A friend of mine was born in to this damn religion and managed to avoid getting baptised for 24 years, unlike me who fell for the cruel scam when I was about 15. He is my best and pretty much only friend I have. I used to pressure him into baptism just a bit when I was a mindless drone, but he always told me he doesn't feel ready and doesn't feel a strong enough love for Jehovah to take that step. All his friends and family were getting baptised during their teenage years but somehow, he managed to avoid the peer pressure and continued to stay neutral. The reason according to him, was because it is such a huge step and commitment that he felt he needed to do it only if he felt a true love for God and an honest desire to serve him. He admitted that God just didn't feel 100% real to him. Jehovah needed to seem like a real person...as clear and believeable as I was standing in front of him.
So I felt he had a good point and was therefore a better person than I was, since I did it out of peer pressure. My hat was off to him, and I admired his way of thinking. I said "good for you, do it when you feel ready inside and don't let anyone pressure you." Twenty four years went by and still no true fellings of love for Jehovah. One day (recently), he went out with a group of bros and sis from the congregation where he was introduced to a certain young lady that my friend instantly "fell in love" with. That happened a few months ago. This young lady is baptised however, and my friend is not due to his ever lasting spiritual journey in search of God. I warned him about what a long and tough drama-packed road he is about to embark on. I warned him how scandalous it will be when the elders find out about a non JW crossing paths with a batized JW. I warned him about his promise that he made of not letting peer pressure sink in. He still kept insisting he would NEVER get in the JW pool for a girl. He wants to do it for Jah only. I said "ok, but there's only two ways this could end: you end up marrying her despite what anyone says and get her disfellowshipped and develop an instant and permanent rift between you and your friends, family and in-laws ...OR... you give in and get baptised in order to spare yourself all this pain and drama and breaking your own promise in the process."
He knew what he was up against...So what happens next? Well, the other day, he gives me the news: He is getting married next year, and already got baptised. I asked him if he did it for Jah, like he said and his answer was "Of course!!!" He was going on about how he FINALLY felt ready and he sees Jehovah as a real person and feels a true love for him and desire to serve him...."
Ok pause for a second and think "What a coincidence!!!" Twenty four years of searching for his spirituality and on the 24th year, the same year he fell for a JW girl, he finally finds his spirituality. I told him "well that's lucky! You found a girlfriend AND you found God a few months later." He knew what I was getting at and got all serious and insisted he made his decision for God and no one else. "Ok then" I said..."it could happen I guess". That's his story and he is sticking to it...and the sad thing is, everyone believes him and nobody sees the obvious. Even if they do, they deny it and claim he is finally seeing the light. They say it almost as if to say "unlike you, fade-away who has left Jehovah and his organization". I mean they might as well say that, since it is implied so much.
So there it is...a brand new J-dub has been born for the sake of marrying a girl and for the desperation of losing his virginity. My friend has such low confidence and very little luck with girls, so now that he found a girl, he will do whatever it takes to keep her. Baptised for all the wrong reasons...but that doesn't matter to the other J-dubs...as long as he is one of them, that's all that counts.