# Demon possession? In 2014? Seriously? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 31, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998 "2014-03-31T16:46:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/21 "2014-04-01T08:21:07Z")
Oops! Wrong thread. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/22 "2014-04-01T11:25:17Z")
Well I’m not so sure its any worse than parents who when their kids misbehaves, immediately want the kid to go to a psychiatrist and get put on meds. We had some friends who one night they couldnt get their kid to settle down and go to bed, took him to the emergency room and wanted him medicated. Frankly he was just being a brat. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/23 "2014-04-01T13:15:04Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > The application of laying on of hands can only do two things heal her or make matters worse. There is no in between … the spirit in the men and women laying their hands on her is of great importance. > > If they are deluded or deceived then the results will be worse. > > If they are Holy and have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for the deliverance and not their own works then the little girl will be set free. > > Sometimes demons mock the church goers that use Jesus name in vain and all does not always go well with deliverance due to their faith is being tested even as Jesus own disciples had problems… Boy, these April Fool’s Day threads get more sophisticated every year! ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/24 "2014-04-01T13:25:28Z")
Nothing fails like prayer. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/25 "2014-04-01T13:58:29Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if I were a church-goer, this is the kind I would go to. I think it sounds a lot of fun whoopin’ and hollerin’ and bein’ slain in the spirit. > > But, yeah, more to the point of the OP. . . poor kid. I know you’re just being facetious but, no, it’s not. It’s really, really not. Take it from someone born and brought up in the exact BS described in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/26 "2014-04-01T14:18:06Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Oops! Wrong thread. ARGH!! DEMONS HaS GOT **SIAM SaM** :eek: ETA: either that or else an honest mistake. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/27 "2014-04-01T14:41:08Z")
I never understood the core concept of demonic possession. If the Devil or one of his minions possesses someone, and there is enough evidence to convince people it’s real, isn’t there a good chance those people will become like very, very religious. Seems like the possession might harm one person, but strengthen the faith of many. Not a very sound business plan. And to **Earl Snake-Hips Tucker** , if I ever become a churchgoer, it’s going to involve snakes…lots of snakes! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/28 "2014-04-01T14:47:49Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > The woman testifying blamed her problems on demon possession. DEMON POSSESSION. “Pics or it didn’t happen” was made for situations like this. ---
**Author:** ![delsina363](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@delsina363](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delsina363)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/29 "2014-04-01T15:00:57Z")
I once went to a church like this. They did a lot of laying of hands, and spoke in tongues. My Mom first started going, then I would go with her, and bring my girls. I never witnessed any children being treated like this, thank God. I really wanted to drink the coolaide, but the talking in tongues seemed silly to me. I just wanted to believe so badly. Poor child, maybe you should talk to the Pastor about your concerns? Poor kid, I hope she will turn out o.k. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/30 "2014-04-01T15:04:14Z")
Demonic deliverance can be used to help someone with past abuse/hurts. It personifies the evil, well not exactly ‘personifies’, but gives someone a target being to blame the past hurt on, then get rid of the being, the past hurt may go too. This is done without having to ‘hate’ the person who did the hurting and is still effecting the person’s life, which is really handy when that person who caused the hurt is no longer able to hurt. But in this case, this is the opposite, what I believe this is would be better classified as demonic oppression, forcing someone to behave under fear (fear is a demonic spirit), and not scriptural, Jesus never had the whole group do this to a child, it was always simple and direct and with authority. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/31 "2014-04-01T15:27:50Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Demonic deliverance can be used to help someone with past abuse/hurts. It personifies the evil, well not exactly ‘personifies’, but gives someone a target being to blame the past hurt on, then get rid of the being, the past hurt may go too. This is done without having to ‘hate’ the person who did the hurting and is still effecting the person’s life, which is really handy when that person who caused the hurt is no longer able to hurt. > > But in this case, this is the opposite, what I believe this is would be better classified as demonic oppression, forcing someone to behave under fear (fear is a demonic spirit), and not scriptural, Jesus never had the whole group do this to a child, it was always simple and direct and with authority. The problem with this attitude is that demons are imaginary. You might as well say that the kid is a changeling and that the mother needs to go on a quest to Faery to rescue her actual daughter before she eats any elf-foot and is trapped there forever. > [@Rachellelogram](#): > > I feel exceedingly bad for any young child