At my mother's first bible study (I was forced to attend them until she was baptized), her bible study teacher told her about 'deminz' flipping up the floorboards in her house when she first began studying and other sorts of things happening. But according to her, she continued to study and they went away. This woman has some signs of mental illness, by the way. I was about 11 years old and was past the 'monster under the bed' phase. Nevertheless, her stories really f---ed my head up for awhile. I had nightmares from this point on about invisible presences and I am finally recovering. When I awoke in terror and went to my mom's bed, she would just tell me it was just 'deminz' and to pray to Jehovah to make them leave. Does anyone remember the magazine that was put out dealing specifically with evil spirits? It had that story with that woman in Suriname in it or something. That mag didn't help matters at all.
Charms
JoinedPosts by Charms
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JW 'urban legends'
by Steve Lowry ini was thinking about some of the old jw urban legends that we grew up with and believed in as jws.
most of the ones i remember revolved around stories about demons, and jws being "attacked" when they would do something wrong.
some of these legends scared the crap outta me when i was little.
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Were you psychologically abused into going to meetings/service ???
by run dont walk inwe have all read and watched so many of the child abuse / sexual abuse scandals, and it makes us all sick to our stomachs, i want to touch on a different kind of abuse, i am not trying to draw a parellel between child abuse and being abused.
the abuse i am talking about is just as bad but so different.
i remember growing up a jw, basically having no choice, whether i wanted to go to the meetings or in service, and i always resented this in my parents.
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Charms
In some ways, my mother was pretty relaxed. I was allowed to have worldly friends (the other jw kids were pretty unfriendly) and she didn't discourage me from college. But I remember being beaten for not wanting to go into field service. And she was adamant about me attending those boring meetings, even though we both slept through them. I will never forget the first time I refused to go to a Memorial service. She told me that Jehovah would have all of the witnesses gather at the KH for safety from Armageddon and that I might end up being destroyed if I kept missing meetings. After she left for the meeting, I had an awful feeling of dread and contemplated suicide. In my mind, I felt that I had failed Jehovah miserably, even though I was already living a double life. This freaked me out and I started having Armageddon nightmares. Who the hell knew that passing around wine and crackers that no one could eat would be so important? I am so happy to be free of the guilt and mind control. I made a personal vow never to be a part of a religion that holds people hostage with guilt and fear and strives to keep its members in darkness. Sorry to ramble, y'all.
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Help!! I opened my big mouth..........
by fairy inon a site i said the following....... "just say that they asked you to do something that you know if you did it there was a very likelyhood that you would die for doing it......and they said that it came from god....would you do it" and someone replied ......".you mean like a blood transfusion?
"that person also said that the elders reckon that all that stuff about abuse is a lie now i dont know what to say!
any ideas how i could answere that?
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Charms
As a matter of fact, I remember an article back in the late 80's or early 90's(can't remember if it was in the WT or Awake! magazine) blasting Catholics about the child molesting scandals and talking about how much money they were paying to abuse victims. All the while, there were JW's doing the same thing and they kept hush hush about it. What a bunch of hypocritical scumbags.
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Sad again at the Service Meeting
by Euphemism inthe service meeting on thursday was really saddening, particularly the last part, about preaching with boldness.
it was about overcoming nervousness, shyness, etc in the ministry.. all these people gave their experiences about difficulties they had in the ministry.
a regular pioneer (and elder's wife) admitted that she used to just pretend to ring the door bells; service is still really difficult for her, but she does it just because she feels obligated to.
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Charms
That almost made me fall outta my chair! LMAO!!!!
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Sad again at the Service Meeting
by Euphemism inthe service meeting on thursday was really saddening, particularly the last part, about preaching with boldness.
it was about overcoming nervousness, shyness, etc in the ministry.. all these people gave their experiences about difficulties they had in the ministry.
a regular pioneer (and elder's wife) admitted that she used to just pretend to ring the door bells; service is still really difficult for her, but she does it just because she feels obligated to.
