Low and behold I have another question for Jehovah's Witnesses.  I didn’t post this on my Youtube site because quite frankly I look like a zombie after 9 pm which would be the only time I would have to record the video.  I digress; this may be a bit of an offshoot of my Tough Question number 15 regarding age of baptismal candidates.

The history of this question comes from a conversation at work where we were collectively complaining about childhood.  Specifically the schedule we kept in and around High School. When I went through my schedule the more I got through the days the more shocked people were that I could complete anything.  I really didn't think about it until that conversation that I indeed on a good day had about 1 hour to myself.

Days would begin with being up at 6 to get ready for school and out the door for 6:30.

School was from 7 - 1:30; 

I usually got home around 2:00 which was my one hour to myself till 3:00 where I went to work.  

Now I was lucky in that my work was next door and I only worked 2 hours per day.  

I would get home around 5, to which I would usually help with or cook dinner, eat dinner and do the dishes.  

Now that would usually be done around 6:30, which if this were a meeting night we'd already be getting ready while eating or doing the dishes in order to leave for the meeting at 6:30.  

If this wasn't a meeting night the Study began at 7:00 and was usually done at 8:30 (Monday was book study, Wednesday was Bible Reading along with personal study, and Friday was the Watchtower).  

If this was a book study night I was lucky because that would mean we'd get to the book study around 6:45, the study itself would go to around 8:15 (damn long prayers) then we would usually stay an hour or so afterwards to talk to everyone.  My mother was a social butterfly.  

If this were the Service meeting we'd get there around 6:45 and the meeting lasted till 9:30 usually and sometimes till 9:45.  Now I didn't have a shower growing up, I only had a bath, which takes about an hour to fill the tub, take a bath and drain the tub.  

So if this weren't a meeting night I'd be able to take a bath and have my day officially finished at 9:30 or so.  If this were a meeting night I wouldn't be done with everything till at the least 10:30.  To which since I needed to be up by 6 the next morning was basically right to bed to catch some sleep.  

Weekends weren't as bad, I grew up in a divided household my father was not a JW.  So I would visit him on Saturdays.  Though the usual schedule for Saturday was get up at 6:00 to get ready for street witnessing in Providence for 7:00.  

We would do this till 9 and head back home for my father to pick me up at 10:00; I would stay there till 7.  

I would get home; take a bath and I believe I would usually have an hour to chill unless my mother had invited some of the friends over.  In which case then my night was taken up with playing some trivial game like taboo or something.  On the bright side I would get dessert if that happened.  

Sunday was up bright and early, usually in the week we just read the daily text while eating breakfast, but Sunday...oh Sunday we got to look up all the scriptures and actually discuss the daily text.  That would usually be from around 7-8ish. 

From there it was get ready for the Sunday meeting which we had to leave the house before 8:30 because it was Sunday we needed to be sure we'd be able to get good seats.  Sunday meeting lasted from 9-11:30.  From 11:30-12:30 was the normal talking but usually I was in the car trying to eat my lunch in peace.  At 1 pm is where we met for Service after the meeting, I had to be in the hall a half hour early for that though.  They would have the service meeting which was usually around an hour, which would get us actually at the first door around 2:30; from there it was three hours doing door to door work which brought the last door done at 5:30.  

This would bring us back to the hall usually for 6; and home for 6:30.  On to Dinner which left one hour to watch TV for the entire process to begin again.

I think my schedule was pretty indicative of any Witness in High School, in fact mine might have been more lax than others because I didn't work very far away nor very long hours.  Now think up your own schedule or if you can't use mine as a guideline while I ask this next question.

The average age for children who were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses to get baptized is 15. Jehovah's Witnesses say that in order for them to get baptized they must decide for themselves that they want to get baptized.  

It's said that they would decide whether what they have is truth or not, whether they would like to dedicate themselves to the organization or not. 

My question is simply: how?  

In what time would I have had to research things I was taught, or research the teachings of other religions?  

I suppose the same could be said of someone who works 8 hours per day and has the same meeting/study schedule that I did.  

So if you got baptized anywhere from 11 - 18 I ask when exactly did you have the time to decide for yourself that you would like to get baptized, how much time did you spend asking yourself if it was truth or not, or if you wanted to dedicate yourself to the organization or not?

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