I found this posted on the women-awake group. I found it interesting----do remember that the comments made after are not mine, even though I thought they were good comments--I won't take credit for them. If this was posted before, sorry, didn't see it.
Apostates and Apostasy Reconsidered
Or
New Light on the Present Rampant Apostasy
The Watchtower and Jehovah's Witnesses use the term "Apostate" and "Apostasy" as though these were copyrighted names that were originated by them and are for their exclusive use in describing those who have forsaken the uncomfortable chains of the WT organization and gone on to another faith, no faith or whatever.
Some may be, consciously or unconsciously, wounded by the Witnesses use of this term as a derogatory comment on them, as exJWs. Any who feel the WT has a right to impugn the moral or spiritual status of such former believers, are encouraged to take a hard look at what they are being branded as and by whom such branding is being done.
Funk & Wagnalls standard desk dictionary, 1983 Edition, defines the word as follows
Apostasy [noun-(plural-sies)] Desertion of ones faith, religion, party or principles. Also apostasy. apostate adj. & noun.
In view of this generally accepted definition, the terms apostates and apostasy are found to have a wide application and a long history.
1 - It is generally accepted that a large proportion of Witnesses were at one time adherents to other religious faiths or dogma. Having forsaken (we would assume) such former faiths when they embraced the WT religion, they could rightly be called apostates. Such an assumption would also reasonably apply to many in the worldwide Bethels. It may be concluded, then, that the entire WT organization is permeated with apostates, who have at some point forsaken their faith and turned their backs on their religious teachings.
2 Although the religious pedigree of many of the leaders in recent times is not too well publicized, it is well established that both of the early church fathers who founded or developed the Watchtower organization, migrated to such beliefs from former churches. In embracing the Truth (as they accept it) they were patently guilty of Apostasy. Thus we can assume that the organization was founded and nurtured by two prominent Apostates, Chares Taze Russell and Judge J. F. Russell.
(2)
3 We can carry the above reasoning down through the centuries. To avoid the redundancy of showing the names and history of the many links the WT tries to make from the present WT hierarchy to the early Christians, we will jump to the apostolic times. We would make the observation that Saul of Tarsus departed for Damascus as an adherent to the beliefs and faith of the Pharisees, a branch or sect of the Jewish faith. When struck blind in his headlong pursuit and persecution of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, he emerged as the converted Apostle Paul and embraced Apostasy with his abandonment of his former beliefs and his startling conversion to the Christian faith.
4 We might conclude this brief history of apostasy with the observation that Jesus of Nazareth was raised by Joseph and Mary as an apparently well-taught student of his familys belief structure. His debates, at an early age with the elders at the temple, would attest to his involvement in the religious activities of his day. To any Bible student it is apparent that the religious leaders of his time were sorely aggrieved by his preaching of a doctrine that opposed the accepted church dogma and obviously viewed him as an Apostate, worthy of the supreme penalty, death.
In summary, it becomes apparent to anyone who wishes to make a study of it, that Apostasy has a long and wide-ranging history. It is also apparent that many people would feel that the Apostates should be viewed as a group who could number among themselves some very impressive examples of approved apostasy, including, depending on your view, many of the accepted leaders of Jehovahs Witnesses.
Despite having to be bundled in with some persons they may not any longer agree with, current exJWs can accept with pride the designation Apostate, as it obviously has an acceptable, and indeed honourable, history. The connotations and meaning currently imputed to the terms by the average Witness are just another example of the ability of the WT organization to make their followers accept black as white or up as down, as they would wish them to think.
Hold your heads high, all you Apostates. It is a badge of honour and a mark of distinction to be found able to think for yourselves and thus reject the WT dogma and embrace freedom from the WTs intellectual prison.
Congratulations !!!!!!!