instead of highjacking an earlier thread on young ones getting baptized, i thought i'd just start a new one and ask our favourite dub lurker why his faith practices infant baptism.
and defd, if you feel that a 7 or 8 or even 12 year old isn't an infant with regards to making major decisions, i would like to hear your explanation.
bethel
In our Kingdom Hall a 9 year old girl was allowed to be baptized. It was said that she was more mature that most and that she knew what she wanted to do. What 9 year old girl or boy knows what they really want. It's preposterous!
Now she is 10 years old and she is contantly being held up as the example that all young people should follow. I am just waiting until she hits puberty and see what happens then!
according to the book cults in our midst by margaret thaler singer the practice of love bombing is a common practice in groups who seek to control others.
she states:.
most cults have specific plans for drawing in each recruit.
I
can also see how this works for kids who were born in and knew the jargon. JW kids have a hard life in the WTS. Acceptance is conditional and they know it. They are pushed to perform (ministry school, commenting at meetings, service and vacation pioneering, getting baptized). Like the rest of JWs it was never enough or good enough. This is so hard on the developing self esteem. I can see how kids would do just about anything to feel part of the group and get the acceptance they needed. As the child enters their teens the pressure to conform and get baptized gets stronger. The negative attention for not getting baptized is strong. So the child caves in to the pressure in a desire to get the unconditional love that is so needed.
Lady Lee, this is the story of my life! I am a 4th generation JW and the pressure to conform was fierce and is still fierce.
i just returned home from the kingdom hall.
i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.
i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.
You're right YC. There are three congregations that meet at the Hall.
I was thinking that I had to go to another Hall altogether, not just change congregations.
I have a lot of thinking to do.
i just returned home from the kingdom hall.
i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.
i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.
How do you change congregations? We are presently attending the congregation that is within the territory we live in. What excuse can I give for making the change? The nearest other congregation from my home is a lot farther away than the one I am attending now. Do I inform the other elders that I am leaving or do I just start attending the new congregation?
i just returned home from the kingdom hall.
i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.
i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.
I have had time to think about it since last night and I learned something about myself. I am influenced by peer pressure. I mean just like a teenager I want to be one of the gang, one of the cool ones and as an Elder I can be that.
Jehovah, Jesus, none of that enters into why I continue to go to the Kingdom Hall. I don't see Jesus or Jehovah and I don't feel them. It's because I want the people in the Hall to see me as a spiritual man, whether I am or not. I don't serve Jehovah, I serve the elders and the brothers and sisters at the Hall. They are the ones whose approval I covet. I know that much of what is being taught is just tripe, but I don't really care, and I bet some of them don't care either. It is like a game that we are used to playing.
But now that my kids are singled out and may be adversely affected by this nonsence, I don't think I want to play anymore.
Oh....... boss just returned. I have to get back to work.
i just returned home from the kingdom hall.
i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.
i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.
I tried to post this last night but was unable to. So.......
Our
Well, I told him that I really felt that I needed to spend more time with my family and that with the added stress of being an elder, I did not have much time for anything anymore. They nodded their heads all the time I was speaking. I was thinking how easy this was and I had worried all day for nothing.
When I finished talking the other elder leaned forward and asked what was really the problem. I again told them that I felt I had just too much on my plate at the time and that I wanted to step down as an elder.
The other elder again leaned forward and asked if there was anything going on in my life that they needed to hear about, and the pulled his Bible out of his bookbag.
The reminded me how eager I was to become an elder and how proud I was to be appointed so young. I was just 20 when I was appointed. I told him that life changes, people change and the appointment of elder did not seem nearly so important to me as it once did. I was now married and had children and there were more important things for me now to consider.
The other elder said that there was nothing more important than Jehovah and his organization and that this should be my first priority. I corrected him and said that my family was my first priority and he said no, Jehovah’s organization was my first priority. What?
He looked as if he was daring me to contradict him again. I didn’t say anything. I am a laid back, easygoing guy and I certainly didn’t want to get into an argument with him.
I told them no, there was nothing going on that they needed to know about and that I was just tired. The PO said that all the brothers and sisters were tired at this time of the end but that we all had to hold on just a little while longer until Jehovah brought in his new order. Then he read that scripture “and just a little while longer and the wicked one will be no more……….blah, blah, blah…… Then they asked me how my wife felt about my stepping down. I thought to myself if they had not dismissed her, she could have told them herself. But I told them that she said the decision was up to me.
