by blondie 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Isaac was still breast-feeding at 5. Can you imagine him being old enough to get baptized?
Here is a quote from PLN
Last month as many know my 6yr old and 8 yr old nieces were baptized. They will be giving their first assembly parts at the District convetion on 2 days June 8th and August 3rd...Their father will also be in the part and he is also participating in the drama.
Blondie
one word
pathetic
to what ends will they go to boost numbers
I was amazed that an elder body would approve a 6-year-old. She must be a whiz at reading.
Blondie
Maybe they're desperate to get their numbers up in that area.
OR -- perhaps everyone involved has oversimplified the decision -- does the child want to serve Jehovah or not? If the answer is yes, why hold back this 6-year-old from getting baptized???
Looking at this from another angle, I had always heard at the JW baptism talks that the decision to dedicate one's life to Jehovah the Watchtower Society is the "most important" one makes during their life. If THAT is true, why not allow children to make the second most important decision -- who they will marry, around age 6 or 8.
These people do not have the right perspective.
Heh, they're going to start baptising zygotes to float their numbers......oh the tangled web.....LOL
ash
I don' t think anyone should be allowed to make a life changing decision like that before 18. Hell, Jesus had to wait until he was 30, shouldn't the rest of us get close to that age?
Sincerely,
Mad about being baptized at 13.
Sheesh. In my old hall, they really frowned upon baptising anyone younger than 12 ( unless they were super smart and spiritual, then maybe age 11 ). Is this how the society gets their numbers these days? Baptising 1st graders? IMHO, these folks are getting crazier by the minute!
How in the world would the parents of a 6 year old (or 8 year old) child allow them to be baptized?!? Any JW knows that their baptism is a life altering decision that could have devastating results for the family if these children "rebel".
They haven't even reached adolecense yet. This is very sad and pathetic.
Yeah, this one has been under my skin for a while.
They shake a finger at "Christendom" for their infant baptisms,
claiming themselves to follow the scripture that says to "follow closely in his footsteps".
Jesus, the Jesus they claim to be footstep followers of, was baptized at 30.
Much further from infancy than the average baptismal candidate nowadays. Yet so many who are baptized as JWs are closer or just as close to infancy as they are far away from their 30's.
Why do they steer away from "Jesus' footsteps" on *this one*? What, are they footstep followers of Josiah the 8 year old king now?
And Jesus, was PERFECT, no? If he even as a PERFECT man, wasn't baptized until he really was a grown man, why do JW's push people into being baptized as children? Why do they allow children to make such an "important" decision at such a tender age?
Why are they afraid to have people wait until they are 30? Or at least until they are adults?
An excellent contradiction has been pointed out re this decision being the most important decision/commitment of their lives. Only to be told marriage is second most important and to wait until after the bloom of youth for that one.
Oh yeah, and you fathers, do not be exasperating your children. LOL.
Does anyone know if any ages were mentioned in the scriptures referencing mass baptisms back in the day?
SPAZ
Why are they afraid to have people wait until they are 30? Or at least until they are adults
Good question - and I think the answer to it, though rhetorical no doubt, is that they are afraid of losing kids who are in their later teens to the "world"; that without the fear of congregational reprisals the kids will just leave.
