Spiderman
Veteran Member
I live in a house full of mentally ill people. It is understandable why at one time we thought these people possessed...here is the difference.
1. Attraction to vs. Aversion to Religion. Demons want nothing to do with God. Conversely, people with mental illness are often devoutly religious.
2. Irrational Speech vs. Rational Speech. In New Testament accounts involving demons, the demons spoke in a rational manner. Untreated people with schizophrenia will often speak in nonsense and jump rapidly between unrelated topics.
3. Ordinary Learning vs. Supernatural Knowledge Demons in the New Testament would speak through people to convey knowledge that otherwise could not have been known to the possessed individuals. Those with mental illness have no such ability to know facts which they have not acquired by normal learning.
4. Normal vs. Occultic Phenomena. There is an aspect to demon activity that is just plain spooky (ex.: poltergeists, levitation’s, trances, telepathy). These have an impact on others in the room not just the possessed. With schizophrenia, the effect of the disorder is only on the disordered, not others.
5. The claim to be possessed Authors who have clinical experience both with demon possession and mental illness, believe those who claim to be possessed are very likely not possessed. Demons wish to be secretive and do not voluntarily claim to be present.
6. Effects of Therapy. If prayer solves the problem, then it was probably not schizophrenia. If medicine helps alleviate the problem, it was not demon possession. (I disagree with this one because prayer has been the best treatment of my mental health and I have been on enormous amounts of medications. They don't help.)
How to differentiate Schizophrenia from Demonic Possession - Mental Illness Policy Org
1. Attraction to vs. Aversion to Religion. Demons want nothing to do with God. Conversely, people with mental illness are often devoutly religious.
2. Irrational Speech vs. Rational Speech. In New Testament accounts involving demons, the demons spoke in a rational manner. Untreated people with schizophrenia will often speak in nonsense and jump rapidly between unrelated topics.
3. Ordinary Learning vs. Supernatural Knowledge Demons in the New Testament would speak through people to convey knowledge that otherwise could not have been known to the possessed individuals. Those with mental illness have no such ability to know facts which they have not acquired by normal learning.
4. Normal vs. Occultic Phenomena. There is an aspect to demon activity that is just plain spooky (ex.: poltergeists, levitation’s, trances, telepathy). These have an impact on others in the room not just the possessed. With schizophrenia, the effect of the disorder is only on the disordered, not others.
5. The claim to be possessed Authors who have clinical experience both with demon possession and mental illness, believe those who claim to be possessed are very likely not possessed. Demons wish to be secretive and do not voluntarily claim to be present.
6. Effects of Therapy. If prayer solves the problem, then it was probably not schizophrenia. If medicine helps alleviate the problem, it was not demon possession. (I disagree with this one because prayer has been the best treatment of my mental health and I have been on enormous amounts of medications. They don't help.)
How to differentiate Schizophrenia from Demonic Possession - Mental Illness Policy Org
