For an 8-year-old nephew along with another kid. The Primary president gave a talk about how great it was that they had learned about Jesus and had made the decision to follow his example and get baptized.

Has an 8-year-old ever made the decision not to get baptized if their parents were encouraging it? Seems doubtful.

Mormon kids don't get a choice in the matter.

They are rushed through everything from baptism to their mission call.

When they are of age, it's "off to see the bishop" for the interview.

I know getting dunked when i was eight traumatized me i cant remember the event as if its blocked out by my brain and i hate getting wet even for showers its hell what everything did to me as a child i still cant process it all.

^^^ THIS ^^^

Same here.

Jesus didn't get baptized at eight years old---he was a full grown adult.

It would seem that Jesus was baptized at approximately 30 years of age.

My 14 year old son asked to be baptised in The Methodist Church which I think most of you know is not a Holy Roller Type Place. He had several meetings with the Pastor that decided he knew what he believed and understood what he was doing. AS you might expect he fell away and at 37 is still not where I wish he was as I , his mom am not where I should be. Life is hard. His sister is WAY off somewhere. WE lost our little granddaughter to cancer and it has been almost as hard on him as on her mom. My Son does not understand why Jesus has not prevented these tragedies from happening and we have all been at a loss to explain the unexplainable.

Some years ago, after seeing many such baptisms, I got the chance to give the baptismal talk for one of our grandchildren. The usual talks are not merely pablum but wrong so far as Christian baptism is concerned. If one reads the whole new testament one finds that the baptism after Christ is NOT the same as what he did. That was only the baptism of John for forgiveness of sins. Rather, the NT explains that in Baptism one arises a new person, a second birth if you will, and is made part of Christ. Baptism is the emblem of burial and rebirth. I spoke of this sense of rebirth and on-one raised any question.

Nope, I couldn't have said no if I wanted to. I had no idea what was going on because we hadn't been to church since I was 3 or 4. But my mother told me this is what I was going to do, so I did it.

My guess is that's why most 8 yo's do it. Maybe their parents aren't as rigid as my mother was, but I bet they were raised and guided to believe that if you want to be a part of the family, this is what we do.

No duh. How is an 8-year-old supposed to defy parental expectations and explicit teaching and refuse?

And along with this duplicity is the extraordinary idea that an 8 year old is now ready to be held accountable for all decisions, including being held accountable for the promise that is being made--a "real" covenant---as if the child is supposed to be able to make such a huge commitment at that age, let alone given that the family expectation is that this is something you do----the same as you go to school when you are five or six.

My TBM DH holds himself very much accountable for this covenant that was made when he was 8--although his actual choice in the matter was zip----the family said he needed to do it, so he did, with no clue what it was about. (An auntie arranged it; he is not BIC).

I found out this summer that in one of my TBM relative families, this newly acquired grown-up-ness was accompanied by punishment with beltings for infractions for the boys in the family. I guess that makes sense, given the whole paradigm, but it made me feel sick to hear about it.

Is it significant that this was not the case for the youngest child, who is a girl?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2017 10:24PM by relievedtolearn.

As part of the stake primary presidency, one of my jobs was to call the mothers of the kids getting baptized that month. We would spotlight the child during the meeting before the actual baptism. It became laughable to me to hear EVERY single mother gush about how their child had the most amazing testimony of the gospel and were sooooo excited to become members of the church. Every child was going to be the next general authority of their time. Gag. I'm sure little jonnie or Jessica didn't understand the commitment to the indoctrination they were making.

My daughter was baptized on the same day as two other children. The grandmother of one of the other children gave one of the talks at the baptism. As part of her talk (I can't remember the exact subject), she gave each of the kids a small stuffed animal. Once those stuffed animals were passed out, the kids checked out and sat in their white suits in the front and played with their new toy while the rest of the musical numbers and talks took place.

After the baptism was over, my daughter told me that it was such a special day. I asked her why. She said that it was because she got a new stuffed animal that she wasn't expecting. That is the mind of your typical eight-year-old. To a child, the day is not about making the right choice and covenants like the church says. It's about having all your family come to watch you get dunked in water. It's about the party that often happens afterwards. And it's about the stuffed animal that they were lucky enough to get.

I had committed three sins prior to my becoming eight years old. (One was I had tried to steal a one-cent piece of candy from a dime store--but got caught.)

And another, was when we passed a golfing area at a big park, and my father ordered me to get out of the car and pick up two golf balls that were on the side of the road--even though a sign at the edge of the road said that it was against the law to do this.

Finally, when I became eight years old and was baptized--and I had been told that all my sins had been washed away--I was so relieved to get rid of those sins.

However, my brother pointed out to me that I would sin again before we got home (or immediately thereabouts), and so it was all was for naught.

Paulk, I wish you were free of that whole thing.

I do too. But at least I can see humor/irony in the culture.

Mennonites accept 'tism as a personal pledge to live a Christ-Like life; no age expectation attached, and a stand-up pledge in front of congregation is an easy-squeesy substitute...

Good People, and Honesty & Kindness are truly their core values.

I don't know why I was thinking about when my cousin was baptized today. Anywho my aunt and uncle were on leave from the military and my cousin was 8 years old. She was baptized at my grandparents ward. When my uncle dunked her a part of her body would come out of the water usually her hair. She had to be ceremoniously drowned like 8 times. I felt so bad for her. So my own baptism story, my parents were jack mormons so when I was 8 it was straight to the bishops office for the baptism talk. I didn't even know what the holy ghost was, nor any of the standard mormon questions, but they baptized me anyway. I am still pissed about being baptized. I don't blame my parents or family for being indoctrinated into doing what they thought to be the right thing. I guess I'm just pissed that I didn't really have the choice of being baptized because I didn't want to be.

I am 82 and I still remember my reaction to being dunked.
and I quote. As I came up I said darn that water!!