The devil has entered your lives!

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ela2

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Dear all,

When we point out to mil her mistakes ( eg when she abuses us, my husband and I, or says other hurtful things,etc) or when we correct her or say we don’t want to speak because you say cruel things, she says “you’ll have let the devil enter your lives!” “Satan is telling you to say or do these things” basically what we are feeling is wrong.

Please do not reply if you are going to say things like "perhaps it is your fault, or perhaps you are misunderstanding and how we should love more and so on because this is a highly toxic relationship and for the time being there’s nothing we can do to change her. We try to keep our distance but we are polite. Just want a response to the subject statement, please.
 
Dear all,

When we point out to mil her mistakes ( eg when she abuses us, my husband and I, or says other hurtful things,etc) or when we correct her or say we don’t want to speak because you say cruel things, she says “you’ll have let the devil enter your lives!” “Satan is telling you to say or do these things” basically what we are feeling is wrong.

Please do not reply if you are going to say things like "perhaps it is your fault, or perhaps you are misunderstanding and how we should love more and so on because this is a highly toxic relationship and for the time being there’s nothing we can do to change her. We try to keep our distance but we are polite. Just want a response to the subject statement, please.
I don’t think you can really respond productively who tells you you are being possessed by Satan.

If you think that she is starting to lose mental function, you may need to look into your legal options (find a lawyer specializing in elder law, etc). If she’s functioning well, but just mean, just say, “Talk to you next week!” and hang up.
 
MIL: The devil has entered your lives!

Me: Yeah, I guess so, every week, when I talk to you on the phone. click

(Maybe not such a good idea. Fortunately for me, I don’t have people like that in my life. I am blessed because of that.)
 
Mil: “The Devil has entered your lives!”
Answer: “So, you think that WE are the accuser, what
about you, who do you think is doing the accusing?
If you say we are JUDGING you, perhaps we are just
trying to CONVICT rather than CONDEMN you!”

and see what she says to that!
 
Pray for your mil. And, like you said, keep your distance and be polite.
 
I am going to assume that she’s not merely being tactless in pointing out what are real departures between you and the teachings of the Church. IOW, I’m going to assume she is NOT making fraternal corrections that are correct in fact but lack compassion, charity, mercy, or humility. If that were the case, the thing to do is to accept the correction but ask her to restate it in a more charitable way, rather than rejecting the correction altogether because it wasn’t delivered correctly.

OK, so she is being socially aggressive and accuses you of being in league with the devil because you are bold enough to tell her to quit abusing you. Is this new? If someone who never used to say things like this started to say them, I’d look for the cause. My two guesses would be a) some sort of reading that has prompted her to see the devil everywhere, b) a slip in mental health or c) all of the above. The very first signs of dementia in a woman I know was when she started becoming very moody and made accusations towards her family that were entirely out of character for her, not only in what upset her but in how upset she got and how she made her displeasure known. If this is a change in her behavior, keep an eye on her mental faculties.

Let us say that this is a long-standing habit, and you have simply had enough of it. You have no doubt found by experience that she’ll not endure correction on the obvious point that she’s accusing you of being in league with the devil because you’re correcting her lack of charity towards others. That makes this a “pearls before swine” situation. In that case, you draw a line: This is behavior we don’t tolerate, the boundary is not up for discussion, and this is what we’re going to do if you cross that boundary and will not apologize. Then do what you say you’re going to do. Follow the cardinal rule of parenting when you draw boundaries with people other than your children: Never threaten a consequence that you are not going to hand out, and never hand out the worst possible consequence first, not unless the offense is very bad and the offender WILL NOT back down. Leave something in your bag of consequences to up the penalty, in case some even worse infraction follows. Then do what you say you’re going to do.

Generally speaking, when someone at a large gathering commits a willful and substantial social insult, the victim looks for an apology. If none is forthcoming, the victim refuses to have anything more to do with the offender, and socializes instead with someone else. If worse follows or if the initial offense was sufficiently egregious, the victim and their entourage leaves, informing the hosts if the hosts were not themselves the offenders and didn’t witness the offense. (It is better to avoid a lot of fanfare when leaving. The idea is not to heighten the drama, but to walk out on it.) If the social insult becomes habitual, the victims simply refuse to socialize with the offender until some contrition or at least some firm purpose of amendment is offered. If someone at your gathering insults a guest and you find out about it, it is your job to ask the offender to either apologize or to leave, and to encourage the victim to stay, instead. (If a member of the household is the offender, they are sometimes banished to their private rooms, of course.)

If this means ushering your own mother out of your own home, so be it. You have the duty to protect those under your roof from social abuse, including yourselves. Excepting someone who is tolerated because they don’t have all their faculties, no one gets a free pass on that.
 
When we point out to mil her mistakes ( eg when she abuses us, my husband and I, or says other hurtful things,etc) or when we correct her or say we don’t want to speak because you say cruel things, she says “you’ll have let the devil enter your lives!” “Satan is telling you to say or do these things” basically what we are feeling is wrong.
Well, you know, the devil has always been a great shield to hide behind for a long time now.

I don’t think you need to be dealing with that accusation in your life.

I’d like to know how feelings are wrong. It’s always been my understanding that feelings are only wrong when we consent to improper ones.
Please do not reply if you are going to say things like "perhaps it is your fault, or perhaps you are misunderstanding and how we should love more and so on because this is a highly toxic relationship and for the time being there’s nothing we can do to change her. We try to keep our distance but we are polite. Just want a response to the subject statement, please.
A lot of times these kinds of answers are safe to be polite, or complete garbage to be more honest and may very well be in the only in the selfish interest of the poster trying to get points for heaven.
 
