INFANT BAPTISM AND JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

Translated from the original by Chris Tsilikas

One of the topics that Jehovah’s Witnesses love to talk about with Orthodox Christians is infant baptism, because they think that they will bring Christians into disposition with this issue. “Why do you baptize your children when they are infants or too young, and thus unable to understand the reason why they are baptized? Don’t you coerce them into becoming Christians this way? Don’t you deprive them of free will? Why don’t you give them the right to decide on their own, the right to choose whether THEY WANT TO BE BAPTIZED ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS or not, when they have grown up and they have FREELY got to know the teachings of Christianity?”...

But before we go on, we would like to explain what baptism means for an Orthodox Christian and what it means for a Jehovah’s Witness because they seem to be two different things. For the Orthodox Christian baptism is taken in order to wipe out the Fall of Man and in order to take the grace of the Holy Spirit through the unction.

For Jehovah’s Witnesses on the other hand, baptism means that you have decided to devote yourself to Jehovah and then do his will. In other words baptism is a simple ceremony for Jehovah’s Witnesses, they don’t take it seriously as it is proven, SINCE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES CAN BE BAPTISED AGAIN IF THEY WANT TO!!!! Yes, that’s right! We’ll see ‘when’ and ‘how’ later on.

We would also like to draw your attention to all the documents we quote from the ‘Watchtower’ – and they are quite a few. As you will find out by the end of this post, they are full of contradictions. Let us now remind you how the right baptism should be done according to Jehovah’s Witnesses:

Firstly: Every person should learn the teaching of Christianity FREELY and then consciously decide to follow the one that he/she believes that serves and expresses the truth of Christianity.

Secondly: As we all understand a young child is incapable of doing this, because, due to his/her age, he/she cannot conceive the highest concepts of Christianity. CONSEQUENTLY THE BAPTISM OF YOUNG CHILDREN IS OUT OF THE QUESTION. And this is due to the fact that a pesron according to the Watchtower should reach THE AGE OF RESPONSIBLE THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS. And A YOUNG CHILD IS IRRESPONSIBLE. Taking all the above into consideration we assume that a prospective Jehovah’s Witness whose parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses grows up in an environment where he/she learns about the teachings of Christianity, so that he/she FREELY takes his/her decision to devote to Jehovah when he/she grows up, that is to be baptized, after he/she has been convinced that his/her parents’ religion is the true one. We also assume that there are no baptisms of young children among Jehovah’s Witnesses.

But, we’d better let the Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses “Watchtower” tell us all about baptism through its leaflets and publications, so that no one can accuse us of being biased or of distorting things about Jehovah’s Witnesses. Let’s start then with the “Watchtower” of March 15^th 1998, page 14. We quote the document below and we’ll comment on it later on.

Wisely Exercising God-Given Freedom

¹² In full recognition of this requirement, Jehovah’s Witnesses advocate the dedicating of oneself to God, but they never coerce anyone into making such a dedication, not even their own children. In contrast with many churches, the Witnesses do not baptize their offspring as infants, as if it were possible to force them into dedication without the benefit of personal choice.

“Watchtower” of March 15^th 1998, page 14: Jehovah’s Witnesses neither coerce anyone into baptizing nor baptize infants

Well, according to the “Watchtower” of March 15^th 1998, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not coerce anyone into making a dedication, that means into being baptized, not even their own children. And they do not baptize them when they are infants – in contrast to other churches – because if they did this, they would deprive them of the benefit of personal choice, that is of free will.

Additionally, the “Watchtower” of 1970, pp 329-330 is more detailed and thus more enlightening about the issue of infant baptism. Let’s read first and we comment on the extract later on:

Why Be Baptized?

