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Eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I ventured onto a much feared “apostate forum”. My heart was racing and I was convinced (although I now realize how ridiculous this is) that I would come under some sort of demon attack! As I read, I felt angry and scared. I had always thought of apostates as bitter individuals who couldn’t meet Jehovah’s standards and made up lies about us. Now I realized that the truth was on their side whilst “the truth” I had grown up with was anything but.

In the old days, the WTS could tolerate gross inefficiency, some independence of elders, and make wild Biblical speculations about prophecies, failed dates for Armageddon and had few cares about the disfellowshipped and apostates. In recent years, this more casual, and moderate approach has been dropped for a more highly controlled, demanding, and paranoid administration.

It wasn't all that long ago when WTS policies began to be strongly influenced by legal consequences (for example, on paper anyway, blood transfusions are a matter of personal conscience) and we have all seen the increased pressure on Witnesses to flee from the Internet (i.e. the evil Facebook) and the growing trend of demonizing apostates.

I want my mom to open her eyes and see how horrible this religion is, but I don't know how. I don't want to show her articles online or make her suspicious about what I've been reading, because if she found out I was on apostate websites, all hell would break loose.

There's a lot of stuff that you can use simply by researching THEIR OWN PUBLICATIONS!! Here's just a sample .. I've included the article citations so you can research it yourself.....

Do they believe that they are the only ones who will be saved?
No. Millions that have lived in centuries past and who were not Jehovah’s Witnesses will come back in a resurrection and have an opportunity for life. Many now living may yet take a stand for truth and righteousness before the “great tribulation,” and they will gain salvation. Moreover, Jesus said that we should not be judging one another. We look at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart. He sees accurately and judges mercifully. He has committed judgment into Jesus’ hands, not ours.—Matthew 7:1-5; 24:21; 25:31.
Jt – “Questions often asked by interested people”

14 Do not conclude that there are different roads, or ways, that you can follow to gain life in God’s new system. There is only one. There was just the one ark that survived the Flood, not a number of boats. And there will be only one organization—God’s visible organization—that will survive the fast-approaching “great tribulation.” It is simply not true that all religions lead to the same goal. (Matthew 7:21-23; 24:21) You must be part of Jehovah’s organization, doing God’s will, in order to receive his blessing of everlasting life.—Psalm 133:1-3.
Pe / “What you must do to live forever - 1989” Book. Chapter 30, page 255 – paragraph 14.

These two paragraphs are from different articles, but as you can see, the first paragraph suggests that it's not WHO you belong too, but what's in your heart, while the second paragraph makes it perfectly clear that you NEED to be part of Jehovah's Organization.... so which is it???? Find and print these articles out and show them to your mother, she can't flip out about it because it's not apostate material, IT'S THEIR OWN!!!

What I find sad by comparison is that most JW's I knew, even myself back in my dub days, suffered from nearly just as many fears and phobias created by paranoid little men heading the Watchtower Society. Here are just a few fears I remember having as a dub:

1. Fear of God
2. Fear of disfellowshipping
3. Fear of being shunned
4. Fear of demons
5. Fear of persecution
6. Fear of Armageddon
7. Fear of needing a blood transfusion
8. Fear of not putting enough service time in
9. Fear of public speaking
10. Fear of not having enough faith
11. Fear of apostates

Can you think of any more to add to the list? What fear got to you the most when you were a Dub?

Fear of Judgment
Fear of Opposing Views
Fear of Counsel/Punishment
Fear of Individualism/Independence (isolation=no support from Congregation)
Fear of Local Needs Talks (who are they gonna target this week?)
Fear of "Permissiveness" (caused many to become intolerant of other faiths/lifestyles)
Fear of the Information Age (Technology/Internet)
Fear of [Being Caught With] Bad/Questionable Entertainment (launched stricter direction & scrutiny from the WT/GB)
Fear of Stumbling the Consciences of Others (forced many to walk on eggshells at all times)
Fear of Losing JW Children/Family/Friends to the World/Apostasy
Fear of the World itself
Fear of Losing Loved Ones to the Second Death (No resurrection)
Fear of Anything Complex (WT's simple answers to serious problems inhibit many from considering deeper questions)
Fear of Questioning the Watchtower (ironic since chapter 1 of What Does the Bible Really Teach? is dedicated to asking questions- but only the ones that the Watchtower can answer)

It's official, if you are reading this board, you are both mentally diseased and a ruthless enemy of Jehovah's Witnesses. Now that you are absorbing that fact, you can ask yourself: why is the WTS going overboard in vilifying apostates? In fact, is there something more to all this propaganda than just the usual banter about us being the bad guys?

