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I’ve got to say that one of things that I like about being a Catholic is the lack of emphasis on demonic stuff and it’s influence in daily life.I mean I know that stuff is around and I’m very thankful for ppl like exorcists who are trained to handle such scenarios but honestly it bothers me when some ppl say stuff like bad things happened b/c demons or evil spirits did it so commonly.Does are not words you ever are to take lightly or use commonly.Also the topic of evil spirits and demons is WWAAAAYYY to morbid for me to be disturbed by if when this isn’t the mythological or fictional stuff.I mean you definitely better hope that is not the case b/c I’m sure that has got to be one of the utmost last things that were the cause and/or reason for something occurring that anyone would… “like” (strictly out of lack of better words ) to encounter.Like my grandmother for example who became a Pentecostal* a few years back.Along with bashing and blaming Catholicism it bugs me how she bashes and rants about other religions like Buddhism and Hinduism being pagan b/c of there ceremonies,art (esp.statues) and all the different gods in those religion (even though I for one know for a fact that isn’t neccesarily the case in either of those religions).She also commonly says that demons and evil spirits do stuff.To her it’s like a lived reality or something.I dont now if would be stretching it and giving it I would be giving it more credit than due if I said it’s like a borderline animism that unfortunately emphasizes an inversion to regular animism like the presence of evil spirits more than good ones or if it’s simply superstition that working as paranoia fuel and she just rolled it up into her religion.Even my Pentecostal uncle (who was one of the ppl in my family who were involved in getting my grandmother involved in Pentecostalism) told us once not watch horror movies*** b/c they have bad spirits in them.
IMO it doesn’t help the cause of fighting off evil spirits and demons.Let me explain.Here is a scenerio that I’ve been wondering about for a while**** now.Suppose there is a group of people consisting of an agnostic who’s willing to give spirituality and God a chance,a devout Hindu,a devout Jew,a devout Lutheran,a devout Muslim,a devout Buddhist,a devout follower of Native beliefs and a devout Catholic in a room together at someone’s house.Let’s say “the evil one” appears all of a sudden in a scary puff of smoke having the appearance of the Abrahamic depiction.This is marginally important.Now even if two of the ppl in that group aren’t fimiliar with that appearance of an evil spirit they will certainly feel that there is something unsettling evil about that thing.Despite the differences in the beliefs and personal thoughts that group of ppl has about what demons look like and work *can they not (?
)*ward off that being if they all like pray intensely at once while not being afraid because so long as they do it with faithful and sincere conviction they can drive back that dangerous but beyond words petty and foolish thug of an entity because of the simple yet potent premise that good hurts evil?.Espeically *that *sort of evil?.
Isn’t it good that having faith like that esp.when supplemented by a tried and valid belief system can get rid of such a thing?.Aren’t those groups who discredit other belief systems only weakining themselves and putting themselves in a vulnerable position by saying that those belief systems aren’t valid and/or (worse yet) not spiritual enough to do a thing like that?.Doesn’t that only make it harder for them?.
And this is DEFINATELY not something you’d like to have a try time with handling.
On a slightly different note,I still wonder though are there particular reasons why demonic stuff isn’t brought up as much in Catholicism?.
*I’m sorry if I’m offending anyone who is actually Pentecostal,has any relation to Pentecostalism,similar denominations ior something to that effectI’m sure that the sort of belief expressed and practised by my grandmother is not reflective of the majority of Pentecostals or the entire nature of the Pentecostal denomination.For your information I’m actually planning on writing a posting about the Pentecostalism as practised by my grandmother sometime in the future.
**Not that I think you can say that sort of thing in any kind of Christian denomination outside of perhaps angels and maybe saints
***Personally I dont.The closest thing to horror movies that I watch are for the most part dark action oriented monster movies like Predators and maybe when I have time I’ll get to watching Cloverfield
****One of the inspirations for this question is something that I think anime buffs would bet.In Digimon Frontier/season 4 the big fight in the last few episodes is between a fallen angel like Digimon noticebly called Lucemon and Susanoomon basd on Susanoo the Shinto god of the sea and storm.Yes I know that it’s a different deal since it’s fictional but the setting there of a being based on a god from another living religion beating a being based on a demon from another living religion heavily intrigued me and made me contrue and think if something similar coud ever *be pulled off *in real life
IMO it doesn’t help the cause of fighting off evil spirits and demons.Let me explain.Here is a scenerio that I’ve been wondering about for a while**** now.Suppose there is a group of people consisting of an agnostic who’s willing to give spirituality and God a chance,a devout Hindu,a devout Jew,a devout Lutheran,a devout Muslim,a devout Buddhist,a devout follower of Native beliefs and a devout Catholic in a room together at someone’s house.Let’s say “the evil one” appears all of a sudden in a scary puff of smoke having the appearance of the Abrahamic depiction.This is marginally important.Now even if two of the ppl in that group aren’t fimiliar with that appearance of an evil spirit they will certainly feel that there is something unsettling evil about that thing.Despite the differences in the beliefs and personal thoughts that group of ppl has about what demons look like and work *can they not (?
)*ward off that being if they all like pray intensely at once while not being afraid because so long as they do it with faithful and sincere conviction they can drive back that dangerous but beyond words petty and foolish thug of an entity because of the simple yet potent premise that good hurts evil?.Espeically *that *sort of evil?.Isn’t it good that having faith like that esp.when supplemented by a tried and valid belief system can get rid of such a thing?.Aren’t those groups who discredit other belief systems only weakining themselves and putting themselves in a vulnerable position by saying that those belief systems aren’t valid and/or (worse yet) not spiritual enough to do a thing like that?.Doesn’t that only make it harder for them?.
And this is DEFINATELY not something you’d like to have a try time with handling.On a slightly different note,I still wonder though are there particular reasons why demonic stuff isn’t brought up as much in Catholicism?.
*I’m sorry if I’m offending anyone who is actually Pentecostal,has any relation to Pentecostalism,similar denominations ior something to that effectI’m sure that the sort of belief expressed and practised by my grandmother is not reflective of the majority of Pentecostals or the entire nature of the Pentecostal denomination.For your information I’m actually planning on writing a posting about the Pentecostalism as practised by my grandmother sometime in the future.
**Not that I think you can say that sort of thing in any kind of Christian denomination outside of perhaps angels and maybe saints
***Personally I dont.The closest thing to horror movies that I watch are for the most part dark action oriented monster movies like Predators and maybe when I have time I’ll get to watching Cloverfield
****One of the inspirations for this question is something that I think anime buffs would bet.In Digimon Frontier/season 4 the big fight in the last few episodes is between a fallen angel like Digimon noticebly called Lucemon and Susanoomon basd on Susanoo the Shinto god of the sea and storm.Yes I know that it’s a different deal since it’s fictional but the setting there of a being based on a god from another living religion beating a being based on a demon from another living religion heavily intrigued me and made me contrue and think if something similar coud ever *be pulled off *in real life
?.I KNOW it’s real and has existed.What one of the things I’m getting at in the first paragraph is how it’s regarded differently in Catholicism and Pentecostalism.
,I got your posting
