by Trojan 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Its similar to other ostracized and marginalized groups "reclaiming" derogatory labels and using them as a form of empowerment. I am simply reclaiming the term "apostate" as an act of defiance and empowerment. We are the "Apostate Nation" yeah !!!
Haha exactly. Being called an apostate by a false prophet cancels the ludicrous word out anyway.
Etymology: Middle English apostasie, from Late Latin apostasia, from Greek, literally, revolt, from aphistasthai to revolt....
Looks good to me...
Hell I'm not even DF'd yet and already the JW's refer to me as an "Apostate". So be it. I dont mind, cause it gives me a kind of power over them. They fear the term and anyone holding it.
It's a "badge of honor" in our xjdubya reality. Everyone here has pretty much covered it. We're the apostababes and apostabubbas........their loss......our gain.
Frannie
I think kid-A put it very well:
Its similar to other ostracized and marginalized groups "reclaiming" derogatory labels and using them as a form of empowerment. I am simply reclaiming the term "apostate" as an act of defiance and empowerment.
For most of us, the JW labelling is part of our history: pretending it has left no influence or scar on our personality would be fooling ourselves.
Damned if we do, damned if we don't.
If we want to prove (whom? them?) we are not apostates we are still sharing some of their values and, in a way, comforting them.
If we own the label and push the "apostasy" further (e.g. by stepping out of Christianity) we also comfort them (in the thought that leaving them amounts to, or ends up as, leaving Christianity).
The diversity of paths and consciences (which all implied dealing with the JW label of "apostasy" at some stage) is the fact. It does not have to be a "good testimony," it is a "true testimony" to what we are. And a strong testimony too inasmuch as we can handle the diversity, which they cannot.
Of course they could also make the point that the WT is still, in a negative way, the ground for our common bond. It's true in a sense, why deny it? Nobody can erase history out, what matters is what we make out of it.
jesus was an apostate jew...if it was good enough for him it is good enough for me.
Invite you to reflect. I welcome definitions and your thoughts. Why apply the term to ourself??? I don't particularly feel like an "apostate".
I do it to laugh at them and their silly little beliefs. They always run away in fear when they see an Poztate™ It is like the boogy man to them...So scary
We are saying it for a laugh and not because we believe in what the JWs say about us, to us they are the real apostates from the gospel truth that embrace an abundance of erroneous beliefs.
The FDS greatly fear us because we can expose their lies before their R&F and damage their credibility.
It is the Org. that calls anyone who disagrees with them an apostate. Trojan, if the GB read your posts, which are mild but still public disagreement with their ways and teachings, they would call you an apostate. To them, they are the only way to Jehovah. That is why they say of those who diassociate themselves:
"The term "disassociation" applies to the action taken by a person who, although a baptized member of the congregation, deliberately repudiates his Christian standing...the person who disassociates himself by repudiating the faith and deliberately abandoning Jehovah’s worship is viewed in the same way as one who is disfellowshipped." - Organized to Do Jehovah's Will (2005) p155.
Of couse, many who disassociate themselves do not abandon worshipping the true God at all, nor do they repudiate their Christian standing, but in the eyes of the GB they do. The wierdest thing is when someone is disfellowshipped for disagreeing with something that the GB later also abandons as wrong. They are claiming that God is casting them out of His favour for not believing something that is wrong!
They explain this away by saying such ones are presumptous, moving ahead of God's arrangement. But according to the Org., God's arrangement is with the FDS, and nowhere in the Bible does it say the FDS then relegates all decisions, power etc. to a GB! Trojan, you are in Bethel - does the GB seek the advice of the FDS? Does the FDS have any say in who is appointed to the GB that is supposed to be representing them? The whole thing is a sham.
Finally, to Trojan. You are still in a position of responsibility. Don't give it up - don't leave Troy - use your position to pass on useful information to others, information that may help others see for themselves that the Org is man-made and not from God as they claim.
Trojan
I don't consider myself to be an apostate, although I know that the GB, at this point, might say otherwise. *shrug* Why should I give a f**k?
I don't picket or write letters. I don't try to "reverse witness" to people. Other than being a "free thinker", whatever that means, and being an example of one who has left, I don't think I really do much in opposition to the Org... well, except for my occasional vitriol here.
Although, I suspect that if I only made more free time, I probably could be more of an activist. I'm just not much of the activist sort.
