Aussie,
The subject of minor’s baptism was raised in my, let’s call it, “dissociation” letter.
The argument was mentioned, not because I expected any recognition of it by the Watchtower, but as a valid argument against the practice, as currently adopted by Jehovah’s Witnesses, to be made known to the public in general and particularly to current JW of whom about 400 received a copy of my dissociation letter.
I started by highlighting the fact that JW denigrate other religious groups because of their practice to baptize newborn babies, as, they say, these cannot be “disciples” of Christ and cannot use their free will to adhere to their parents faith.
On the other hand, JW practice a kind of baptism which is open not only to major adults with a free will, but also to children a few years old, on the ground that these children got to “know” the truth and understand what dedicating oneself to Jehovah means.
I myself got baptized at the age of 12 and had a given knowledge of what the WT was teaching at the time. Obviously, as I was brought up in a JW family, whatever was taught to me was basically OK and it was simply normal for a teenager of my age to pretend to understand what dedicating oneself to Jehovah meant.
However, it is worth noting that, at that time there were no 120 questions reviewed by an elder with the candidate before his baptism to ascertain that he really understood what the teachings were at that time, and what it meant to become a dedicated JW.
But this is not the point, as the same applied to minors and adults.
In addition, the two questions regularly asked to the baptism candidates at the convention during the special talk were not the same back then in 1957 when I got baptized.
None of the question ever made any to any “Organization”!
Therefore, the act of undergoing baptism in any form practiced by the JW, never implied loyalty to an Organization, which is the case right now based on Question No.2 which states that the “baptism identifies you as a JW, associated to the Organization directed by the Holy Spirit”.
Therefore, TODAY, no minor should be asked to sign a contract (which is what the baptism is) binding the candidate into a relationship not only with God, which may be considered as acceptable no matter the age, but to an Organization, that is to say a Human Legal Entity which forces minor into a lifelong contract signed before being legally capable of signing any kind of contract.
In addition, being a minor, the act is never “approved” by the legal tutor or the parents, and remains an isolated contractual act made by a minor without any legal assistance under the influence of the stronger adult part represented by the WT Organization.
Although it is true that in the Bible, we do not find any account of newborn being baptized, we do not find either any case of minor kids being baptized. The account of Timothy, although taught since his young age into the faith of his mother and grandmother, never mentions his baptism in an age which can be indicated as “minor”.
Of course, you cannot condemn a religious group from instituting and practicing a type of ceremony which identifies you as a member of that faith, as in the case of circumcision by Jews and Muslims, or baptism by Christians, be it JW or not, but is illegal, from my viewpoint, to pretend that the act is to be considered binding to a human organization and that, deviating from the current or future teachings of that religious but human organization equates rejecting Christ and his teachings, as this is usually implied when a JW, baptized in his minor age, dissents from what he considers only a human teaching.
But how could we bring up to court the issue that the baptism of minors or not, as practice by JW is not only a sign of religious identification but, above all and anything else, a sign of contractual submission to a human organization, as question number two to which all JW baptism candidates reply YES implies?
Very hard to make the distinction and win a court case on it … to my opinion.
But, if you have the means, it is worth trying.
Nick!
