Awakewned makes some excellent points on the JW voodoo word "Apostate".
Apostates are said to be Liars, deceptive, and vengeful, ie "evil slave" w87 7/1p.22par.8 and are out to get loyal JW's. One article some years back described the apostates "methods" such as handing out leaflets, placarding meetings and assemblies and more. Yet all of these "methods" had been and some still are employed by the Witnesses.
Yet the word simply means to leave or repudiate ones former faith or beliefs. Some apostates by that definition could very well be Liars, deceptive and vengeful, but certainly not all would be. To say so would be ridiculous and yet the WT does just that.
To blindly defend the WT position on Apostasy here is to ignore the very points that Awakened makes. Paul was called Apostate, so were Jews who simply left Judaism and naturally many JW's today had to "apostatize" from their former belief systems and religions. The word does not make them Liars, evil etc!
I would like to point out that 2 people singled out in WT publications as "apostate" from the bible were Hy·me·nae´us and Phi·le´tus. (The word is not used in the bible passage, but the connection is made by WT dozens of times ie w04 2/15p.28 )
Paul described these men to Timothy as "These very [men] have deviated from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred; and they are subverting the faith of some". (2 Tim 2:18)
Any outside or inside WT observer can recognise that JW's and their leaders teach the Resurrection has "ALREADY" occurred just like Hymanaeus and Philetus did. Firstly they teach that it started soon after 1914 and that it happens every time an "anointed" partaker dies right up until the present.
Frank75