Thank you Blondie. The paragraph about children getting baptized at a 'tender age' make me think. One cannot vote till they are 18 (used to be 21) in the USA because they are not judged mature enough to make a responsible decision. Similarly, someone in the 'formative teenage years' probably can't understand the issue of universal sovreignty, so why should they get baptized?
A few paragraphs later the WT commented that some refrain from baptism in order to avoid disfellowshipping. A comment was made in my KH that this kind of thinking is foolish. The commentor stated that the fear of failure doesn't stop people from interviewing for a job! I commented to my wife that getting fired from a job and getting DF'd are two very different things. For one, you can still talk to people at your old job. Second, what if the person getting DF'd was baptized at the age of 14, well before they matured into an adult? Their entire support system will be taken away from them. Much MUCH different than getting fired from a job.
btw, 17 years old for me.