An open letter to students about demons

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Besides you believing it too sarcastic…do you agree with the content?
 
Wow. Could not have said it better myself. I think the tone was spot on. Brilliantly played.
 
He mostly sounds like he’s venting, which is amusing to those of us who do believe. To those on the fence about it, yes, it does sound unnecessarily, perhaps counter-productively belligerent. I think there’s a validity in the approach though. For every one turned away by his tone, I think there is another for whom this challenge is a wakeup call.
 
I for one would love to see his “numerous secret documents that only the most privileged can read”. Why doesn’t he make them public for us all to read? This kind of claim requires real evidence to back them up so I remain extremely skeptical of his claims.

However, I for one, firmly believe in the existence of demons.
 
cheese_sdc said:
So the logic is this: If you’re insulted, then it proves I’m right?

I disagree.
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One takes insult if ‘A’, statement/s apply, or ‘B’, statement/s do not apply. In this case, if A, then there is great need to be shaken up on this matter. If B, there has been given great opporftunity to validate the truth of the matter. The letter was in direct response to at least 1 that denied the subject matter.

I think it’s only ‘too’ sarcastic if we expect little of each other.
 
Starwynd said:
I for one would love to see his “numerous secret documents that only the most privileged can read”. Why doesn’t he make them public for us all to read? This kind of claim requires real evidence to back them up so I remain extremely skeptical of his claims.

However, I for one, firmly believe in the existence of demons.
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he gave you the secret documents, chapter and verse…it was the bible!!😊
 
stbruno said:
catholicexchange.com/2008/09/17/113785/

Very thoughtfully presented. And I couldn’t agree more for anyone who is offended by the thought that demons and hell exists. Here’s the scoop…hell exists and so do demons, no matter how you scoff at it.
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I think the guys that wrote that might actually be insane. That happens to people you know…

Not trying to be offensive…but c’mon…sounds pretty silly to me.
 
cheese_sdc said:
Insulting your audience is hardly a good thing.
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It shows the author is good at being rude, but not much else. That’s one virtue St. Paul failed to mention. Apologetics by insult was not necessary to Aquinas (who is an unfailing model of courtesy, patience & fair-mindedness) so it is not necessary at all.​

Going to the text is not enough - the author does nothing at all to meet the (wholly plausible) suggestion that the NT demons, far from being demons in reality, were seen where they did not exist because of a misdiagnosis of medical data: Mark’s “epileptic boy” is an epileptic, nothing else. It’s pure ignorance to attribute epilepsy to demons. And so for the other “demons”: Mary Magdalene was probably an hysteric or some such.

He did nothing to meet the reasons for disbelief in the reality of demons. People disbelieve because they have reasons to do so, & sarcasm is no solution. (FWIW I believe there is a Hell, but not that demons are real - neither belief requires the other)
 
I’ll not go over the stylistic weakness of the letter, but…
Gottle_of_Geer said:
(FWIW I believe there is a Hell, but not that demons are real - neither belief requires the other)
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From the CCC, Catholics are held to believe that…

550 The coming of God’s kingdom means the defeat of Satan’s: “If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Jesus’ exorcisms free some individuals from the domination of demons. They anticipate Jesus’ great victory over “the ruler of this world”. The kingdom of God will be definitively established through Christ’s cross: “God reigned from the wood.”

1673 When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing. In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. The solemn exorcism, called “a major exorcism,” can be performed only by a priest and with the permission of the bishop. The priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.

The Church acknowledges the difference between disease and extraordinary diabolical harassment. But demons do exist, they are fallen angels, their proper and ultimate place is Hell, but they are sometimes allowed certain power over the physical world.
 
Gottle_of_Geer said:

It shows the author is good at being rude, but not much else. That’s one virtue St. Paul failed to mention. Apologetics by insult was not necessary to Aquinas (who is an unfailing model of courtesy, patience & fair-mindedness) so it is not necessary at all.​

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Well said. Thank you.
 
Gottle_of_Geer said:

It shows the author is good at being rude, but not much else. That’s one virtue St. Paul failed to mention.​

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Even Paul, misanthrope that he tends to be, has a leg up on this jerk:
1 Corinthians 13:1:
If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
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For a vent, it’s… passable, maybe. For a critique, it’s actively counterproductive.
 
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