So it seems the trouble starts when one becomes a baptized JW. ?

Question

As long as you study, associate, remain a sympathetic outsider, even if you die without baptisim your ok and may or may not have God's favor .

But once you take the plunge but want outt you defiinitly no longer have "Gods'" favor is that how it works???

Answer 1

Before baptism, people are made well aware of God's standards and their Christian obligations.  That's why there is a long period of study, and questions to answer before baptism, so that people know what is expected of them as Christians.

If they "want out," they are walking out on God and Christ.  The Bible says that people who do so are breaking a vow, and that "it is better not to vow, than to vow and then not pay (that is, observe the obligations of the vow)."  (Ecclesiastes 5:4, 5)

Only God decides who has His favor.  But he does give us clear indications in his Word as to what is acceptable to Him, and what is not.

Answer 2

Deeds before creeds...be a good person and God's got your back...

Answer 3

As long as your sitting on the fence, your sitting in Satan's territory. When you are baptized you make a statement to the effect you promise to do God's will and leave Satan's territory behind, so he gets mad and throws all he can at you.

It takes a strong willed person to fight off the attacks of the Devil. But Jesus showed us it can be done. Note: However he will not leave you alone. Constant temptation, doubts in your mind. Teasing toward sin, etc.  He even works on grey areas where it will seem ok to do wrong.

Answer 4

in some ways, baptism is like marriage: it is a public symbol that you love someone(in this case God and Jesus). before you get baptized it might be assumed that you love God, but you have not made it "official". however, once you have made it official, you are held to a different standard than you were before, just like someone who gets married is expected to remain faithful to their marriage mate. by "wanting out", it is like getting a divorce, except in this case you are leaving God, not a human.

Answer 5

No.

It is a common form of severe self-deception to believe that not being baptised absolves one of responsibility. Once you KNOW what God requires, whether you act upon it or not, God still requires the same amount of obedience to his laws of all people.

Of course, people hold off becoming baptised (and thus identifying themselves as one of JWs) for different reasons, and God knows their hearts, but one who actually comes forward asking to be baptised thus shows that they have gained accurate knowledge of God (as understood by the JWs) and accept it as such and if they later reject this, it means they do so deliberately, with full knowledge of what they are doing.

Hope that helps.

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Lovin' Tony Stark's illustration!

Answer 6

Pretty much -

When you are baptized and 'want out', you don't just leave a religion.  Everyone who claimed to love and care for you shuns you as if you are a pariah.  

I don't agree with the marriage comparison.  When a couple gets a divorce, everyone that the 'leaving' person knows doesn't then shun them and think them a moral-less, lost soul.  

Being a baptized JW and having doubts is the worst feeling in the world - you must choose between what you think is right and leaving everything you knew about life.

Answer 7

Before you are baptized, they make the religion sound really great.  They omit many details that would make you really question this religion/cult.  Just like when you are recruited to the army.  Those army recruiters are really nice!

But once you are "in" they don't want you to leave and tell everyone about how corrupt they are.  They want to build their religion, like most others, and keep you all together and keep you away from "earthly beings".  

Just like the Amish, they scare you into staying. They say you will burn in h**l if you leave.  

It's sad that so many people can get sucked into this.

Answer 8

You   should  be  baptized  to  the  true  church  of  God before  you  die so  that  you   could  serve  God  and  and  repent from  your  sins.

Answer 9

Vot is correct.

However I realize that your question concerns itself with man's viewpoint rather than God's.  By that I mean, your concern is more about being shunned by the humans who are still Jehovah's Witnesses than it is about being rejected by God.

It may interest you to know that many times persons have simply stopped attending meetings and stopped preaching and just drifted away from Jehovah's Witnesses. Some of these move away to another area and never get re-involved.  Some may still live in their same community.  If they are away long enough, the elders don't go looking for them if they have indicated a lack of interest in being reactivated.  

I know people like this who have even returned to celebrating Holidays and in some cases living an immoral life. One such person had moved from the East Coast of the USA to the West coast.  The elders in her new area said that because she is not known as a Witness locally that it would be inappropriate for them to take any action and she was thus considered to be no different than any other non-witness in their territory. The elders did however meet with her once. Her husband was still a Witness at the time but they were separated. She did not have any relatives that were JWs.  Another person still lives in the same location as when she was an active Witness but is viewed similarly because she has been away for a lengthly time and is not presently known as a Witness.  I don't know whether she has any blood relatives that are JWs or not but I don't think so.  If you have relatives that are JWs it changes the perspective a bit. If they are aware for instance, that you are now living an immoral life, I would think that that could have a bearing on the matter.

And while only baptized JWs can be disfellowshipped, a person who is an unbaptized publisher can lose that privilege if their conduct misrepresents Jehovah's Witnesses. An announcement would be made in the congregation that so & so is no longer recognized as an unbaptized publisher.  But you are right, they would not be shunned as a disfellowshipped person would be since they never fully accepted the teachings of God's word as understood by JWs.

Answer 10

Tony Stark

You have it spot on, thank you for that illustration, I will remember it.

x x x

Answer 11

You are 100% correct!  Only baptized JW can be disfellowshipped, which is the strongest tool in the arsenal of the Society to keep you "loyal and faithful."  Being disfellowshipped means being cut off socially from all your family and friends who are JW.