Apostates - viewed as liars, the devils henchmen & to be avoided at all cos

by The Scotsman 19 Replies latest jw friends

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  The Scotsman

  Yes, as far as Jehovahs Witnesses are concerned, apostates are evil, wicked, faithless liars.

  I was wanting to ask - assuming most if not all who come here are in the JW category of apostate, how do you feel about the fact that you are portrayed in such a light by the org?

  I will be the first to admit - I always thought that those who criticized the org were untruthful or exaggerating. Its not until now I have considered what you guys have to say and how you feel that I realize that what you have to say is all truthful (tinged with a bit of anger perhaps).

  Personally I think its verging on character assassination. The perception most JWs have is that apostates are lonely unhappy people who have no life, no meaning to life and "most importantly" have no faith. For me this is an important point - coming here I have learned that many have maintained faith, if not in fact strengthened it.

  I just wanted you to know that I feel that many sincere people come here. JWs pride themselves in being the most sincere people in the world but of course many are not.

  The Scotsman.
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  zarco

  Scotsman,

  I try to live by Christain principles. We do our best to provide relief to the poor and any others that we have the capacity to help. I have tried to express my doubts in kind yet direct ways and have been rejected by the organization. The organization does not speak the truth. We are the child with the audacity to say the "emperor has no clothes".

  You will pick up some anger on this site, the anger comes from being attacked by what is supposed to be Christ's brothers, but by their fruits they obviously are brothers of someone other than Christ. In no particular order the false teachings are:

  Denigration of Christ - demoting his role as the redeemer of mankind

  JW Baptism - see AuldSoul comments on the matter

  Adding to the Bible - see oompa posts on addition of Jehovah into New World Translation where it should not be added

  Teaching the the end of the world is - just pick a year it is likely the WTBS has predicted that the end would come in that year

  1440,000 - yeah right well over 144,000 were followers of Christ in the first and second centuries

  Blood Transfusions -

  Child Abuse - they require two witnesses to wrongdoing before they act - how often are there two witnesses to child abuse

  Lack of love - shunning policies, not looking after the poor and those unable to care for themselves

  It is late so I will stop. But we are not liars or henchmen, just honest hearted ones searching for truth
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  dedpoet

  as far as Jehovahs Witnesses are concerned, apostates are evil, wicked, faithless liars....how do you feel about the fact that you are portrayed in such a light by the org?

  In my case, faithless is accurate. I'm not evil though, and I don't lie.
  It's a convenient label for the watchtower to give us, though, don't you
  think? Many of us on here are people who simply walked away from
  the org because we researched its' teachings and found that most of
  them don't add up to much. The knowledge that we have makes us
  dangerous, so it's in the watchtower's interest to keep jws away from
  us. They know that there's no point trying to reason with us from
  watchtower teachings anymore, and they certainly don't want any
  jw to listen to what we have to say about their doctrines.

  Personally, I couldn't care less how the watchtower labels me. The
  local congregations (in Derby) regard me as a dangerous apostate,
  and they are right - I am dangerous to them. I've helped 4 others to
  leave the org so far, and would help more if asked.

  The perception most JWs have is that apostates are lonely unhappy people who have no life, no meaning to life and "most importantly" have no faith

  In most cases, that's just another watchtower fallacy, and couldn't be
  further from the truth. I know several ex jws, and most of them are much
  more content with their lives since they quit the org, I know that I am.
  However, to portray us as lonely or unhappy is again in the org's interests.
  They simply can't afford to allow their members, especially the younger ones,
  to see that there is a better life beyond the watchtower, so they paint this
  generally false picture of how awful life becomes for those who are no longer
  in the org, and it works for them. Loyal jws do avoid us, and simply refuse to
  accept that we have anything other than the miserable life that the org says
  we have.

  I will be the first to admit - I always thought that those who criticized the org were untruthful or exaggerating

  I guess we will all forgive you for that, Scotsman. It's again to do with the way
  you have been taught to think as a jw. It's also commendable IMHO that you
  are now prepared to make an honest evaluation of what we have to say instead
  of dismissing it out of hand, which the watchtower would obviously prefer you
  to do. What you do in the future, once you have disseminated the information
  on here, is obviously up to you, and I for one won't attempt to influence you, but
  whatever you decide, I wish you well.

  Trev
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  RollerDave

  They call me an apostate,

  Apostasy from falsehood, might just be truth.

  Personally, I take delight in wallowing in the term.

