Can a Baptist be an Apostate?

by cameo-d 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  cameo-d

  I never even heard of an "apostate" until a JW called me that.....and I'm not even a JW!

  Anyway, I am wondering if "apostate" is a term exclusive to cult groups only, like JWs, Mormons, and Scientologists. I have never heard of a Methodist or Baptist apostate, but surely, there must be such a thing.

  I have seen complaints where "apostate" xtians say they were kicked off websites that promote "mainstream Xianity" or denominational religions, so there can never really be any deep discussions or debates on those sites. So I am just wondering, where do mainstream xtians go to become apostates?

  Why do I ask? Well, I just thought maybe I'd bother them once in a while, too.
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  freydo

  Very interesting point
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  brizzzy

  The term has been around loooooong before the JWs. It simply means one who has disaffiliated themselves from their former religion. The only perjorative connotations are the ones that the JWs and other cults assign to it; the definition itself is merely a technical one and not necessarily a slur. Anybody who has left the Methodists or Baptists is an apostate just as much as an ex-JW is an apostate. It's just that those former religions may not consider it a sin, and the term is largely unused except by religions/cults who consider it a sin. So ex-Methodists or Baptists may not call themselves apostates because they may never even have heard the word before.
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  fokyc

  YES; anyone who leaves their religion could be termed an apostate

  BUT,

  The JW's have their own special interpretation of the word apostate:

  Page 94 of “Pay Attention to Yourselves and to All the Flock" 1991

  "Persons who deliberately spread (stubbornly hold to and speak about) teachings contrary to Bible truth as taught by Jehovah's Witnesses are apostates."
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  Think About It

  Most of the Protestant Churches allow people much more independent thoughts & beliefs. You'll find many church members who have different thoughts and personal beliefs on the bible and doctinal things. The JW's just think that they are so special and the WTS God's organization that they use the apostate label to the extreme on anyone within that is not completely aligned with WTS thinking.

  Think About It
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  freydo

  ".....truth as taught by Jehovah's Witnesses are apostates."

  I like that line. It's not necessarily truth they teach, but what they think is truth.

  So disagree and they'd kill you if they had the chance.

  Look like Catholics - act like Muslims.
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  Black Sheep

  A mate of mine was shown the door at 15, and told not to darken the doorstep until he had come back to the Truth.

  His Dad was Plymouth Bretheren.
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  garyneal

  A mate of mine was shown the door at 15, and told not to darken the doorstep until he had come back to the Truth.

  I wonder what your friend did that was so bad. My step-dad was shown the door when he married my mom (a divorced woman). Kicked out of his primitive baptist church.
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  alanv

  Many JWs can rightly be called apostates, as many of them have left another religion to join the witnesses.
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  JWoods

  The Scientologists have, of course, by custom made up their own name for this along with just about everything else.

  I believe such people are called "suppressives", but there are other names. Suppressives can also be non-scientologists who oppose their ideas.

  I have printed out over 50 pages of Scientology catch phrases and names they have created for just about everything in their cult religious experience.