why do we call ourselves apostates?

by recovering 35 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  IP_SEC

  1. Yes we are apostates. We left off from believing their teachings. That makes us JW apostates.
  
  2. It is a derogatory term that we give power by taking it onto ourselves.

  g'day
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  OUTLAW

  Never let someone else,define who you are!

  ...OUTLAW
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  recovering

  amen outlaw, I choose to define myself as one who is earnestly seeking truth no matter where that may lead me. The organization has proven itself to be a false prophet by their many false teachings and non biblical rhetoric. I am not trying to start a new religion or speaking against god. I am compelled to continue searching and examining . I will never allow them to define who I am.
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  Awakened at Gilead

  Regarding my use of the word apostate... I do not permit a JW to deride me using the term... but among us... I use the term affectionately... it's also a useful prefix, as in "aposta-trip", "apostafest", or "apostachick"...
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  JimmyPage

  If you call yourself an apostate on this site your likely to get lambasted. You will be quickly reminded that it is a WT term meant to demonize us.
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  free2beme

  Speak for yourself. I do not call myself that title.
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  daniel-p

  Definition of apostate:

  1 : renunciation of a religious faith

  2 : abandonment of a previous loyalty

  The only derogatory connotation is the one we give it. For so long, we believed as did they, using the term "apostate" to describe people who had commited the worst kind of sin. Why should we feel any kind of insult or injury when we're called an apostate now, however? The only ones who connote evil with being an apostate are the ones who still believe in whatever particular religious construct we left. None of us should feel angry about being called one. It takes courage to be an apostate. It takes a belief in ones' self to be an apostate. It requires one to step out of the familiar and into the unknown. It takes a willingness to accept derision and scorn from those who've been left behind. But their derision and scorn are borne out of ignorance and fear--exactly what we've conquered. Let them fear us if they need to. Once we accept that we are apostates and take on the label freely, the power they weild it with will diminish.
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  mostlydead

  It's odd that by definition, abandoning prior religious convictions is equated with abandoning one's principles. Refusing to abandon our principles is what got a lot of us here.
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  daniel-p

  The principles, or loyalty that we've abandoned are those that were intertwined with the faith. FOr example, our loyalty to the Governing Body and the Faithful and Discrete Slave. Surely, we were loyal, now we're not. We were loyal to the congregation. We were loyal to the elders (or at least tried to be). Simply because we remained loyal to certain principles, such as not supporting a currupt organization, doesn't mean we are not apostates. Again, the term only has relevance for those who remain inside the religious construct we abandoned and for us ourselves.
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  Holey_Cheeses*King_of_the juice.

  Cheeses. Apostate. And proud of it.

  World Book Dictionary defines apostasy as 'forsaking one's religion.' Something I am pleased to have done in regards the jws.

  jaydubs can call me whatever they fancy - afterall, the laugh is on them. I am out and free and they are caught like rats in a trap.

  Cheeses.