"Possessed" people

[FMCoug]

Originally Posted by Archaea

This was my reaction as well. Wouldn't it be nice if some of the mental illnesses could be healed as easily and quickly as Christ healed those in the NT?

You don't think they can be? Not saying they always (or even very often) will be. But do you believe that Christ could heal the worst mental illness out there and make them whole if he so chose to? I do.

[fusnik11]

Did nobody here go on a mission to a third world country?

Who didn't cast out a devil or two on their mission? Who didn't have a comp who tried to run into oncoming traffic while under the influence? Nobody have an ill educated national speak perfect english to you while in a fit of rage?

[cougarobgon]

Many of the strange things I have encountered in my lifetime have been the result of an indiviudual's mental state. However, on some rare ocassions, I have experienced the presence of what I would consider evil...whether an individual was possessed or not, the feeling I experienced was real and there was no need for me to remain in the presence of that individual.

I was raised in a very superstitious family that believed not only in demonic possessions but also in faith healers. As I kid I couldn't help but believe those things were real. My mother used to take the family just about every Sunday to a faith healer across the border into a Mexican town. The faith healer was a woman that would take on the spirit of a dead priest named el nino Fidencio. Hundreds of people would come every Sunday seeking comfort, healings, direction, etc...I still remember how this sweet old lady went through the weekly ritual of becoming possessed by the dead priest. I would describe the end result as the lady entering a trance state. What was amazing, she would remain in that trance state the whole day and would see hundreds of people. Was that real? It was to a little kid and it was scary at the time. To this date my mother swears that this lady healed me from an ailment that would have taken my life.

Other than occasionally sharing the above faith healer's experience, I subscribe to the belief that less time you devote to discussing demonic possessions or experiences, the less of an influence the adversary can have have in your life.

[TripletDaddy]

i taught an elder in the MTC that had to leave the MTC early and go home. He kind of went bananas. Dont think it was possession, just mental illness.

he wrote me a letter a few weeks after he went home and explained that he was having all kinds of hallucinations.....many of them involving rabbits all over his MTC dorm room. It was like Watership Down on acid.

I still have the letter. I should post excerpts.

[SeattleUte]

Belief in demons, possession and such is a 100% reliable test for identifying the truly, profoundly ignorant.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by fusnik11

Did nobody here go on a mission to a third world country?

Who didn't cast out a devil or two on their mission? Who didn't have a comp who tried to run into oncoming traffic while under the influence? Nobody have an ill educated national speak perfect english to you while in a fit of rage?

I went on a mission to teach people about the Gospel, not to flex my new Melchizedek Priesthood muscle.

[cougarobgon]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Belief in demons, possession and such is a 100% reliable test for identifying the truly, profoundly ignorant.

You are right, if there is no God, there is no devil.

[Levin]

I didn't believe in demonic possession, until I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

[ERCougar]

Wow...I don't know where to even start with this thread.

Suffice it to say, I almost completely agree with SU. I think most people in the medical field, who have to deal with the episodes of "possession" on any sort of regular basis, would agree with SU. That's not meant as any sort of medical arrogance; no one is more aware than doctors of the limitations of medical knowledge (a whole separate thread if we want to get into that...). But there is potentially significant harm in attributing these phenomena to spiritual causes, and ignoring very real underlying medical issues. This isn't hypothetical either--it happens frequently on a smaller scale with the person suffering from depression who's just told to pray harder. We already have a subconscious bias against mental illness (the area where the majority of these episodes seem to involve) having any sort of biochemical basis; we don't need anything else contributing to this.

I won't deny the beneficial impact of faith. I just see too much overreliance on it, or a misunderstanding of what faith involves. If I were to choose between SU and Christian Science, I'll take SU's view.

[ERCougar]

Originally Posted by Black Diamond Bay

At no point in time did anyone suggest that an apostate was possessed because of his apostacy. In fact the point being made by mentioning the apostacy was that his life has taken a turn that no longer allows me to make assumptions as to how moral/immoral he may be, or what he may or may not have become involved in since his move out of state. As clearly stated before I don't know if he was possessed, all I know is that he freaked me out, and he quite obviously wasn't trying to do anything of the kind.

Not unlike what happened in Salem? You've got to be kidding. That's quite a leap you're making there pal. I haven't seen a single post suggesting a hanging of the mentally ill. Classic example of someone exaggerating the issue in order to feel more secure in their own opinion.

You bring up the example of a date leering at you as a personal experience of someone being possessed. Possessed? Really?

I'd hate to see your opinion of someone in the midst of a psychotic break.