Demons among us, or just metaphors for the evil men do?

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   Walt Smithposted 13 years ago

   I have asked you about Angels and gotten some pretty mind blowing answers. I asked you about immortality and got the same. It would be unfair to leave the bad guys out. Are the Demons written about in history real, or metaphors for the evil visited upon mankind through the ages...W

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      Stevennix2001posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      it depends on who you ask.  more than likely it's metaphors to elaborate man kinds cruel and vindictive nature.  then again, there's still plenty of things we have to discover about our own planet. let alone, the universe, so you never know..

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         Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         True, but I asked you. I promise this will not be on a quiz in front of the almighty. Dante's Divine Comedy sheds light on the metaphor portion of my question. Each level delving out it's own type of punishment, fortune tellers with their heads on backwards so they can only see behind them, for using the divine to see the future in life... I agree their are a great many things under heaven and earth that we will never understand in this life... Thanks for the input...W

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      Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Metaphors for acts of humankind.

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         Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Easy to see it that  way. I believe all stories have a basis in truth somewhere. Thanks for your input...W

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         Baileybearposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         agree.  Interesting too how all cultures have a 'devil' - usually a monster that lives in dark water

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      Shahid Bukhariposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I have no other definitives, than those, Stated in the Koran ...
      
      And it is Stated ... what I define, within your Semantics ...
      
      "That all Demons, and Mental Science's Complexes, are Peripheral products of Errant Cognitions ... affected by the Brain ... under Satanic influences ... In, that Demons, and Complexes, have nothing to do with a Pure, Human Mind."
      
      You see, what you call the Normal ... is in your Neurons following along a certain Mental Orientation's Familiar Lines ... viz. Mathematics, following the Logical's course ... being manifest in a Mathematician's Cognition of Theoretical Forms.
      
      But Mathematics, is not The Truth, it is simply, an Exactitude of Quantums ... Defining the Physical State, of any Theoretically postulated Entity, or Form.
      
      Thus, when, we are rendered Ignorant, by False Belief, it means, we are placing a Barrier, between the Truth of Existential Reality, and the Reality of an Existent, Form ...
      
      This Barricading of the human Mind ... creates Neurotic Spill overs ... in the Mind's deviation from, The Truth ... in it being forced to Follow Hypotheses ... thus, coming up with sundry Demonic Forms.
      
      The Demons are a Deviant Cognition's created Forms ... the degree of their repulsiveness ... 'appearnences' ... depends on the imagination of the Deviated Mind ...

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         Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I have read your Koran, and it speaks of evil quite often, so does the Bible. I have read instances in history that clearly show the powers that be using fear as a weapon. That is not in question, I was asking of your personal belief, and I gather from your response that you  do not. I understand what you were putting across, "We invent the forms of our pending destruction based on childhood traumas that manifest in our phsyce as we mature" and my friend I can manifest a great many faces for my daemons, deviated mind and all... Thank you for time and input, I wihsh you good fortune and long life...W

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      kessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Demons are devils which ultimately is Ignorance collectively known as the Devil.
      
      They take root within an individual through a system of false belief.
      It begins when a person have willfully chosen to believe an obvious lie in order to satisfy their fleshly desires.
      This is referred to as a hardening of the heart.
      
      These desires ultimately they use to define themselves and is the individual's own Identity.
      
      This Identity may also be the name of that demon which is the head of other lesser demons. For even they collectively do maintain an orderly structure to retain and maintain dominance over the individual.
      
      When the demons have assume a certain degree of control over the person, there will be a "power struggle" within the  ranks of demons.So other demons will gain strength and they seek to be the head themselves....
      
      This results in th person becoming chaotic in their demeanor and behavior.
      This is why most are seen as mentally unstable and because these demon use the desires of the flesh to take root, they can be subdued somewhat by medication.
      
      The only antidote to demon which is the false or Lies is Truth...
      For Truth alone can disspell the lie that demon.
      
      The demons through their chaotic actions may bring Truth to the person, because of they are  ignorance in themselves they are death to their own selves.
      
      But Untimately the only effective Truth is that which is heard by the hearing not of the ear but the one of the heart...the seat of all desires....
      
      Meaning that That individual must recognise their own erroneous way of thinking and be purposeful in dispelling that Lie, that Identity which they have assumed.
      so we see that through the desire for Truth, the person will recognise Truth which soever channel it may come.
      
      This will happen because there is the seeking of the heart... first and foremost and last and ultimate.
      
      Where can one find demons... they are all around us and within, the effect is greater or lesser to each.
      
      They sit as the head of this worlds government, religion, corporations etc....and untimately they all are one and is the Leader of this world, whom they call Satan.