³ It is thought by some that baptism is a ceremony that brings certain direct spiritual dispensations from God. A careful study of the instructions given by Jesus and his disciples on baptism proves otherwise. Being a symbol of something else, it obviously is not as important as what it symbolizes, namely dedication. The step of dedication must be taken only after one has sufficient knowledge to decide unequivocally that he wishes to do Jehovah’s will and not his own; otherwise the act of baptism is meaningless. It follows, therefore, that it would be improper for infants to be baptized. One must know why he is baptized. Very young children would be lacking in understanding. It is true that Christ Jesus said: “Let the young children come to me.” But there is no record that he baptized any young children or commanded that they be baptized. Rather, they should be instructed by their parents in the “discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah,” so as to be prepared for dedication and baptism when they have grown in understanding to the point where they can make an intelligent dedication.—Mark 10:14; Eph. 6:4.

“Watchtower” of 1970, pp 329-330: Jehovah’s Witnesses do not baptize infants or children

So from the “Watchtower” of 1962 we draw the following elucidating conclusions. In order for baptism to have a significance the person who is baptized must have sufficient knowledge, in other words he/she must be fully aware and conscious that he desires to do Jehovah’s will and not his own. Consequently, it is improper for infants to be baptized exactly because they lack in such knowledge. Pay attention to the word “why” in the extract above which is printed in italics because the Watchtower wants to stress that the person to be baptized should know the reason why this is happening. As the Watchtower goes on in the extract above we notice that after infants, it considers it improper for young children to be baptized as well, because due to the young of their age they lack in understanding the reason why they should be baptized. And in order to justify this stance it quotes the Holy Scriptures pointing out that Christ neither baptized a child nor commanded anyone – obviously from his disciples – to baptize a child. What children should do – always according to the Watchtower – is to learn from their parents and when they grow up and have also grown in understanding they can make the intelligent dedication, that is they can be baptized.

And the last document from the “Watchtower” of March 15^th 1998, page 14, refers to the age when someone should be baptized and to the reason why someone should be baptized:

Wisely Exercising God-Given Freedom

¹³ It is noteworthy that Timothy knew the holy writings because he had been taught them from infancy. He had been persuaded—not forced—to believe Christian teachings by his mother and grandmother. (2 Timothy 1:5) As a result, Timothy saw the wisdom of becoming a follower of Christ and thus made the personal choice of Christian dedication. In modern times, tens of thousands of young men and women whose parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses have followed this example. (Psalm 110:3) Others have not. It is a matter of personal choice.

“Watchtower” of March 15^th, 1998, page 14: Tens of thousands of young men and women whose parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses are baptized

In the document above from the “Watchtower” of March 15^th 1998, we can make the following deductions. The child whose parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses has been taught the Christian teachings from infancy, he/she is persuaded that these teachings are the true ones and he/she FREELY selects to make a dedication, that is to become a Jehovah’s Witness. It’s worth pointing out that once again this dedication which is baptism excludes infants and young children since the Watchtower is definite on this issue, and even writes “tens of thousands of youn men and women whose parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses have followed this example”, meaning they have been baptized.

Consequently, what we can infer from the three documents we quoted is that, in contrast to our practices – we baptize our children in infancy or in childhood – Jehovah’s Witnesses educate their children from infancy on Christian teachings and when their children become mature men and women they realize that their parents’ religion is the true one – since they have FREELY compared it to other religions – they decide to move on making the dedication, that is to be baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses. Now let’s have a look at the FREE EDUCATIONAL METHODS Jehovah’s Witnesses use on their children in order to convince them that their parents’ religion is the only true one. And be sure we don’t need to make up any stories on that since once again we have the Watchtower to tell us all we need.

Well, the FREE EDUCATION of the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses starts with

SLANDERING ALL OTHERS

1. “² Eventually, to human eyes, the pure Christian congregation founded by Jesus seemed to have been corrupted when Satan brought forth the apostate religious travesty today known as Christendom. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8) ”   “Watchtower” 1^st  July 1995 p. 14

2. “Taking in teachings infected by dangerous demonic ideas can poison us just as easily as can eating physical food that has been tainted with germs or toxins…. ” So we do well to examine the source of our figurative food, bearing in mind that some literature, such as apostate writings, may be infected by the introduction of unscriptural teachings and philosophies.”  “Watchtower” 15^th  April 1997 p. 30

3. “¹⁵ Like Jesus’ first-century disciples, we declare the good news—a heartwarming message of hope—to those “skinned and thrown about like sheep without a shepherd” and to those blinded and confused by ”teachings of demons.” “Watchtower” 1^st  August 2003 p. 17

4. “From infancy their children are told the truth about things such as Santa Claus, Easter and false religion. ”  “Watchtower” 1970 p. 249

So this is the ...  FREE EDUCATION that children of Jehovah’s Witnesses get from infancy!!!!

