can you null and void the baptism. on the grounds that the change of words was not explained beforehand? and the significance is not explained either? jws lead you to believe you are baptising for god and jesus not the wbts?
baptism
by free will 2 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
mattnoel
I dont know FW but I recently sent a letter to the elders (and half the cong !) null and voiding my baptism on the basis of a number of reasons. They have ignored it ! who knows - my terror campaign has only just begun and I have more fun tricks and ideas up my sleeve yet !
-
onacruse
Well, what if you didn't make a prayerful dedication before your baptism?
*** w89 1/15 p. 14 What Prevents You From Getting Baptized? ***
21
If making a dedication in prayer was not stressed when you were baptized years ago, that does not necessarily invalidate your baptism. Even in those days, doubtless many were like one man who vividly recalls kneeling and making his dedication to Jehovah in earnest prayer while still a mere lad more than 40 years ago. And at that time, even if a person had not made a dedication in a formal prayer earlier, he did make it a prayerful matter as baptismal candidates and others prayed together when the baptism talk was given on the day of his immersion.Sorry, strike 1. What if you didn't answer, or even get asked, the baptism questions?
*** w64 2/15 p. 123 Did You Make an Acceptable Dedication to God? ***
Yet the failure of the speaker on baptism to pronounce such questions, and hence the failure of the baptismal candidates to answer audibly and affirmatively to such questions, do not undermine the validity of the baptism performed on such occasion. The deciding element in the matter is that the speaker correctly presented the significance of water baptism to the interested persons and they understood the matter, for which reason they went to the place of immersion, changed their clothing and submitted to being dipped beneath the waters.
Sorry, strike 2. Even being baptized by a sister only makes the baptism invalid, not the dedication:
*** w73 8/1 p. 479 Questions from Readers ***
• During the second world war, in some concentration camps in Germany where only women were imprisoned, there were cases where a dedicated sister performed a baptism. Thus, one sister relates that after she came to a knowledge of the truth in a concentration camp and dedicated herself to Jehovah she was then baptized by a sister. Would this baptism be valid?—Germany. An examination of the Bible shows no evidence of women doing baptizing. But it does record examples of dedicated men baptizing others. (Matt. 3:13-17; John 4:2; Acts 8:38) We are not authorized by God’s Word to declare that a baptism performed by a sister is acceptable; therefore, in the case mentioned, the sister should be baptized by a dedicated brother in accord with the requirements of the Bible.
or, being very young or uninformed:
*** w62 6/1 p. 332 Why Be Baptized? ***
11
Due to certain circumstances at the time when they got baptized or due to subsequent developments, some have doubts about the validity of their past dedication and baptism, and they wonder if they should be rebaptized. They may have been baptized at an early age or while they were very immature in the truth, or after baptism they became inactive in the ministry for a time. At the baptism ceremony a talk on baptism is given to make clear what is involved in the matter of dedication and baptism. If one later has some doubts about the validity of his dedication, he should ask himself whether he understood that water baptism symbolized a dedication to do Jehovah’s will and whether he had actually made a dedication to do Jehovah’s will prior to baptism, even though his knowledge of the truth was limited at that time and he may have been gaining accurate knowledge by a Bible study for only a short time. Were the questions at the end of the ceremony answered in the affirmative and with a basic understanding of the significance thereof?Strike 3.
However, there is one way out:
Craig*** w64 2/15 p. 126 Did You Make an Acceptable Dedication to God? ***
However, it is a different matter when a person was committing serious wrongdoing at the time of his "dedication" and baptism and even thereafter. If one was habitually sinning, practicing a grievous wrong during this time, even though ceasing from it some time after his baptism and making advancement in the service of Jehovah, he was in an unclean state before God at the time of his baptism. Such a baptism, since it did not follow a true dedication, would be invalid. If such a person has now forsaken that practice of sin, repented and made a sincere dedication of himself to Jehovah God, he should be rebaptized.