Why, that works a lot like white privilege....

Ever see someone do an Ouija board blindfolded?

It takes all the fun out of it real quick.

Well,demons are not devils. Devils are fallen angels. demons are earth spirits. They are not connected to Heaven or Hell,they exist outside both.That is why you find them in all over the planet in all religions even the prehistoric ones.
A lot of possession cases are somewhat false but some are downright too out there to be anything but true.The real cases usually come from when someone summons a force and it gets out of control.
When a Devil takes control of a person it is fairly evident and obvious,they are not subtle usually in their actions and control. Demons are more subtle. they slowly subvert the person possessed and those around them. The Nazis where big into the Occult and demon shit.
Evil Spirits have been around long before the notion of good or evil. In fact one of the earliest figurines found of a higher being is of Lilith,she iseither purported to be Adams first wife or a demon who kills newborns in the crib while they sleep

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Sounds like the theory that ghosts/spirits are time-line/mop-thread jumpers from parallel universes in the multiverse.

Poltergeist activity tends to be allegedly exhibited by pre-adolescent females around the time they enter puberty. Some researchers assign sufficient legitimacy to reports of poltergeist activity to give it a less cray cray sounding label: Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK).

I believe the theory is these girls for a few months have access to some 'unknown energy source' that allows them to engage in acts of telekinesis. Probably it's just teenage girls acting up by slamming doors at night and hiding their parents keys. But in any case, if'n it's somehow the real deal, sure glad they all grow out of it--cuz if women were able to throw objects across rooms at us by simply thinking about it we'd have to wear helmets inside the house 24/7.

There was a time when people thought witches legitimately existed.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Does it bother you that some here make fun of this loudly or arrogantly here?

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Elections have consequences.

to this day that movie freaks me out. but much of the fear of possession comes from our innate fear of losing control of ourselves to a foreign presence. something we don't understand and don't want.

Idle Hands is The Exorcist for my generation.

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My daughter's costume is Regan from the Exorcist. She scared the shit out of me a few weeks ago with it.

No. All are welcome to their thoughts.

Arguing about such things online doesn't change anything.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

If were talking arrogance in Atheists vs. Religious people....it's religious people in a fuckin landslide, mike


There are no atheists in foxholes, right?

Finally a religious person who can tolerate differing views!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I would say the arrogance is pretty thick on both sides.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I can approach the topic from a few different angles but I'm not really in the business of trying to make others believe.

Here is the anecdotal angle that personalizes it rather than dealing with it academically: I've told this story before so you can skip if you remember. I have known a priest for decades. This is a true renaissance man with a JD, MBA, the equivalent of a Ph.D., is a cannon lawyer, runs marathons, schools shakes on the reg in hockey as well as his priestly mission with the poor. He is obviously highly intelligent by all metrics, learned in areas sacred and mundane and also an example of a Godly man. I'm not some fawning fan as we disagree on some fairly important topics.

I knew him as a priest. He has worked his way up to bishop.

A few years ago I saw an article in the newspaper about the Catholic Church's need for and recruitment of exorcists. Who should be the person assigned the task but this guy.

I know, appeal to authority logical fallacy. I only use this as the first post on the subject as a response to the posts that the determination of exorcism is some ignorant conclusion drawn by people with limited world experience.

As an aside, I described some graphic dream I had on here years ago with heavy religious tones, including reference to an antichrist. He was the priest in the dream, only in the dream he was wearing bishop's clothing. This was before both he became a bishop and before I knew anything about his work dealing with the demonic

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Me too.

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Elections have consequences.

Unlike other horrific accusations and trials of the past, it is important to remember that the presumption from the Catholic Church's perspective in reviewing a case is heavily against demonic presence. I use the Catholic Church's review because it seems to be the standard among the learned religious, even the religious of different faiths. I would say that cases seem to indicate that the demons themselves recognize the catholic rite as authoritative but that really ends up being a circular argument for our purposes.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The interview for determination is exhaustive and weeds out most cases. The truth is that most accusations are mental problems. The first step is not to go directly to the Rite. The first step is to be reviewed by a mental health professional, often one with no religious predispositions. The Rite cannot be undertaken on a whim. A case must be made and presented to the bishop of a diocese and can only be undertaken with his approval.

I would also add that some may have a skewed understanding of the background of priests. There are certainly parish priests doing the work of tending to a particular ministry with only advanced education in the areas of faith. However, there are a large amount of priests who hold degrees in varied worldly disciplines, including psychiatry/psychology. There are plenty of people in house who can diagnose schizophrenia or other mental maladies from something different.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I would like to believe in such things just for a sense of something beyond this world, but I can't bring myself to think there are random people magically inhabited by "demons" and that I can go pick up a board game at Target that allows me to communicate with another dimension.

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But you frequently bring up only one side, which is why I pointed out the other.

Even tho I swore off such things when I moved up here to work we can try it together.

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Guess I didn't notice that really. This place does not seem to be over the top religious to me. Even with some strident ones. Maybe my perception? Either way I do not like to see anyone take crap for any religious view.

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Elections have consequences.

Fair enough (parkins voice)

You are conflating many subjects into that one post.

Take out the religious aspect entirely: what do you think of string theory including its ideas about branes? Or time travel? Or multiple streams of reality?

I think we are finding out that the way we perceive existence is just a convenient way for our minds to collate the world but it doesn't represent truth. Not to get all deep and finger snapping about it but time is probably the biggest lie we tell ourselves and we rely on it slavishly

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Nah. It's pretty even.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Now you bring up things worth talking about.

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Elections have consequences.

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The ouji is kind of a trite example and I think its been disproven.

I think if you were really interested you would raise it to a more macro question of how we might invite these things into our life. I have heard, and I don't know entirely if I agree, that a demonic torment only occurs through invitation. Invitation can be by both word or deed and it is not limited to the intention to invite. I think that gets into the area of the seven deadly sins.

As an aside, I don't believe in ghosts.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Yes Demons.

No ghosts?

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I could not agree more that we have no idea what this reality is or what it means. Big Descartes fan here. And my point here is not about religion - I'm not the militant atheist I used to be... these are a separate issue. There are so many strange conclusions drawn about people being possessed that I can't believe it, but that's not a comment on religion or the fact that there are an infinite number of things which we know nothing about.

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Here's a question for you on ghosts... I used to love ghosts when I was younger and I still watch those cheesy shows... but here's my question...

If humans in our current evolutionary state have inhabited the world for millennia, why are all ghost sightings of people from less than 100 years ago?

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