Maybe this is a social media thing, but it has come to my attention recently that a lot of people seem to think demons literally exist.
In my youth I had a Jehovah’s Witness friend who stated that demons were a literal thing. I was gobsmacked by this, for I had never heard a person express such an opinion. I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic schools, and the existence of demons was not raised as a thing. This was in 1986.
Now… it seems to me a great many people, at least in North America, really believe demons are a clear and present danger. I do not mean figuratively, I mean literally.
Does anyone else see this?
Is it just social media making it easy for me to see this kind of stuff or is it a growing thing?
If this is a real phenomenon, why is it happening?
I believe in literal demons so I think I can answer some of these. The reason why I believe in them is because I have met them, and even had an ongoing, but ultimately unsatisfying sexual relationship with a succibus.
My short answer is not everyone’s life is perfect, but for some people apparently it is ‘good enough’ not to question why one’s life is not how they think it should be. But for others, particularly those who notice they are missing out on things that other people seem to get so easily, they start questioning and seeking.
This questioning time is very interesting in that there will be people who try to convince you that’s normal and no need to question it. It’s just how things are.
But pushing past that, there is a period of stubbornness that you won’t accept that and will not relent till you get an answer. I would say this is the times where the demons reveal themselves, even by name, and how that has caused the very issues in one’s lives. It was a horrifying time for me and forces one to work through their demons to expel them. For me it was a time where I would be tormented in my sleep, and during the day dreading the night that was coming even to the point of trying not to sleep (btw that doesn’t work). But it is also a wonderful time of learning who one is, and also getting God’s help and meeting some great lifelong friends.
If it is growing I would say it maybe because there is so much more self exploration, such as LGBTQ, and other awareness of discriminations and how it is OK to be oneself. Less fitting into societies mold for one’s life and greater acceptance for who people are.
A lot of people believe in angels who actively assist people. It seems to be that demons who harm people would be a natural extension of such beliefs.
There’s probably some of that at work. Perhaps the Great Duke of Hell, Haborym, is commanding his legions through direction from Twitter or Facebook.
I haven’t run into a whole lot of people professing the dangers of demonic interference, but it’s been background noise most of my life. Like most of us here, I’m old enough to remember the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, I had a babysitter who wouldn’t allow me to watch Thundercats or GI Joe because of its Satanic influence, in the 90s I remember some religious nuts going off about the Goosebumps series introducing children to the supernatural, and then of course Harry Potter a few years later. There are people who believe demons literally influence people and cause harm.
I spent the better part of three decades as an evangelical, fundamentalist Christian. In my group, it was just generally kind of accepted that demons were about, wreaking havoc behind the scenes. Perhaps they were responsible for the rock album you purchased. Perhaps they were in some way responsible for a joint getting into your hands. When the girl you were macking on in the back of your truck took off her shirt, a demon was probably responsible. HOWEVER, I only met 2-3 people in those decades who believed they encountered one personally – as in seeing one, talking to one, etc.
Another group in which I had some friends and acquaintances, but was not directly involved, believed that demons were everywhere all the time. Everything bad that happened was the result of demons. The guy who robbed a jewelry store did so because he was demon-possessed. The person who ran a red light and t-boned your car was demon-possessed. A poor decision? Demon possession. Unacceptable work turned it at your job? Demon possession. And so on.
Also, the 1980s was the height of the Satanic panic over D&D and rock music. That wasn’t worry about metaphorical demons and a symbolic Satan, that was millions of people literally believing in literal demons literally influencing children through games and music.
I think you are wrong. It was people literally believing in real demonic influence. You just seem to be in a “nobody I know voted for Nixon” bubble. I’ve been around metaphorical Nixon voters all my life. They believed in real demons in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s… I’m not seeing anything today that isn’t more of the same old thing it has always been.
I realise from your posting history that you are very religious, but this claim is at best bizarre.
Was it a physical or imaginary relationship? And if physical, what evidence do you have that the succubus was not human?
I mean, we’ve all made mistakes in relationships and had sex with the wrong person, but my response to that is, oh shit, I had sex with my friend Mary (not her real name) by mistake after sharing too many drinks.
She is really sexy - beyond my league - but she’s a nice, normal person. Not a succubus.
I think once you have crossed the line into believing in any imaginary beings (i.e. beings for which there is no actual evidence and which contradict everything we know about how the universe works) then you have no basis to rule out any other imaginary beings that someone somewhere has made up. So if you don’t believe in demons, why the hell not?
I personally don’t believe in demons, but I know there are people out there who do. Many say they are haunted in their dreams by them, but I wouldn’t consider that an actual demon. It may seem truly horrifying to them, but dreams are not real life.
For those who claim to see demons walking amongst us and behaving in an evil or supernatural way, I ask them to find such an entity and capture it so we can study it. They of course will claim you can’t catch a demon because they are not of this world.