Was this whole thread run through a translator and then back to English?
 
Here is a method that works on any person who hurls insults.

Ask them to explain in detail what they mean by the statement.

Most times they won’t or can’t. They won’t because it will make them look unreasonable or selfish, or they can’t because it makes no sense. If you ask each and everytime, they will stop. This covers every insult, mean joke, teasing and so on.
 
I don’t think you can really respond productively who tells you you are being possessed by Satan.

If you think that she is starting to lose mental function, you may need to look into your legal options (find a lawyer specializing in elder law, etc). If she’s functioning well, but just mean, just say, “Talk to you next week!” and hang up.
Thanks for your answer. She is functioning well, thankfully, but we think she needs to put a stop to accusing anyone who tries to tell her otherwise. Hanging up is possible when on the phone, but it is always through emails, text message, where we are told that we have allowed satan into our lives and are following his orders. Sometimes we receive the above statement followed by a prayer to saint Michael, etc.🤷
 
MIL: The devil has entered your lives!

Me: Yeah, I guess so, every week, when I talk to you on the phone. click

(Maybe not such a good idea. Fortunately for me, I don’t have people like that in my life. I am blessed because of that.)
:D"…I’m not this bold…
 
I am going to assume that she’s not merely being tactless in pointing out what are real departures between you and the teachings of the Church. IOW, I’m going to assume she …

OK, so she is being socially aggressive and accuses you of being in league with the devil because you are bold enough to tell her to quit abusing you. Is this new? If someone who never used to say things like this started to say them, I’d look for the cause. My two guesses would be a) some sort of reading that has prompted her to see the devil everywhere, b) a slip in mental health or c) all of the above. The very first signs of dementia in a woman I know was when she started becoming very moody and made accusations towards her family that were entirely out of character for her, not only in what upset her but in how upset she got and how she made her displeasure known. If this is a change in her behavior, keep an eye on her mental faculties.

Let us say that this is a long-standing habit, and you have simply had enough of it. You have no doubt found by experience that she’ll not endure correction on the obvious point that she’s accusing you of being in league with the devil because you’re correcting her lack of charity towards others. That makes this a “pearls before swine” situation. In that case, you draw a line: This is behavior we don’t tolerate, the boundary is not up for discussion, and this is what we’re going to do if you cross that boundary and will not apologize. Then do what you say you’re going to do. Follow the cardinal rule of parenting when you draw boundaries with people other than your children: Never threaten a consequence that you are not going to hand out, and never hand out the worst possible consequence first, not unless the offense is very bad and the offender WILL NOT back down. Leave something in your bag of consequences to up the penalty, in case some even worse infraction follows. Then do what you say you’re going to do.

Generally speaking, when someone at a large gathering commits a willful and substantial social insult, the victim looks for an apology. If none is forthcoming, the victim refuses to have anything more to do with the offender, and socializes instead with someone else. If worse follows or if the initial offense was sufficiently egregious, the victim and their entourage leaves, informing the hosts if the hosts were not themselves the offenders and didn’t witness the offense. (It is better to avoid a lot of fanfare when leaving. The idea is not to heighten the drama, but to walk out on it.) If the social insult becomes habitual, the victims simply refuse to socialize with the offender until some contrition or at least some firm purpose of amendment is offered. If someone at your gathering insults a guest and you find out about it, it is your job to ask the offender to either apologize or to leave, and to encourage the victim to stay, instead. (If a member of the household is the offender, they are sometimes banished to their private rooms, of course.)

If this means ushering your own mother out of your own home, so be it. You have the duty to protect those under your roof from social abuse, including yourselves. Excepting someone who is tolerated because they don’t have all their faculties, no one gets a free pass on that.
Your assumptions are correct. Thank you for the great advice.
 
Here is a method that works on any person who hurls insults.

Ask them to explain in detail what they mean by the statement.

Most times they won’t or can’t. They won’t because it will make them look unreasonable or selfish, or they can’t because it makes no sense. If you ask each and everytime, they will stop. This covers every insult, mean joke, teasing and so on.
Thank you. We emailed back asking as you have suggested. So far no reply.
 
Thank you. We emailed back asking as you have suggested. So far no reply.
Usually people won’t get an answer. You have put her on the spot, and her motives will be exposed if she answers.

One possible answer- if she is bold—“satan is making you type this/act like this/say this too.”

Keep it one sentance–and again ask her to explain what she means when she says that---- Don’t allow her to bring you off track, no matter how insulting or unreasonable she gets. Don’t validate by becoming defensive or upset.-Just use the reason or insult or her words against you as your next question.".how is-----having satan in our lives?"

When you do this enough, she will stop.She may find another phrase-but that’s fine because you will do the same with that too. Eventually it will all stop, but with histrionic personalities it takes a few times.
 
Oooh–she’s Catholic. That’s interesting. That means that one of your options is to say something like, “Let’s talk to Fr. Joe about this!”

I wouldn’t take off the table the possibility that she’s having some sort of cognitive issues. I’d be tempted to bring it to the attention of her doctor, just in case it’s early dementia or a brain tumor. (Early dementia can lead to the weirdest activities–wild spending from a previously stingy guy or (in one case I know) suddenly becoming “inappropriate” with waitresses.)
 
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