If you have the fortitude to read it, here is a PDF file of this month's study articles about apostates: http://download.jw.org/files/media_maga ... 110715.pdf

Almost everyone knows that having enemies is essential in politics. The Republicans need to paint the Democratic Party as wasteful liberal spenders who are secretly irreligious fanatics. Whereas Democrats accuse Republicans of being right wing extremists, war hawks, and conservatives that would rather destroy the economy than raise taxes. This mutual name calling serves the purposes of riling up the faithful, defining who they are and why they deserve your support. Can this propaganda work for the WTS as well? You bet! You need the "BAD" to define the "GOOD". By drumming up fear of apostates, the WTS deflects questions about their own incompetence and exhaustive record of failures. The same old record of "the end is near" is losing it's shock value after over 100 years of overuse, there needs to be a new and more potent rallying cry: Evil Apostates are among us!

Having a big scary nemesis is one of the better motivations to keep the flock in line and producing more results in distributing Watchtower propaganda and soliciting more funds. The Governing Body well knows that it’s possible to become complacent and suffer stagnation, dishing out the same old recycled crap year after year. As time goes on, you can expect the Society to provide more sensationalism about shocking examples of apostates at work, how they managed to mislead some spiritually weak ones who then proceeded into a downward spiral of a life of unrestrained pleasure seeking, drug addiction, personal abuse and crime. Or perhaps it might be some story about a JW child who in their desperation to get freedom listen to apostates, leave the Borg, and then commit suicide from guilt. Just as political leaders fan support for war efforts by vilifying their enemies by showing and staging shocking crimes and horrible mistreatment towards innocent victims (look at the made up examples of Iraqi troops executing babies at Kuwaiti hospitals) you can expect the same line of B.S. from the Watchtower Propaganda Dept. (Did you know that apostates are secretly going to Kingdom Hall parking lots during meetings and putting sugar in the cars gas tanks to ruin our car engines and keep us from going out in service?)

Here are a few more benefits the WTS gain's from having vicious apostate enemies:

Having enemies is a social proofing signal. What this means is that It’s a signal to others that you are worth paying attention to. People will be compelled to pay attention to you since someone else worthwhile is paying attention to you (even if it’s negative).

Enemies will help you cause controversy. Creating controversy is a way to position yourself against others and stand out

Despite what you’ve been taught, enemies are a positive. The WTS will shove this down their followers throats. Expect shunning to get positive attention by the Witnesses and they will likely be more liberal in disfellowshipping people they suspect of apostate behavior, even without clear evidence.

As the new Mentally Ill and evil picture of apostates becomes more exploited the Watchtower Society should be aware that they are playing a dangerous game. For they have picked the wrong enemy. An enemy that knows your strategy and that is smart enough to exploit their propaganda efforts can easily backfire on them.

What I found was that this never happened. I pleaded by prayer with God constantly, I kept seeking answers which were stronger than my doubts and nothing happened. I started to notice things. People say that when they become a christian they notice things change. Well, I noticed that when I stopped being a christian nothing changed at all. Here I was expecting to lose favour, to stop seeing all the fortunate things that used to happen in my life that I attributed to God's guidance and him looking after me. I was just as fortunate as I was when I was a christian. I realised that it wasn't God making good things happen or testing me with bad things, it was just me interpreting things that happen to everyone in a way that it reaffirms something I want to believe in. I also realised that people notice changes in their lives when they become christian often because becoming a christian gives them incentive to change their lives and give up the things which make them unhappy. It didn't seem christianity was anything so special after all.