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         Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Demons are essentially our inner selves being brought out to rectify our own evils. I see what you are saying and have known some people that description would fit. Thank you for your comments and good luck to you...W

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            CollBposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I'd agree with Walt Smith.  Demons are really just metaphors which personifies our inner selves so what we see are really what our ultimate selves can be if we think that way.

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      paarsurreyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think it is the men doing evil things or their thoughts or evil machinations influencing others; the devils and the devilish.

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         paarsurreyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

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      dutchman1951posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      more like excuses for what men do, can not accept the blame, Satan did it!

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   Rochelle Frankposted 13 years ago

   One and the same, I would suppose.

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      Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Good answer! As I said above, I believe that all stories have a basis in truth, but one has to remember that when these stories were written, a simple Freshman year science experiment would get you drowned and possibly burned as a witch. I have to agree with Shahid Bukhari above (a little), I think that we may build on what we know to give these "demons" form. Nonetheless I do believe in the existence of evil, I know it to be real, someone or something has to be the harbingers of our doom. Thank you for your input and good luck...W

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         Shahid Bukhariposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I am not denying the Existence of Evil ...
         Satan is Evil ... Incarnate ...
         
         I am simply stating, in Applying The Law, to a certain situation ... Meaning, what happens, when Satan induces a wrong, in our heads ...
         What follows such inductions, has been described by me, in, "Neurology and Psychology's" Semantics.

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            Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Might have misspoke (typed). I wasn't trying to belittle your view. It did strike me as you were trying to convey "It's in our minds", guess not ...My apologies if I offended, not my intention. I am always up for "Some Antics"  Man has to put a face on their beliefs in order to fight them, I agree...W

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               Shahid Bukhariposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Walt Smith
               
               I am quite often ridiculed ... rest assured, I am neither offended, nor
               belittled, by what the kids say ... but allow me, to borrow a few of your words ... and re-use them, in conveying my Understanding ... ignore the grammar and syntaxtual changes, normally involved in all modifications of original statements.
               
               The altered text, is reproduced below ... hope, its not  Walt's' ... if so, then, expecting his seconders rights, do not extend to an Open Academic  Forum's discussions.
               
               I quote my version:
               
               "Man hath been taught ... by man ... to 'put a face, on their beliefs' ... in order to be believed. "
               
               Unquote.
               
               Walt ... The Truth, does not need a Face, or an Icon ... in order to be Believed ... Because, Truth, Is ... all the rest, Is ... Creation.
               
               Regards

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                  Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Kudos to ya mate for sticking to your beliefs. I never said truth needs a face to be believed...I said that it was a generality of the human condition...Best of luck...W

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      kimberlyslyricsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      agree :

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   brotheryochananposted 13 years ago

   There are no demons. Demons originated in persia,  and became an adopted belief of the jews while in exile there. Ethiopia has an  extensive belief in demons, they once thought that malaria was a demon until a doctor introduced a pill to cure malaria. The roman catholic church invented fallen angels to explain the demonology. A demon would have to be stupid to spend its hosts lifetime inside a body that cannot walk or see.
   
   tricky indeed it would be to try to undo 2,000 yrs of false belief. I suggest everyone ask God to reveal the bibles teachings concerning demons and possession.

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      Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Didn't Jesus cast out demons?  And then said that some demons take prayer and fasting before they can be cast out.
      
         Just saying what is in scripture????

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         Woman Of Courageposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yes Jesus cast out demons.

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      Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Exactly what I was going to ask. "I am  Legion and we are many", cast in to the pigs was the one that came to mind. I did not ask this question to condemn any one view. Freedom of speech my friend, the pen is mightier and all that. Brotheryochanan is not the first person who told that story for my ears to hear, and is only one way to look at it. Honestly I think if we were suppose to know all that is in this universe...WE WOULD...Thanks for your comments, good luck in all you do...W

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   pisean282311posted 13 years ago

   Demons have been people who have seeked control ...control using religion , using politics ,using money , using power,using weapons...so there have been many demons in human history...

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      Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Ghingus Khan, Mussolini, Napolean Bonaparte, Adolph HItler, Hillary Clinton I can see the logic in that. My favorite quote is: "The only thing need happen for evil to triumph,is for good men to do nothing"...Thanks for your input and good luck to you...W

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         Rwritingsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         About 30 some years ago while walking to the bus stop to go home after work I notice a group of "people" who had an evil look about them.  It was an extremely cold winter day that you could see your breath, however, with these "people" you could not see their breath.  They moved quickly and silently like they were being chased.  The direction that they were coming from was from a church that did exorcisms.    Were these demons that I saw or were they metaphors?

