When you were still in the org, did you ever wonder what the apostates were saying?  The society would just say lies and half truths.I always assumed it was about the trinity, and other religious stuff.  I thought they were EXjws who had become born agains !

 The only apostates I saw were a bit odd, I never saw any banners with messages on them.  I didnt know about ANY scandels

And I didnt realize there were so many

 

So what were your ideas about apostates before YOU became one 

 

 

 

 

i thought they were homeless hippy people

I remember apostates preaching loudly outside the assembly we went to in Norwich. Thought they were crackers. Id love to know who it was now tho!!! Other times there were a group of them stood there with banners. I was wearing my JW blinkers so didnt really notice them.

Additionally I thought Apostates were only those trying to stop Witnesses. The one that was outside the assembly was going on and on about prophesies and deep stuff.

 

I never understood why they just didnt leave us alone. I now know why !!!!

I remember a comment was made at the KH about an ex sister who was sueing the WT,  some were schoffing,  I was just dumbfounded WHY was she doing it !!!!!!!!!!!!

Its only now I realize that she was fighting the shunning and the terrible consquences of it.

 

I used to think they were pure evil. Hateful people who just wanted to take as many people with them to death as they could out of sheer spite.

Now I think they're pretty cool!

I and my friends thought apostates were funny.  It was a joke.  The last night I spent at the bar with my best friend of 20 years as a JW, I mentioned I was researching the 607 "thing" and he jokingly called me an apostate.  He's shunned me for over 8 years now because I in fact became one.

Cordy, I laughed and laughed at this.  Like the envelope was contaminated with infectious apostate cooties.  LMAO!  That's priceless.

Yah, your folks sound pretty closed-minded about the apostate thing.

The term "apostate" really came into vogue in the org after the purge of 1980. Before that, you never heard very much about anyone leaving the organization voluntarily. It was more or less assumed that no one would ever leave the "truth" willingly, only that some people had to be df'ed because they didn't live up to the moral standards. The one exception was the "evil slave" class, and they had become rather antiquated too by the time I became a JW in 1969. However, the "evil slave" was pretty much restricted to the Bible Student groups that had separated from the WTS, and you hardly ever saw them anywhere. Once in a while they would show up and hand out tracts at a big convention, but that was about it.

By the late 1970's, though, a rather large contingent of "apostates" was developing. Many were non-anointed, thus could not be properly lumped with the "evil slave" class, and they were going off in a number of directions religiously, not just signing up with the Bible Students. In particular, a large number were embracing evangelical Christianity, thanks largely to the work of Bill and Joan Cetnar. So the Society couldn't just rumble about the "evil slave" anymore. That was a great term for Freddie Franz to use in his convoluted explanations of prophecy, but as I mentioned, you almost never actually saw an "evil slave". This new batch of ex-Witnesses was all over the place, though - virtually every congregation had a few, after the failure of the 1975 predictions. So they started tossing around the term "apostates," and it became the new buzzword that we all know and love.

Having been born into "the truth" in '76, my reality began in the early '80's. For my entire life I've heard about the "evil Apostates". We always thought that they had been "sent" as a test. We had the "truth" and whenever we saw or heard anything contrary Satan was trying to draw us away. Naturaly, we would pass such test. It's important to understand that anytime someone speaks out against the Organization to a JW, you are actually VALIDATING what the WTS has taught them. In effect they have created their own self fullfilling prophecy.

It's been a real shock for me to learn about the Bethel purge of 1980. Also to read Ray Franze's account of what happened is an eye opener. But the rank and file JW is so programmed that they will never know such things. Thus they will go on in darkness.

What do I think now of Apostates? I feel that it is the WTS that is in apostasy! It is they who have violated the word and commands of Jesus Christ. It is they who have inserted themselves into the role Jesus placed upon himself, that of mediator. It is the WTS who has created a new Pharasiac Law Code. I cannot imagine that heaven could smile upon them.