who gets singled out like that. But it’s not illegal, or even immoral, to ask your church to pray for your child. The particular \*form \*of prayer may seem ooky to people outside their religion, but that’s all it is. You don’t know one single thing about these people except that they’re members of your dad’s church and they pray weirdly. Not true, actually. It’s the same church I attended as a child; I know the pastor and his wife, used to babysit their now-adult child, and know more than a dozen of the congregants reasonably well. I didn’t say that the prayer was weird to me, because it isn’t. I’ve seen shit like that eleventy-one times at least. I called them stupid, ignorant, and obscurantist, not odd. > [@](#): > > You don’t know that the mother isn’t seeking psychological help for the child in \*addition \*to praying for her. This is true, though I’m doubtful that she is-given that, you know, she _claims to think that the little girl is demon-possessed._ ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/32 "2014-04-01T15:47:50Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Murder may be more painful, but at least it ends quickly. Psychological abuse lasts your entire life. I too think murdering someone is better for them than praying for them. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/33 "2014-04-01T15:51:49Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I too think murdering someone is better for them than praying for them. That’s nuts. Even if we stipulate that prayer is \*always \*psychological abuse (which I do not believe; it’s just ineffective), one can recover from it. One cannot recover from murder. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/34 "2014-04-01T17:31:22Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > The problem with this attitude is that demons are imaginary. Why should that make any difference? The delusions of a schizophrenic child are equally “imaginary”, but placidly ignoring them won’t help. Those “imaginary” delusions can, indeed, become lethal. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/35 "2014-04-01T17:43:06Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Well I’m not so sure its any worse than parents who when their kids misbehaves, immediately want the kid to go to a psychiatrist and get put on meds. We had some friends who one night they couldnt get their kid to settle down and go to bed, took him to the emergency room and wanted him medicated. Frankly he was just being a brat. It’s actually a lot worse, because if you’re taking your child “just to get medicated”, you’re at least bringing in a trained, observant, objective medical authority who is held to legal and ethical standards by other agencies, and if you’re doing it for specious reasoning, you’re probably going to be turned down. Also, psychiatric illnesses are real, and demons are not. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/36 "2014-04-01T17:50:50Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Why should that make any difference? > > The delusions of a schizophrenic child are equally “imaginary”, but placidly ignoring them won’t help. Those “imaginary” delusions can, indeed, become lethal. The difference is that praying for deliverance from demon possession doesn’t do jack shit. Taking the child to be examined and treated for an organic disorder, or to be helped with/rescued from/given therapy for whatever environmental problems are causing the behavior is actually doing something that might work. I know Christian who, hearing that someone is suffering from an actual real-world problem like, oh, being broke and unable to feed their children, will offer no more than prayers. I know other Christians who, hearing of that same person, will help the person in need find a job, and take them food, or donate clothes to be worn to an interview, and so forth. Only the latter are doing anything useful. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/37 "2014-04-01T17:54:11Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > That’s nuts. Even if we stipulate that prayer is \*always \*psychological abuse (which I do not believe; it’s just ineffective), one can recover from it. One cannot recover from murder. Oh yeah? Prove it! ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/38 "2014-04-01T20:46:27Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Gee, I wonder who you might be the advocate for, hmm? I advocate for governmental bodies not wasting time and money tilting at First Amendment windmills. > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by buddha\_david > Murder may be more painful, but at least it ends quickly. Psychological abuse lasts your entire life. I’m glad my evil dad chose to give me psychological abuse instead of murdering me. I’m fucked up, but I’m alive. All the posts previous to #20 occurred before 4/1/14. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/39 "2014-04-01T20:49:58Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > That’s nuts. Even if we stipulate that prayer is \*always \*psychological abuse (which I do not believe; it’s just ineffective), one can recover from it. One cannot recover from murder. > [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Oh yeah? Prove it! Well, there is that whole resurrection thing. So it may be possible to recover from murder, even if it only happened once in the history of the world. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998/40 "2014-04-01T22:58:20Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > I advocate for governmental bodies not wasting time and money tilting at First Amendment windmills. Judges? No, I’m sorry… the answer we were looking for is “who is the Devil?” Let’s see how much you wagered… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/demon-possession-in-2014-seriously/684998.md?page=3)