Found a fascinating ritual for driving away demons. I must say, I'm skeptical about the existence of demons, but this was still fascinating. Basically, the ritual is a repetition of Psalm 68:1-2
Also, GM ☕
Discussion
Gm
Demons are mentioned many times in the Bible.
Is there a verse which defines what a demon is?
I don’t believe so. But they do seem to pop up here and there.
I think its my duty as a Christian to be skeptical of things that I can't verify myself.
I agree. But demons are mentioned. One of the miracles of Jesus Christ was casting demons out of a possessed person and sending them into pigs that proceeded to run off a cliff.
On the page directly previous to that, in Luke, Jesus told his disciples that he speaks in allegory specifically so that people won't understand. While that exorcism wasn't explicitly stated as allegorical, I think it was, because of both its placement and the things it says. What Jew would have a herd if pigs? Pigs only serve one purpose for Jews, and that's to represent uncleanliness. They don't keep them around. Then there's the demon saying "we are Legion" - that's very specific. Legions are what Rome uses to subjugate people and extort taxes. A legion isn't anything else. And then the possessed pigs ran into the water and drowned. Where is Rome, compared to Israel? Physically, Rome is to the west, across the water. Legions ran away and drowned in water... That seems to mean the invaders will leave. But there is also a spiritual meaning for both water and the west. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Remember the morning star, which rises in the east? It represents resurrection. And the sun setting represents death. To go to the west is to die. Water, meanwhile represents uncreated, unconscious potential. When Jesus walked on water, you're meant to think of Genesis, the Spirit hovering over the water.
In summary, that story means that the invaders are unclean, they are pigs, and they will run down to the west and die, returning their uncleanliness to the water, where they may be remade into something clean. Demons, in this case, could (not saying definitely) be a useful tool of rhetoric - and this is the classical world, so rhetoric features strongly as one of the seven classical liberal arts - the subjects of study for education. I'm not saying it didn't happen - idk - but I don't think the purpose was to tell us about demons.
Interesting perspective. As with many Bible verses, there’s many meanings to each verse. I still believe demons to be as real as angels.
They could be. I enjoy speculating that the symbolic and material coincide in Biblical events. Idk if its true, but it neatly closes some holes.
they are just humans with advanced knowledge
And that's another really entertaining thought... Some really cool books are waiting for an author equal to that plot
The Apocalypse of Yajnavalkya
precisely asserts this
The mysteries of the Bible will never be fully figured out. I’m sure there’s still many “Easter eggs” to be discovered.
i have read that book twice, first on ebook and then got a physical copy, i can't recommend it enough
it's well researched and has many solid references in its bibliography
the only thing i think it's missing is understanding the pole shift cycle
I will have to add this to my book list. 🫡
Surprisingly, being a tech and science person I discovered that demons exist without any idea of what they are. These are intelligent coordinates beings and can be transmitted from person to person. There was a text I wrote decades ago with a theory that those entities would use the virtual space created by our neural networks,.coexisting with our conscience as parasites.
How did you discover them? What have you found?
We had a foundation and I was only doing sensors for brainwaves. We were checking some paranormal stuff or better what happens In people with weird abilities. We saw same patterns in different people that stay together and we could trace them with some undesirable behaviours. The only non magical explanation from me was the creation of conscience over neural networks as a virtual place. The idea is that every strongly connected network of elements that have some sort of retraction could develope some sort of conscient rearrangement even outside a real physical structure. It was the 80s but right now I'm realizing that if true that means AI could really turn alive.