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Demons, is there any evidence they even exist?

exchemist

Veteran Member
Demons, is there any evidence they even exist?

If so what is the evidence?
No, they are metaphors for how we can feel, at times. The idea of being pursued by demons, or suffering the effects of the demon drink and so forth can be a useful way of identifying and isolating something we think is bad within us, so that we can start to feel able to manage it. In others, it can allow us to sympathise with the person in spite of certain failings, which can be blamed on demons rather than the person themselves. So again it isolates the bad aspect from the rest and helps us be more understanding towards the person, who we can treat as a "sufferer" from demons rather than intrinsically bad. But it should not be taken literally.
 

Viker

Häxan
No, they are metaphors for how we can feel, at times. The idea of being pursued by demons, or suffering the effects of the demon drink and so forth can be a useful way of identifying and isolating something we think is bad within us, so that we can start to feel able to manage it. In others, it can allow us to sympathise with the person in spite of certain failings, which can be blamed on demons rather than the person themselves. So again it isolates the bad aspect from the rest and helps us be more understanding towards the person, who we can treat as a "sufferer" from demons rather than intrinsically bad. But it should not be taken literally.
Those are the little demons. I doubt Paimon is interested in taking credit for someone's drunkenness or lack of responsibility. :p
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
Demons, is there any evidence they even exist?

If so what is the evidence?
I used to look for that evidence by talking to people who ought to have encountered demons. Occasionally I encountered people who would tell tall tales, but generally nobody had anything.

I have also seen some exorcisms or false exorcisms, but in spite of seeing such things I have yet to encounter someone that needs an exorcism.

I have also seen schizophrenia treated with medication, and its effectiveness seems to indicate that schizophrenia is biological not demonic. To me that rules out schizophrenia as any evidence of demons.

Hearing voices is another psychological problem, sometimes. In people that hear voices, the voices generally are contradictory from time to time. They make little sense and have more to do with paranoia and the desire to connect with others. Our own desires are often contradictory, and this results in hearing voices we don't like, too. We may hear, for example, rumors against us like whispers; and we may hear this in places where we are completely alone. These don't come as sounds but as the wish to hear sound, which may be strong enough to seem at times like sound. Other times a person is able to tell that there is no real sound.
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
Demons, is there any evidence they even exist?

If so what is the evidence?
I suggest that you talk to people who have done time in prison. Have they encountered demons? You'd think that there would be lost of demons there. Perhaps there are some other places where people seem like they would be most likely to encounter some demons. You could enquire.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
I used to think I was haunted by a demon

Now I know it is just Scizopherenia

The people who wrote down the gospels called Scizopherenia "demon possession" as they didn't know any better

We have no such excuses

There is zero evidence for demons
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
It depends on the person and on the testimony. It also depends on who is judging it's veracity.
But surely a person who testifies about demons is most likely to be mistaken?

I mean, competing explanations would be much much more plausible?

If someone showed me the dead body of a demon or even a captured live one then I'd believe in them

If someone told me they'd encountered one I would not believe them as competing explanations for whatever happened to them would be much more likely
 

PureX

Veteran Member
But surely a person who testifies about demons is most likely to be mistaken?

I mean, competing explanations would be much much more plausible?

If someone showed me the dead body of a demon or even a captured live one then I'd believe in them

If someone told me they'd encountered one I would not believe them as competing explanations for whatever happened to them would be much more likely
That's up to you. But your reasoning is quite biased, as it assumes demons must have physical bodies to exist.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
That's up to you. But your reasoning is quite biased, as it assumes demons must have physical bodies to exist.
Saying they don't have physical bodies is an enormous copout

It means they cannot by definition be observed

How convenient

We can't even indirectly observe them

Anything that can be identified as being the work of a demon has a much more likely explanation
 

PureX

Veteran Member
Saying they don't have physical bodies is an enormous copout

It means they cannot by definition be observed

How convenient

We can't even indirectly observe them

Anything that can be identified as being the work of a demon has a much more likely explanation
Of course they can be observed, by their behavior and subsequent effect. But we have to be able to recognize it as such.
 

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
Demons, is there any evidence they even exist?

If so what is the evidence?
Really, ultimately it will depend on whether one want to believe our not because we have the capacity to come up with reasons not to believe to the point that we can even be convinced that we never went to the moon. It was all optical illusions (as declared by those who don't believe)

1953, May 9-19 (ca.): The Invisible Fangs

This was a well documented case. It was in the newspapers, the tv outlets et al in the Philippines. Lester Sumrall was the vehicle God used to free the girl.
 
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