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            Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Spooky! I have an open mind so I dare not say what you saw. Hey if you are all inclusive, could of been Vampyres, they are demons and said not to breath. I belieive that you don't have to believe in evil for it to effect you...W

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   Disappearingheadposted 13 years ago

   I'm with brotherychanen on this one, after 25 years of believing in Satan and his chums.
   
   Point is in the OT testament the words Devil and demon do not exist. You find an example of evil spirit but that evil spirit was commissioned by and obedient to God.
   
   Satan is just the Hebrew word for adversary. It is applied to Humans (David was called a satan by the philistines) and the Angel of the Lord (the angel that opposed Baalam). Just look up the word satan in a Strong's concordance and see where it was used in the Hebrew.
   
   So some Catholic priest wanting to make a name for himself, capitalises the 'S' in satan in the book of Job, turning a noun into a pronoun, and low and behold a character was invented who was never there.
   
   Judaism today does not believe in a singular spiritual being in direct opposition to God that the church calls Satan. To the Jew all evil originates in the hearts of men, the Yetzer Hara. No Satan here.
   
   Demons in Jesus' times were superstitious elements absorbed into the Jewish culture from the influence of the Zoroastrian religion during their time in Babylon.
   
   Did Jesus cast out demons? No. He dealt with people's conditions that we would today call mental illnesses.
   
   When Jesus healed the man on the bed lowered though the roof, the man and many others believed sickness was a result of sin. Belief is a key requirement to be healed, and this man needed to believe His sins were forgiven first. So Jesus went along with it and said 'Son you sins are forgiven' hence the phrase which is easier to say, get up and walk or your sins are forgiven. Similarly if the superstitious people believed they needed deliverance from a demon to be healed, Jesus went along with it.
   
   Once demonology got a hold of Jewish culture in direct contradiction to the OT, it would have been nigh on impossible for Jesus to dispel these beliefs and perform His ministry. Don't forget the OT was the only scripture available and demonology doesn't exist in the OT so the people of His time and the subsequent church held unbiblical beliefs on this subject. The Catholic church persisted with the tradition of demons as a method of population mind control and today many a high flying TV evangelist makes a lot of money out satan.

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      Rwritingsposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Read Job and Revelation.  In both of them Satan is depicted as before God making accusations.  In the book of Job he makes accusations against Job to God and in the book of Revelation he makes accusations to God against the Saints.    Just because a name was not capatizlied in the original Hebrew or Aramaic does not mean that the original writers did not believe it to be an actual person.   Many languages do not use capitals.   Personifications or concepts don't talk and act.
      
      I agree with you on one point however Satan is not the negative counterpoint of God.  He is not equal in power to God.  He is a created being who rebelled against God and has no remorse therefore he is doomed to the Lake of Fire.

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   Go Writerposted 13 years ago

   Yes. Demons are very much real, and they cause pretty much all of the problems we encounter throughout history.
   
   Demons and Satan are angels, but the bad kind, the disobedient kind. Fallen angels.
   
   In the host of heaven there are three archangels: Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer. Each arch angel is in charge of one-third of the host of heaven. Lucifer and his third rebelled against God and lost and were cast down to the earth.
   
   For now they can still go back and forth to heaven. Eventually they will be shut out of heaven for good.
   
   http://www.thercg.org/articles/agms.html#c

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      Disappearingheadposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Nope. Lucifer is a Latin word crowbarred into the Greek translation of the Hebrew, and does not refer to Satan.
      
      The OT contains no references to demons, demon possession or any spiritual entity in opposition to God. So considering that 2000 years ago the only available scriptures was the OT, then anyone who believed in demons was holding an unbiblical belief.

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   Daniel Carterposted 13 years ago

   I've met lots of demons, but never met Satan.
   I think I married his sister once, however. Glad those days are over.
   
   But I digress....
   With as much evil as mankind is capable of, why do we need to blame it on Satan or demons?
   There certainly isn't any need for such when mankind's got the evil thing down pretty well.
   
   As a result, and due to much lack of real evidence, I don't think there are supernatural demons or a devil. They occur naturally instead.

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      Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Does Lucifer have another sis, think ti's MY ex wife. Thanks for the input...W

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   mqueeposted 13 years ago

   Whenever I hear the word demon, I think of pure unadulterated evil. People having this characteristic would be the Idi Amins, Kadafis, and Hitlers of the world. I would also include child molesters, rapists, and serial killers. Only people with demonic characters could act out certain atrocities against their fellow man. Just my opinion.

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      Walt Smithposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I believe that evil does exsist in this world, demon or not their are people who are devoid of compassion, I have met some and do not wish to ever again. Is it a mental dysfunction or the handy work of Satan we may never know, but yet it still exsists. Good luck and God bless...W

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