Demonic Posession

1590 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The features of Christian religion

According to Collins the definition of paranormal is, “of or pertaining to the claimed occurrence of an event or perception without scientific explanation” (2014). Paranormal is contradictory in many ways even in its meaning. The prefix “para” is Greek meaning against and in Latin it means for (Harper, 2001). The study of these strange occurrences of the paranormal is parapsychology. Parapsychologists base their studies on cognitive and physical phenomena called extrasensory perception, ability to know what others are thinking, and psychokinesis, the ability to move objects. Before modern science came into the picture the belief in nonmaterial agencies like ghosts, sorcerers, and demons took the place of science (Abdullah, 2014). The paranormal is the foundation of a lot of religions, for example, Jesus performing miracles (Jones, 2012).
According to (Radford, 2013), “Most religions claim that humans can be possessed by demonic spirits, and offer exorcisms to remedy this threat.” Demons are known as being angels that rebelled against God. Demons are not made of matter and do not have bodies but they can still tempt humans to sin with flesh. The angels became demons when they disobeyed God’s test of fidelity, faithfulness. The reason the angels did not want to follow God was because they felt he was taking away their freedom (Fortea, 2012).
Three Accounts of Demonic Possessions
Account 1
In 1906 a Christian student from Natal, South Africa was possessed by a demon. Her name was Clara Germana Cele. She was said to be taken over by strange impulses at the age of sixteen. She started to refuse religious artifacts, speak and understand languages that she did not know beforehand, and became clairvoyant, ability to percei...

... middle of paper ...

...o Horrifying to Believe. Retrieved from The Blaze: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/27/a-real-life-demon-possession-is-being-reported-in-indiana-the-details-are-almost-too-horrifying-to-believe/
Jenkins, B. (2013, July 13). 10 Terrifying Cases of Demonic Possessions. Retrieved from Oddee: http://www.oddee.com/item_98653.aspx
Jones, D. (2012, November 10). Mysteries, Miracles & Parapsychology. Retrieved from New Dawn Magazine: http://www.newdawnmagazine.com/articles/mysteries-miracles-parapsychology
Radford, B. (2013, March 7). Exorcism: Facts and Fiction About Demonic Possession. Retrieved from Live Science: http://www.livescience.com/27727-exorcism-facts-and-fiction.html
Woerner, M. (2010, August 6). Infamous cases of "real life possession" in the modern age. Retrieved from io9: http://io9.com/5623055/infamous-cases-of-real-life-possession-in-the-modern-age

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Ghosts Of St. Albans Sanatorium

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Come with me as I take you inside one of the most haunted locations in the United States today. It is a journey down dark hallways and into rooms painted by both shadow and light where spirits talk and phantoms walk. St. Albans Sanatorium is a destination known by serious paranormal investigators as a place where they can seek answers to the mysteries of what lies beyond death. Some of these investigators were able to find resolutions for themselves to a number of these age old riddles through their experiences at the sanatorium. The frightening and true stories found within the pages of this book are about these inquisitive investigators’ encounters with The Ghosts of St. Albans Sanatorium.

    Read More

  • The Possession of Roland Doe

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    The diabolical truth about the Exorcist; Forty years after its release, Tom Leonard tells the shocking real story that inspired the controversial film”. Daily Mail. London, England. The. 23 November 2013:14. Web.

    Read More

  • Were The Salem Witch Trials Spurred By Food Poisoning?

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    In all of human history, people have written about inhuman beings, many of which include gods, demons, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, and witches. Nowadays mystical beings are seen everywhere in media. Most of society stopped believing in these creatures years ago, but for 17th-century Salem, witchcraft became a living nightmare (Fremon, 1999).

    Read More

  • Elizabeth Hubbard's Role In The Salem Witch Trials

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shortly after two girls were “touched by an evil hand,” Elizabeth Hubbard, also began to experience fits linked to witchcraft (Nichols par. 2). Elizabeth lived with her great aunt and uncle due to her parents dying when she was young. Her uncle, Dr. Griggs, had previously diagnosed the

    Read More

  • A Glimpse into the History of Psychiatry

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    8. Szasz, Thomas. (1974) The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct Harper Paperback, New York, NY

    Read More

  • The Supernatural in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cheung, Theresa. The Element Encyclopedia of Ghosts & Hauntings. Element Encyclopedia Series. Unknown: Barnes & Noble, Inc., 2008.

