This has taken a really strange turn. Devils, major or minor, seem to be an all-consuming thing with some people. Would it be any better if this were converted into a thread on conjuring up, say, the tooth fairy? We can wax smart on the possibilities of tooth fairy sex. We can speculate on whether the tooth fairy had any influence on Adolph Hitler, or in the alternative Captain Kangaroo. We came blame all the shortcomings in our lives on the tooth fairy. We can warn each other of all the dire things that can happen when a baby tooth is left under a pillow. My personal view is that Sen. Helms is probably the tooth fairy, or its vicar on Earth.
I’ve been waiting for this one to pop up. I would’ve done it myself, but I figured my Sluggy link was enough.
On a more serious note, I’m with casdave on the nature of evil. You may well find more evil in the average big bureaucracy than you will in the average Satanic grotto.
Methinks someone around here has begun to take Mr. Chick and his ilk a bit too seriously.
As a warning don’t get pieces of demon stuck in y our harddrive
He has severed his E-mail links to the board by changing his address to “quit”.
Why is it that some people seem to believe more fervently in spuernatural evil than Good? Or at least seem to think that Evil is more important?
Well, I guess if I did think that demons were real and the source of evil, or whatever, I’d be bothered by people taking them lightly and making jokes about them too.
Oral sex?
The Testament of Solomon features King Solomon, son of David, and famous biblical wise man, kicking ass [here referred to as `adjuring’] and taking names and basically using demons as slave labor to build his temple.
I have no idea what this notion of Solomon as a demon summoner would have meant to the ancients. The book is not cannonical, but many Christians probably bear notions about demons that come directly from it, and for all I know, it could have been thrown out of the cannon for very different reasons than we would do so now. But if you were prepared to take this as scripture, then you have your answer. Apparently, it’s not necessarily bad to summon demons, so long as you’re Solomon and God has given you the power to do so.
It’s a Saturday Night Live skit about the ultimate geek fan club, which worshipped the sitcom “Mr. Belvedere”. Things got a little out of hand.
Magical Silver Key is an expert on this stuff. I sent him the link and he still hasn’t chimed in. Damnit, get on the ball Key 
Sorry Eve, was offline all weekend.
I once went into a store, picked up some literature which seemed innocuous, but was kindof occultic.
So that night, my sons toy vaccum (which made a whirring nosie when you pushed it) started making the noise.
I ent, jumped up and down near it, thinking some vibration had set it off.
Same thing next night.
Me and all my church friends (unliek most of teh sdmb) beleive ther are demons.
So my friedn came and prayed the blood of jesus over my apt. and never happened again.
Go ahead and make fun, i know its real. And it isn’t funny.
I don’t want to make fun. But you have to wonder why this kind of thing (so-called “demonic” stuff that starts immediately after buying an “occultic” book (what, Harry Potter?)) only seems to happen to people who already believe in demons…
I had Dungeons & Dragons books (as well as Wiccan/pagan, magick, and fantasy/sci-fi books and pagan paraphernalia) in my possession for over 10 years and I never even heard mysterious footsteps, let alone had “Poltergeist” and “Exorcist” things going on. I still have several pagan/magickal items tucked away in drawers and on shelves here and the most paranormal thing I’ve seen is the disappearance of umpteen single socks, but I understand that’s fairly common, with or without the presence of “demonic” influences.
jayjay
Now that is just plain funny
Oh, and good point jayjay. I think people underestimate the power they have to convince themselves that something meaningless has great significance. The extreme of this is a paranoid schizophrenia, who believe everything has great personal significance. However, everyone has this ability, to some degree.
I’m not saying it wasn’t a demon, vanilla, but clearly your experience with the occult was unusual. There are people out there that actually try to summon demons, but it is safe to say they have a dismal track record.
Since I don’t actually know anything about summoning demons, I’ll just share some stuff I pulled out of my ass.
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If you really truly are trying to summon a demon, you’ll get a reply. You have been warned.
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Sacrificial knives must not be made or iron or steel, which will cancel the magic. Stone knives are ideal, silver or copper acceptable.
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Forget the flat floor-based pentagram. What really rocks is a three-dimensional cage in the form of a dodecahedron, or twelve pentagons, suitibly inscribed.
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Nothing is free.
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Once you’ve gone over the line, there’s no going back.
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You will have no way of proving any of the things you experience. But it’s not just a dream or hallucination.
Y’know, I am a religious believer… but I don’t feel this obligtes me to take this “demons” nonsense seriously.
As others have observed, there is real, demonstrable evil in this world, as the result of the actions of real flesh-and-blood people. We should be tackling that rather than chasing phantoms.
I’ve read quite a bit on the occult, and, indeed, own several “occult texts”, none of which have had the slightest effect on my vacuum cleaner, or any other piece of electrical equipment. (With the exception of my computer, but then I think we can agree that all computers are possessed by the Devil anyway, at least as soon as you install Windows).
To be sure, anyone who goes around attempting to summon demons for personal gain is not going to be a nice person, by the standards of either traditional or neo-pagan religions. I stand by what I said earlier about wish-fulfilment fantasy - such people have shallow desires and no particular compunctions about how they fulfil those desires, and this probably qualifies them as bad people. But there’s a logical gap between “bad people have fantasies about summoning demons” and “demons are real”. The evil that gets done by so-called “black magicians” is done by the magicians themselves - and I have yet to see any proof that it is done by anything other than strictly natural means. Q: What’s the difference between Aleister Crowley and a drug-addicted con artist with an unhealthy fondness for teenage boys? A: Nothing.
I might be wrong. But it strikes me that, even if I am, a good healthy dose of mockery might be just what the Devil can’t stand. It may, possibly, be a sin to mock sacred things (though I’ve always believed that God has a sense of humour), but the Devil is not sacred.
“The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.” - Martin Luther
“The devil . . . the prowde spirite . . . cannot endure to be mocked.” - Thomas More
Hmm, I own a bunch of D&D and other roleplaying books, rock CDs, fantasy novels, and I live and have premarital sex with my fiancee. There must be some demons lurking about the house somewhere, because they come to this world when you play with all those things I mentioned. Ya know, I do think there is one that lives in my dryer.
Ok, if that were true, why play the game? I’ll just read the eighth-level spells!
And vanilla, what did you use to rid the place of its demon? Christian exorcism? Buddhist texts?
Oh my goodness… I had no idea!
NOOO one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our three weapons are
Four! Our four weapons are…