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Charms
It's just awful. I can understand their situation well. I am painfully shy and and I never progressed to the point where I had to speak at the door. I hated being out there period to the point that my mother would beat me most of the time to make me go with her. I was terrified of running into my classmates. I would feel guilty because I knew I would be killed in Armageddon for not liking field service (among other things).
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Are JW more depresed?
by heianderen inas many of you know there are some studies that indicade thath jw have an above-average mental illness incidence.
i know a jw doctor that , ironicaly, has confirmed this claim to me.. greets,.
heianderen
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Charms
Good point. I led a
normaldouble life as a teenager and wouldsuffersit through countless meetings and assemblies feeling bad because almost everything they said applied to me. I was depressed because I hated FS, and generally avoided it. I felt depressed because I just knew the "Big A" was coming any minute now and I would be destroyed along with my worldly friends that I wasn't supposed to have. -
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Are JW more depresed?
by heianderen inas many of you know there are some studies that indicade thath jw have an above-average mental illness incidence.
i know a jw doctor that , ironicaly, has confirmed this claim to me.. greets,.
heianderen
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Charms
I believe they are. My mother, bless her heart, is the most unhappy person I know. But she was that way before she ever joined the Borg. She was never exactly a social butterfly, but she has isolated herself from almost everyone she knew before. She has cut her support system of non-JW friends almost completely. She cries often, feeling unloved and lonely. My old KH was (and still is) very cliquish and if you are not an elder/elder's family, one of the larger witness families, or in one of the groups of women that gossip about everybody, you are pretty much an outsider, except for a few caring souls. This wouldn't concern me, but she is elderly and her health is not that great. Not many come to see about her (maybe three or four). I do what I can, but I live a good distance away. It is truly sad to see what happens to elderly witnesses after they've outlived their usefulness. I had to take her to the hospital because the diabetic ulcers in her feet began to open up again. It was due to regular pioneering, even though she was told to stay off her feet. I would think that Jehovah knows she wouldn't be able to do much FS, and therefore, would understand. Sorry for going on and on, I am just venting.
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Is there one thing that convinces you that the JW's are wrong ???
by run dont walk indoctrines, people, elders, family, beliefs, is there a certain thing that convinces you they are wrong ???.
had a discussion with my mom the other day and she asked "how can you be so sure they are wrong ?".
i picked two topics that i had not talked to her about ( already said the pedophile, un, generation stuff.).
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Charms
The evolution thing was among one of them. I am still undecided about whether mankind was made or evolved from apes, but I had one nagging question. Where do the dinosaurs fit in? How come they aren't mentioned anywhere? I've heard JW theories about them dying in the flood because they were dangerous animals. But if they were so bad, why would Jehovah have created them in the first place? I could see a land dino dying, but what about the dinos that lived in the sea? Wouldn't they still exist? Being a witness meant I would have to turn off my logical mind and accept the schlock I was given by WTS. That was one of my first nagging doubts.
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How Long Does It Take To Forget?
by shamus ini guess that some parts to the cultish religion are hard to shake off.
simply put, i still worry that maybe i'm wrong.
(i still wouldn't want to live in a new world with those idiots, even if they were right).
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Charms
Certain parts are very hard to shake. The ingrained fear of demons still causes occasional nightmares. I was eleven at the time. I could only imagine how the small children managed to go to sleep restfully. The other thing is the fear of Armaggedon if you are doing something not in accordance to the WTS. If I am invited to pray or attend church services( with non-JW), I get uncomfortable. Sometimes I still feel as though I will be incinerated for not going to the KH anymore.
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Lurkers! Stop Blaiming Satan For Your Own Problems!
by metatron inwhere would jehovah's witnesses be if they couldn't blame all their problems on the devil?.
maybe they would be forced to confront --- finally--- their own foolishness!.
case in point: i had a nice chat with sister a. in which i expressed my deepest sympathy for her tired daughter,.
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Charms
Hello. Newbie here! This sounds just like my mother. Everything thing that happens to her, ranging from financial crisis (mishandling money) to illness (from not taking any preventative care) is blamed on the Devil. She refuses to take any responsibility for herself and uses the phrase, "I'll just pray and leave it in Jehovah's hands", in almost any situation in her life.