# do you believe a person can become possessed by the devil?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-a-person-can-become-possessed-by-the-devil/101975>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 5, 2002, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-a-person-can-become-possessed-by-the-devil/101975 "2002-04-05T09:18:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-a-person-can-become-possessed-by-the-devil/101975/21 "2002-04-05T17:33:02Z")

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everybody pay close attention. this is the answer:

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by gobear \*  
> \*\*In short, no. You can’t be possessed by the Devil because the Devil and all his infernal minions do not exist. The Devil is just a survival of Manichaean dualism inherited from Mesopotamian myth.
> 
> Every culture has had its devil figure: Set, Ahriman, Dis, Beelzebub, Ravana, _Oprah Winfrey_. In an agrarian world where one’s survival is dependent on forces out of one’s control, it’s easy to conceive of a malign supernatural agency that causes droughts, plagues, locusts, and other unpleasant events. If something evil hjappens to you, you can blame the Devil. If you have disturbing psychosexual impulses, one can blame demonic possession. As Flip Wilson used to say, “The Devil made me do it!”
> 
> It’s high time our society grew up and left such primitive beliefs in the toybox where they belong. \*\*

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