I never believed in demons (page 2)

JWoods

Rather, the demon experiences seemed to come from people who were already mentally unstable. Coincidence? I think not.

+1000!!!

I once saw a family of three get kicked out and DFd over "demonism". They were seeing a Native American Healer who prescribed them stuff like sweat baths, herbal tea, etc. They really believed in it - (I thought it was quackology, and these people were among the worst hypochrondiacs I knew) - but they kept telling it around the KH to others what wonderful powers of healing this guy had. It got NOTICED, you might say.

They refused to stop going to the healer, pissed off the committee, and naturally got booted.

Robdar

Funny South Park episode. Thanks for posting it.

trueblue

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=2EA87C88E0B84DB8

drew sagan

Thanks for the link trueblue, I'll make sure to check it out if I have nothing left to live for...

The Almighty Homer

If there are no demons...then who is GB channeling for information?

Themselves, which in-tales propagating their published litature.....$$$

Good fearful writings always sell

seattleniceguy

I have a theory about why Witnesses are so fascinated with demons. I think that in a round-about way, they seem to God more believable.

Here's the deal. I think everyone struggles with belief in God. After all, while he was supposedly performing miracles back in "Bible times"--parting the sea, sending magical food from the heavens, and so on--nothing like that happens at all today. Sure, maybe you read a timely Awake article or get a delivery of groceries from a friend just when you need it, but those are hardly the kind of real, indisputable manifestations you read about in the Bible. If only that kind of stuff happened today, it would be so much easier to believe in God!

"Ah, but that kind of thing does happen today--just not on the good guys' side," the thinking goes. The magic may be flowing in the wrong direction, but it's real alright, animating Smurf dolls, randomly moving chairs across the room, even sometimes breaking the necks of defenseless little girls (I remember hearing my mom tell me about this as a kid, and it scared me for years). It doesn't get any more real than that, right? And if the demons are real, then God must be real too!

When I was a Witness, I didn't believe all demon stories, but on occasion I would meet someone who seemed believable who claimed to have had some kind of demon encounter, and it really did reinforce my faith in God.

For this reason, demon stories are very strongly self-perpetuating. They're scary, exciting, and even help soothe that deepest fear that otherwise rational religious people have--that this whole thing is a big fairy tale.

Glad to be out of that craziness!

SNG
(Who, for the record, does not believe in God, gods, demons, unicorns, leprechauns, ogres, fairies, pixies, or any other mythical beings.)

JWoods

For this reason, demon stories are very strongly self-perpetuating. They're scary, exciting, and even help soothe that deepest fear that otherwise rational religious people have--that this whole thing is a big fairy tale.

And maybe the scary & exciting is the most important part of it for the bored, brain-deadened witness who is not even supposed to see an R-rated movie.

I have related before how cool everybody thought that 1970s hour talk on demonology was and how many elders used to practically fight over getting this outline.

Spook

I never did either. I maintain that anyone who believes they are troubled by ghosts or aliens should seek help from a therapist immediately. x2 to those who point out the VALUE of paranoid beliefs like this. If you believe in demons, then this means there is an afterlife in the JW belief system. Viola.

drew sagan

I think you nailed it SNG. Stories about "real" demon encounters provide evidence of supernatural phenomena to those that believe.

Which gets me thinking.

Say you are an atheist. You tell a believer that you don't believe in demons because you have never seen them. The believer then replies "demons would never appear to you because they know it would convince you to believe in god!"

I believe I have heard JWs say as much. Around and around it goes.

seattleniceguy

Say you are an atheist. You tell a believer that you don't believe in demons because you have never seen them. The believer then replies "demons would never appear to you because they know it would convince you to believe in god!"

Yeah, according to that logic, the best way to avoid demon encounters would be to simply not believe in them. The entire spirit underworld would simply cease to exist if people would just stop believing. (Is there something vaguely Peter Pan about that?)

Did any of you guys see the movie Paranormal Activity? It got pretty good reviews as a truly frightening movie, which is actually pretty tough to pull off. My wife and I went to see it, and we found it difficult to believe anyone could be scared by it. Don't get me wrong, the acting is great, and there is a solid buildup of suspense in the beginning. But when the spirits finally appear, what do they do? They make noises, ruffle bedsheets, and move doors. Even in movies, that's all they can do.

For someone who believes in demons, this movie probably effectively plays into fears in the same sort of way as the stories told at the Kingdom Hall do. But for us, it just came off as silly.

SNG

I never believed in demons

Share this