He asked if this had anything to do with our talk about the children the other night. I admitted that this talk had made me think about the direction in which my life was going.
He then said that the society has found that when men wanted to step down as an elder, and it was not a health reason, it was usually because something unscriptural was going on in their lives, like adultery or alcoholism or… APOSTACY. I assured him that none of these applied to me. The said that most of the letters and phone calls that came into the society nowadays was from brothers and sisters questioning the organization about the things they were teaching and asking them to explain something they had read on the internet. He said that this was a big problem and that was tired of their teachings being questioned. He then asked if I had any questions about the teachings of the Watchtower.
I am a wuss. I admit it. I hate confrontations and though I have many questions, I assured him that I didn’t that everything was okay and I just needed some rest.
Well, after an hour and a half, he is not going to accept my resignation. They need elders and I should just get my children to sit quiet during the meetings. He also said that when the Circuit Overseer comes next week we would talk with him together.
Oh Boy..!!!
i just returned home from the kingdom hall.
i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.
i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.
Our
i just returned home from the kingdom hall.
i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.
i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.
I am going to tell you all something that I have never admitted to anyone before, except my wife.
It is just so demanding being a witness. So freaking demanding. Besides the meetings, the family studies and the field service, both my wife and I have full time jobs and we have the children to care for. If I miss even one weekend of field service I have to answer an to an interrogation. Since becoming an elder it has just become worse. There is so much to do that I have absolutely no time for myself. No time at all.
I just came back from Elders School where we were chided that we were not doing enough and that we should have a fuller share in Jehovah's service. I was so keyed up and felt so guilty that I went to the doctor and told him about the anxiety I was feeling and the pressures that were upon me and he gave me an anti-anxiety pill. He said that I was suffering from depression. The pill is Zoloft and it does help a bit. It helps to calm me down some. Please don't think ill of me for having to take this drug. I need help.
I am a relatively young man, 29 years old. I feel old and tired and without energy, listless, lethargic. Sometimes I look in the faces of the brothers and sisters around me and they look like I feel.
The other elders do not understand my plight. They have their own circle and I am on the outside, I guess because I am the youngest. I don't really know. I was doing all that I could possibly do and now I have to be concerned about training my kids. Does it ever end?????
You are all right. In order to save my santity I have to leave this religion. I have to get out and quick. It feels good just to tell someone about this.
i just returned home from the kingdom hall.
i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.
i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.
Hi Aude, yes I was raised in the truth. I have 5 sisters and brothers and we were like little soldiers at the meeting because our parents beat us. I don't mean a spanking we were really beaten if we dared to act up in the Kingdom Hall. There was no sparing the rod in our house.
To this day I can pretend to pay close attention at the meetings, while all the time my mind is wandering and I am thinking of other things. It's a trick I learned from infancy. My siblings are the same.
In fact, one of my sisters says that in all the years she was growing up in the truth she never really knew what they were talking about. Because although she went to all the meetings and in field service, she didn't really know what they taught because she never really listened. It was only when she married a brother that she thought she ought to find out what JW's were all about. Before that she only knew that they talked a lot about Israelites. She was baptized when she was 14 and she is now 27 years old.
I refuse to hit my children. I jut won't do it and my wife agrees. We talk to the kids, try to reason with them, but we absolutely will not hit them.
i just returned home from the kingdom hall.
i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.
i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.
Hello Everybody. Thank you so much for the responses. I rested a little and I feel better now.
Yes, there are other small children in the Kingdom Hall. But I am the only elder who has young children. I am supposed to be the example that the publishers with children follow. I don't want to be an example, but there it is.
I used to bring coloring books and crayons to the Hall for the kids and that kept them quiet. But the PO said this was no good because the kids should be "clutching" (his word) their Bibles and starring at the speaker.
I did try to sit in the Back Room with them for a while and was told that elders should be a part of the audiences so that the brothers could see them and be encouraged.
I sometimes wish I had the courage to just get up and leave. Especially since I no longer believe the majority of stuff they teach. However, I have too much family tied up in this organization and I just cannot extricate myself from the witnesses now.
