Look A Body Of Water ...

It is my joy to say that I underwent water baptism this Sunday. Before I speak about it I would like to talk about what brought me to this point in my life.

It was actually the second time I have been baptised by water. I was originally baptised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses as a young teenager. When your parents are Jehovah's Witnesses typically there is subtle pressure for a young Witness to get baptised, around the age of sixteen, if not sooner. This is particularly true when the father in the family is serving as a Ministerial Servant (Deacon) or an Elder. If their children do not take a public stand of faith by baptism the congregation may view the parent as not "presiding over his household in a fine manner" and thus they may be pressured to step aside from their congregation responsibilities. There is also pressure in a peer group. It is not unusual that if one teenager in a congregation decides to get baptised that his friends will follow. Again, sometimes this segways into parental pressure. If a Witness youth puts off baptism they may begin to be viewed as "bad association" and their peers in the congregation may be discouraged from spending too much time socializing with them.

Personally, I recognized that there was an expectation for me to get baptised. A few of my friends had already taken that step and because my natural father was the Presiding Overseer of the congregation there was always the undercurrent that we, his children, had to set an example. Though, I can't say that I really felt pressure to get baptised. Since I was raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses I always assumed that at some point I would get baptised sooner or later. What really motivated my decision to do so was actually a bus trip.

Jehovah's Witnesses are often encouraged to make it a point to visit the religion's world headquarters and printing facility, called Bethel, in Brooklyn, NY. Because of this congregations sometimes will arrange bus tours to visit Brooklyn Bethel. One such occasion there was a bus trip coming up and a couple of my friends were going and I was really wanting to go too. However, the tour group organizer had set the stipulation that only baptised children would be able to go on this particular trip. This prompted me to go ahead and get baptised. Again, I always assumed that I would get baptised and this trip only provided the impetus for me to go ahead with it. At that time I had a love for God and felt that baptism was the right thing to do.

Witnesses have three large gatherings annually, called assemblies and conventions, during which there is time set aside for public baptisms. The majority of those getting baptised will be Jehovah's Witness' children along with a few converts from their "door-to-door" ministry work. Before being "approved" for baptism, a baptismal canditate will have undergone a series of meetings with congregation elders to go over a set of questions. The questions are arranged to make sure that any one getting baptised into the religion will have a general knowledge of the moral and theological teachings of the Jehovah's Witness religion. At the assembly or convention they will listen to a talk about their baptism and then will be asked to rise and publically affirm their faith by answering "yes" to two questions. Since, 1985 the questions have been as follows:

On the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, have you repented of your sins and dedicated yourself to Jehovah to do his will?

Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in association with God's spirit-directed organization?

I got baptised at a circuit assembly in St. Louis, MO that would have had an attendence of about 700. On my baptism day, I was surprised to find that my natural father was giving baptismal talk, a secret that he had kept. At the appointed time I rose and answered "yes" to the two questions not knowing what the ramifications of such would later prove to be.

It would be about fifteen years later that the second question would come back against me. At that time I was undergoing a judicial committee (religious tribunal) under the charges of apostasy. In a private discussion with a couple of congregation elders I had revealed that I didn't believe some of the religion's teachings on matters of organizational arrangement and prophecy. This set me up to the potential of being disfellowshipped (excommunicated) from the religion if I did not repent during a judicial meeting.

It was during this judicial meeting and the subsequent appeal meeting that I was continually told that by disagreeing with "God's organization" I was reputiating my baptism and the second question that I had publically said "yes" to. I tried to explain that I was just a child and that I thought my baptism was simply out of love for God and that I didn't recognize that it would legally bind me to the religion and its ever-changing beliefs and prophetic interpretations.

I was disfellowshipped and in the aftermath I really had to give thought to my baptism therein. In the eyes of the religion and those in it my baptism was into an organization - an organization I was no longer a part of and had no desire ever to be a part of again. I did some study on baptism and compared what I was seeing in Scripture and Christian history to what I had raised to believe. These studies were written up into the following blog entries:

Into Who or What are We Baptised?
Is Baptism a Symbol of Dedication?
Is the Baptism of Children Scriptural?

What I've found is that many former Witnesses in my situation have gone back and questioned their baptism - particularly if they were baptised since 1986. (Prior to 1986 the second baptismal question focused on the holy spirit but afterward it was changed to the "spirit directed organization") I was no different. I thought about it from time to time; but, I wasn't moved to be re-baptised. I reasoned that since I had since been baptised in Holy Spirit that there was no need for me to have a water baptism again. But even then I always left open the possiblity that I might sometime have a "look a body of water" moment.

(This is in reference to the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8:26-40. In the account this Ethiopian eunuch is in a chariot, leaving Jerusalem, and reading from Isaiah. The spirit moves Philip the evangelist to join himself to the eunuch and strike up a conversation. Upon hearing about Jesus the eunuch believes and seeing a body of water he asks, "look a body of water! What prevents me from getting baptised!" Philip agrees and baptises him in the name of Jesus.)

Recently a friend and I were looking at baptism again and she was speaking about her desire to get rebaptised in the name of Jesus. I shared my feelings about how I had received the spirit baptism and she pointed out how Cornelius and his family received the baptism of the spirit before being water baptised. This stirred my thinking and over the next few weeks I continued to get that spirit "prod" about water baptism.

So just Sunday I was happy to get baptised with my friends - of course they are more than friends and are really my only family. We went out to the country and after traveling down rock roads we found a spot a deep spot in a creek and took the plunge. It was a beautiful, wonderful experience. In looking at the pictures I doubt we could have bigger smiles.

Later that night Rebekah was questioning me about my feelings. She knew that up until a month ago that I wasn't really considering baptism. She asked if I felt different, more complete. I said mostly I just felt happy and at peace. But, I think there was something more to it for me.

I think about those in the first century that had been baptised by John the baptist; but, later got baptised in the name of Jesus. Was my first baptism a symbol of something? Yes - love for God, a dedication to him, and as much repentance as a child can manifest. However, in the Scripture baptism in all about Jesus and honestly I didn't even consider him in my original baptism. But this baptism was completely about him and my death and life in him. My first baptism was into a religious organization and my second into the Son of God. And in this way it feel likes a "rite of passage". I feel that just as my first water baptism was into a religion my second baptism was out of it. In truth, although I've been officially out of the Jehovah's Witnesses religion for over a year there was something that changed when I went under that water. I feel like that former life is finally behind me and I'm happy for the future.





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I wasn't the only one to get baptised that day! My friends' account are here and here.