Does anybody know what the procedure is if you want to nullify your baptism?
Has anybody successfully nullified their baptism?
I'd love to hear from you how you did it.
Thanks,
Diogenes
How Do You Nullify A Baptism
by Diogenes 14 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Scully
someone recently claimed that they had never been baptized. And because he'd moved several times in the interim, the elders couldn't be bothered to find out for certain. LOL
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Diogenes
That's pretty sweet! Actually my records are lost somewhere in a foreign country but alas it's not me who wants to nullify!
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willyloman
The short answer is, you can't. They don't "buy" that down at the KH or at Bethel. If you write them a letter telling them your baptism is null and void, you are pigeon-holed into the "disassociated" category. They will not make any distinctions. You will be "no longer one of JWs" and shunned.
However, so what? When you became a dub, did you ask the Catholic/Baptist/Whatever Church to nullify your baptism? Hell no, you just left. Take the same course of action with the dubs and don't look back.
They have no control over you unless you give it to them.
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Nina
When you became a dub, did you ask the Catholic/Baptist/Whatever Church to nullify your baptism?
Actually, one of the required steps in presenting yourself for baptism as a JW is formally renouncing any previous church memberships.
If a person had been baptized into another faith they were expected to contact the administrators of the religion and request removal of their name from the membership rolls (even if they had not attended for decades).
Nina
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Terry
Nothing really (actually) happens when you are baptised.
Nothing at all.
Everything is in your head.
Just change your mind; that's all it takes.
What's in the past has passed. That is why they call it "past".
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Diogenes
All good advice, thanks.
It's not actually for me, i'm a fader and think it's all a complete load of b*llocks...
My friend is worried about losing her family as she's just been disfellowshipped...Just clutching at straws I guess!
Diogenes
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unclebruce
I only remmember one anullment of baptism. The guy had suddenly woken up from a love struck phase and found himself baptised and married to a JW widow with five kids. He screamed blue murder and that he'd been tricked by the congregation and to make matters worse his parents threatened to sue. Next minute an announcment is made that his baptism was revoked/anulled. The marriage took a little longer to anull.
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Balsam
Date:
To:
Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses
& Watchtower Bible & Tract Society
Address
From:
Publisher
Address
Congregation of Jehovah's Witness, and the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society
To Elders of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society legal Department:
I (Publishers name) was forced to be baptized at age ____ as a Jehovah's Witness, because of pressure of congregational Elders, my Mother, and the Jehovah Witness community as a whole for acceptance among them. I had just turned ___ and I was not aware nor fully understood the ramification of getting baptized as a Jehovah's Witness. I complied with getting baptized to fit in socially to the Jehovah's Witness community I had been raised in and that my Mother is dedicated to also.
I do not consider myself as one of Jehovah's Witnesses since I have gotten older nor do I have any desire to ever be one of Jehovah's witnesses in future. I insisted that my baptism is nullified, and my status will be the same within the Jehovah's Witnesses community as having never been baptized.
An announcement that I am no longer an unbaptized publisher many be announced by Elders in the Kingdom Hall I have attended. The corporation of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society is hereby instructed to amend my membership status in accordance with this statement on any and all records of said "Corporation" and it’s corporate of religious affiliations. The "Corporation" is instructed to file this statement in its permanent records as added proof of compliance.
This statement is not subject to interpretation or to any internal judicial committee (Star-Chamber) review or AD HOMINEM attracts, as it is my stated belief; I was never actually a member of Jehovah's Witnesses. I will not meet with a Judicial Committee of Jehovah's Witnesses, nor with any of the Elders of Jehovah's Witnesses for any further discussion of my letter or this matter.
I will not tolerate any further contact by Elders of Jehovah's Witnesses in phone calls; my statements here are sufficient. If this letter of Baptism Nullification is not honored, and a disfellowshipping or disassociation is announced in the congregation against me; or if any Elders further attempt to harass or contact me other than a final acknowledgement by mail of this letter I will pursue this matter with my attorney in a lawsuit against (name of your congregation) Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society.
_____________________________________ your printed name and signature
(to signed in front of a Notary to make it legal and binding)
I, ________________________I notary Public for _______________county
hereby certify that (writers name inserted here), Declarant signed above in my
presence.
Dated this ____day of _________________2005
_____________________________________________________________
Notary Public for the County of _____________________________
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Jimmy423
I agree with Unclebruce. A lawyer is the best way out. If it is doen quickly. The society hates having to defend itself in court. It means they have to go on the record about their beliefs and run the risk of cross examination on their tactics. However, they do have a battery of lawyers on hand just in case it comes to that. Rest assured, if you try to sue them as an organization they have enough high profile lawyers and more than enough money set aside to bury you and your "local" lawyer. So, you need to do it quickly. At least as quickly as Britiny had her first marriage annulled. If you or a loved one buys into the package and after going under the water, have something like buyers remorse, you have still, as we used to say "put yourself under the authority of the organization". The longer a person stays there and participates (ie go to meetings, go out in service,etc) the harder it becomes to get out with your former reputation intact. After you've been in for several months you come to understand it's pretty much an all or nothing organization. You can be weak, you can not go in service, (or if you study with your kids only turn in 4 hours on your field service report) you can not go to meetings regularly and still be accepted by your family and friends still in the organization.
The local elders treat you the way you teach them to treat you. If you are no threat to them or their postion or their ego's they will leave you alone for the most part. You just have to keep an eye on their wives. Elders wives have more pull than most people can imagine in such a male dominated environment. I know of an example where an elders wife go so jealous of another elder's wife that she launched a campaign against the womans mother. The mother hadn't attended the KH in over 25 years. Her granddaughter was about to get married in the KH and the jealous wife pushed her husband into going to the grandmother's house unannounced (along with another elder) and asking her point blank if she wanted to be a witness or not. When the grandmother said "no" she was summarrily disfellowshipped and not invited to the wedding. Stuff like this happens all the time. so just becasue you have faded, don't take it for granted that your name isn't still on somebody's list.
If you have plenty of money and make large donations to the Kingdom Hall you can pretty much do anyting you please as long as you don't "flaunt" it. Make a donation of around $150-$300 a month to a congregation of about 90 publishers who all work day jobs and you might get a visit from the elders once or twice a year as a shepherding call (they have to make an appointment if they are doing it by the book) but that's about all that will happen. You can be a multimillionare son of the most prominent elder in your part of the country and never have to ring the first doorbell or answer a single question at a WT study, but as long as you drop that check in the box once a month, you are cool. Money talks louder than anything in every congregation I've seen. I've told people there is no honorable way out. If you disassociate you are shunned, if you are disfellowshipped you are shunned, if you fade you are marked. If you join another church, heck if you just visit another church, you run the risk of being DFd for apostasy. The real question you have to ask yourself is this: Are my relationships inside the organization worth the price of staying? If your family is at stake my advice is fade to the back row, be unavailable for student talks, have a money crises, have to work longer hours, do whatever you have to do to dissappear into the crowd, then simply stop showing up every other week, then only once a month and work this down until you only attend the memoral. At least this way you are still able to stay in contact with your family without putting them in the spotlight.