Apart from the Watchtower we all belong to the false, apostate religion created by Satan and we bring about and teach demonic ideas!!!

But don’t think that this FREE EDUCATION for the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses ends here. It goes on with

COERCING CHILDREN INTO TAKING PART IN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE SOCIETY

1. “Many children buck against the routine of a family study. Should this stop parents from conducting the study when planned? No, certainly not. “Foolishness is tied up with the heart of a boy [or, girl],” acknowledges Proverbs 22:15.” “Watchtower” 1^st  June 1998 p. 22

2. “It is proper that a Christian parent require children to attend Christian meetings.” “Watchtower” 1975 p. 319

3. “⁷ Is it not reasonable, then, for school-age children to pay attention to the instruction provided at congregation meetings rather than be allowed to fall asleep as soon as the meeting begins? ….. ⁸ Hence, some parents arrange for their children to take a nap before the meetings so that they will arrive at the Kingdom Hall refreshed and ready to learn. Certain parents may strictly limit or even wisely rule out television viewing for their children on meeting nights.”  “Watchtower” 15^th  March 2000 p. 17

Children are foolish!!!, the Watchtower says, so parents should not be afraid to subject them to the standard ‘brainwash’ that all Jehovah’s Witnesses are subjected to, which of course is widely known as family study. Also pay attention to what the Watchtower says on the extracts we have quoted, “A parent Jehovah’s Witness should REQUIRE children to attend Christian meetings and not fall asleep as soon as the congregation begins. That’s why parents should arrange for their children to take a nap before the meetings and they should also strictly rule out television. Please! Take a break! No more such freedom! We’ve had enough!

Of course some other Jehovah’s Witnesses are even more inventive. They give their children a lot of water to drink so that they can go to the loo before the meeting in order to avoid constant interruptions of the meeting for the loo!! “Watchtower”  p. 341

But what happens when all these fail and children still resist doing their Bible instruction? No problem whatsoever. The Watchtower quotes the example of a mother who “FREELY” and “DEMOCRATICALLY” educated her children. Enjoy reading it:

 “When it was stressed that it was the parents’ responsibility to see that children had daily Bible instruction, I decided to set aside time for daily Bible reading,” she said. “This raised a howl of protest from my boys, ages seven, five and three, as it always seemed to come at their most enjoyable time. After the account of creation they lost interest, and the howls grew louder as I turned off the television every night and announced it was time for Bible reading. Many times I sat with the Bible in one hand and the rod of correction in the other. ”

“Watchtower” 1964 p. 644

Well, now it is clear how FREELY the children did their Bible study; by the threat of being beaten up!

And when we say Bible study of course, we mean the education the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses get, so that when they grow up they can become the unpaid ‘door-to-door salesmen’ of the books of the Society of the Watchtower. And how is it possible for them to avoid becoming this since they have been experiencing it since their infancy? As instead of playing typical child games they play games such as how we can trap the prospective victim in order to fob the leaflets of the Society on him. And don’t hurry you Jehovah’s Witnesses to tell us we are slanders because what follows is the proof for our sayings:

“One morning, after breakfast, my youngest daughter walked into the kitchen with a magazine bag and two of the children’s personal Bibles and announced: ‘Momma, I’m going out to preach from house to house.’ My children are always pretending to be conducting Bible studies, attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall or giving each other magazine presentations as done in the house-to-house preaching work. My wife agreed that that was good and told her not to leave the yard. ”  

