define "Apostasy"

*** rs 34-7  Apostasy ***
Apostasy

Definition: Apostasy is abandoning or deserting the worship and service of God, actually a rebellion against Jehovah God. Some apostates profess to know and serve God but reject teachings or requirements set out in his Word. Others claim to believe the Bible but reject Jehovahs organization.

Should we expect that apostates will arise within the Christian congregation?

1 Tim. 4:1: The inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons.

2 Thess. 2:3: Let no one seduce you in any manner, because [the day of Jehovah] will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction.

Some  identifying marks  of  apostates

They seek to make  others their followers, thus causing sectarian divisions

Acts 20:30: From among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

2 Pet. 2:1, 3: There will also be false teachers among you. These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects and will disown even the owner that bought them . . . Also, with covetousness they will exploit you with counterfeit words.

They may profess to believe in Christ but treat lightly the preaching and teaching work he assigned to his followers

Luke 6:46: Why, then, do you call me Lord! Lord! but do not do the things I say?

Matt. 28:19, 20: Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them . . . teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.

Matt. 24:14: This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.

They may claim to serve God but reject his representatives , his visible organization

Jude 8, 11: These men, too, indulging in dreams, are defiling the flesh and disregarding lordship and speaking abusively of glorious ones. Too bad for them, because they . . . have perished in the rebellious talk of Korah!

Num. 16:1-3, 11, 19-21: Korah . . . proceeded to get up, together with . . . two hundred and fifty men of the sons of Israel, chieftains of the assembly . . . So they congregated themselves against Moses and Aaron and said to them: That is enough of you, because the whole assembly are all of them holy and Jehovah is in their midst. Why, then, should you lift yourselves up above the congregation of Jehovah? . . . [Moses said:] You and all your assembly who are gathering together are against Jehovah. As for Aaron, what is he that you men should murmur against him? When Korah got all the assembly together against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, then Jehovahs glory appeared to all the assembly. Jehovah now spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Separate yourselves from the midst of this assembly, that I may exterminate them in an instant.

Not only do they abandon the true faith but they then beat their former associates, using public criticism and other methods to hinder their work; the efforts of such apostates are devoted to tearing down, not building up

Matt. 24:45-51: Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? . . . But if ever that evil slave should say in his heart, My master is delaying, and should start to beat his fellow slaves and should eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know, and will punish him with the greatest severity and will assign him his part with the hypocrites.

2 Tim. 2:16-18: Shun empty speeches that violate what is holy; for they will advance to more and more ungodliness, and their word will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of that number. These very men have deviated from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred; and they are subverting the faith of some.

Would faithful Christians welcome apostates into their presence, either personally or by reading their literature?

2 John 9, 10: Everyone that pushes ahead and does not remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God. . . . If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, never receive him into your homes or say a greeting to him.

Rom. 16:17, 18: I exhort you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who cause divisions and occasions for stumbling contrary to the teaching that you have learned, and avoid them. . . . By smooth talk and complimentary speech they seduce the hearts of guileless ones.

Would any serious harm come from satisfying ones curiosity about the thinking of apostates?

Prov. 11:9: By his mouth the one who is an apostate brings his fellowman to ruin.

Isa. 32:6: The senseless one himself will speak mere senselessness, and his very heart will work at what is hurtful, to work at apostasy and to speak against Jehovah what is wayward, to cause the soul of the hungry one to go empty, and he causes even the thirsty one to go without drink itself. (Compare Isaiah 65:13, 14.)

How serious is apostasy?

2 Pet. 2:1: These very ones will quietly bring in destructive sects and will disown even the owner that bought them, bringing speedy destruction upon themselves.

Job 13:16: Before him [God] no apostate will come in.

Heb. 6:4-6: It is impossible as regards those who have once for all been enlightened, and who have tasted the heavenly free gift, and who have become partakers of holy spirit, and who have tasted the fine word of God and powers of the coming system of things, but who have fallen away [if they then commit apostasy, RS], to revive them again to repentance, because they impale the Son of God afresh for themselves and expose him to public shame.

 

edited to fix the formatting.

Edited by - zev on 10 August 2002 18:52:8

Hi Zev,  So then the WT is actually an Apostate, they have certainly left the teachings of the Lord!  I in that case would not be an Apostate because I am adhering to the Christian teaching as set forth in the Bible.  I thought an apostate was someone who left their faith.  In that case I left the faith of the Jehovah's Witnesses and would be an Apostate and I might say PROUD APOSTATE if that be the case.

I noticed that you left around the same time as me.  What made you leave after 40 years?

In indication of these scriptural quotes the apostasy is inside the walls of the watchtower, quietly drawing away followers.The false teachers among them, would not be us. We are not among them. All indications point inward toward the Society.

witchywoman

Dictionary definition: 

One who has forsaken the faith, principles, or party, to which he before adhered; esp., one who has forsaken his religion for another; n : a disloyal person who forsakes his cause or religion or political party or friend etc. [syn: deserter, renegade, recreant] ; faithless to moral allegiance; renegade; a pervert.

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Now if you just want to look at the first part, then I would be okay with the use of the word apostacy. Or apostate.  But when you see the other derogatory words associated with this word, its no wonder we get in arms about people calling us apostates.  I am certainly no renegade or pervert!!!!  I am not a faithless person!  In one thread, Six compared the use of the word "apostate" to the "n" word.  I totally see it that way.  Its ok for us to joke about it, but in all seriousness, it inflames me when someone accuses me of being apostate.

 

Are we defining it according to the Bible's definition?

That's the way I would, which is why I reject the WTS addition: "Others claim to believe the Bible but reject Jehovahs organization" (read here, "WTS"). I don't remember reading anything in the NT that applied apostacy amongst Christians to anything other than rejecting the teachings of Jesus Christ!

