Apostasy my ass!

by Glander 50 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Fernando

  Hey Cedars!

  May I please disagree on this one?

  The dictionary is not always right.

  In this instance they have accepted the false definition all religions propagate.

  The true definition of apostasy does not favour religion/ists who then understandably will obfuscate.

  Apostasy is very definitely spiritual UNFAITHFULNESS, adultery, fornication, or prostitution.

  It is unlawful spiritual intercourse with the "god of religion".

  In Ezekiel chapters 16 and 23 God 37 times refers to the whole nation as prostitutes (search wt lib for prostit*). This had nothing to do with physical sex. It was all about spiritual sex with God's nemesis. The type of sex that the spiritually inebriated GB continuously lust after. Millions have left the Watchtower after catching the GB with their pants down and in the act.

  I refuse the apostate Watchtower any permission to label me with the label and guilt that belongs to them instead.
• 

  WTWizard

  I suggest using "apostasy" in a positive light. If the organization you are disagreeing with is itself damaging, apostasy from that organization is actually a good thing. Of course that organization will do all it can to ruin your life for exposing their rubbish, but it's their fault.
• 

  Bubblegum Apotheosis

  If we replace "hypocrite" with "apostate", what percentage of active members in the Organization would be apostate/hipocrites? Field Service is a mockery of Jehovah God, when was the last time you saw a group of JWs take off to another land, do some real missionary work?

  All the poor brothers and sisters in Eritria (Africa) don't have the option to drive from donut shop to donut shop, like their hard working brothers in the Western Hemisphere. I have thought deeply, if these brothers in horrific countries say how easy the United States missionaries take their preaching work, would they break off like Romania did?
• 

  steve2

  Our language is a living, evolving one. Words change their meanings - and new meanings accrue to them.

  Nowadays, "apostasy" has gained a connotation of simply leaving the religion one was once committed to and no longer believing or practising its teachings.

  It's not dissimilar to the way the word "divorcee" has been used in legal circles: Following the end of a marriage, the respective parties can be described legally as "divorcees". It has nothing to do with whether they have left the "true" marriage - but simply the fact that the marriage has been legally "cancelled", leaving the respective parties free to remarry someone else if they so wish.

  To illustrate modern usages of apostasy: In the 1920s, my maternal grandparents apostasized from the Methodist Church to join the International Bible Students (who became Jehovah's Witnesses in 1931). In the early 1980s, I apostasized from the Jehovah's Witnesses through questioning its central teachings.My grandparents were apostates from the Methodist church, while their (wonderful) grandson is an apostate from the Jehovah's Witnesses.
• 

  Bubblegum Apotheosis

  @steve: What doctrines stood out like a "sore thumb" being promulgated by the Org?
• 

  cedars

  Fernando, you are ALWAYS entitled to disagree with me! However, notwithstanding personal beliefs and etymology, you'll find I'm not so eager to rewrite the dictionary as you are!

  I think we need to approach the word from a different angle to the Society. Just because they demonize the concept, does not make it any less an appropriate response to their false teachings. That said, we must always be mindful of the reaction to that word by indoctrinated Witnesses who we are trying to help.

  Cedars
• 

  ziddina

  Along with what erbe, Fernando, Morbidzbaby, and others said about the "real" meaning of the word "apostate"...

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/217172/1/Apostate-originally-meant-Runaway-Slave
• 

  steve2

  In recent centuries, in response to the emergence and flourishing of Protestant churches, the Catholic church promoted and demonzied the word "heretic" to denote anyone who rejected its authority.

  Now, in response to the emergence and flourishing of strong alternative responses to the Watchtower's dubious claims, the Watchtower organization has promoted and demonized the word "apostate" to denote anyone who has rejected its authority.

  Same demonizing of rejecting a religion's authority, different words.

  And none of this means that any of us have to accept the Watchtower's definition of apostate any more than it means we have to accept the Catholic church's definition of heretic. They are words whose meanings change.
• 

  Scully

  people who started off as athiests

  FWIW, everyone starts off as atheist. Their parents and their culture influence them to become something else.
• 

  Glander

  people who started off as athiests

  FWIW, everyone starts off as atheist. Their parents and their culture influence them to become something else.

  exactamundo!