Jehovah’s Witnesses baptize hundreds
“It’s hope,” said 17-year-old Priscilla Garcia after she was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness in front of 40,000 people at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix on Saturday.
“It’s such a cruel world and there’s so much going on that if you have that hope of everlasting light, it’s something to look forward to,” Garcia said.
She was just one of many who were baptized during a three-day Jehovah’s Witnesses convention downtown. The convention is one of seven large-scale gatherings of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States this year.
Garcia was baptized as a Catholic as an infant, but said her father started studying the doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses around 2009 and that her parents then passed their knowledge down to her.
She said she’s proud to follow in her parents’ footsteps.
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “I’m united with my family — I just feel a little more close with everybody, even though we were already so close.”
The baptism ceremony began at about noon, starting with a speech by speaker William Turner III. The ceremonies are usually held at small or large conventions.
Turner encouraged the baptismal candidates to imitate Jesus Christ in their thoughts, speech and actions.
He warned that Satan would target them because of their status as new members of the organization and told them they had a huge family of Jehovah’s Witnesses to rely on for support.
But most importantly, he said, they should rely on Jehovah.
That’s what Samuel Munoz said he did about a year ago, when he decided to start the process of officially becoming a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
He was raised in a family of Witnesses but said peer pressure and other factors led him to abandon the faith in high school.
Munoz’s wife was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness almost three years ago and he followed her lead, saying that it was “exciting” that Jehovah welcomed him back to the faith after straying.
Munoz added that it was also exciting to be baptized on Chase Field in front of tens of thousands of people, but said that it would have meant the same to him if there were only a small group of people in attendance.
“The best thing for me was getting baptized and dedicating my life to Jehovah,” he said. “It’s about the love that I have for Jehovah — that’s what matters most.”
He said his belief in Jehovah has made him a happier person, adding that he used to be easily irritable with his wife and others.
“I didn’t smile in pictures and stuff like that, but now I do,” he said.
Terry Dockery, whose son Ryan was also baptized on Saturday, said his “number-one goal” as a parent was realized when both of his children decided to become Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“(I got) very choked up, very emotional just thinking about how this is Jehovah’s inheritance,” Dockery said of his children. “We took it seriously, raised him in the truth and he decided on his own to dedicate his life to Jehovah — it’s awesome.”
Michael Pappas, who has been a member since 2004, said watching the large group of baptismal candidates become Jehovah’s Witnesses on Saturday brought tears to his eyes.
“The friends, the family that you really do have is awe-inspiring,” he said. “You can’t even put into words how beautiful this organization is.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses currently have a membership upward of 8.5 million people worldwide.
To be baptized, candidates must have a basic understanding of the Bible’s teachings, how to apply those teachings, and what responsibilities they will have to their brothers and sisters in the organization, Jehovah’s Witnesses spokesman Robert Hendriks said.
“It’s the most serious, most contemplative, most powerful moment of your life because it changes (your life),” Hendriks said.
He, as well as Turner, compared a baptism to a marriage, in that both events are meant to be serious symbols of a lifelong commitment.
Pappas’ advice for new members was to “make Jehovah real” through prayer, ministry and other methods.
He said he hopes that the new members will rely on Jehovah for the littlest and biggest of life’s woes.
He echoed Turner’s hopes that they feel the love and support of their fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses, both in the early days of their membership and beyond.
“Welcome, my family, to your new day — to the rest of your life.”
A controversial congregation
Though Jehovah’s Witnesses on Saturday touted the importance of acceptance and compassion and denounced legalism, the organization has been accused of not living up to those ideals.
In 2018, several members came forward to denounce the church’s shunning practices following a murder-suicide in Michigan. That incident killed a family of four ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses who were shunned after leaving the faith.
The deaths sparked outrage among scores of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses nationwide who took to Facebook, online forums, blogs and YouTube, saying the incident highlighted a pervasive yet rarely publicized problem within the church: Shunning is pushing the most vulnerable people over the edge, they said, and tearing families apart.
Many said they suffered quietly on their own for years until they discovered an online community full of isolated, ostracized people like themselves — people who had lost someone to suicide or attempted suicide themselves because their families, friends and church community had written them off for making mistakes, for being human.
The church calls it being “disfellowshipped.” Members can return if they repent, change the behavior and prove themselves worthy of being reinstated. But unless or until that happens, members are encouraged to avoid the sinners, especially those who leave the faith.
Mothers go years, even decades, without talking to their children. Siblings write off siblings. Friends shun friends.
An estimated 70,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses are disfellowshipped every year — roughly 1% of the church’s total population, according to data published by the Watchtower. Their names are published at local Kingdom Halls. Of those, two-thirds never return.