Dedication and Baptism ***

  Why, attending the Pioneer Service School in the Bahamas recently was a ten-year-old baptized girl, the daughter of two full-time ministers!

  *** w75 3/15 p. 182 par. 22 “Working Night and Day” to Make Disciples ***

  Also, my activity became a blessing to our family. During the first year, our seven-year-old son became a publisher, and at nine he was baptized.
• 

  problemaddict

  Just sounds like a true believer to me.

  I gave my first talk at 5. UBP at 8. Babtized at 12. Disfellowshipped at 19. Reinstated at 19 1/2. Publicly reproved a handfull of times. Appointed an MS. Pioneered and served where the need was great.

  Then.......figured out it was bunk. The ONE THING they continue to have on me, is that getting DF'd is not an option for me, so I have to play a little game.

  If kids don't get baptized young, then you can't threaten them with shunning. If you can't threaten them with shunning, then you have a problem. If they end up not being JW's, you also lose the ability to manipulate the parents into cutting off family ties.

  It all starts with a pre-pubescent commitment for life to the religion of your parents!!!
• 

  skeeter1

  GB is desparate! Yearbook numbers. It's all about yearbook numbers that have been in decline.
• 

  Quendi

  My experience as a high school teacher tells me that the entire concept of child baptism is not only wrong but insane! That experience showed me how young people lack the maturity to make the harch choices in life on their own but need the guidance and wisdom of their elders in many cases. It is as clear as glass that these men on the Governing Body not only have no experience working and living with young people, but have entirely forgotten what their own childhood and youth were like and about. We don't allow children to make up rules governing their own homes such as what food to eat, what bills to pay or what schools to attend, yet the WTS says they should be coerced into making the life-altering decision to be baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses!

  The WTS cites examples like Samuel serving in Shiloh and Jesus talking to the learned men in the Temple as proof that children can get baptized. But as other posters on this thread have stated, this fallacious logic can easily be refuted by thinking people. Therein lies the problem. Witness adults have abdicated their own responsibility to think, ceding that to the WTS Governing Body. If the adults can't do something this basic, it should come as no wonder that their children are coerced into making bad choices.

  Quendi
• 

  Finkelstein

  Very sick and disturbing, encouraging intellectually immature children to make a life changing

  decision that could very well effect them for the rest of their lives.

  But then again this organization is about seeking control over people, its a accumulative power game that they seek.

  In Jesus's time I'm sure that if one wanted to be baptized they were at least to be young adults or older adolescents.

  Wanting more subservient slaves underneath these power seeking men is their intent .

  Getting baptized in the Org. is seen has branding or self labeling where the elders can control individuals to a

  further discriminative extent.

  They want loyalty and when you do get baptized in this religion your subjectively vowing loyalty to the men in power

  and control.
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  problemaddict

  ^^^So what would be the thinking arguement against those biblical accounts in your mind Quendi?
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  If kids don't get baptized young, then you can't threaten them with shunning. If you can't threaten them with shunning, then you have a problem. If they end up not being JW's, you also lose the ability to manipulate the parents into cutting off family ties.

  That about sums it up.

  Doc
• 

  Listener

  When you hear talks like this you become aware that these desperate Governing Body members know exactly what they are doing and it is far from being loving and christian.
• 

  Quendi

  In answer to your query, problemaddict, I would say that while Samuel certainly served at the Shiloh tabernacle, no account was made of what his duties actually were. I doubt they involved more than doing chores around the place such as cleaning utensils and some groundskeeping. The duties of the priests and Levites were carefully outlined in the Law of Moses giving the most important jobs and duties to them. As a young boy, there would have been only minor things for Samuel to take care of. We are not told how long Samuel remained in Shiloh, either. He evidently had other interests in life and eventually married and fathered a family himself. So it wasn't as though he lived like a monk in some kind of isolation from others. He did serve as a prophet and judge in Israel for many years but he did not fill the latter office until he became an adult and not as a child.

  As for Jesus, he was simply asking questions and being involved in some good give-and-take with the learned men in the Temple. When his parents ordered him to return home with them to Nazareth, he did so without a demur. He didn't refuse or otherwise give them any trouble. He was only twelve and he behaved like a twelve-year-old, albeit one with outstanding abilities. It's interesting to note that his parents did not conclude they should leave him behind in Jerusalem to pursue some other religious interests. In neither case were these boys expected to make a life-changing decision about their service to God or taking on duties that would have been too great for them to handle. Thanks for your question because we need to think about how to answer the Governing Body's folly on this issue.

  Quendi