"You know, the Bible says do not go beyond the things that are written. We don't go beyond the things that are written." - Ted Jaracz (WTS Governing Body Member)

Really?!

Edited by - NewWay on 10 August 2002 18:45:31

lv4fer

i left in december, 8th to be exact, one day before my parents 41 anniversary. i didn't time it that way honest.

i left because....one year earlier i began to investigate the "feelings" i had inside for many years.

if you look into my threads and the eight part story i wrote, you'll get a better idea of what i went through and stuff.

 

I think of "Apostate" as the "a" word with the same feeling as the "n" word. But....seeing how the Society teaches that they are "God's Channel" of communication, therefore to defect from their teaches is to them to be an apostate. So sad. I made my dedication to God, not to the Society. Leaving the Society doesn't equate to me as leaving God, although I felt that way when I was first df'd....but I agonizingly learned otherwise with time. I understand why those on the inside believe as they do, as misled and deceived as they are. Someday, when the Society falls apart, and each believer has to rely on God, not Brooklyn, for direction, then the truth will come out, and the REAL apostates will be seen for what they are.

Sometimes I get the imature urge to show up at the KH or an assembly or convention wearing a shirt that says the "a" word on it....but it's an outside joke, they'd never get it...heehee. Sometimes when I'm feeling insecure, and I have been REALLY insecure lately, I go to the hall...and I see everything from a different light than before- 'cause I know "the real truth about the Truth." I sit in the parking lot and play Metallica "of Wolves and Men" or "Hero of the Day" or "King Nothing" or "the god that failed" and wait for the meeting to start....and I ponder what I did getting myself into the Borg in the first place....and I realize that I was just questing to fill my spiritual needs, as I always have, and leaving that doesn't make my an apostate....but if they could read my mind, they would run into a panic thinking they had a demon-possessed apostate in their midst os something paranoid like that. To quote Metallica "Sad but True."

Truth2Me

 

i didn't bother to read all of this, because the definition of apostacy is very simple. Anyone who leaves their religion is an apostate. I don't understand why some of you are upset with this basic definition. I am proud and happy to be an apostate of the JW religion, and I suspect that most of you are as well.

: : define "Apostasy"

In dubland, that is a simple thing to do:  whatever the GB says on whatever hour of whatever given day, month and year.

Period.

Farkel

 

LMAO!!

Who's that plum? Must be someone who USED to post on the board.

Apostacy= Anyone who puts up a web site containing Watchtower Quotes!

Beans

apostate late Gk apostates apostate, runaway slave, f. as APO- + stat- rel. to histanai cause to stand.] A n. 1 A person who abandons his or her religious faith or moral allegiance. ME. b A person who renounces religious vows without dispensation. LME. 2 gen. A person who deserts his or her principles or allegiance; a turncoat, a renegade. LME. B adj. 1 Unfaithful to religious principles or creed, or to moral allegiance; unbelieving,

My wife will not believe that she became an apostate when she left the Catholics and joined the Witnesses (I stayed on neutral ground). Yet I am often accused of reading apostate books (?) or visiting apostate web sites (?) If an apostate is "A person" how can we have apostate books and web sites?

link

Pervert, eh? Yep, definitely within the organisation.

All

People

Out

SIde

The

Assimilation

Cry

Yes

Best I can come up with.

searcher.

LOL seacher, very creative, I like it!

One of the texts I remember sticks in my mind the most from my days in the Borg (and I don't see in the quotes above,) was about apostates being "fighters against God" or "haters against God" now....THAT REALLY bugs me 'cause I am NOT a "fighter against God." But JW logic would interpret "fighters against God's Organization" and I remember reading from Raymond Franz's books quotes from the WT that to even THINK a thought that is not in harmony with what the Society teaches is apostacy...and apostacy was always branded as "sin against the Holy Spirit," the only "unforgiveable sin."

Well, God's still a big part of my life, so I could not have possible committed an "unforgiveable sin."

Truth2Me

 

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines apostasy as

1 Renunciation of a belief or faith, esp. religious

2 abandonment of principles or of a party

3 an instance of apostasy

And apostate as

a person who renounces a former belief, adherence etc.

The root of the word is APO- Away from, and -STAT stand.

So as link rightly pointed out, all JW's that converted from other religions are apostate to their former belief.  This is a word, like "Truth", that has been hijacked by the WTBTS and imbued with all sorts of overtones and associations not present in its correct meaning.  They have turned "apostate" into meaning some sort of bogeyman, a bit like FredHall's picture.

It is an excellent mechanism for stopping JW's from considering opposing viewpoints and arguments.

I remember how well conditioned I still was some years after I had escaped the bOrg.  As I entered sites in the "Jehovahs Witnesses - Opposing Views" category, my heart was pounding - this was APOSTATE!!!  Glad I found you all!!

the point of my post folks is....

lately here, and on an aol board i participate in is to just quote watchtower words. directly from their books magazines and bird cage liners i have found that without my personal comments, or thoughts, their words incriminate them without any help from lil' old me.

when i was looking for something yesterday to show Gwen i stumbled on the reasoning book and she has never seen that book. i was telling her what its use was and what it was all about.

i started looking for different topics in the index and found apostasy, (british=apostacy (y'all spell that word different, huh?)) and after reading it, i said, this is a great post all by itself, and obviously i was correct.

sometimes it helps the lurkers, and visitors here, to see their own watchtower words, like the Quotes site, without editorial.

any who, back to the wt cd-rom, i got another juicey tid bit i'm working on

apostasy oats pays

Apostasy= Stay soap