I did not say that explicitly, but I definitely implied it. And I take responsibility for it. Now, let me ask you back: do you think that people who believe in poltergeists, astrology, auras, palm-reading, etc… are stupid?
Ah. The depth of your ignorance is such that it’s hard to know where to begin.
Did you ever wonder why all of humanity for most of history and most of humanity even now not only believes in, but interacts with and actively experiences the spiritual realm?
Do you not recognize the holes in your own logic wherein YOU are blindly accepting and even regurgitating statements that seem true to you but have ABSOLUTELY no substance or credibility?
It’s easy for me to write this because I am speaking to a younger, much less wise ME.
If the Bible doesn’t matter to you, then I really don’t understand what you’re even doing on this site; but if it does matter, then you need to spend a lot more time reading it. BECAUSE then you’d have noticed that there is a clear and definite DISTINCTION made between “healing the sick” and exorcism. Jesus very distinctly does BOTH. It is a total lie contrived by modern mud-slingers that states that “most illnesses were thought to be due to possession”. That’s simply not so and I would love to see a single shred of supporting documentation to that fact. I already have pointed to the Bible.
Now; as for modern exorcism. As an earlier poster already stated, but I will restate for the slow of reading; it is required that before the ritual exorcism is performed, the possessed person must undergo extensive medical evaluations. I mean running the full gamut of doctors every which way till Tuesday. We’re talking Psychoanalysis, imaging, physicals the whole works. Think about it logically, if the Church, doesn’t perform such things, then they are liable if something goes wrong. Additionally, if an exorcism is performed and the person does not improve, then there is the risk of faith being lost.
The main point for recognizing a need to perform exorcism is when the person exhibits knowledge beyond what they should. Like, for example, speaking in ancient Greek; or knowing that the exorcist dropped his piece of toast on the floor that morning. It is also a requirement that a medical doctor be present during the exorcism, in the diocese I’m familiar with.
Yes exorcisms are real, and yes they are performed and yes they do work and are probably more common than you might think; however, far more common are those people that DO like to blame everything on demonic activity. For example, an out of control teenager MUST be possessed, never mind that they were never disciplined growing up. It really is no wonder that people take the larger sum of data-points and assign false conclusions of hysteria regarding the demonic. Sadly, it is that recognized stigma that prevents people with REAL problems from stepping forward.
Spock, we all know about epilepsy. The Church knows about epilepsy. But after an MRI reveals no evidence of the scarring that accompanies epilepsy and when a Tonic–clonic seizure aka grand mal seizure is accompanied by levitation and fluent Latin, those with *wisdom *and insight try to look a little closer at what may be happening.
By the way; many, probably most Catholics don’t believe this sort of thing or choose to ignore it. It is NOT a requirement of our faith that we believe in exorcism.
Oh, and to answer your question; people who “believe” in poltergeists, astrology, auras, palm-reading, etc… are *misguided *and misinformed as to potential dangers, not to mention breaking the first Commandment.
I know that. But it was supposed that St. Vitus dance was a sign of demonic possession. Don’t you realize that the whole OP was tongue-in-cheek? To expose the incredible gullibility and stupidity of those who used to believe all that nonsense?