  I don't just drive a monster truck, it's an 'aposta-truck'

  My boat is an apostacruiser

  Sometimes I'll answer the phone 'apostate ranch, can I help you?'

  I get an enormous kick out of it, but then I AM an enormous apostate.

  My faith, BTW, is very much alive.

  RD
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  tijkmo

  i used to care..

  and now i don't
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  dobbie

  Doesn't bother me anymore, i have come to realise/find out that i am more honest than most of those who are jws. And i know they are so controlled as to believe most of the rubbish they get 'fed' through the publications. Feel more sorry for them now than myself.
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  Gill

  My dad told me a few months ago that I was an apostate! He told me that all apostates are bad, stupid, evil and dirty people!

  I told him that I would rather be an apostate, one of those 'bad stupid, evil and dirty people', he was complaining about picketing the assemblies, than one of those stupid, brainwashed sheep, being sheared and ripped off by the criminally corrupt WTBTS.

  I don't feel sorry for dubbies anymore!

  But I absolutely LOVE Apostates!

  Apostates Rule!
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  WTWizard

  True, some apostates are sad and lonely. What the Witlesses will not tell you is that much of the reason is the after-effects of having been a Witless, and that most of them were even worse when they were active Witlesses. Also, many of them would have been that way with or without the Tower, and that the Tower has often made the problem even worse, plus compounding it with promises that are not fulfilled.

  But, most apostates are not the wicked liars that the Watchtower Society makes them out to be. In contrast, they are exposing the lies that the Watchtower Society teaches as truth. They are exposing the illusions of a perfect organization (or one with only isolated, transient problems that "Jehovah will fix in due time"). It's the Witlesses that are liars--they promise such grandiose things, give a bunch of self-serving instructions on how to obtain those things, and then watch the money roll in. Of course they have to spend their remaining lives explaining why the prophecies do not come true, and making new prophecies that are likewise going bust.
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  Watkins

  Sometimes I'll answer the phone 'apostate ranch, can I help you?'

  I get an enormous kick out of it, but then I AM an enormous apostate.

  That is TOOOOO funny! My ex-husband would answer the phone, "Murphy's Mule Barn, this is the head ass speakin'." Hah --- wait --- he WAS! I would LOVE to have a bumper magnet that says "APOSTA-CRUISER" for my little car ---PLUS--- "Ask me WHY I'm NOT a Jehovah's Witness"! ROFLMBO!

  You have to allow yourself some time to find a sense of humor about it. At first it angers you, especially if your faith is intact, because it's a LIE. Soon you realize that it doesn't mean only what you once thought it meant & one definition is: 'apostate from the WTBTS', and the term becomes more acceptable over time. Then comes a point when you're able to embrace the term with a sense of accomplishment --- "Hell ,YEAH! I'm a complete apostate from that CULT!"

  When I studied and was informed of these 'evil apostate's, I asked the sister why --- how in the world could someone who'd come to love God(ie:become a JW) ever just stop loving Him(ie:become apostate) --- and she said she just didn't know. It doesn't make sense, but because of the way we were all taught lied to, it's as if 'apostates' are angry at God and turn their backs on Him. (God = the Organisation.)

  I feel like 'dobbie' --- I forgive them their little words - they do me no harm. It was an invaluable lesson on trust, & I'm grateful ---NOW--- for the experience. It has only made my faith in God & Christ Jesus stronger and more firmly rooted. I've also found that no matter how unloving this slander may be, I can't be bitter towards my former 'friends'. I DO have empathy that they're still trapped.. My justifiable anger is properly directed at the corporation heads, not the people sucked into the illusion as I was. (But I didn't have a bad time at all, as some have had --- I would've felt VERY differently if my daughter was molested by a concealed paedo-brutha.[Silent Lambs hits me HARD])

  I'm confident that in SPITE of 2000 years of religious dogma, ALL who love God will have their eyes opened in His & their own time.

  watkins
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  MadTiger

  I am in an even more mysterious class:
  
  Since people know what type of person I am, and how faithful and studious and loving blah blah blah I was while in the organization, they are actually terrified of what I know, or have to say. They can't put me into the crazy apostate bag very easily, especially my former friends (both disfellowshipped, one justifiably so, and one who was completely railroaded), and they realize I must have uncovered something true, because this Scorpio ain't down with foolishness.
  
  This is one of the reasons why I choose not to read CoC. I am sure all your rave reviews are justified, but I want to be able to say to them that my decision is mainly based off of documents signed by the Governing Body, or the Society's lawyers, and the Society's publications.