They Push You In,,,,Then Punish You If You Go! (page 4)

crazycate

Confession: Great poem. So sad, and so true.

Cate

ziddina

I was 17. There was pressure - the "Big Armageddon" was coming - heck, 1975 was only a few years away!!

Anyhow...

I've been posting this viewpoint frequently, lately... Whenever ANY of you get into a discussion with active JWs about youth baptism - ESPECIALLY with young ones or when young JWs are present, emphasize the fact that 'Jesus' didn't get baptised UNTIL HE WAS THIRTY YEARS OLD!!

Here's a little example of the way I might present the subject to an active JW. Please don't use my words exactly, because the phrasing I used isn't quite subtle enough - in my opinion. Anyway, here's my example:

"Every "true" Christian SHOULD follow 'Jesus' example, shouldn't they??? [Doesn't the Watchtower Society love that word, "should"?] SO, as "true Christians" ™, we should also follow that example, and make our dedication one that would TRULY honor a god of "reason". We really don't want to be like the Catholics, who baptise children, but neither would we want to be like the extremist Christian groups that insist that children and teenagers be urged into premature baptism, when it is clearly shown, by CHRIST'S example, to be a decision intended ONLY for mature adults. ..."

And I would "broken-record" it - repetition for emphasis!!

Zid the She-Devil

FadeToGrey

NewBoy!!!

You said it so right in this post. Thats how i feel about it aswell. I just dont have the ability to put my thoughts into words as some of the other people on this board.

Every day I read on here something someone has said or went through in life. and I had gone through or felt the same way about it. Just goes to show JW's all over the world have the same shit happen were ever they are.

Back on topic I was 19 when dunked. And what a croke it was when one looks back. It is all pressure armageddon is coming u need to be saved BLAH BLAH.

"HELLO" Yeah hey Elders from the 80's it still has not come. Oh it's so urgent it's jus around the corner. Yeah right arse hose.

U know after all this religion shit i dont trust any human anymore. they are all lying arseholes..

Rant off.

cyberjesus

I was 15 and did it because it was the requirement to keep working in bethels construction.

Tenacious

I had barely cleared Mom's delivery tunnel when I saw a brother standing there with a "Live Forever" book.

FindTheLost

This is my first time posting here, so bear with my post.

I was 13 when I took the plunge.

As I look back and remember 1972 there was a lot of pressure on me to get baptized. I was always questioning about different things being taught by the Society and had already been slapped about for voicing my thoughts (by my Elder Uncles and my Father). So, I was already in their eyes a trouble maker and I wanted so much to have approval of my family. I am a 3rd Gen with Uncles and Aunts that were in Bethel and/or Missionaries, Special Pioneers, my whole family are/were JW's at that time.

When I had a sister along with 2 cousins getting baptized, the family was now looking at me with "that look". I felt like a deer in front of the head lights. Decisions to make that I wasn't ready for, but I felt I had to be baptized or my family wouldn't love me.

Remember "The End" was coming and "Armageddon" is around the corner. So the push was on to get us pre-teens ready for baptism. It didn't matter if we were mentally ready to make a decision that would affect our whole life.

To cut a long story short, I was baptized and then in 1984 I DA'd myself....in one day with one signature I lost my family. I have over 30 years of shunning with an occasional call from a sister that I need to come back to Jehovah's Organization. It's sad she doesn't listen when I say I never left God, I left an organization.

These memories of when I was part of a family still hurts.

LoveUniHateExams

The OP is spot on.

I got baptized, under pressure from friends & family, a few months shy of my 16th birthday.

Apparently, the end wasn't around the corner, it was staring us in the face!

I was conned into it like so many others.

dbq407

I was 14. I wasn't pressured by my parents to get baptized but was pressured to go to meetings. I was told at 13 that if i didn't wanna go to the Kingdom hall then i could move out. Well, thats a tough thing to do at 13. I was baptized only because everyone else that age was doing it and they were friends of mine. No one wants to be the odd one out when you are already odd enough to the world.

Makemeanunbeliever

Such is life. Worse things could happen. Just deal with it.

They Push You In,,,,Then Punish You If You Go!