What does demon possession mean to you?

[David J]

In the modern day, I ask this sincerely.

It's a phrase that's so common in the books I cringe every time I hear it. It's clearly a sign of medical ignorance.

 

[Enoch07]

In the modern day, I ask this sincerely.

It's a phrase that's so common in the books I cringe every time I hear it. It's clearly a sign of medical ignorance.

Yet they invented anti-bacterial soap to combat infection over 2,000 years before the rest of us caught on.

 

[David J]

Yet they invented anti-bacterial soap to combat infection over 2,000 years before the rest of us caught on.

It's beyond that. It's throwing disease onto pigs and drowning them.

 

[David T]

In the modern day, I ask this sincerely.

It's a phrase that's so common in the books I cringe every time I hear it. It's clearly a sign of medical ignorance.

My brain did it. OMG WE MUST CAST OUT THAT DEMON!!
And the doctor says Kiil the brain save the me! Here are your meds...

Oh better witchdoctor with phd bone it its nose, i now control my brain thank you for casting out evil unrully neurons!!!
Me and my brain now happy!!! Me no really have to do actual work easy peasy evil brain.

 

[Darkforbid]

Yet they invented anti-bacterial soap to combat infection over 2,000 years before the rest of us caught on.

I usually show someone who doesn't believe in possession. I get them talking and it's usually a few sentences before they realise what's coming out of their mouths is nothing like they intend

 

[Thief]

the spirit is willing
the flesh is weak

and for the sake of your flesh.....you might do anything

 

[Enoch07]

I usually show someone who doesn't believe in possession. I get them talking and it's usually a few sentences before they realise what's coming out of their mouths is nothing like they intend

What does that have to do with anti-bacterial soap which helps kill infection letting wounds heal quicker?

 

[David J]

the spirit is willing
the flesh is weak

and for the sake of your flesh.....you might do anything

Please elaborate, I want to understand you.

 

[Thief]

Please elaborate, I want to understand you.

we can be possessed by a great many things

the moment at hand is the greatest of all

and we go about one way and the other.....doing what seems the best of choices

and in the last hour the greatest of desire awaits
that desire to stand up

and you would sell your soul to do so

such is possession

 

[Deeje]

In the modern day, I ask this sincerely.

It's a phrase that's so common in the books I cringe every time I hear it. It's clearly a sign of medical ignorance.

So, "in the modern day", you mean that demon possession in the Bible is another way of describing what we would now call mental illness? Am I understanding you correctly?

Since mental illness is still not fully understood even today, and there was no way to diagnose what we now call mental illness back then, could it be that some in Bible times were healed of mental illness whilst others who are mentioned specifically were indeed possessed by demons. The one you mentioned where a herd of swine were sent over a precipice; these demons (a whole bunch of them possessing one man) had a conversation with Jesus asking that he command them to do it. When he did, two thousand pigs were sent to their death.
Why is that account in the Bible? It shows the power that demons can have over humans and most especially those who might have a mental weakness....but it also shows the power Jesus has over the demons.

So when you examine it a bit more closely, it isn't as ignorant as you might think...

 

[Enoch07]

It's beyond that. It's throwing disease onto pigs and drowning them.

Meh people have always done weird stuff like that. Pagans, done a lot more weird stuff than that to combat mentally illness and disease. It's not that any of them were ignorant. Mankind hadn't invented the microscope yet to be able to see viruses yet. Or the psychology to determine mental illness.

It's more about raising the moral of the community by putting on a show and feeling like you have some kind of control vs being totally helpless, a placebo effect essentially.

To say they were ignorant is an ignorant statement itself.

 

[David J]

we can be possessed by a great many things

the moment at hand is the greatest of all

and we go about one way and the other.....doing what seems the best of choices

and in the last hour the greatest of desire awaits
that desire to stand up

and you would sell your soul to do so

such is possession

Poetic.

 

[Darkforbid]

As it goes a lot of phenomena associated with mental heath issues is known to be real

 

[David J]

So, "in the modern day", you mean that demon possession in the Bible is another way of describing what we would now call mental illness? Am I understanding you correctly?

Since mental illness is still not fully understood even today, and there was no way to diagnose what we now call mental illness back then, could it be that some in Bible times were healed of mental illness whilst others who are mentioned specifically were indeed possessed by demons. The one you mentioned where a herd of swine were sent over a precipice; these demons (a whole bunch of them possessing one man) had a conversation with Jesus asking that he command them to do it. When he did, two thousand pigs were sent to their death.
Why is that account in the Bible? It shows the power that demons can have over humans and most especially those who might have a mental weakness....but it also shows the power Jesus has over the demons.

So when you examine it a bit more closely, it isn't as ignorant as you might think...

Yes, mental illness is not fully understood. But, it is recognized.

Is demon possession recognized?

 

[Deeje]

Yes, mental illness is not fully understood. But, it is recognized.

Is demon possession recognized?

Have you ever seen a demon possessed person? If you lived in a place where it is common to practice spiritism, you would know the difference.

If you have never had experience with the demons, then how would you know one way or the other?

In modern medicine, there is only mental illness.....they do not recognize demon possession as an affliction.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

When something we cherish and believe in becomes destructive it becomes demonic, when we let the destructive force that it became to continue to control is, we become possessed by it.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

Have you ever seen a demon possessed person?

You mean besides my ex-mother in law? Yes I could say I have, unfortunately many of them are quite famous.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

To say they were ignorant is an ignorant statement itself.

Ignorance is simply not knowing. It's just the same to say and just as equally unoffensive to say they were inexperienced with disease, unaware of bacteria, and lacked information about mental illness. Which they did. Just as such at one point in time our entire species was ignorant of the concepts of algebra and zero, and remained largely ignorant of them as a species until more recent times as information became more widespread and more easily obtainable.

 

[The Reverend Bob]

I will put it this way. Grief is a good thing, we all experience grief and we learn from it. But sometimes grief turns destructive and we become obsessed with grief and it starts to control us, our lives become centered around it and we just can't let it go and it dictates every aspect of our lives. That is what being demonically possessed is like.

 

[Terry Sampson]

@David J

Allow me to recommend two books:

• "Hostage to the Devil" by Malachi Martin (Original publication: 1978; 2nd Edition: 1992).
• "Glimpses of the Devil" by M. Scott Peck (2005)