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Why do you feel it is so difficult for Western moderns to believe in a devil and demons, when the Bible is SO clear about their presence and influence?
I'm mainly talking about nominal Christians or people like my DH who was raised Catholic but just can't bring himself to believe in a "devil" or demons.
Too many "horror" stories in the entertainment industry?
If people can believe in a God of "good", why not a devil of evil? Certainly explains why our world is so flawed and evil is prevalent everywhere.
Yet part of "Twisted Scripture" is that even some Christians believe God is responsible for sickness, disasters and so forth.
In other parts of the world, people have NO trouble believing in "evil spirits". My missionary relatives say exorcisms still go in those areas.
Probably the devil is just fine with us moderns not believing in him, as it makes it easier for him to go about doing destruction undetected AND us blaming it on God himself, in certain cases.
yes "demon possession" is a military term.. it is when an enemy takes all the roads into a city , and cna then starve out the inhabitants.. and be nearly undetected .. the foods stop coming in and the goods and blessings all stop coming in and
that is what happened at the fall o fman . satan hated the Lord of creation and so he e took the roads to all our cities of
his creation.. ....... and so yes Satan is undetected but still controls the cities..and starves them..slowly to death.
so unless we ask the Lord to set us free from that legal/military condition..
we can't be free and be blessed by him..
The devil/demons are primitive manifestations of humanity's dark side. Belief in them as actual beings is childish but childishness is exactly the state most religious leaders prefer in their congregants. It keeps the sheep docile and easily led. (Not to mention keeping the pews and collection plates filled. Bonus!)
Spiritual adults take responsibility for their own actions. They don't blame characters in an old book. Thankfully, outside of the United States, most Christians are spiritual adults.
Many people simply reject anything related to the supernatural, dismissing it as the primitive beliefs of ancient people. It's a cultural, or even a scientific arrogance. Some people believe in God, but not in angels. Others may believe in God and angels, but not in Satan who is in fact a fallen angel.
It is true that Satan is just fine with people not believing that he exists because that makes it easier for him to deceive the nations which is one of his goals.
The devil/demons are primitive manifestations of humanity's dark side. Belief in them as actual beings is childish but childishness is exactly the state most religious leaders prefer in their congregants. It keeps the sheep docile and easily led. (Not to mention keeping the pews and collection plates filled. Bonus!)
Spiritual adults take responsibility for their own actions. They don't blame characters in an old book. Thankfully, outside of the United States, most Christians are spiritual adults.
I would be interested in your definition of "Christian", Mr. Dude, since you don't believe the Bible from whence it originates.
I was exactly like you a few years ago until I recognized my own arrogance in thinking truth depended on my own beliefs and understanding. That revelation knocked me off my own pedestal of looking down on believers.
Not calling anyone else arrogant, just know that I was. Then, I realized how LITTLE I knew about anything at all.
Many people simply reject anything related to the supernatural, dismissing it as the primitive beliefs of ancient people. It's a cultural, or even a scientific arrogance. Some people believe in God, but not in angels. Others may believe in God and angels, but not in Satan who is in fact a fallen angel.
It is true that Satan is just fine with people not believing that he exists because that makes it easier for him to deceive the nations which is one of his goals.
Agreed, Mike. Yet without supernatural God, how did the Universe start? From "nothing"?
At this point, it seems actually easier to believe in the personification of evil, seeing all the atrocities in our world.
Much as we may hate the idea, the Bible says several times how Satan is the ruler of this earth. Right now.
Agreed, Mike. Yet without supernatural God, how did the Universe start? From "nothing"?
At this point, it seems actually easier to believe in the personification of evil, seeing all the atrocities in our world.
Much as we may hate the idea, the Bible says several times how Satan is the ruler of this earth. Right now.
Yes, for the time being, Satan is the god of this age, the prince or ruler of the world.
Regarding your question, and this is where I'm sure we'll disagree, while I certainly believe that God is responsible for the universe coming into existence, I have no problem understanding how the universe, apart from God could have come into existence from naturalistic causes such as the hypothetical eternal inflation model advanced by theoretical physicist and cosmologist Alan Guth. But that is not something to go into here.
Why do you feel it is so difficult for Western moderns to believe in a devil and demons,
when the Bible is SO clear about their presence and influence?
I wonder if a psychologist would have the answer? Gee, all any one would have had
to do was meet my mother...then, they would believe in demons and possession!
(Her very Christian 20 yr friend finally saw the possession and said he'd never seen anything like it...
I simply said, "Welcome to the family.")
I mean when the voice changes and the face looks almost lizard like...whoa.
And this is what bitterness from lack of forgiveness does...opens the door to bad spirits
that feed off of and relish those things.
You don't think so? Picture how humans feed off of train wrecks, perverted sex, other's misfortunes, bloody torture movies...
they don't magically change their twisted proclivities after death.
Why do you feel it is so difficult for Western moderns to believe in a devil and demons, when the Bible is SO clear about their presence and influence?
I'm mainly talking about nominal Christians or people like my DH who was raised Catholic but just can't bring himself to believe in a "devil" or demons.
Too many "horror" stories in the entertainment industry?
If people can believe in a God of "good", why not a devil of evil? Certainly explains why our world is so flawed and evil is prevalent everywhere.
Yet part of "Twisted Scripture" is that even some Christians believe God is responsible for sickness, disasters and so forth.
In other parts of the world, people have NO trouble believing in "evil spirits". My missionary relatives say exorcisms still go in those areas.
Probably the devil is just fine with us moderns not believing in him, as it makes it easier for him to go about doing destruction undetected AND us blaming it on God himself, in certain cases.
Simple answer to the bolded: Because the Bible isn't considered a source of absolute truth for everyone, so it being "SO CLEAR" is kind of irrelevant to those who don't buy into the divine/literal/infallible status assigned to it by some.
I won't say I'm 100% certain that there may not exist dark spirits of some sort, but the first place to look for evil is within humanity itself. Satan is a personification of evil born of Christianity, not an actual entity. I do get a kick out of whoever dreamed up that fave meme, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he didn't exist." That is absolutely priceless in its ridiculousness. You can't argue with it!
What is seriously concerning is that people who are mentally ill were considered to be demon-possessed. That type of stigma against what is really a medical issue is still way too prevalent and must be fought so that people can get the medical help they need, not an exorcism. Unfortunately, as you pointed out, mental illness is not understood in certain primitive societies to this day.
The idea of a Devil and his minions has certainly given birth to some interesting artwork and storytelling over the centuries, though. Even music (tip of the hat to recording artists like the Stones, Chris de Burgh, and Charlie Daniels).
I would be interested in your definition of "Christian", Mr. Dude, since you don't believe the Bible from whence it originates.
I was exactly like you a few years ago until I recognized my own arrogance in thinking truth depended on my own beliefs and understanding. That revelation knocked me off my own pedestal of looking down on believers.
Not calling anyone else arrogant, just know that I was. Then, I realized how LITTLE I knew about anything at all.
A Christian tries to emulate Christ.
You have no idea what I believe. True, I don't believe in the biblical god-thing. I think it's ridiculous -- and that's its good side.
But I don't look down on believers.
I look down, with utter disdain, on hypocritical, bigoted Christian fundies.
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