I was scared of apostates..... (page 3)

NeonMadman

Back in 1969, when I got baptized, there wasn't the rampant fear of "apostates" that the Society has stirred up today, and I was young and dumb, so I remember taking some pamphlets from a guy outside Yankee Stadium during the International Convention. Actually, ended up with quite a collection of what my pioneer friend called "evil slave literature" before I went home. Of course, he suggested that i ditch it, but I refused. Even then, I was pretty sensitive to being told what I should and shouldn't read. Over the years, the mind control kicked in to some extent, but on the occasions when I did get rid of non-witness or "apostate" literature, it was more because of peer pressure than because of any sense that I was doing anything wrong. I always figured that if we had the truth, it should stand up to any counter-argument.

Years later, I remember sitting in my car in the parking lot at the Natick Assembly Hall during a circuit assembly, with a couple of friends (at least one of whom has since served as an elder), listening to a Bill Cetnar tape. I believe it was the one on "Wise and Foolish Virgins".

I guess maybe I was too intellectually rebellious to remain a JW all my life?

Tom
"The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan

Mindchild

I couldn’t help but like the first apostate I ever met as a dub teenager, but I didn’t have a clue at the time that he was an apostate. We were working together at an ice plant as refrigeration operators, and while he was easily twice my age, we got along really well at the start. After some weeks of our friendship, I started to incidental Witness to him (you know the drill) as only he and I were there together at the plant all night long (graveyard shift).

He was an expert at using humor and conversation and managed to shoot my dub canned crap down in flames but being as dumb as a brick wall back then, I would keep coming back for more. He later started to mock the dubs in humorous ways but the jokes were so damn good I really couldn’t stay upset with him.

I guess though my being a dumb dub and having to work with me though started to get to him and before long I noticed something weird was happening in the ice we were making. You see we made several tons of clear ice each night that was used for ice sales for the consumer market (bagged ice) and this ice was supposed to be crystal clear but I noticed that blocks of ice were coming up with bright yellow streaks in them. After seeing this for a few more weeks without being able to explain it, I contacted the plant engineer and we began to investigate the problem and came up with a blank. He finally became suspicious that Tom (the guy that worked the graveyard shift with me) must be doing something to sabotage the plant equipment, so he decided to hide there one night and watch us both to see what the hell was going on.

It turns out that Tom would drink a six-pack of beer while we were doing our conversations at the start of our shift and then when I made my inspection rounds of the plant (it took over an hour to do the checks) he would proceed to pee a little bit in each block of ice just before it was frozen solid! So, all those yellow stains in the ice were urine.

When the engineer caught him in the act (literally) and asked him why the hell he was doing this, he blamed it on working with a Witness shit (me) and that it was his way of getting back at me. The engineer fired him on the spot but asked him why he was so upset or angry with the Witnesses and he said that he had been one and it ruined his life and caused his divorce. Knowing what I know now about what he went through, I sure know that was a pisser.

Skipper

closer2fine

I was inside at a district assembly & a guy friend of mine was surrounded by 'brothers' from our hall. My friend was visibly upset (we were 17) and the brothers were consoling him. Apparently his dad was outside as one of the "Apostates" picketing. He hadn't seen his dad in over 8 years (dad was a jerk [not apostate related])

What was so ironic about it was that normally the elders in our hall wouldn't give him the time of day - but they were getting all kinds of attention because of this & even met with the CO to help encourage my friend.

Oh, also when I was 14, a friend of my mothers who had been DF'd years before was labeled an apostate because she was seen regularly going to another church and being critical of the WTBTS.

closer

Solid stone is just sand and water, baby
Sand and water, and a million years gone by - beth nielsen chapman

betweenworlds

Thinkers Wife!

OMG!!! A bethel truck huh? Wow talk about irony Poor old dude.

BW

Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity. Lord Acton 1834-1902

willowstreet

I remember burning an apostate book at a bible study one time.

I also remember crying the first time I saw apostates out front of an assembly hall, it was that upsetting to me.

willowtreet

Beans

I left 17 years ago at 16 and I didn`t even know what one was until four months ago and how this was the "BIG THREAT" !!!
After asking my sister(JW)some questions quoting the Watchtower it seems to be a great response for them like"Oh is that from an apostate web site?"No it`s a direct quote from the Watchtower!

Beans,"If you don`t have anything good to say say it often" Ed the Sock!!!

TR

Every year that I went to the Tacoma, Wa. convention, there was this guy that yelled "WATCH OUT FOR THE WATCHTOWER!" through a megaphone. There were several "apostates" protesting there. Another guy held a sign that said, "WATCHTOWER, A NON-PROPHET ORGANIZATION". At the time I thought it very freaky. But BOY did I want to know more. Alas, I was not clothed with the "Ball Plates of Fortitude" at the time. LOL!

TR

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
--Benjamin Franklin, 1759

expatbrit

I always thought they were just a bunch of crazy nutjobs.

Hmmmmmmm, I still think that!

Expatbrit

terafera

Mindchild, that story cracked me up.. I mean it's sad he was so hurt by the Witnesses, but just thinking about how all your preaching pissed him off! (pun intended)

Have you ever seen him since? I wonder if any of the public got some of his 'special' ice...

Wren

I was amazed & frightened at the zealousness of the "apostates" at assemblies. They were more forceful, bold, and sincere than the JWs! I knew, at the time, that I was getting the crap kicked out of me with the demands of the organization. I could not imagine being even more zealous, like the apostate protesters!

I was scared of apostates.....

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