“Watchtower” 1968 p. 414

And here’s evidence from the Watchtower of February 1^st 2001, page 28 which describs how children play hide-and-seek, the one pretending to be the housekeeper and the other pretending to be the Jehovah’s Witness who is trying to trap the unsuspected victim!!!:

“We always tried to have a weekly family Bible study program and to make it interesting for all the children. When Daryl, Leslie, and Everett were still young, we gave them questions each week to research and answer the following week. They also acted out preaching from house to house. One went in the closet and pretended to be a householder. The other stood outside and knocked. They used comical lines to intimidate each other, but this helped them to develop a love for the preaching work. We also preached with them regularly. ”

Watchtower of February 1^st 2001, page 28: Young children of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ playing ‘hide-and-seek’ educated on how to trap innocent victims

So after all these we think you have realized that when a Jehovah’s Witness says he/she is giving Bible education to his/her children, he/she really means the teachings of his/her Society. And once again in order to avoid any objections we quote the Watchtower of 1965, page 276 where an article entitled “Trained from infancy” talks about a four-year-old girl who refused to eat sausage because it had blood:

Trained from Infancy

“One day my husband took one of our daughters to the open market in the town of Cabo. At lunch time he decided to eat a delicacy, the well-known haggis, which is made of blood. The little girl who was with him is very bright and knows what haggis is, that it is made of blood. Do you know what happened? When her father gave her a plateful of haggis, the little girl said: ‘Daddy, this food contains blood. I can’t eat it, because Jehovah doesn’t like people to eat blood.’ The child is only four years old.” Truly, such a mother trains her children ‘according to the way for them.’ ”

“Watchtower” 1965 p. 276

Well, this is the sort of ‘freedom’ in which the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses grow up and with which they are educated.

And this .... freedom goes on with the:

PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE USED ON CHILDREN BY THE SOCIETY OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES

We saved the best part for the end about this ... freedom the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses grow up in. Because the document we quote below describes what will happen to the child whose parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses but he/she refuses to be baptized. HE/SHE WILL BE EXECUTED BY JEHOVAH AS A CURSED PERSON!!!!!:

⁷ “Contrariwise, the “goats” who are to be executed as “cursed” persons will include the religionists who stay inside Babylon the Great till she is destroyed forever; …. ⁸ The “goats” would also include those husbands and wives who have believing marriage partners but who, in spite of the good example of their believing marriage mates, are found to be still unbelievers … also, the children of a believing parent or the children of believing parents (fathers and mothers), which children were once “holy” as minors, as unresponsible children, but who have grown up to responsible years and have refused to become dedicated, baptized believers by the time that divine execution upon the “goats” begins. ”

“Watchtower” 1965 pp. 175-176

Still, after so much ... ‘freedom’ and after the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses have reached a responsible age in order to be dedicated, meaning to be baptized, they still have to learn a wide range of questions which will prove that they have understood and appreciated God’s word. There used to be a special issue which was entitled “Your Word Is a Lamp to My Foot” and included 80 questions. Here is the relevant extract:

“In fact, as a person contemplates becoming a disciple and reaches the point of making a dedication to Jehovah he, in conjunction with the ministerial servants in the congregation organization, will be able to review the publication “Your Word Is a Lamp to My Foot.” This informative Watch Tower publication includes eighty basic teachings of the Bible. These are to be gone over, one at a time, so that it will be known to all, the prospective immersion candidate and his associates in the Christian congregation, that the one desiring to symbolize his dedication does have an understanding and appreciation of these basic teachings of God’s Word. ”

“Watchtower” 1970 p. 306

Nowadays this book has been replaced by another one, and anyone who wants to become a Jehovah’s Witness should understand and appreciate 120 basic teachings of the Bible which can be found in the appendix of the book of the Society “Organized to accomplish our ministry”.

This is an additional reason why Jehovah’s Witnesses do not baptize children. Because IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR A CHILD DUE TO HIS/HER AGE TO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND 120 BASIC TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE.

Consequently, Jehovah’s Witnesses EXCLUDE – we say it again they EXCLUDE – young children from being baptized.

Yet, is this really true?

