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Has demon possession been researched? Did science find anything convincing?
http://www.masslive.com/living/republican/index.ssf?/base/living-2/110577903962460.xml [Broken]Readers of "Glimpses of the Devil" might be tempted to ask, "What would possess a respected psychiatrist to pen a book about his work as an exorcist?" ..."I went to confirm my belief that the devil didn't exist," Peck said. "What happened was that my belief was shaken up - more than shaken up, it was blown to smithereens." [continued]
This is far from the case. Almost all "charismatic" christians believe in a literal devil and demon possesion. The main difference between Protestant and Catholic traditions is that Catholics practice "exorcism", while Protestant charismatics call it "deliverance". Demonology also exists in many other world religions. Piles of books have been published on the topic by honest people, but the interpretation of the facts is obviously open to question.Ivan Seeking said:Based on what I've seen, most "evidence" is anecdotal and in the domain of the Catholic Church.
I'm not sure this is true of eg. African tribal communities that go to the witch doctor to get exorcised. It is probably more true of pockets of western religious communities. I think a scientific study could invalidate or validate your claim. I don't know if anyone has done a statistical analysis of where "possession" is most likely to be seen. I think Africa might just be a hot spot. I would guess it is closer related to the community's education.arildno said:The "possession" phenomenon occurs just about only within a highly religious community with strict (so-called "moral") principles of living. In particular, those principles seeks a strong regulation of the members sexuality.
Since religion is a load of nonsense, you're right: I feel no obligation to treat it with a respect it doen't deserve.jackle said:Yeah, we don't have a religion forum anymore because the feelings were too strong on all sides.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: ...was my Catholicism showing.jackle said:This is far from the case. Almost all "charismatic" christians believe in a literal devil and demon possesion. The main difference between Protestant and Catholic traditions is that Catholics practice "exorcism", while Protestant charismatics call it "deliverance". Demonology also exists in many other world religions. Piles of books have been published on the topic by honest people, but the interpretation of the facts is obviously open to question.
Such unusual displays of strength also occur in methamphetamine users, so I wouldn't use that as an indication of "supernatural" influence. For that matter, so does psychosis and erratic, violent behavior.The_Professional said:I've seen footages of people being exorcised, and one of the was a petite young woman who was speaking latin and was being held down by 10 guys. From what I've gathered, possessed victims display an unusual amount of strength and the capacity to speak a diff. language. I'm sure they could study this further and find something
I've also read that on most cases, only less than one percent is really possessed
Of course there's that minor issue that if the language is so obscure, there are also very few witnesses of the behavior who can verify it is one of those languages and not just random babbling. And if those few who can verify the language also have a bias toward wanting to perpetuate the belief in the supernatural, then we really don't have a reliable source of unbiased information on this. Perhaps we need to locate an atheist who studies ancient and obscure languages present to verify this information.franznietzsche said:The only part of "possession" that is ever difficult to explain other wise is the ability to start speaking toher languages, particularly dead languages that noone outside of the catholic church would know (and i don't mean lay people either. Papal nuncios study languages such as attic greek and aramaic, in training).
Possibly but not necessarily true. The Catholic Church has always made it very difficult to show evidence for divine or satanic intervention. It may be that any good priest would prefer to avoid such situations. Too much paperwork, long nights dodging vomit, all that nasty incense, the endless prayers sessions... Not to mention that doing battle with the Prince of Darkness is no walk in the park.Moonbear said:And if those few who can verify the language also have a bias toward wanting to perpetuate the belief in the supernatural,
Lets play The Lord's Advocate! What self respecting demon would be foolish enough to get caught on video? Next you will want one in a test tube.Curious3141 said:For me to ever believe that possession is anything but a psychiatric manifestation, unexplainable physical phenomena need to occur.
I've seen tons when I was working a doctor in a psych hospital.jackle said:The phenomena that puzzles me is that seemingly ordinary people can wind up blurting out nonsence about being the devil and taking on personalities that are out of their control. Does anyone have any examples of this happening outside exorcisms?