"Possessed" people

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by RockyBalboa

Why always so full of contempt and indignation?

I'm sorry. I don't mean to come off that way. I'll try to be more polite. (I changed my comment about chiros after you wrote this.) I don't think it's healthy to believe in possession. I think it's superstition. Probably in the past people believed to have been possessed were usually suffering from mental illness. That does strike me as the most likely scenario.

[YOhio]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

I'm sorry. I don't mean to come off that way. I'll try to be more polite. (I changed my comment about chiros after you wrote this.) I don't think it's healthy to believe in possession. I think it's superstition. Probably in the past people believed to have been possessed were usually suffering from mental illness. That does strike me as the most likely scenario.

Good luck in your efforts to approach religious topics in a more sensitive manner.

I don't think believing in possession is necessarily unhealthy. I could see it being unhealthy if it leads one to automatically ascribe the erratic behavior of a loved one to possession instead of seeking to find the appropriate medical cause. In essence, calling the Priest instead of the doctor.

But you must know that this type of situation would be very rare in the LDS community. The well-advertised high rate of anti-depression medication usage in the state of Utah is strong evidence that the LDS do not shun medical solutions to mental health maladies. My understanding of LDS teachings is that medical remedies and spiritual remedies are not mutually exclusive.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I think folks are being a little hard on SU in this thread. (why all the hypersensitivity lately?)

Last I checked, demonic posession was not part of our articles of faith.

When is the last time you heard a conference talk on demonic posession?
When is the last time you heard a sacrament meeting talk on demonic posession?
When is the last time you had a sunday school/priesthood/rs discussion on demonic posession?

You may find some obscure examples, but it is extraordinarily rare.

It's not a core belief. Not even close. And it's pretty bizarre at that. Don't you find it odd that God would allow a spirit to take over another person's body, thereby usurping that person's free agency? How does that fit into any gospel plan? I can certainly understand why people believe that these episodes can be explained by mental illness.

[RockyBalboa]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

I think folks are being a little hard on SU in this thread. (why all the hypersensitivity lately?)

Last I checked, demonic posession was not part of our articles of faith.

When is the last time you heard a conference talk on demonic posession?
When is the last time you heard a sacrament meeting talk on demonic posession?
When is the last time you had a sunday school/priesthood/rs discussion on demonic posession?

You may find some obscure examples, but it is extraordinarily rare.

It's not a core belief. Not even close. And it's pretty bizarre at that. Don't you find it odd that God would allow a spirit to take over another person's body, thereby usurping that person's free agency? How does that fit into any gospel plan? I can certainly understand why people believe that these episodes can be explained by mental illness.

Yeah, but according to some on here, they believe the Articles of Faith don't share any real core beliefs either.

Without getting too deep and into sacred things, it's my understanding that when Lucifer was cast out, that he would take those who follow him and attempt to destroy, mislead and possess the bodies given to those who would follow the plan that Christ set forth. I could be way off, and if I am forgive me, but I could see where possession might happen on occassion.

Some people believe that individuals are born gay, thus usurping their free agency...that they "had no choice to be gay or not." So it's a pretty grey area I guess.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by RockyBalboa

Without getting too deep and into sacred things, it's my understanding that when Lucifer was cast out, that he would take those who follow him and attempt to destroy, mislead and possess the bodies given to those who would follow the plan that Christ set forth. I could be way off, and if I am forgive me, but I could see where possession might happen on occassion.

Is this doctrine or something else? I saw this on that film about Mormon theology Waters posted. But is it doctrine? Some said they didn't believe the stuff that film said Mormons believe.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Is this doctrine or something else? I saw this on that film about Mormon theology Waters posted. But is it doctrine? Some said they didn't believe the stuff that film said Mormons believe.

There are speculations by early members regarding this stuff when it was believed. There is no definitive declaration on the stuff, and many active, card carrying members would not believe it is anything but mental disease.

I have never seen the other side of the veil so I don't claim to know how it interacts with this side. I am skeptical of most who claim knowledge thereof.

[BlueHair]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

I agree whole heartedly.

Seattle - we know you choose to not believe. We know you feel that it because you are educated that you choose not to believe.

We just don't care that you choose not to believe. Surely your college education can see the rationality behind that.

If you don't like the thread, don't participate. It really is that simple.

Some things aren't choices. Some people are not ABLE to believe. It's not really about choice. I doubt SU could choose to believe any more than you could choose to believe in Santa Clause now that you don't believe in him anymore. Sorry if I made inacurrate assumptions about your belief in Santa.

[BlueHair]

I don't believe in possession. Pre-mission I had what I believed to be a demonic experience. Post-mission I had many times where I thought I felt evil spirits around me. I had the hair standing on the back of my neck and the chills. I even used to have scary dreams. Since I've left those beliefs behind, I haven't had a single occurance of evil. People tell me that the devil already knows he has me so he doesn't have to bother with me anymore. I obviously don't believe that, but either way it's nice not to have the scary experiences anymore. I honestly think those experiences were self inflicted, irrational fears based on my beliefs. Similar to getting freaked out after watching a scary movie

[SoCalCoug]

Originally Posted by Black Diamond Bay

When he took me home and he was getting ready to say goodbye, and then while he was standing there something changed and he got a strange look about him. His eyes went all hollow, and his face looked weird. I'm not trying to be dramatic either, I don't know how to describe it, but it really didn't look or feel like he was in there right then. I've never seen anything quite like it, and IMO it was very unnerving. I don't know what his deal was, and I've seen him once since and he seemed normal enough but right then if someone had told me he was possessed I would have whole-heartedly agreed. I don't know if he really was though.

It was his horny look. All he wanted was a goodnight kiss.

[Jennerstein]

When I was in Taiwan, it was a hot bed for crazy people. We had the bag lady who tried to capture every single person's signature (we had fun signing Bill Clinton, Winnie the Pooh, etc), the air violinist who'd stand up in church and play what I think was Vivaldi, and a guy affectionately named Gypsy (he was the good kind of crazy).

On my mission, I also experienced a couple of experiences where we had to confront evil spirits. I won't go into more detail for personal spiritual reasons.