what happens when one informs elders that one's baptism was invalid? (page 2)

JWdaughter

Kind of messed up, since before one becomes a baptised JW, folks will speak to you. Should that not stay the same?

I don't get the wrongdoing BEFORE baptism bit in any case (that wasn't confessed). I somehow don't imagine a bunch of confessionals done before baptisms. I see education and repentence and all that, but who are we supposed to be 'confessing' to if we have put our old lives behind us? I never got to the baptism bit, when were we supposed to confess? What were were supposed to confess? If we were no longer doing it. . . whats the statute of limitations? Elders get 3 years while they ARE elders. How long do non-JWs get? Are we talking just crimes or sin?

I wouldn't go annulling a baptism. This is a SOCIAL contract, not a legal one. Marriages need to be annulled or ended officially, friendships-not so much. Even engagements are just ended by one persons declaration(or absence from the wedding party). There is nothing legally binding about it and socially, just don't show up and folks get whatever the message is, eventually.

stuckinarut2

"There are rare occasions when it is obvious that the baptism was invalid because serious wrongdoing did not cease before baptism, even for a brief period of time. For example it may be invalid if the person was a member of a non-neutral organization, or something similar."

Ha! So if someone was baptised during the period that the org was a member of the United Nations, then the baptisms should all be VOID!???

crazyhorse

You cannot get them to annul your baptism. By all means it'll not happen!

The only options are to disassociate, fade or be disfellowshipped.

jwfacts

I have known of a couple of cases, but it is very unlikely to work for most people.

In one case, the person was gambling before and after baptism. They pleaded the case that they had not been baptised with the correct understanding, and got baptised again.

The second one was a person with mental illness that was engaged in wrongdoing before and after baptism. It was decided that due to her circumstances the baptism had never been valid and they just let her leave.

I unsuccessfully tried the get an annulment. The results are here http://jwfacts.com/watchtower/experiences/grundy.php.

JWdaughter

Id just say to hell with it. Now. I wrote a big freaking da letter after my last run in with them (brief). I was a kid and didnt know better. I was mad:) fun to write and as it was long before aol was a sparkle in anyones eye, there was some serious reasarch involved. Waste of valuable youth! Im much older now, theyd not even getva cut and paste any more. Even if iif theyd read it, its not worth it.

wozza

My ex did this years ago based on being baptised as a teenager she said her family pressured her into it and the elders let her get baptised at a later time.

steve2

It's the same as saying, "That's not my signature on the contract".

Sorry, but it is your signature.

That said, the have heard of cases of people being baptized but emerging seconds later from the pool bone dry. In that specific case, a baptism may be annulled for the requisite wetness is not evident.

notoneoftheboys

Been there tried that does not work. The "rub" is simply that they will announce that you are no longer a JW and if you are a born in your whole family has just died to you. How in gods name is this "a loving provision"

nugget

I know of a sister who asked to be rebaptised but don't know why exactly. It did not involve wrong doing only that she didn't feel that she had made a proper dedication to Jehovah previously.

I think they are happy to double dip but not to write off a previous dedication as invalid.

what happens when one informs elders that one's baptism was invalid?

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