Is Jdubs practice of Teenage baptism really any better than Infant Baptism?

by blkblk13 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  blkblk13

  So I was thinking the other day about how the Jdubs always mock the Catholics for baptizing infants who can't make a true commitment to God so the sybol of dedication is empty. Well, as anyone who's been in the Org knows there is a culture of pressuring teenagers to get baptized. If u r over 12yo it is a question that is constantly asked. "Why aren't u baptized? When r u getting baptized?" U r made to feel inferior like a low acheiver or spiritually weak. For those who haven't been in the Org you can liken it to how someone would feel if they were a Senior in Highschool and for some reason they failed the 12th grade and people are constantly asking them why there never graduated. That's how unbaptized witness teenagers are often made to feel and r viewed.

  But should teenagers really be expected to make a lifelong decision @ such and early age? If I recall correctly Jesus wasn't baptized untill he was like 30 right? So if the Son of God was not in any rush to be baptized untill well into adulthood and was not pressured to be baptized as teenager then why the rush for witness kids? Doesn't it seem like this practice is contrary to the precedent set forth in the scriptures?
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  drew sagan

  The Watchtower is what you would call a 'high commitment' religion. It demands that it's members adhere to a very strict code and dishes out severe penalties for those who do not conform. Religious councils (judicial committees) are given the power to break up families in some circumstances. There is no way a child of 11 or 12 years old can fully understand what they are getting into. The level of commitment being asked is beyond their comprehension.
  
  On the other hand, most mainsream Christian religions that bring in members through infant baptism (Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Ect) are not as high commitment. They are far more assimilated into society and membership is defined quite differently than it is in the JWs. For example, your Lutheran parents may no longer speak to you because you go hindu, but this is a choice that they make on their own. This is how it works in most of our society. In the rare cases that people do not talk to each other over religion, it is their own personal choice. Not so in the JWs!. Most Christian denominations have a pretty lax idea of what constitutes membership, the Watchtower does not.
  
  The Watchtower uses baptism as a way to secure young people into the rules and regulations of their religion, so that when they grow up into early adulthood they are bound by the restrictions such a commitment has placed on them. There is nothing close to this in mainstream Christianity. They are both called 'baptism' but I would argue that the underlining concepts of how this practice is viewed are radically different.
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  Jeremy C

  In the United States, a major percentage of baptismal candidates consists of the children of JW families. The fact that these baptisms are propping up the growth figures in some Western countries may be a factor.

  Being baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses is even a bigger life decision than it is for other churches. Baptism immediately subjects oneself to the authority structure of the Watchtower organization with all of it's dictates, policies, and it's social expectations. For the average 13 or 14 year old JW youth, they have not yet developed the intellectual maturity and skills of reason and discernment to enter into this kind of life-changing contractural arrangement. How any organization can claim that a 13 year-old child has the intellectual maturity to make this decision, yet does not have the maturity to make future educational decisions without the coercive "guidance" of the Watchtower is rather contradictory.

  The average JW child has already been thoroughly and completely indoctrinated in Watchtowerism by the time they are an early teen. Their baptism is an event that sort of seals the deal and obligates them march in lock-step conformity with the rest of the organization. I believe that baptizing such young ones; in addition to enahancing growth figures; is an attempt to retain these naive and impressionable members before they gain the intellectual curiosity which leads so many of them out the front door.
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  whoknows

  NO! It is much worse. They tell you not to get married as a teenager, yet encourage a decision that potentially can have devastating effects on you and your family for the rest of your life. Stupid.
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  StAnn

  Blkblk, baptism for a Catholic is not the same a baptism for a JW. For a Catholic, the belief is that all non-Jewish Christians are "grafted" onto the vine and thus have to be adopted by God as His children. Baptism for a Catholic means that the Holy Spirit goes down into the water and baptizes the child, adopting it into His family and erasing the original sin with which it was born. It is accepted that the parents and godparents wish for the child to be adopted by God and that this is not the wish of the infant, who is too young to make such a decision. A Catholic child is later confirmed in the faith after many years of Catholic education in the faith. Not all kids do get confirmed and many don't do it until they are adults, hence a program called RCIA, Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, which is for cradle Catholics who wish to be confirmed and for converts who wish to become Catholic. Even if they don't get confirmed, they can still take communion and participate fully in parish life.

  For JWs, baptism is how you join the WTS. You make all of your pledges and vows of faithfulness, not to God, but to the WTS.

  For the Catholic, baptism is something that God does. For the JW, baptism is something that they do and God is really not involved.

  StAnn
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  horrible life

  I would like to ask ten 14 year olds, waiting in line for the big dunk,

  What exactly is the Faithful and Discreet Slave?

  Do you really think that Jehovah tells the writers what to write?

  Where in the Bible, are all of these rules written?

  I would bet, that, like me, they have a friend getting baptized, and they are standing right next to them. They have no idea what they are doing, or understand the questions they were asked. How hard is it, to answer questions, eg Watchtower, read the paragraph, and pick out the answer. DUH DUH
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  jwfacts

  It's worse. Baptism as a Catholic baby is obviously the parents choice and can be revoked when the child grows up without consequence.

  Baptism as a JW teen is seen as a personal choice, but is not as it is done after a childhood long period of indoctrination. When the teen becomes an adult and realises they do not believe in the Watchtower Society, the consequences are dramatic, with loss of family and friends.
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  sir82

  Teenage baptism is bad enough.

  There is now a trend to baptize some at age 11, 10, even 9 or 8 in some cases. I have no idea how they think that that is more meaningful than infant baptism.
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  oompa

  well blk13....this is my second favorite subject to scream about...yeah the df thing is soooo awful....but may not be to bad for a man baptised at 27 who decides to sleep with his best friends wife. so really the problem is totally ignoring the fact the bible says jesus was 30? hell isnt the fact that the bible ONLY mentions two pagan birthday enough reason to know for sure they are just satans tool with cupcakes?

  my sister was df when was 13...she 15!...so for two years I can't have my friends over???....I am sure that was good for developing teenager. My totally hot ex-wife has been df'd three times.....once before marriage at 18.......once during marriage that helped end it........and once after marriage.....my son was df/d at 17 and still out lucky ba$tard.....(and he know it thank GOD)!.....My business partner was df'd too.....I was just kinda born for being unevenly yoked.......DF has had WAY too much impact on my life....but nearly of them have the young baptism in common.

  I would LOVE to know stats on the percentage of dubs df'd if baptized under 20 years on compared to thos baptized after 30 years old!!!!!!
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  Robert7

  I remember a DC where an 8 year old was getting baptised. This was announced, and everyone clapped about how wonderful it was. Even when I was really 'in' I felt that SO wrong.
  
  I always felt that no one under 18 should be baptized for the exact reason as discussed, which is to be able to know exactly what they are getting into. Fact is, doesn't matter even at 18 because by then they will have been fully indoctrinated.