My guess is that these people may have seen someone acting bizarrely at some point. Perhaps someone with schizophrenia or some other severe mental disorder. IOW, perfectly explainable without having them be demonic. As far as evil-doers go, there are plenty of evil people in the world and you don’t need to be a demon to be evil.
Because there is no scientific evidence for demons, and because you can’t prove with absolute certainty there aren’t demons, they remain a part of our culture, just like all the other religious figures who may or may not have existed and/or done miraculous/supernatural things.
I’m pretty sure you would place this in the imaginary category - subsection dreaming. She would come at night in my sleep.
As for evidence, first I don’t believe in evidence when it comes to spiritual things (not how they work by design), but anyway, I will let you know what I have to that. I have had what one would call frequent wet dreams from puberty to the time I expelled that demon, at about mid to late 30’s, which it quite unusual to have frequent wet dreams continue so long. Most unusual is when I ‘came’, if it was ‘outside’ of her I would wake with the ‘evidence’ of the wet dream, however if it was inside of her there was no evidence that I came, and I was so sure I ejaculated, and usually woke up right after. Like she took it with her.
In the dream I felt her as another entity and not a typical dream character. If you wanted to know the sex actually was quite incredible and enjoyable, but after quite empty. When I started seeking answers for my own life, I found out about this demon and asked her to go. She didn’t want to and instead of the wonderfulness of the sex, it changed to quite a mechanical thing. I would be dreaming and out of nowhere she would appear, come up to me, I would cum inside her, and she would disappear, and I would be left feeling empty, violated and robbed. There was no enjoyment and the ‘moment’ lasted maybe 5 seconds. After I was able to expel her, which is a long story, but basically I challenged her hold over me, her right to me, and claimed the right to break that hold.
After this I noticed a change in my life in regards to romantic relationships.
Up to this I had very few girlfriends and very little sex. So little it was one of those things I questioned as it seemed to come so easy for others to at least the degree that I should have more then I do. After this time I started having g/f’s (and sex) on a much more regular basis to the degree that I consider normal, if not slightly above average. Also some of the holdovers from the early sex did carry through to some amazing sex later once she was gone.
I agree with my esteemed colleague, Dr. RickJay. While there was a core element of the Satanic Panic movement that literally believe in evil spirits/demons, it managed to gain widespread popularity because it tapped into the more tangible fears that real people were preying on children. Even with D&D, the most widespread fear was that it blurred the lines between reality and fantasy and could be psychologically damaging.
I need to qualify my statement. I don’t think there was any widespread Satanic movement engaging in the ritual abuse of children. Only that the fear someone might be hurting children is a bit more tangible than worrying about a demon influencing people.
According to that article, “She went on to write that magic was real and curses were real, warning others against “catering” to evil beings hiding in plain sight.”
It’s not that surprising that someone who believes in “magic and curses” would do something this heinous to their own child. For everyone who thinks it’s cool or fun to believe in imaginary beings in our real world they should realize there is often a significant downside for innocent victims.
Maybe, but there was absolutely a core of people in the '80s who thought D&D books taught you how to cast actual magic spells. It was widespread enough that in the '90s, TSR scrubbed all mention of “demons” and “devils” from their rule books.
Plus, kids playing D&D in the '80s were mostly playing it with friends from school. They’re not hanging out with some strange adult, it’s the same group of kids that were playing GI Joe the day before. Where’s the “stranger danger” in that scenario? No, there were absolutely people who thought that D&D books, in and of themselves, were a danger.
Same thing with Harry Potter a decade later. People thought reading Harry Potter would make you into a literal witch. And this isn’t even over a social activity like D&D, it’s solitary reading. Where does “The Satanists will get your child,” come in when they’re reading a book alone in their bedroom? They perceived a genuine supernatural threat from these books.
My answer to the title question would be along the lines that it’s about as many people honestly having this belief as have all our lives, BUT (a) the networks make them more visible and (b) many of them feel no longer cowed into hiding that they do lest we laugh at their superstition (left as an exercise to the student to what extent “(a)” has empowered this emboldening).
Oh sure, I remember that. The specific term “Satanic panic” though was generally applied to accusations of people engaging in ritual abuse and stuff like that. Such things often centred around recovered-memory work, which is pseudoscientific nonsense but was often used to accuse real people not of being demons, but of being child abusers.
I was always told that if you believe in the Christian idea of God then you had to believe in the Devil (and his demons as well). And yes, I believe that there are demons and that they can influence people do horrible things that they would not do under normal circumstances. Alcohol and drugs are a gateway to demons if you let them take over control of your life. I’ve interacted with demons.
My cousin used to read tarot cards when we were younger as something fun to do, she never used drugs or drank to excess. She had a few experiences with the cards that scared her off from them.
I think the actual number of gruesome crimes committed by actual people who actually identified as Satanisists, and who unambiguously committed crimes in his name, in those days was quite small. Not more than a few dozen, if that. And I suppose much of that could be attributed more to mental illness and less to “I worship Satan and he commands me to do this terrible thing.”