Is apostate an appropriate term for us? (page 4)

hillary_step

Like the word 'gay', the word apostate as developed by the WTS has come to mean something that it was never intended to mean. Rather like the term 'Nazi sympathiser' triggers a certain mental reaction, so does the word 'apostate' to Jehovah's Witnesses and often to XJW's also.

So the word has become a verbal weapon that is massaged into the thinking of its adherents by the WTS and suits their devious schemes admirably.

I was once called a 'bordeline apostate' by a CO and retailiated by describing him as a 'boderline Christian", as you might guess it did not sit well in the bucket of slogans that he called his brain.

HS

DanTheMan

from 1984:

The next moment a hideous, grinding speech, as of some monstrous machine running without oil, burst from the big telescreen at the end of the room. It was a noise that set one's teeth on edge and bristled the hair at the back of one's neck. The Hate had started.

As usual, the face of Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, had flashed on to the screen. There were hisses here and there among the audience. The little sandy-haired woman gave a squeak of mingled fear and disgust. Goldstein was the renegade and backslider who once, long ago (how long ago, nobody quite remembered), had been one of the leading figures of the Party, almost on a level with Big Brother himself, and then had engaged in counter-revolutionary activities, had been condemned to death, and had mysteriously escaped and disappeared. The programmes of the Two Minutes Hate varied from day to day, but there was none in which Goldstein was not the principal figure. He was the primal traitor, the earliest defiler of the Party's purity....
...In its second minute the Hate rose to a frenzy. People were leaping up and down in their places and shouting at the tops of their voices in an effort to drown the maddening bleating voice that came from the screen. The little sandy-haired woman had turned bright pink, and her mouth was opening and shutting like that of a landed fish. Even O'Brien's heavy face was flushed. He was sitting very straight in his chair, his powerful chest swelling and quivering as though he were standing up to the assault of a wave. The dark-haired girl behind Winston had begun crying out 'Swine! Swine! Swine!' and suddenly she picked up a heavy Newspeak dictionary and flung it at the screen. It struck Goldstein's nose and bounced off; the voice continued inexorably. In a lucid moment Winston found that he was shouting with the others and kicking his heel violently against the rung of his chair. The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in...

This is an extreme example, but I think that ex's like us are the WT's Emmanuel Goldstein. I know the emotion I used to feel at the word apostate, a mixture of fear and disgust.

JosephMalik

Look up the meaning and see if it does not apply both ways. It is a deviation from an 'orthodox' way.

Gumby,

Meanings mean nothing, they are simply general applications. You must understand the term in context as I stated.

21 And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

But it was James the accuser that was the apostate now. He was the one standing aside and corrupting the faith not Paul. It would take years and many battles before James would see the truth and be born again as our Lord required of His disciples of that time.

Joseph

RR

I tend to prefer the term "ENLIGHTENED."

JT

Like the word 'gay', the word apostate as developed by the WTS has come to mean something that it was never intended to mean. Rather like the term 'Nazi sympathiser' triggers a certain mental reaction, so does the word 'apostate' to Jehovah's Witnesses and often to XJW's also.

So the word has become a verbal weapon that is massaged into the thinking of its adherents by the WTS and suits their devious schemes admirably

#########

excelllent post hit the nail on the head

teejay

>> Perhaps 'dissident' would be more accurate...

nice idea, Simon.

The only problem is, I don't recall ever reading the word dissident in any of the books or magazines. As far as the wts is concerned, there *isn't* such a thing.

Either you are a believer or a disbeliever; you're a JW or some other god-forsaken soul. Either you are going to make it through Armageddon or you won't. Either you listen to god's mouthpiece or you don't.

You are a Witness or an apostate. Unlike the Catholic Church, there is no such thing as a dissident.

RR

No, but there is such a thing as a heretic!

dustrabbit

I always thought of the JW usage of "apostate" as something akin to the "The Scarlet Letter"...except the JWs projected results were much more deadlier.

But as I started to develop my brain and used common sense, I realized God doesn't exist as JWs (and maybe, as Christians) would like you to believe and, thus, your beliefs are not so urgently bound to this "smite thee" egotistically warped creature and those who claim to be his representatives. You have to figure that if any pissed-off, bloodthirsty, self-serving deity has reps, the reps are going to be "in the image" of their diety....hence, self-serving JWs.

Sorry, if I offend anyone with the above words, but I believe it is better to be an apostate than to serve a diety/object/concept that binds people to fear and self-loathing, among other negative concepts.

the dustrabbit

WildHorses

I think we should give ourselves a new name, such as Apostapalia. LOL

punkofnice

I have 'resurrected(R)' (I'm being Jehovah (TM) ), this thread as it only says what I was going to post as a new thread.

As far as I'm concerned 'apostates(TM)' as designated by the WBT$ DO NOT EXIST!

'Apostate(TM)' is just an Ad Hominem label the WBT$ uses to enforce information control and millieu control.

Is apostate an appropriate term for us?

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