by Elsewhere 15 Replies latest jw friends
JW parents will do just about anything to get their kids to be baptized as JWs.
Do they do this with the full knowledge that they will have to shun their children if they leave the organization?
Is this a tactic that parents use to trap their children in the cult, basically using baptism as an form of insurance or guarantee that their kids will stay in the cult?
jgnat's thread made me start wondering this
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/87462/1.ashx
Some may do that as extortion of sorts. But I have to think the average JW parent who buys into this religion is just happy that the kids are on-board. I dont think anyone in the religion really thinks to much about "shunning" until it happens. If they did think about shunning as a real issue early on do you think anyone would convert?
JW's dont expect the kids to bail out early. Just as anyone else doesnt expect the kids to die young.
~Hill
my older brother was offered a car if he got baptized. no kidding. can't remember my parents' justification for this but i remember i was pissed off because i had already gotten baptized. if only i had held out a little longer...
oh, i should add that my brother didn't take the bait. strongest 17 year old ever.
doogie, I'm sure that was so he could pioneer.
There are so many things that JW parents do to coerce their children to get baptized.
I have known parents who started treating an unbaptized child with cold indifference to make a child realize that unless they conformed to JW-approved behaviour, they would lose their parent's affection. Another incident involved holding a story writing assignment that the child had written (that had been tossed in the garbage because she changed her mind about what she wanted to write) as "evidence" that could be shown to the elders at any time if she didn't "smarten up" and "stop acting like a whore" (because a boy from school had called).
Later, when the child eventually got baptized, while everyone else was congratulating the child and hugging her and welcoming her as a member of the congregation, this same parent pushed her away and, rolling her eyes, said to the child: "I don't see what the big deal is. You're only doing what you're supposed to be doing." The child was heartbroken.
It took 20 years before the child realized that the real reason she got baptized was because she thought it would make her mother love her again, and it hadn't worked.
A car! wow that is a nice blessing for getting baptized. right away something good came from it.
But shouldn't someone who wants to follow God want to get baptized without a gift?
My inactive friend wants her children baptised as a "protection" from immorality.
Little does she realize that immorality in the congregations is about the same as out these days.
But shouldn't someone who wants to follow God want to get baptized without a gift?
right. the gift was offered because my brother clearly DIDN'T want to join the witnesses and get baptized. that didn't matter to my parents. the outward act was more important than his true 'heart condition'.
Yes...Yes...Yes...Yes...Yes...Yes...Yes
JW parents use baptism as a means to exert control over their kids. I don't think they intentionally want to end up shunning their own kids, they just figure if they get baptized young they will stay in line and think twice about committing a sin or leaving the org. The society should not allow young kids to get baptized, but we all know that without this practice the org would have no growth.
Dragonlady76
My mother made many comments about me getting dunked. Once I did, (to make her and everyone else happy) she laid off.
Jahna
