While this always bothered me ,I still wanted my 2 boys to be baptised as soon as practical so they would survive the big A or else get a resurrection into the new system of things.Thats how indoctrinated I was.Both my boys were baptised in their early to mid teens.Neither have ever been disfellowshipped or disassociated themselves ,however both have nothing to do with the religion today. (thankfully )
How many family lives have been ruined because children/minors have been baptised at a young age and in the majority of cases have committed trivial offences against Watchtower policys/rules .sometimes with tragic consequences .
Teenagers have a difficult enough time as it is dealing with changes to their bodies and coping with new emotions as they transform from boys to manhood and from girls to womanhood .
Here in Australia you cant get a car license and drive on your own till your 18 yrs old ,vote at elections , or drink alcohol at a pub.and many people will argue,that is too young to start doing those things as they are not mature enough .
Yet the WTB&TS / jehovahs witnesses put life and death matters in the hands of minors / children ,as regards the use of blood and blood products ,fractions of blood ,what is currently acceptible ,and what is not.
An adult witness would find it hard to keep up with what is current and what is not current in the ever changing policy regarding the blood issue ,let alone a minor/teen who is expected to make a life or death decision at a critical time.
A teenager /minor does not have that capacity to make such an enormous decision about life or death ,when the WTB&TS acknowledge they often fail to make right decisions in trivial matters ,hence the disfellowshipping of thousands for trivial rules imposed by the Governing Body ,man made rules at that .No birthday celebrations,No smoking,No associating with a disfellowshipped baptised witness,No questioning what the Governing body has said,accepting a blood transfusion,formerly a disfellowshipping offence , now stated ,you disassociated yourself from jehovahs witness teachings so you disfellowshipped yourself . Same result shunned from all family and so called freinds,These and many more manmade rules imposed on the jehovahs witness whether young or old.
Other practices that are restictive to jehovahs witnesses :they are against higher education ,critical thinking ,reading anything outside WT publications ,studying the bible outside WT publications ,or even group witnesses discussing the bible independantly of the WTB&TS.
The WTB&TS ( Jehovah`s Witnesses ) want total control over their members ,in what they read ,what they say , and who they associate with .
Does that sound like a Christian religion to you ?
Or a Cult
smiddy