You people are all the same....(dispelling myths about apostates)

by beautifulisfree 17 Replies latest jw friends

  • beautifulisfree
    beautifulisfree


    I know you are sick of that phrase by now....because Jdubs use it all the time when referring to 'apostates'. They come on this forum or (people you know) generalize 'apostates' as though we are of different class...that we are no longer human. They are obviously fed these little tid-bits about 'apostates' from the society since I am sure they don't personally know many.

    There are quite a few things that J-dubs always say about 'apostates' which one do you hate the most and how can we prove that it's not true??

  • FMZ
    FMZ

    JWD helped me tremendously in leaving the JWs, and in that time I made many great friends that are "apostates".

    Since the first apostafest I attended, I was hooked. These are some of the most intelligent, caring, hospitable and understanding people I have ever met in my life, including the 20 years I was a JW.

    I now have friends that I know care about me for me, not just because we share a common (dictated) belief system. I have laughed, cried, partied, and learned with these beautiful people. I wouldn't give up this bunch of apostates for the world.

    Thanks everyone for being there when I needed you. This is the love that Jesus taught.

    FMZ

  • LDH
    LDH

    good topic.

    Apparently, we've all returned to our own vomit.

  • Maryjane
    Maryjane

    Below is a blow that was thrown at me last week on another (totally secular) discussion board. It's basically what I call the "textbook" definition of apostates (in the JW mind only of course). I take most offense at the "goal is to turn as many people away from God as they can"...as if I stay awake at night thinking of ways to foil them. Also the "couldn't hack it" part is quite annoying as well. Just last week my son was talking with my [current JW] aunt and she tells him "your mom got tired of serving Jehovah". I never elaborated my reasons for leaving to her, but my son well-knows I left for very specific reasons. They are way-too presumptuous for my taste. Brain-dead fools!

    Apostasy.

    For those who don't know what an apostate is. It's an individual who once knew the Truth of God's word and who decided to serve Satan instead.

    Their goal is to try to turn as many people away from God as they can. They want people to live the life they're living. Look at their life, filled with everything vile.

    They couldn't hack it, couldn't meet the standards so they try to stand int he way of those who fight to stay in. Always gats to bother someone not bothering them.

    Couldn't hack it.

  • Maryjane
    Maryjane
    Apparently, we've all returned to our own vomit

    Ha ha ha! I forgot about that one. I'll take my "vomit" over their "spiritual food" any day!

  • happy1975
    happy1975

    I don't like being labeled period - but I really don't like using the term apostate. From the time I was really little the term apostate was used (in hushed tones, of course) to describe Joel Stanley - a former witness who would picket outside of our Disctict Convention in MA. We werent even allowed to look in his direction as we walked into the civic center.

    I guess the term just has a REALLY bad connotation to me. The witnesses find a way to demonize anyone who doesn't think like they do and it's sick.

    -Happy

  • rebel8
    rebel8

    I have several--

    1. I don't like how they make up their own definition of words. (apostate is in the dictionary and it doesn't mean what they say it does)

    2. I don't like how they go around saying we are demonized. That is what my family does, though I've said very little to them or any JWs against the org. I just said it's a brainwashing cult. That alone makes me demon possessed. This is backed up in the literature of course. There was an article, I think in the '50s, that said something like, "Apostates are stricken with Satanic Hydrophobia". (Hydrophobia is rabies!!!)

    3. In regards to the above, I don't like it that they claim people who speak against the org are demonized ONLY if they are former jws. If you were never a JW and claim it's a cult--for example, working in the media or whatever--you are not demonized. Apparently you only become possessed if you were once a jw. (lol)

  • parakeet
    parakeet

    My favorite apostate myth, which my parents occasionally lob over to me as spiritual food to feast on is: "I KNOW you still really believe." I try to ignore the implied slur in the statement, since their perception of me must be as a "hypocrite" for "really believing" but doing nothing about it.
    So I move on to my preferred response, which is to gently, gently, tell them I don't believe; if I did believe, I would never have left. This response has the potential to unleash parental fireworks: hysteria, guilt-bombing, angered scripture-pointing, all culminating in at least 3 months of not speaking to each other.
    My other response is to try to brush off the matter without committing one way or the other. True, it keeps hope of my redemption alive in the parents and merely delays the day of reckoning for me, but sometimes if there's too much other stuff going on, it's an acceptable cop-out.

  • beautifulisfree
    beautifulisfree

    ooh how can I forget: You apostates are so bitter. I bet every 'troll' poster that has come on here has said that! I am NOT bitter!! SEE

  • Confession
    Confession

    Mentioned something about this is part of my letter to my mother...

    ---------

    You also write, “Please, please don’t go along with the apostate’s thinking and working against Jehovah, you can’t win, my son.”

    Mother, there is no grand organization of “the apostates” as the Society might want you to believe. There is no “apostate’s thinking.” There are good people, just like you and me, who have come to realize that they were never really walking in Christ’s footsteps, but instead in those of a religious publishing company. The idea that this is somehow “working against Jehovah” is ridiculous. And, dear, you can’t win if you believe salvation comes from following man.

    “Think of all those that have tried in the past and where are they now?”

    Mom, do you know where they are? Probably not, right? And the reason you don’t know is because the Watchtower Society officially commands you not to speak to them. This is not to suggest that every single person who has left the Watchtower organization has gone on to a life bursting with happiness. I’m sure plenty have left for purely selfish reasons. But there exists an enormous number of good, Christian people who’ve gone on to lives that are far richer and truly happier.

    You just can’t believe that, can you? Neither could I, until I woke up. The Society indoctrinates people with so much, including the idea that their followers “are the happiest people on earth.” Not true, mother. Not true. So many researchers throughout the world have conducted studies revealing that the rate of depression and mental illness among Jehovah’s Witnesses is shockingly higher than average.

    (I go on to cite quotes from various studies...)

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