Everything is "Satan" ... Now what?

by roxanesophia 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Lozhasleft

  Roxane hello and welcome to the forum. Your thinking and instincts are sound. Dont let the study conductor guilt trip you into carrying on. Tell her politely and kindly that you've decided to stop the study and take time out to think things through. Be assertive. Insist that if indeed they have the 'truth' it will stand up to any research whatsoever, and you intend to research more independently before any further commitmment.

  After she's gone...close the door and breathe a sigh of relief that you've escaped in time. Stick around here and you'll benefit from lots of support and encouragement to help you move on after your long involvement with the WTBS.

  Loz x
• 

  Farkel

  Your story is just too pat. Almost as if it is from a script, but for now, I will believe it.

  You asked:

  : My question is how do i tell a zealous study conductor that I want to stop studying if "Satan" is the answer to everything?

  How about, "Fuck off. I'm done with your bullshit. If you ever bother me again, I will have you arrested. "Satan" is an invisible tooth-fairy and I no longer believe in that bullshit. There is not one whit of evidence in the Bible that Satan ever killed anyone, but there is a LOT of evidence that the Watchtower Corporation killed 20,000 people at least over their ever-changing and and flawed blood transfusion doctrine(s) and that they destroyed the lives and families and treasures of hundreds of thousands of people with their flawed disfellowshipping doctrines. Fuck off. I'm done with your bullshit."

  It's just a suggestion, mind you. It only works for people who are not wimps and for people who are willing to reclaim their lives from a VERY dangerous Cult. If you are not one of those kinds of people, then I am fresh out of ideas and you will end up with what you deserve to end up with.

  Farkel
• 

  Terra Incognita

  roxanesophia:

  "I suffer from social anxiety so the idea of doing the field service has tortured me."

  Welcome, Roxane.

  I know what it's like to be in field service and suffer an anxiety attack. One night I went out with a friend to a shopping center, at night. We were approaching people getting into or out of their cars in the parking lot. I thought it was the most stupid thing we could do since we were clearly spooking those people who had no idea whether we were out to rob them or not.

  These are the very words I expressed my feelings with to my friend; "There's something wrong here". He agreed, but I quickly realized that he was talking about me and he seemed to think that I was actually talking about myself. The Witnesses are just clueless about things.

  Soon afterwards, I deliberately got myself into a position where the elders would disfellowship me. It was for a most trivial, so-called apostate opinion.

  I suggest that you quickly and cleanly cut off your study without any explanation. Don't even let the study conductor in your house! Don't allow him/her to engage you in any conversation whatsoever or be tempted into 'reasoning' with him/her. All you have to tell them is that you're no longer interested and that you do not want any witnesses to visit or call you. Make the conversation firm and one way-you're talking at, not with, the conductor.

  I understand that this approach requires some controlled anger to successfully carry out but it will save you a lot of the grief that will come from multiple run ins from them.

  Good luck, Roxane.
• 

  Curtains

  Roxanesophia

  the satan card is being overplayed accross the board - yesterday's watchtower for example - I sat there thinking satan is the main character here and everything else is built arond him. I can only stomach the public talk nowadays but still read the study watchtower to see if there is anything I can input to the meeting - if there is nothing I simply leave early. The pic of satan manipulating the world made me sick to think young children were imbibing this rubbish.

  I have little doubt that i want to stop studying, but i feel bad for wasting someone's time. She might see it that way, but the truth is i believed everything up until i was told to consider taking the next step by going out in the field service. Thats when i researched the religion inside out and was alarmed by what i found. I can't preach to others what i believe to be false. Learning that there's only partial truths to what the future holds, yet i was so comforted by JW teachings, really did a number on me. I said to a relative who is anti-JW "Is Satan pulling a trick on me?" and she replied "No, he's pulling one on them."

  I want to assure you - you have not been wasting her time. she has been able to count you as a bible study, to receive lots of kudos from the congregation regarding you, she has strengthened her own faith in sharing it with you (even if it is only faith in satan's activities - lol, Jehovah has no power these days). You have offered her your friendship, time and hospitiality extendedly.

  Thank her profusely for sharing her faith but emphasize that this is her faith not yours and agree to part company. Tell her you don't want to be part of a religion that talks about satan so much - walk her to the door and say goodbye.

  Your anti jw relative is right.

  A friend of mine was given the persistent treatment in which" the end, satan" etc was emphasized - eventually he had to say "whatever" to everything. The witness finally stopped calling.