    Read More

  • The Supernatural in Shakespeare's Macbeth

    1823 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyone has a slightly different interpretation of the supernatural but the interpretation which we can start with is Shakespeare’s. Everyone of Shakespeare’s time found the supernatural fascinating. Shakespeare interpreted the supernatural as witches, magic, unnatural and evil and he expressed his beliefs in the play, “Macbeth” very clearly, as he portrayed the three deformed women with control over the weather and the ability to predict the future. These three evil witches with magical powers were the creation of Shakespeare’s interpretation of the supernatural. Shakespeare’s contemporaries believed in the supernatural very strongly and a majority of them were frightened of it, including the king of that time, King James I of England.

    Read More

  • Urban Legend of Bloody Mary

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    Often, the story of “Bloody Mary” is the first story of supernatural form that is told to many individuals as young children. When I was in 3rd grade, a group of friends and I got together to have a sleepover; naturally, we all went to my friend’s basement and started telling scary stories. One of my friends told me that if I went into the bathroom without any lights and said “Bloody Mary” three times in front of a mirror, a bloody figure would appear.

    Read More

  • Spontaneous Human Combustion

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    Cohen, Daniel. The Encyclopedia of the Strange. New York: Dodd, Meod & Company, Inc., 1985.

    Read More

  • Dissociative Identity Disorder

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    A History of Dissociative Identity Disorder. (n.d.). Specialized catholic web about possession and exorcism. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from http://www.fortea.us/english/psiquiatria/history.htm

    Read More

  • History of Mental Illness

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout history, explanations for mental illness have been described as supernatural, psychological, and biological. Prior to the early Greek physicians, the supernatural model of mental illness prevailed. Early humans did not have science to explain natural events so magic, mysticism, and superstition were used as a substitution. They believed in animism, the idea that all of nature is alive, and anthropomorphism, the tendency to project human features onto nature. Reification was also a popular belief that assumed if you can think of something, it exists. Sympathetic magic was the idea that one can heal and individual by influencing an object that is similar or closely associated to them (Frazer, 1890/1963). Primitive healers would often imitate the patient's ailments and then model the recovery. Reification also lead to the bel...

    Read More

  • Witchcraft, Magic and Rationality

    2268 Words  | 5 Pages

    Lehmann A. C. & Myers J. E. Magic, Witchcraft and Religion – An anthropological Study of the Supernatural (Fourth Edition) (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997)

    Read More

  • Essay On Vitalism

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    Building on Mesmer’s beliefs of force, William Crookes and Oliver Lodge “sought for evidence on what they called the ‘psychic force’ that they believed was responsible for the mysterious powers of the mind” (Stenger, 1999). This theory made no scientifically proven strides, but the idea of “parapsychology” (Stenger, 1999) continued to be studied for another one hundred years following.

    Read More

  • Spirits, Ghosts, and the Paranormal

    1970 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is a common occurrence that people have some sort of experience that they can not explain, and these experiences make for a great story likely to be told to everyone around them. Some experiences could be very minor, but in s...

    Read More

  • Satanism

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    The devil is a supernatural being thought of by society and Christians as an entity of pure evil. Although there is no hard evidence proving the existence of the devil, there are certainly plenty of testimonials of people who have claimed to see Hell. So let’s hypothetically say that the devil is real. If this were the case, then that would mean that the horrifying testimonials are actually true, which may lead one to wonder why people even call themselves a Satanist to begin with. Contrary to what one might think, Satanists do not believe that the devil is something of pure evil, nor do they view him as an actual person. Satanists view the devil as an actual deity or force that is to be worshipped and given complete allegiance to. Surprisingly, people started claiming to have sold their souls to the devil before the existence of the first satanic church. Anton LaVay first established “The Church of Satan April 30th, 1966”, but this isn’t where the idea of selling ones souls came from (Barton 1). It wasn’t until the Christopher Marlow’s play, The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus was performed that humanity was first introduced to the idea of selling their souls to the devil. Unfortunately, in the day and age we currently live in, many people interpret things in a very literal manner, which in turn can cause some of the horrifying, satanic events that we may hear about through the media. But in an attempt to assuage feelings of neglect, adolescents sometimes rebel and turn to faith as a source of comfort and stability when in essence a corrupt religion can become overpowering and controlling.

    Read More

More about Demonic Posession

Open Document