When I was still a JW, I had a Witness roommate who accidentally brought a coffee cup home that had an astrological sign on it. Of course, with all the talk about anything astrological connected with demons, we were on edge. She said she would return it to her friend's house where she got it, but after a few days hadn't had the opportunity. One evening during this time, a cupboard door that had a spring closure sprung open by itself. We looked at each other and wondered about that cup. She insisted she would return it, but again, hadn't found a convenient time. Later that day or the next, I thought I had closed my bedroom door, but it was opened. I started getting very nervous. When she came home I mentioned it to her and she said she had thought she noticed shadows on the wall that moved. At that point we were both convinced that demons had entered our home through that cup. We were scared to spend another night in our home with that cup in it. Finally, we had her boyfriend take the cup outside and smash it with a hammer and threw it away.
Looking back, I see two young women who were conditioned through thier religion to be paranoid of anything that their religion told them was demonic. When put in the position of being around such an object, anything that happened, as well as our own imagination, was interpreted through that filter. I even felt obligated to tell the CO about my experience. Of course he took it very seriously and gave me good advice to "not play with it" and said we had done the right thing to destroy the cup.
I laugh at it now, but at the time I was convinced we had escaped a possible disaster. I think the WT benefits by keeping followers paranoid and fearful.