  Secondly, after I had been brainwashed into believing that they were God's chosen organization on earth (though the bible makes no mention of organizations) the illusion that i was amongst the most loving people in the world was created. I convinced myself that being with these people was a blessing, blah blah.

  this is an old political trick in history to promote authority in one's own organisation, nation, kingdom etc and to bind your allegiance and sometimes, as with JWs, to own you completely. Great that you can se it is all an illusion. They tell you (and themseves) repeatedly it is a blessing and so it must be a blessing (circular reasoning) and you are not allowed to disagree. Without disagreement there is only stagnation. Brainwashing is a good word

  It is really sad how much JWs prey on people who have social anxiety because for those who have been witnesses for a long time it is much worse when they try to think for themselves and it is a much harder battle to break out of.
• 

  steve2

  i feel bad for wasting someone's time

  Hey, go easy on the self-recrimination, please! What about your time that they've wasted? Besides, the JW studying with you would have been able to report all the time she spent with you. I laughed when you said she had told you how much research she's done for you. Watch all that willingness to research your questions change when you join up: Your questions will then be viewed in a totally different light. Good on you for realizing the religion is not for you. As uncomfortable as it will be, use this time as valuable practice for learning ho to assert yourselves.
• 

  jean-luc picard

  Hi roxanesophia.

  It seems clear that you want to stop your study.

  But:

  I have little doubt that i want to stop studying, but i feel bad for wasting someone's time.

  Dont feel bad. You didnt ask for them to call on you.

  She probably really believes that it is Satan that has gotten hold of you. Well thats her problem.

  It has already been said: jws are not the only ones who believe that.

  Go ahead with your life. Once you have taken the plunge, you'll feel super.

  Come back and tell us about how good you feel.
• 

  Lunatic Faith

  I pioneered for four years and had seven bible studies. One of them got baptized (thankfully she has since left). When all the other bible studies ended their studies, I never felt I had wasted my time. There is nothing better for a JW than to sit and study with someone. It is so much better than pounding on doors or scaring people in the parking lots. They count the time, they count the bible study, they gain the admiration of others, they tell of the experience at meetings, assemblies, and conventions, and brag to the CO. There are no draw backs to having a bible study.

  I will tell you how my studies all ended: I don't remember any of them really saying "I don't want to study any more". Most of them, appeared, to become too busy. They didn't have time to reschedule. They stopped being "home" when I called. They just kind of faded away. The car group would explain such occurrences by using the illustration from Matthew 13 about the various kinds of soil. "Oh, they got choked out by anxieties of life" or "The burning sun of persecution withered them". I never remember having hard feelings for these people, or thinking they deserved death. I remember feeling fond for every person who had given me the time and opportunity to avoid pounding on doors and to teach. I loved talking about the bible, I hated door-to-door presentations.

  I hope this helps. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want.
• 

  sizemik

  I have little doubt that i want to stop studying, but i feel bad for wasting someone's time.

  DON'T feel bad about that . . . the truth is . . . your zealous study conductor has been wasting YOUR time!

  I wasted 30 years of MY time with this cult and THEN developed a social anxiety disorder . . . if there is any more than three people in my house . . . I go for a walk. When that occurred I was dropped like the proverbial hot potato . . . and gossipped about.

  Just be glad they haven't wasted half your life . . . tell them your done and don't give a reason . . . then they have nothing to counter with.

  Farkels wit may be "sharp" . . . but he's right . . . they are a dangerous cult . . . nothing to feel guilty about.
• 

  Aussie Oz

  you could try the satan card...

  tell them that they convinced you that satan is more powerful than jehovah

  and so you have joined a satanist group...

  oz
• 

  Honesty

  My question is how do i tell a zealous study conductor that I want to stop studying if "Satan" is the answer to everything?

  Easy. Answer the following questions using Watchtower Society publications and then show the results to your study

  conductor.

  You may be able to show her that she is in the wrong place every time she sets foot in a kingdom hall.

  The leader and group are always correct and anything the leader does can be justified.
  
  Questions, suggestions, or critical inquiry are forbidden.
  
  Members incessantly scramble with cramped schedules and activities full of largely meaningless work based on the leader's agenda
  
  Followers are meant to believe that they are never good enough.
  
  Required dependency upon the leader and group for even the most basic problem-solving.
  
  Reporting on members for disobedient actions or thoughts is mandated and rewarded.
  
  Monetary, sexual, or servile labor is expected to gain promotion.
  
  The 'outside' world -- often including family and friends -- is presented as rife with impending catastrophe, evil, and temptations.
  
  Recruitment of new members is designed to be purposefully upbeat and vague about the actual operations of the leader and group.
  
  Former members are shunned and perceived as hostile.