I'm just a Jew and really wonder if people believe in demonic position. I think it is all mental illness with the church trying to make it seem like it is beyond that (like claiming the person was speaking in Latin when they never knew Latin, etc. ).
shareI'm not sure why you felt the need to clarify that you were Jewish. I mean, the whole concept of demons toying with human beings is part of your religion too. But I digress.
To answer your question and explain my religious point of view in case you think it's important: I was raised a Catholic but became agnostic when I was very young. I don't really like the Catholic institutions, but they tend to take "demonic posessions" with a grain of salt.
In the majority of the cases, it's not that they claim the victim is talking in Latin, but rather that he's speaking in tongues. Which is just a fancy way of saying "He seems to be talking in a language we don't understand". There have been a few documented cases where certain words meant something in some ancient language, but they are very few cases, and it could be a case of matrixing -- In case you're not familiar with the word, it means that when one of your senses receive something you're not familiar with, your brain adapts it to the closest thing you understand. E.G. People claiming that the ketchup stain in their jeans looks like Jesus.
With that in mind. I agree, I think most cases are about mental illness as well. However (and this is why I say I'm agnostic and not atheist) I've seen a lot of weird stuff in my life, so I don't rule out posessions either.
Do you believe people actually do get possessed?
Absolutely not, no matter how weird or unexplained the case may be, there's no reason whatsoever to cover our ears and say it must be a result of demonic possession just because we haven't yet discovered a more rational explanation and in most cases, if not all, we have. Mental illness. Society has a way of attributing anything unexplained to the supernatural by default, yet many people forget just how many things were once unexplained but have now been explained. The Vikings thought a solar eclipse was some sort of demon and that when it went away, it was because they intimidated it successfully with their swords. If we all close our eyes and say "The invisible man in the sky did it" or "the Devil did it" or "Demons did it" we would never have gotten anywhere in our knowledge of the world around us. It's a lazy attitude, in my opinion, considering literally no credible evidence of the supernatural exists and until any is discovered and verified, I don't see why it should even be considered as a possible explanation for a strange occurrence.
"I like the way you die, boy."
Evil, Jewish exorcisms were a result of the upsurge in the Christian world. The idea of people getting possessed in most of our eyes (I say most because I know there is the occasional person who does believe in possession) is ludicrous. This is a tiny, tiny fraction of Judaism. It isn't like Catholicism or Christianity where demons and Satan enters you, where there is a school to train priests to perform exorcisms.
There recently was an interesting article in the Jewish Journal about this. Here is the link http://www.jewishjournal.com/cover_story/article/dybbuks_demons_and_exorcism_in_judaism_20120627/
Nope don´t believe it.
I think that people who think they have been possesed suffers from mental problems.
People can get really *beep* up in many different ways by mental problems. Just look at all the serial killers and stuff we have.
I feel sort of the opposite of Kevinology. There might be no credible evidence that the supernatural exists, but there's no credible evidence that it doesn't exist, either.
Sure, there's a lot of mental illness around these days, and it can be resposible for all sorts of aberrant behavior. But to me, the study of the mind and its various disorders is a rather inexact science due to the many variables involved.
I believe that just about anything is possible unless there's definitive proof to the contrary.
"there's no credible evidence that it doesn't exist, either. "
That's not an argument.
I was a psych major and mental illness is extremely prevalent these days, and in the past many of the mental illnesses that are commonly accepted today were blamed on "demons", but I was in jail with a lady that REALLY made me consider the possibility, was she possesed or was she just bat *beep* crazy over the *beep* moon? I don't know, but i can no longer rule out the possibility that possession might exsist. It's one of those things that sounds crazy until you see some *beep* that makes you wonder.
she'll come back as fire, burn all the liars, leave a blanket of ash on the ground ~ Kurt Cobain
I am in league with satan
haha
I do believe it cause I saw things by myself.
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I dont know. I believe anything is possible.
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