Stories About Demonic Spirits...

[katautumn]

Many Christians like to claim that playing games at slumber parties such as light as a feather, stiff as a board or playing with a Ouija board lead to demonic possession and experimentation with the Occult. Many claim they burned "Satanic" rock music albums and heard "popping, hissing and screeching" coming from the flames - proof that these albums were possessed by demons. Many claim they became involved in Witchcraft after reading Harry Potter or playing Dungeons & Dragons. I have to say these stories make for good scare tactics, at best.

It has been proven that there is nothing "magical" about Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board. Simple physics dictate that. And yet, so many Christian parents warn their daughters about how playing this innocent game at slumber parties can lead to demonic possession and interest in Witchcraft.

Fires make all sorts of noises, regardless of what you are burning. Air pockets, gases and other factors contribute toward fires making certain noises while burning. And yet so many Christians are convinced these are "demons" screaming as they are being destroyed.

None of the spells in Harry Potter have been used in real Witchcraft. None of them work. Harry Potter magic does not even remotely resemble real Witchcraft.

With this being said, how much validity do these stories hold? Any thoughts or stories to share?

 

[Arnold_Philips]

I had a friend in high school that became very angry with me when I told him that I didn't believe his story about seeing a demon (which he concluded was a sign to give up listening to secular music). He truly believed that he saw one.

 

[loriersea]

I would not say with total certainty that it is impossible that people have had supernatural experiences of that sort. However, I think it is highly unlikely that most of the people who report such experiences actually had them.

My husband and I watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose the other night, and it seemed pretty obvious to us that there was no way, in real life, that girl was possessed. It would be far too coincidental that someone who was raised by an extremely conservative religious family, who attended a church with a priest who believed in demonic possession and the existence of evil spirits out to get people, and whose mother was upset that she was leaving their small town to go to the "evil" big city would suddenly become possessed by demons when she goes to school in the big city. Obviously, her upbringing caused her to interpret certain symptoms and experiences in a particular way, in that case (since it was based on a true story), in a highly delusional, destructive way.

So, I think that in most cases where people believe they have had encounters with "the dark side," it is simply that they are viewing their experiences through a lens that makes that the most obvious answer to them, even if it isn't the most logical or truest answer. It becomes woven into the larger narrative of the world that they are either raised in or come to adopt, and it is fit into that narrative in a cohesive way.

 

[Helo]

The noises you get from burning a Ouji board comes from air trapped in the cardboard. Any game-board will do that.

All of these demonic posession stories seem to be missing key information. They demonstrate that the writer has no knowleage of what he/she is writing about and is most likely making it up as they go.

There are people who honestly believe they saw/felt something evil, they make take things that are un-related or coincidental and turn them into something bigger.