S
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.
S
sumusresnovarum
Guest
The context of your post is entirely separate from the Christian understanding of Satan and other lesser demons. “Daimon” in Greek meant a spiritual force, almost a muse. In this way, we still use the term ‘daimonic’ in the sense that something has the quality of moving the spirit toward either good or evil, used for things like money or power. However, in terms of Demonology, Christians don’t speak of ‘demons’ put in ruling order over us. Even the concept of angels is that they are intercessors, not ruling beings, and that only God had power over us. Demon is the term used to refer to fallen angels, those purely spiritual beings who by free will turned inward to praise themselves instead of praising God. I find your quote interesting, but it doesn’t apply to Christianity, as the development of the bible from Greek to Latin didn’t take into account the Greek philosophical leanings on the word, it was the Jewish notion transliterated into a language with incomplete meaning.
J
Joe_Kelley
Guest
Note that this is the demon of Maxwell’s demon in physics.
B
Bob_Crowley
Guest
Lifted from Wikipedia -I was so intrigued by the following that I felt is was worth its own thread.
Demonswere not always bad. “Daimon” in Greek means “knowledge”.
Plato, Socrate’s student, described demons this way (way before any form of Christianity):
How come Demons are liars? They learned from the people.
"The words daemon, dæmon, are Latinized spellings of the Greek δαίμων (daimôn) used purposely today to distinguish the daemons of Ancient Greek religion and mythology, Hellenistic religion and philosophy, good or malevolent “supernatural beings between mortals and gods, such as inferior divinities and ghosts of dead heroes” (see Plato’s Symposium), from the Judeo-Christian usage demon, a malignant spirit that can seduce, afflict, or possess humans.[1]
In Hesiod’s Theogony, Phaëton becomes a daimon, de-materialized,[2] but the ills of mankind released by Pandora are keres not daimones. Hesiod relates how the men of the Golden Age were transmuted into daimones by the will of Zeus, to serve as ineffable guardians of mortals, whom they might serve by their benevolence.[3] In similar ways, the daimon of a venerated hero or a founder figure, located in one place by the construction of a shrine rather than left unburied to wander, would confer good fortune and protection on those who stopped to offer respect. Daemones were not considered evil. The term also referred to the souls of men of the golden age acting as guardian deities.[4]
The daemon as a lesser spiritual being of dangerous, even evil character, an invisible numinous presence, was developed by Plato and his pupil Xenocrates,[5] and absorbed in Christian patristic writings along with other Neo-Platonic elements. In the Old Testament, evil spirits appear in the book of Judges and Kings. In the Greek translation of the Septuagint, made for the Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria, the Greek Άγγελος angelos translates mal’ak, while daimon (or neuter daimonion) carries the meaning of a natural spirit that is less than divine and translates Hebrew words for idols, alien gods of the Hebrews’ neighbors, some hostile natural creatures, and natural evils.[6] The usage of daimon in the New Testament’s original Greek text, caused the Greek word to be applied to the Judeo-Christian concept of an evil spirit by the early 2nd century AD."
Demons were always bad. What you’re really talikng about is a linguistic turn of phrase, where a word has come to change it’s meaning. If you’d mentioned that a chap was a gay fellow in the year 1900, you’d have meant he was light hearted. Not these days.
S
sinnerdexter
Guest
guys,
thank you for your perspective. Yours and mine are just part of six billion plus perspectives on the pale blue dot and billions more before our time and before our perspectives became known to each other.
thank you for your perspective. Yours and mine are just part of six billion plus perspectives on the pale blue dot and billions more before our time and before our perspectives became known to each other.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.