Why do JW apostates tend to be activists against the religion?

by Vanderhoven7 20 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Vanderhoven7
    Vanderhoven7

    J. Arden writes

    First of all an apostate is literally just someone who left. Most JWs are technically apostates from the religions they were raised in. JWs are indoctrinated to use calling someone apostate as a way to dismiss their argument. It’s an ad hominem logical fallacy. If I can just call you apostate or I no longer have to think about anything you said. When you spend years in a high control group and manage to wake up it is common to become interested in what was done to you, it’s part of healing to really understand it and it’s somewhat a responsibility to warn others.

    When I learned that the governing body was keeping a database of thousands of pedophiles from judges and law enforcement I was disgusted. When I learned about the two witness rule and the fact that their attempts to stick to this illogical way of investigating things had led to the continued rape and abuse of children I was horrified. Then I think of all the people who think exactly the way I was conditioned to who have little chance of finding freedom and I really do despair.

    So yeah, sometimes I speak out against it. So if youre a JW reading this all I can say is please read, research ask yourself questions like what would it feel like really to be in a cult? Would I know that I am? How? Is it really good news that God is going to butcher 8 billion people that I have to help clean up so that I can hang out with Moses and pandas? Is that logical?"

  • enoughisenough
    enoughisenough

    I think they hate the injustice of the whole think and need to voice it. We were made fools of. I think at the very top, they know they are liars and don't care.

  • Nathan Natas
    Nathan Natas

    Q.: Why do JW apostates tend to be activists against the religion?

    A.: When persons are in great danger from a source that they do not suspect or are being misled by those they consider their friends, is it an unkindness to warn them? They may prefer not to believe the warning. They may even resent it. But does that free one from the moral responsibility to give that warning? -- THE WATCHTOWER January 15,1974


  • Vanderhoven7
    Vanderhoven7

    Excellent keeper quotation Nathan.

  • Black Sheep
    Black Sheep

    Being an activist is a bad idea if you want to have any chance of getting your friends and family out. Once they know that you are wearing an Apostate Badge, they are protected from your influence by Borg installed fear.

    To be able to have a sensible discussion with a JW friend or family member, you have to do it without triggering their Apostate Alarm. E.g., create doubts by asking them a question to get them to do research and report back to you with their answer, rather than supplying them with information that they don't/won't want to hear.

    Less is more. Don't inundate them with questions as that gives them the opportunity to only answer the low hanging fruit. Pick a problem question that is important to them, (not you), and get them to promise to get back to you with an answer. When they get back to you, don't let them morph your question into another question/subject that suits them better. If they do try to weasel their way out of answering your question, give them a guilt trip for trying and insist on a sensible answer to your original question.

    Play the innocent, inquisitive, person at all times, but gently point out any logical fallacies, bible/WT contradictions, etc. that they try to use. They need to feel some guilt for trying to fool you.

  • smiddy3
    smiddy3

    Wise words Black Sheep

  • BoogerMan
    BoogerMan

    If any of my former JW associates labelled me as "an apostate," I'd ask them to explain to me exactly what they think an apostate is - not what the org tells them it means.*

    "Heresy, denial or doubt of any defined doctrine, is sharply distinguished from apostasy, which denotes deliberate abandonment of the Christian faith itself."

    https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/heresy-and-apostasy

    Many people abandon the denomination/org/sect of JW's, but not Christianity.

    Christianity & the org are not one and the same!

    *Likewise with the word "Christendom." ("Christian people or countries as a whole" - https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/christendom)

  • Rattigan350
    Rattigan350

    The word "apostate" is a stupid word as it means many things from different perspectives.

  • TonusOH
    TonusOH

    I think most religions have their critics, including those who take on the activist role. Scientology seems to have more than the WTS, perhaps because of its high profile.

  • Biahi
    Biahi

    Why do we speak out? Maybe it’s because our childhoods were taken from us, others, be cause many years of their lives were wasted in service to a cult.

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