IS IT TRUE THAT JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES DO NOT BAPTIZE YOUNG CHILDREN?

And now it’s time for us to watch the Watchtower making the greatest “tumble” ever. Because up to now in all the extracts we have quoted above we see that the Watchtower is totally averse to the idea of baptizing young children. But let us first see what ages the Watchtower refers to when it uses the word ‘child’, so that we know which ages are automatically ruled out of baptism. So, let the Watchtower speak:

“The Greek word for “young child” is pai·di′on. It can be used of a twelve-year-old, as at Mark 5:40-42, which refers to a girl resurrected by Jesus; but it can also apply to a newborn baby, as when used of the child Jesus at the time he was visited by the shepherds.—Luke 2:17.”

“Watchtower” 1970 p. 112

Well, according to the Watchtower the word ‘child’ is used for ages ranging from infancy to 12 years. Consequently, again according to what the Watchtower has claimed up to now, IT IS FORBIDDEN TO BAPTIZE children that are within that range of age.

Reinforcing this the “Watchtower” of 1971 p. 473, writes that when a boy aged 10 wanted to be baptized his parents didn’t let him do so because they said that he had to grow up. So he was baptized when he was 15.

And now let’s watch all the “tumbles” the Watchtower makes one by one – through its publications of course – when it accepts Jehovah’s Witnesses HAVING BEEN BAPTIZED WHILE BEING IN CHILDHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

Baptism of an eleven-year-old girl! “Watchtower” 1968 p. 107

Do you think that’s the only one? No, of course not. More is coming.

Baptism of an eleven-year-old girl! “Watchtower” 1^st March 2000 p. 21

Do you think that’s the end? No, of course not. More is coming.

Baptism of an eleven-year-old boy! “Watchtower” 1^st March 2004 p. 25

Do you think that’s the end? No, of course not. Those were quite old. What do you think? Can we find younger ones or not?

Baptism of a ten-year-old boy! “Watchtower” 1967 p. 644

Do you think that’s the end? No, of course not. More is coming.

Baptism of a nine-year-old boy! “Watchtower” 1975 p. 182

Do you think that’s the end? No, of course not. More is coming.

Baptism of an eight-year-old boy!  “Watchtower” 1^st October 2000 p.28

Do you think that’s the end? No, of course not. More is coming.

Baptism of a seven-year-old boy!  “Watchtower” 1^st October 2006 p.12

We quote the baptism of the seven-year-old boy as it is described right away so that Jehovah’s Witnesses cannot accuse us for ...  slandering!

“In September 1938, my parents were baptized. My siblings and I were baptized in December 1941 at a national convention held at Hargreave Park in Sydney, New South Wales. I was seven years old. Thereafter, I regularly shared in the field ministry with my parents. In those days, the Witnesses took portable phonographs from door to door and played recorded Bible discourses to the householders.”

“Watchtower” 1^st October 2006 p.12: baptism of a Jehovah’s Witness at the age of seven!

REBAPTISM OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES!

The last fact worth mentioning is that of the rebaptism of the members of the Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses!

Due to the fact that a lot of Jehovah’s Witnesses believed that they did not make a right dedication when they were first baptized, the Watchtower gives them the right to ... re-dedicate to Jehovah, meaning to be rebaptized! We let the Watchtower explain how this is possible:  

REBAPTISM NECESSARY?

¹¹“ Due to certain circumstances at the time when they got baptized or due to subsequent developments, some have doubts about the validity of their past dedication and baptism, and they wonder if they should be rebaptized. They may have been baptized at an early age or while they were very immature in the truth, or after baptism they became inactive in the ministry for a time. At the baptism ceremony a talk on baptism is given to make clear what is involved in the matter of dedication and baptism….But if one submitted to baptism mainly because of emotional factors and without proper understanding, or in order to please one’s parents or others, and if this baptism did not symbolize a prior dedication to do Jehovah’s will, it would be proper to be baptized again.”

“Watchtower” 1962 p. 332

No need to make a comment! Once again the Watchtower has left us speechless!

Writer Christ Pal