Why do I no longer get attacked and persecuted by the demons, since I left JW,s ?

by pedal power 151 Replies latest jw friends

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  NewChapter

  I recognise many other religions report the same thing, but if{ Babylon } is the lurking place of demons, would,nt we expect that ?

  Hmmm, this last question is very telling. As a JW being bothered by demons could be proof that god is with them. However when it happens to Babylon it is because it is a lurking place for demons. WHAT????

  Okay, that made me very dizzy. Let me try to refigure it. If you are bothered by demons as a JW, it is because you are a target of satan, but people bothered by demons in false religion are FRIENDS with the demons.

  No, that doesn't work. Please continue to hone your critical thinking skills. You are still deeply stuck in cult reasoning. This is a scary move, a huge change in your life. It is normal to have doubts--no need to involve demons.

  Also, you have said several times that you are sane. I know that. I never suggested otherwise. But I have suggested, along with others, that maybe there are explanations you have not investigated yet. It appears you don't want to investigate further, you have decided that on your limited experience you have the answers. Even though we have offered many proven instances where demon possession was NOT the answer.

  Maybe if I put it to music . . .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0W7Jbc_Vhw
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  pedal power

  @leavingjw , The only exhibit A, I can think of is preaching about the Kingdom,making the nesssary adjustments in your personal life to get into that kingdom, helpining you meet those targeted adjustments, and policeing the congregations once those targets have been reached, therebuy helping to ensure a degree of unifomity throughout the Earth in maintaning those standards, and making GODS name known. IMO they do all these things, with the caviate that they dont do it well enough, and can cause a lot of unnesesarry pain, as they seek to create this uniformity, they so desire.
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  leavingwt

  @leavingjw , The only exhibit A, I can think of is preaching about the Kingdom

  What do they preach about the Kingdom? Do they still preach that Jesus stood up as King in 1914? If so, what is the basis of this teaching?
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  pedal power

  @ newchapter, I dont think people who belong to {babylon the great } are FRIENDS of the Demons as you suggest, I think they may suffer from demonic influence because of there continued involvment, they are as much victims as any JW would puport to be ?
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  NewChapter

  Is this another Alice?
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  Band on the Run

  NewChapter,

  I was very impressed with your post about brain function and naming weird experiences demons when the reality created is merely biochemical.

  I've read about altered sleeping states and was always glad I had regular sleep. Night terrors, parlaysis - wow.

  Would a Marxist ascribe sensations to demons? I believe our culture supplies the rationale for these events. Hence, no one who doesn't believe in demons already is ever attacked.

  B/c of childhood abuse and extreme pain, I am aware that I disassociate a bit. Disassociation enables us to survive horrid traumas but when the trauma is over, disassociation hinders healing.
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  Mad Sweeney

  I've noticed a bit of a false dichotomy lurking beneath the surface of this thread, and that is this:

  Demons are either real or they are in one's head.

  Those two things aren't mutually exclusive, necessarily. Isn't the stuff in your head real? I know the stuff in mine is. Once you think something, it in some way really IS. I think manifestations of "demons" can originate in the mind (the cause is open to debate - hypnotic suggestion, stress and fear, mental illness, etc.) and still be considered "real" experiences. I don't think there are "real" individual spirits like the JWs believe in or like the TAPS crew on TV try to chase down - because there is no legitimate evidence of such. Does that make people's individual experiences not "real?"

  Also, a couple pages ago someone took offense to the statement that depression "can" cause hallucinations and other symptoms of mental illness with the defense that he/she was depressed and never had any such experiences. But the assertion wasn't that depression DOES cause them; only that it can cause them.
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  Band on the Run

  Addendun:

  What is the difference between Jesus, Paul, the author of Revelation, and other Biblical personages hearing voices and a severe shixoprhenic in a locked ward.

  What obvious thing is that these Biblical people were functional in every day society. Well, perhaps not some Old Testament prophets.

  Schizophrenia frightens me absolutely. My brain seems a more integral part of me than my body. Everyone I knew in college dropped LSD to epxand their spirituality. I sat in a Jesus seminar and I was the only one would not go near the experience. They wanted a psychic break found in mysticism. With my Witness fears, I just wanted the mind I already had to stay intact. Chaos frightened me to my soul.

  What is different about these wealthy women in an elite college and a homeless schizprhenic? If the trappings of status are removed, would we view the experience differently. Living in NY, I hated the mentally ill homeless and also felt extreme rage that they were not treated better. When I remember that Jesus heard voices, my ideas changed.
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  NewChapter

  BOR, I totally understand that disassociation===er not the JW disassociation either. That is that floaty disconnected feeling I get under extreme stress. Mix that with the sleep paralysis and I can't figure why I only thought demons when at that funeral! I should have been seeing demons everwhere. I find the actual explanations much more interesting than the supernatural. Although I don't believe in demon encounters, I'm not so arrogant as to suggest they will never be proven. Just so far, they haven't, and I don't expect them to be. I just wish people would exhaust all options before throwing in the towel and saying demons are the only reasonable explanation.

  Mad Sweeny, I meant to bring out that same point. But that just emphasizes how our personal experiences are a terrible means for defining our world. "I'm depressed, and I never had hallucinations, therefore depression doesn't cause hallucinations." Well I could counter that with "Well I drank a bottle of Jack last night and I didn't vomit, therefore excessive alcohol consumption does not induce vomiting."

  I am suspicious of Pedal Pusher's agenda. I could definitely be wrong, but it seems the demon possesion thingy is a tactic to defend the WT. If not, I will apologize. That's the skeptic in me.

  NC
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  Broken Promises

  Also, a couple pages ago someone took offense to the statement that depression "can" cause hallucinations and other symptoms of mental illness with the defense that he/she was depressed and never had any such experiences. But the assertion wasn't that depression DOES cause them; only that it can cause them.

  It was me who brought this out (I also happen to be a she).

  The reason I mentioned this was because ppl often assume that depression/mental illness and experiencing demons/ghosts etc are mutually inclusive. They are not, so I just wanted to point this out.