please read this link if you dont understand why the questions on baptism were changed in 1985...... and why baptism in the JWs since 1985 is a legal snare....
JW Baptism Misrepresentation/Ilegal for under 18's
by Pleasuredome 24 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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johnny cip
Rich; you must be a problem for the jw's in your area. your wt knowledge is causing many many jw's to STUMBLE! LOL i always love when you show me something i've not seen before, but not this time... thanks for your great research.... have a pint on me....blast them out!!!john
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ugg
thank you so much for posting....very informative...appreciated it...
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bittersweet
interesting........and very informative.Thank you.
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kelpie
So does that mean because I was baptized at the age of 12, my baptism doesnt really count because by law under 18's cannot go into a legal contract??
If that is the case, then they cannot legal disfellowship me.. I can just quit????
Please help me to understand this better.
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AlanF
Kelpie, the ideas I presented in that article are principles which have not been tested in court. I strongly suspect that if they were, Watchtower would lose, as long as the plaintiff had a decent lawyer.
The most useful test of those ideas would be for someone who was baptized and DF'd before age 18 to come forward and participate in a test case.
AlanF
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kelpie
It is a very interesting thought.
I have had this discussion with my partner (who was never a dub)
He says to me all the time "how could a 12 year old know what he/she wanted" If it is truely a legal binding contract as that lawyer claimed (so the borg couldnt be sued) it should really make my baptism nul and void.
I haven't been df'd yet.
Is that the point you are trying to make?
Edited by - kelpie on 15 January 2003 21:48:44
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NeonMadman
The most useful test of those ideas would be for someone who was baptized and DF'd before age 18 to come forward and participate in a test case.
I think that would be the key - that the individual suing would have had to leave the organization either while still a minor or very shortly after attaining majority. A minor who makes a contract, but continues to honor the contract after becoming an adult, is regarded as having ratified the contract as an adult, and thus the contract becomes binding.
The example I recall from my Business Law courses was that of a minor who buys a car on time payments, then regrets the purchase. He is entitled to nullify the contract, returning the car and receiving back whatever he has paid toward the purchase. But if he continues to make payments after reaching the age of majority, he has ratified the contract and loses the option to nullify, even though he made the contract originally as a minor.
Applying this to our religious "contract" (assuming that Alan is right about the applicability of contract law), I was baptized as a JW at 17, but remained in the organization for nearly 30 years. No court would now recognize a right for me to simply "nullify" my "agreement" with the borg because it had been made originally when I was a minor. But, if I had walked away a few days before (or even a few days after) my 18th birthday, such a right might have existed.
Edited by - NeonMadman on 15 January 2003 21:30:54
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kelpie
ok well that blows my theory..
the dubs have it covered from all angles dont they
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AlanF
Hi Kelpie,
: I haven't been df'd yet.
: Is that the point you are trying to make?
Not exactly. Since I don't know a thing about you, I was speaking in very general terms. If you want to discuss this more (I certainly do) please write me privately; my email is open.
Hi NeonMadman,
Good observations. That's why I'm looking for people who were baptized and DF'd before 18. I'm sure there's a gray area, since most people understand that the period of adolescence a few years beyond 18 can be just as full of turmoil as the years before. Again, in an area as complicated as religious rights, this needs to be tested in court.
AlanF