- Do the Jehovah's Witnesses accept any baptisms outside of their own authorized baptisms?
No. Anyone who was baptized into another faith was part of "Babylon the Great" and needs to be baptized correctly into God's organization. Also, baptism must be by immersion, so all those other modes of baptism wouldn't count anyway.
- As I understand it, any male member in the church can baptize. But do they? If a father wanted to baptize his son or daughter, does that happen a lot? Or what if they snag a convert? Can one of the teachers do the baptism? Does this happen a lot?
It happens occasionally that someone is allowed to baptize his own child or a 'Bible study,' but I've never seen it as being common. Theoretically any male can baptize, but usually it's only done by elders or maybe ministerial servants who have been specifically appointed to do so.
- Where are people baptized? Can they be baptized in swimming pools? Or are there fonts in the various Kingdom Halls?
Generally baptisms are carried out only at assemblies and conventions. Most Assembly Halls have baptism pools, and swimming pools are set up in the arenas where the large summer conventions are held.
- If you're a current or former member, what do you remember about the day you were baptized? How did you feel? Were there any doubts or did you feel exhilerated? (Some people feel a little cocky...they had the truth and everyone else didn't.)
I was pretty happy about it, though it was a miserable experience. It was 1969 at the Yankee Stadium convention, and they herded us into overcrowded, standing-room-only buses to ship us across the Cross-Bronx Expressway to Orchard Beach. Almost 3000 were baptized that day, so there were a lot of buses and it was pretty much a cattle run at the beach. It was a hot July day, and the buses were not air conditioned, and the trip took about 90 minutes each way due to traffic (it would actually be about a 15 minute drive if you were the only car on the road, but the Cross-Bronx is a busy highway). So the 2 minutes you got into the water felt pretty good, but was followed by another 90 minute sweltering return trip. The afternoon session was already well under way by the time we got back, so we missed lunch, too. Nonetheless, I was exhilerated to finally be part of 'God's true organization'.
- If you're a current or former member, did you ever baptize anyone? If you're a current member, do you want to?
I never baptized anyone, never felt any special desire to.
- If you left the church, did you feel a need to be rebaptized into another faith? If so, which church did you join? Or did you become an atheist?
I'm an evangelical Christian. I was not rebaptized after leaving the JWs; two different churches (one Baptist and one C&MA) have accepted me as a member without requiring rebaptism, because I had made a profession of Christian faith prior to becoming a JW.
