by Mary 24 Replies latest jw friends
This subject came up with a friend of mine on Facebook the other day. He was never officially baptized as a Witness and I believe he is now a Born Again Christian.
Does Crooklyn consider someone an 'apostate' if you were never actually a full-fledged member but ended up leaving? Or are you just considered 'bad association'???
Mary - "Does Crooklyn consider someone an 'apostate' if you were never actually a full-fledged member but ended up leaving? Or are you just considered 'bad association'???"
I suspect the latter with a capital "B" and "A"; I don't think the GB considers the unbaptized masses as much "theirs" as they do the dunked.
Pretty sure the reaction from the R&F would likely be more-or-less the same.
Agree with Vidiot.
You won't officially be an "apostate", but as far as JWs are concerned, you'll be shunned for essentially the same reasons as a full-fledged "apostate".
The reality is, once you are associated in any way with JWs, once you decide not to join the group, whether you were ever baptized or not, you'll be disposed of in short order as "unworthy".
What you are called is "not a approved associate"
Just another of their weasel phrases .
My mom refused to let me baptized until I was thirty. Believe me, I begged and cried at ten when my same age cousings were dunked. Oh, the love and praise they received. I was always the black sheep. She said she was baptized at fourteen and too young to make a mature decision.
I am so glad. So I am not an apostate? Apostate sounds like so much more fun and more worldly. Bad Association does not carry so much clout. What about born-ins with several generations in the "Truth?" Certainly, all my childhood deprivations and suffering should elevate me to apostate.
They are against infant baptism but a ten year old is mature. Give me a break. What chilled me was a case involving a fourteen year old boy who refused blood transfusion. A judge let him die.
I want to be an apostate. Please say I am one.
Even if you never were some will treat you as if you are. It's been done to me. Heck I'm being shunned right now.
"Very bad association", I think.
I'm in that category and they won't have anything to do with me.
They put me on their "do not call" list.
I don't even get shepherding calls because I have shared what I know with a number of the elders.
One sister told me that I have "a bad reputation at the Kingdom Hall."
The idea seems to be that I "know the truth" but now oppose it, which is the ultimate sin in Watchtowerland.
I was never a Witness, let alone baptized. Hubby will nevertheless slip in to saying, "That's apostate thinking". It's not official, but that's how Witnesses behave anyways.
I understand your question, but think you're missing the point. It's similar to, "What is the difference between an individual disassociating themselves and being disfellowshipped?"
They are technically different, but for all intents and purposes they are the same in regards to how the DF'd/DA'd person is treated.
From the Insight book:
APOSTASY: This term in Greek ( a·po·sta·si′a ) comes from the verb a·phi′ste·mi, literally meaning “stand away from.” The noun has the sense of “desertion, abandonment or rebellion.”
Technically, a person cannot be an apostate of a religion if they were never a member; you can't "desert, abandon or rebel" against something you were never part of. But JWs will shun anyone and everyone that disagrees with the GB's "Truth du jour" whatever that may be, so there is really no practical difference.
Keep in mind that one of the hallmarks of a cult is the redefinition of words. The WTBTS has a long history of doing this whenever it suits there purposes.
Technically, no.
However, the word "apostate" is being confluenced to imply "anyone who publishes anything remotely critical of the WTS".
Thus, for example, the "20/20" TV show that aired 10 or so years ago that partially exposed the Watchtower's pedophile problem was, in the minds of most JWs, an "apostate" show. The AP writers who described the $20+ million Conti verdict against the WTS are "apostate" reporters, etc.
The WTS is working hard to get this idea into the minds of JWs: "Critical of WTS" = "apostate".
