JW.org Says Apostates are "Mentally Diseased"

[Jack Ryan]

Here is the quote from Jehovah's Witnesses calling former members "mentally diseased"

https://www.jw.borg/en/publications/magazines/ws20110715/Will-You-Pay-Attention-to-Jehovahs-Clear-Warnings/#?insight[search_id]=11735035-7186-4c2a-bcfd-283925a24106&insight[search_result_index]=0

 

Where in the scripture does it say that apostates are mentally diseased? I guess that's just their translation.

[admin]

Oh my.... didn't i just make a post about how we should ALL avoid labels? 

"Label and Kill" seems to be how uncivilized masses foment wars and unrest.

Please advise whoever is writing this stuff to avoid labels. 

This is why I pushed your group into it's own club since people get SO dogmatic rather than just weigh evidence according to science and fact.

ugh..... religion is really getting bothersome.

[Jack Ryan]

But if someone has a mental disease aren't you supposed to forgive and help?

It would seem logical that if a fellow Jehovah's Witness were to be afflicted with a mental disease, we would feel inclined to tolerate their indiscretions, and to offer them support. However, the Bible has provided us with a mere principal, that the holy spirit has evidently directed us to understand as meaning that we should distance ourselves, and even act as if the mentally ill person does not exist. You are surprised you say! Well, let's see what God's word says about how God treated those that were far less perfect than just the regular imperfect ones of us.

In Leviticus 21:17-24, we read the following:

“Tell Aaron, ‘No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to present the bread of his God. 18 If there is any man who has a defect, he may not approach: a man who is blind or lame or has a disfigured face or one limb too long, 19 a man with a fractured foot or a fractured hand, 20 a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man with an eye defect or eczema or ringworm or damaged testicles. t 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect may approach to present Jehovah’s offerings made by fire. Because he has a defect, he may not approach to present the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God from the most holy things u and from the holy things.v 23 However, he may not come near the curtain, w and he may not approach the altar, x because there is a defect in him; and he should not profane my sanctuary, y for I am Jehovah, who is sanctifying them.’”z

Clearly, the same can be said for those who have mental defects. Just as they should not come near the curtain, or approach the altar of the lord, they should not come near us or approach us.

- oveja negra

[The Librarian]

We probably should not have used such a hard term or "label" for these former JW's.

I would recommend going forward that we just don't respond to them if they appear belligerent or if we are just not inclined to refute them.

It doesn't look good for us to publicly denounce them since we are not in a position in society granted to label others.

and YES>...... I am trying to comply with what @admin is wanting ....

So I say..... let's tone it down as a group to comply?

[Space Merchant]

@Jack Ryan Well if someone says God has given them the power to go and commit injury to, I don't know, Muslims, they are mentally broken in some form. It isn't different from what Muslims call Trinitarians are Evil ridden, God hating Christians, or broken minded - granted they do not like people saying that God is somehow Triune.

[David Normand]

According to Strongs Concordance:

G3552

νοσέω
noseō
nos-eh'-o
From G3554; to be sick, that is, (by implication of a diseased appetite) to hanker after (figuratively to harp upon): - dote.
Total KJV occurrences: 1

G3554

νόσος
nosos
nos'-os
Of uncertain affinity; a malady (rarely figurative of moral disability): - disease, infirmity, sickness.
Total KJV occurrences: 12
 

Basically, referring to them as diseased is allowable: at least according to Strong's Concordance. 

[Jack Ryan]

Being a runaway slave wasn't considered a good thing.

And slavery was fine. Morals were a bit different back then.

You should be proud to be a runaway slave.

[Arauna]

Satan is mentally diseased by hate. He is totally twisted in his reasoning. ....... God is the final judge..... but when a person shows the same destructive and hateful behaviour over and over again, then one should call a duck, a duck.  

If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck over and over again - it's a duck.  When Jesus exposed the pharisees and called them graves...... he was speaking about their hate for truth and their unclean condition. Unfortunately, there are people like that everywhere.

While it is true that some repent after a debauched life and come back into the fold......like the prodigal son, there are those one can identify as being unrepentantly hateful and destructive. 

They all usually display the same frame of mind over and over again ...asif they are in a mental prison that cannot let them out.

 

[Matthew9969]

I am proud to be labeled as an apostate to the jw religion. But an apostate to God never will I be. Jw's have their own dictionary, so their definition of mentally diseased is different from societies.

[Arauna]

On 10/7/2018 at 12:07 AM, Jack Ryan said:

someone has a mental disease aren't you supposed to forgive and help?

There are some mental virusses that are incurable such as a penchant for gross  immorality and being a spokesperson for it. Once one has this self-appointed view of promoting and protecting amorality - there is no cure where there is no remorse. 

 

 

[Matthew9969]

I think it's a safe bet to say the governing body has overlapping mental illnesses.

[Equivocation]

I think someone missed what was said in 1 Timothy 6.

3 If any man teaches another doctrine and does not agree with the wholesome instruction, which is from our Lord Jesus Christ, nor with the teaching that is in harmony with godly devotion,  4 he is puffed up with pride and does not understand anything. He is obsessed with arguments and debates about words. These things give rise to envy, strife, slander, wicked suspicions,  5 constant disputes about minor matters by men who are corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth, thinking that godly devotion is a means of gain.