What are Jehovah witness birth rituals?

Answer 1

The actual baptism is by complete water immersion as was the case with Jesus. By the time the baptismal candidate reaches the point of baptism, they have already studied The Bible with Jehovah's Witnesses, and have come to at least a basic knowledge of the scriptures. They will have already made a dedication in their heart to serve God, and will have likely expressed that to God in personal prayer, so the baptism ceremony itself is actually a public declarion of a dedication that they have already made to God. They will have also had several meetings with congregation elders who will have discussed with the baptismal candidate the seriousness of such a dedication, and will have made sure that they do have at least a basic knowledge of the Bible, by means of some Bible-based question and answer sessions. This process can take several weeks. At the convention or assembly where the person is baptised, there is a 30-45 minute baptismal talk given before the candidates are immersed to provide additional reminders about the seriouness of dedication to God and symbolizing it by water baptism, and reminding them that the baptism is not the end, but rather the beginning of their life of service to God. At the end of the talk, there are two questions asked of the candidates concerning whether they have made their dedication to God in their hearts, have rejected their former course of conduct and are now ready to put on the new Christlike personality, in which they are asked to respond louydly "Yes," to all those present, thus announcing publically that they have made this dedication, and then the baptism begins. The baptismal candidtates are escorted to changing rooms, where they put on modest bathing suits, and wait in line to be baptised in a baptismal pool that has been set up for all who wish to view.

Answer 2

The "rites" of Jehovah's Witnesses are:

Baptism

JWs are baptized by full immersion in water of their own volition, at least that's the official stand. Children of Jehovah's Witnesses are usually baptized in their early teens after 'volunteering' for it. The question remains how 'voluntary' the baptism of a twelve year old really is, but it's admittedly better than in most churches.

Memorial

The yearly memorial of Christ's death is the only meeting that is considered a sacred ceremony. It is usually held on the night of the first full moon in spring. Most witnesses just pass the bread and the wine around during the ceremony, since only 'anointed' witnesses are to partake of the emblems. There are approx. 10,000 partakers, but more than 10 million attendees every year.

Preaching

The door to door preaching work is considered a holy ministry. To become a witness, you have to do it regularly and report it monthly. Anyone not reporting regularly is considered 'irregular' and after six months 'inactive'. Witnesses do not disfellowship inactive members, though.

All reported preaching service is entered onto congregation records. There is a world-wide system of identity control of members by means of their Publisher Record Cards. Without such a card nobody can be baptized, nor receive any privileges in the congregation.

Not entirely on the level of a 'rite', but nevertheless very important are the following:

Meeting attendance

Missing meetings is frowned upon, but it is no disfellowshipping offence.

The JWs have little pomp and ceremony in their worship services. Most of it is in the form of direct, from-the-platform instruction about the Bible, the JW teachings, their rules and regulations, the preaching work and the official Watchtower explanations. There are no images, icons, statues, or other things that are worshipped or bowed down to.

This religion centers completely on the Watchtower interpretations of the Bible and the commands that Jesus gave. They feel that they are demonstrating love to neighbour and obedience to God and His only representative on earth, the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, by preaching from house to house and reporting it montly.

The meetings start and end with song and prayer. Everyone takes a Bible (New World Translation), a songbook and the current Watchtower to the Sunday meeting.

Avoiding disfellowshipping

Any baptized JW who wants to leave the religion, publicly confesses to different religious or political viewpoints or transgresses against one of the many moral or organizational rules will be invited before a committee of local elders. If they determine that there is no repentance, they will disfellowship the 'evildoer' and publicly announce that fact to the congregation. All members, be they related to the offender or not, are expected to shun the disfellowshipped consistenly until the offender changes his ways, repents, returns and is declared reinstated. Continuing fellowship with a disfellowshipped person is a disfellowshipping offence in itself.

Other rules, traditions and expected behaviour

There are many other 'traditions' and ideosynchrasies, such as avoiding all other holidays (disfellowshipping offence), visiting regular larger JW conventions three times a year ('voluntary'), total abstinence from blood even if that means life danger (disfellowshipping offence), being totally non-political (disf. off.), avoiding any kind of sex other than missionary style between married partners (disf. off.), but also the less-enforced rules on music that is good, music that is bad, clothing that is good, clothing that is bad, grooming that is good, grooming that is bad, things that must be said during prayer, things that must never be said during prayer, etc, etc. This religion is all-pervasive, very restrictive and strictly controlled.

Answer 3

I am not sure what you mean by "rituals." There aren't any in our religion. As parents, we simply see to it that they get a thorough knowledge of the Bible, and then we hope that they will choose the right course when they reach adulthood. We hope that they will choose to dedicate themselves to serving God and get baptised, and continue in the right course for the rest of their lives. I would recommend that you attend a meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses. What you will see there is the extent of any "rituals" we have. There is a song and prayer, then Bible instruction, followed by another sog and prayer. If you go, make sure you bring your Bible. You will be looking up a lot of scriptures if you follow along. EDIT: they aren't rituals for Jehovah's witnesses. what a parent does is this: they study with their child, with the hopes and intentions of the child becoming one of Jehovah's witnesses. some do become JWs, while others leave. but that choice is left entirely up to the child.

Answer 4

Each year Jehovah's Witnesses obeserve the anniversary of Jesus death. Each Witness is encouraged to read the Bible daily and apply what they read. We meet together twice a week and enjoy family worship at home once a week. Each meeting consists of an opening and closing song and prayer with Bible based discussions in between. All are welcome. No collections are taken. There are no payed clergy but there are unpaid brothers who take the lead in the congregations. We will not kill our neighbor even if encouraged to do so by the country in which we live, rather we show love of neighbor by helping others whenever we can. We never give up. With God's strength we continue to preach, pray, study, love, and endure regardless of what Satan and his world throw at us. For more info you should drop into your local Kingdom Hall and check it out.

As for the religious rituals and traditions that are followed by most of Christendom, we look to the comments which are recorded by Jesus and Paul in the scriptures: Matthew 15:6-9 "You have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition. You hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you, when he said, 'This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me. It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines.'"" Titus 1:16 "They publicly declare they know God, but they disown him by their works, because they are detestable and disobedient and not approved for good work of any sort."

See also Matthew 7:21-23.

Answer 5

As far as I can tell, there are no birth rituals associated with Jehovah's Witnesses

Answer 6

There isn't one as such.