Anyone been baptised in another religon since leaving the dubs?

by misspeaches 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  MerryMagdalene

  I, too, was baptised pre-1985 and have always felt that my dedication to God, thus expressed, was a valid one...but I still felt something was missing. When I read this paragraph in the Gospel of Philip (Gnostic), I knew why and what:

  If one goes down into the water and comes up without having received anything and says, "I am a Christian," he has borrowed the name at interest. But if he receives the Holy Spirit, he has the name as a gift. He who has received a gift does not have to give it back, but of him who has borrowed it at interest, payment is demanded. This is the way it happens when one experiences a mystery.

  I would like to get baptised again, for mystical reasons also well expressed in the Gospel of Philip, but am understandable "tub-shy" and as nervous about being in a church as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

  So, we'll see...

  ~Merry
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  Honesty

  Christ now lives IN ME. This amazes me because i was not even looking for something and this living acceptance of me from God was even before I REALLY knew what He wanted from me. (remember as a jw, you have to go thru so many questions etc before you get baptised into THEIR religion, and have had to have been on the field for so many months etc etc). God chooses you, you do not choose God.

  The WTBTS does not want Christ living in anyone so they twist the scriptures referring to Him doing so. They are so wrong. When God chooses you and you accept Christ, He does enter into your heart and changes you. The WTBTS says to put on the new personality and to cultivate the fruits of the spirit as if the individual is the one that does it. That is a lie. While there are some things a person can change about themselves, real changes can only come from the Holy Spirit dwelling in a person and the WTBTS denies this real and supernatural fact and experience because neither they or their followers can have the Holy Spirit in any shape form or fashion because they dethrone Christ and deny His diety.
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  misspeaches

  Merry - that was such an interesting passage you posted from Philip. Although those Gnostic books are not part of the official bible I do find them to be interesting and relevant. Its like anothe point of view I guess. I've really tried to absorb the passage but I am having a dumb day. I don't get the whole gift and payment thing...?

  Honesty - I've often read your posts here. I find you to be so passionate about what you belief. Actually I was hoping for you to reply to my thread because I was interested in what you would say. Sometimes you write something that just makes me stop... and contemplate... It stimulates me.
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  Shining One

  Amen, salvation only comes with being 'born again' as a new creation. This is a symbol of my own death, burial and resurrection. The Lord saved me in early 2000 and I got baptized in a Baptist Church in April of that year. BTW, same thing for my wife and two sons (who are now in their early twenties).
  Rex
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  Justin

  While it is true that Christian churches generally do not accept JW baptisms, it is also true that if you were baptized before you became a JW they will accept that as your real baptism and disregard the JW one. I have never wanted to go through the grief of another full initiation, and have managed to get into the "back door" of wherever I went. I have, however, been "confirmed" in a couple of churches.

  As pointed out, the reason for rejecting JW baptism is a trinitarian one - the JWs don't use the formula "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" while at the same time teaching against the Trinity.
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  zagor

  Not for me thanks. Though not agreeing with his ideology I can now see what Carl Marx meant when he said that religion is opium for masses. I've been around long enough to see that no religion is free from dogmatism, repression of thoughts, repression of personal freedoms, groupthink, enslavement of mind to an idea without really knowing much about it, disempowerment and complete surrender to an institution. Just give them enough of time and every religion will show its real, ugly face.

  So members are nothing more but pawns in somebody’s chess game. There is no freedom in religion. I don’t know what Jesus meant when he said “Truth will set you free” but today’s religions are using it to create a fairy-tale for gullible the same way advertising creates fantasy about a product in a hope you would buy it. Strangely enough, once you buy it the product does not seem quite so neither fulfilling nor does it solves your problem and ultimately becomes just another junk you have to get rid of. Similar thing goes with religions today. It is a fantasy, personal imagination or if you want me to be more blunt a lie.

  It is no wander that ultimately membership becomes delusional, depressed, lost, perplexed, and the saddest part is that people are ready for such an idea to give just about anything (or take just about anything for others). It is rightfully so that Blaise Pascal concluded Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

  Which sums it up quite nicely for me, thank you very much.
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  Qcmbr

  Interesting how some christian churches won't accept the JW baptism. That implies:
  
  1/ They think that baptism is more than a covenant with God - it also implies that they must accept their version of the truth.
  2/ They think they have authority to baptise.
  3/ They think others therefore don't.
  
  Whatever arguement they use to give themselves authority is a two edged sword as it almost certainly logically disqualifies them at the same time.
  If that belief in their authority is flawed then the rest of the baptism belief bundle is rocky especially as possession of 'true doctrines' constitutes a correct baptism (point 1)
  
  So either baptism can be done by anybody (not supported by scripture) and is valid anywhere or there is a requirement for authority (supported by scripture) which either has to come direct from heaven (for it to be valid) or it has to be passed on by someone who got it from heaven.
  
  In this scenario the Catholics have a claim but born agains don't.
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  oldflame

  I was first baptised when I waas 14 into the Mormon church. I was not baptised into the borg, but when I learned what it really was to except Christ as my personal saviour I went to the pastor at the church I attend and told him that I felt that since I was decieved by the Mormons I felt that the baptisum was under false interpretations and wanted to be baptised in Christ rather in Mormon. Funny thing is that there were 3 other JW's that attend the same church who followed and were also baptised because they also felt the same as I did. One of those that was baptised is also a member here that we all know very well.
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  PaulJ

  I havent and I dont think I would. Who is to say that I have to be baptised to be 'saved'?
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  OldSoul

  MerryMagdalene,

  But if he receives the Holy Spirit, he has the name as a gift.

  I did. I knew it then. I couldn't say I did, for reasons that are obvious to anyone who has been a Witness, but I knew that what happened to Cornelius' family had happened to me.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul