Damn straight! Even recently, before I began my fade, I asked what would happen if a JW became an atheist or went to another church. He mentioned nothing about disfellowshipping, only something about dogs returning to their vomit. So what happens if a JW becomes an atheist? Well, that's apostasy. You're better off in their eyes being a pedophile. At least then you have a shot at being an elder again some day if you're a man.
"You knew what the consequences were when YOU decided to leave The Truth. This is YOUR decision and the outcome is YOUR responsibility."
by nicolaou 55 Replies latest social family
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rip van winkle
I wasn't a child when I got baptized.
When I made the decision to GET baptized, I didn't know then that I didn't know TTATT.
My decision was not based on full disclosure.
Had I been AWARE of the lies and deceit and the rewritten WT history, I would NOT have even (been indoctrinated)"studied".
Why would any parent allow their child to enter into a life decision contract?
Oh, that's right, its a cult!!
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nicolaou
My Mum once responded (after an unusually terse spat between us) that "you may have been 15 when you got baptised but you carried on in 'The Truth' for years."
Her argument was that I'd continued to reaffirm my boyhood vows as an adult. That makes sense on the face of it until you consider the basis of those vows - lies and misrepresentations.
A young couple may fall in love, marry, have children and be approaching middle age before one partner discovers some awful truth about their spouses life before the wedding day. Maybe he was (and still is) cheating on her, or is a criminal, bigamist, paedophile or some other type of fraud.
Should she STILL be held to her vows?
I think the love and
emotional investment we
build up in a marriage over m
any years is analogous to t
he faith and trust placed in ch
erished religious i
nstitutions like the Watchtower.
If the basis is fraudulent the vows don't hold.
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Ucantnome
i think that when i was baptised at an early age i knew and agreed with the disfellowhipping arrangement and when i left although not disfellowshipped i knew how i would be treated. i think that my participation at a witness for many years after my baptism well into adulthood showed that i continued to support the views generally. Having said that i always would say hello to people i knew whether disfellowshipped or not. when a relative of mine was disfellowshipped i limited my association but still talked to them and it was very clear that i did not support the action that caused the disfellowshipping. They were depressed at one point and needed support that the elders were reluctant to give although they were in a position to do so, family helped. I understand that we will all be judged individually on how we act.
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insearchoftruth4
Rip said it right!!!
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stillin
I corresponded this weekend with a grown woman who was baptized at the age of 14, years ago. Now she is DF'd. She expected me to turn away from her because I am Stillin, but I said that I hoped that there would be adjustments made in the cases of minors getting baptized then leaving. Minors can't sign legal contracts and this JW thing has lifelong repurcussions. How fair is that? She said that she is going to try to work her way back in, she misses her mother so. I said that she ought to just show up on her mom's threshold and tell her that she loves her; if that is all that is said then at least it got said!
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Phizzy
Nic said "If the basis is fraudulent the vows don't hold." Another gem of a phrase to add to my armoury.
I was a pre-teen when I got dunked, I knew about the DFing for sins like fornication, and theft etc , I had never heard of Apostasy, let alone anyone being DF'd for it. I happily assumed that if a person changed their mind, they were free to leave. Oh the naivity of youth !
In my few short years I had observed a number walk away from the religion, none of them were DF'd, I guess in those days, early 1960's, the "control" was much less pronounced.
If they tried to DF me for Apostasy now it would be a weird Kafkaesque/Orwellian farce. Since the AGM2012/July13WT stuff, the religion I walked away from no longer exists. I should be totally unaware of the Noo Lite. Nobody has given me the WT. What a strange state of affairs.
I certainly did not know the terrible things they could do to me, rip away my family, friends and support network, when I got baptised.
And I guess 99.9% of those baptised don't know all the rules, or the full extent of the Cult's power, or its viscious vindictivness.
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KiddingMe
The consequences were not clear to me either when I was baptized. I remember the same as a previos poster, about the dog returning to his vomit but nothing about if you just wanted to leave.
Even, recently, an elder mentioned in his part something like- people say they can't leave, how untrue, no one is keeping them, they are free to go, just write a letter.
It's not that simple and gives a false impression to bible studies or young ones in the audience that do not know the consequences of writing that letter.
On top of that the pressure on young ones to not put off getting baptized because they are afraid they may do something wrong. They make it seem like that is not a valid concern and that the young one is either planning on doing something wrong or lacking faith somehow.
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brainmelt
I made the decision when I was 15 to get baptised, based on the information and influences that I had at the time, I was being raised in a JW family and I at the time thought that it was the truth and the right thing to do. I didn't know any better. I was a child, I was still at school. Now 15 years later, I have changed my mind. I don't believe in god anymore so my so called 'dedication' to god means diddly squat to me now. I've made a decision to leave the 'Truth' now based on the information that I have available to me now. I refuse to raise my children in a religion that I don't believe to be true and I'm at the point where I don't care what anyone says. I'm an adult and I'll make my own decisions and I refuse to be made guilty about an uninformed decision I made in my childhood.
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diana netherton
I often said to my family, would you let your kid get married at 15? Then why in the world would you let them make such a "huge" decision like getting baptised. Doesn't make a bit of sense.