Did You Really Understand What You Were Getting Into When You Got Baptized? (page 3)

DanTheMan

Did You Really Understand What You Were Getting Into When You Got Baptized?

Nah, I was just looking for a place to fit in.

Dan, still-doesn't-fit-in-class

There were two reasons why I got baptized at the age of 16. One, was fear of dying at Armageddon since I was under the impression that if you weren't baptized and were considered of an age that you were accountable for your own self you were doomed! Two, because my girlfriend was getting baptized and she talked me into it.

I wasn't mature enough to reason anything else.

Mary Lou

Soledad

absolutely not. I was only 12, and I did it because that was what was expected of me at that point in time.

Scully

I was 17 when I got baptized.

I wasn't old enough to vote. I wasn't old enough to enter a contract with anyone. I wasn't old enough to get married without my parents' consent. I wasn't old enough to go to a bar and have a drink. I wasn't old enough to buy a lottery ticket. I wasn't old enough to join the military.

Did I think I was getting baptized as a symbol of repentence of my "sins" (such as they were... I didn't really have any to worry about)? Yes.

Did I think I was getting baptized as a symbol of dedication to Jehovah, to do his will as set forth in the Bible, as He revealed it to me through the enlightening power of the holy spirit? Yes.

So where did all the "fine print" come from, when I only agreed to those two terms and conditions??

Did I fully comprehend the social and psychological pressure - both subtle and overt - that made me feel that baptism was a step I needed to take in order to be loved and accepted by my friends and family?? No.

Did I fully comprehend that my baptism was effectively the moment where I relinquished my capacity for decision making and instead depended on "The Faithful and Discreet Slave TM " and their representatives for highly questionable advice in matters of lasting importance? No.

Did I fully comprehend that if I began questioning information from "The Faithful and Discreet Slave TM " that I would be condemned as an Apostate TM ? No.

That's what makes them a CULT.

Love, Scully

JH

What questions did John the baptist ask Jesus when he baptized him. And then what questions were asked to the first christians? These questions they ask are all legal questions that have nothing to do with faith and love.

Francois

No, I didn't. Actually, I thought I was going to be able then do date this chick after I was Bx. And I was. But I had not counting on her sly, ex-Navy father sending her younger brother along on our "dates" at Putt-Putt.

I have paid a terrible price over the years for that little testosterone-driven error.

francois

Gerard

Some of us gotta stop chasing dreams...

anti-absolutism

Yes, I knew exactly what I was getting myself when I got baptized, but those weren't the questions I heard when I got baptized in 1986.

The questions I heard went like this:

1) Do you realize that your two older sisters and your older brother have all started pioneering, and that at 17 you still have not been baptized yet?

and

2) Do you realize that, even though you are our son, you will never get any respect from your mother and I until you take that first step of baptism?

Oh, wait a second, that was what my slightly messed up father asked........sorry.....lol

Brad, of the "I used to be a JW, but I'm OK now" class

This forum is so much fun woohoo.... Brad

Etude

Yes. I knew what I was getting into. I was entering a life of dedication, of temporary sexual abstinence (I hope that I would get married some day), going from door to door, giving up going to college, waiting for the "New System of Things". At least that's what I understood at the time and I thought long and hard about it. I was 17. I remember the anxiety I experienced tying to make a decision. The decision was to choose to be selfish like Adam and do my own thing, or give into Jehovah and do His will. It's always black and white with cults. There are no multiple choices.

A few years after I was baptized is when I discovered the bait-and-switch. Serving Jehovah meant doing what the Organization said. Sexual abstinence meant putting off my natural male urges. A life of dedication meant doing their bidding to the exclusion of anything else that's fun and makes you grow as an individual. Not going to college meant the possible prospect of remaining uneducated and gullible, just the way they want you to be. Waiting for the "New System of Things" meant putting on those rose-colored glasses and ignoring the realities of the world. What a waste. I must say that after I broke loose, the pendulum swung hard in the opposite direction. I got all my licks in. I think I'm pretty much caught up now, to point that I'm settled; I'm happily married; I'm getting my degree in E-Business; l have traveled to other parts of the world and have a great set of friends right here where I live. Life ain't perfect, but it sure beats the illusion and subsequent depression that I experienced while I was a JW.

Now, I have an aversion to “join” and commit to any group. I think that even if I truly liked bowling, I still wouldn’t join a league.

Etude.

kwijibo

I was baptized in my mid 20's - was the son of an elder and thought i better get on with it.

I do remember having porno videos in my car when i was at an elders house for my study when i was progressing towards baptism - maybe that should have been a sign that my heart really wasn't in it.

Kwiji.