I know a devout Christian. Very devout, which I find refreshing in the day and age when so many go to church to listen to rock music and drink coffee and have somebody babysit their kids for free. This Xtian goes to church, teaches Sunday school, keeps the ten commandments, studies her ass off, you name it. She actually loves her neighbor as herself.
We discuss religion. A lot, because it means a lot to both of us. It's been good for me to openly explain certain things pertaining to Wicca to somebody who I genuinely love because I learned how to do so without taking offense, and I have openly listened to what somebody who belongs to a religion I left a long time ago has to say about her own personal devotion. I wish more people would have open dialogues with adherents to other faiths like this.
My friends devotion has not only put the love of god into her, but also a ear of Satan. She speaks at length about resisting temptation to do things I feel are quite normal, and not bad at all, and about how her god gave free will and it is everybody's job to repel Satan, who rules this world, and will eventually lose and everybody who gives in to him will go to hell.
One day, the topic of demonic possession came up. She said Satan wants to take as many people to hell with him as possible I have a family member who likewise believes this and quakes from fear from time to time, begging god to deliver her from Satan.
Back when I was a Christian, I had the same fears and had been taught the same thing. The devil was the boogie man my mom used to make me behave sometimes. I will never forget one night, before I was in school, mom had me convinced the devil had come to collect me. She had put me to bed. I can't remember how many times. She was a single mom, and I was rambunctious, and sometimes, would not stay put, and she needed to get her ass up the next day and work, so not sleeping because I was wanting to keep her up was not happening. My whole toddler-hood was like this. So anyhow she had put me to sleep, and I heard a sound at my window- it was probably the wind or rain- and I wanted to sleep in her room. She said no. I told her about the sounds. She said it was probably the devil scratching at my window. I was forced back to my own room, and recall seeing what was most likely just the shadow of an old gnarled tree branch being whipped about by the storm- but what appeared to me as a clawed hand scratching at the window.
This is the same woman who put tooth fairy money under my pillow and wrote "from Santa" on my Christmas presents. She took me to see the Easter Bunny, and took countless pictures of all the above.
So, when I was a Catholic teen, starting to psychically awaken, I was horrified and had nobody to talk to. I was convinced Satan was after me, and was inconsolable. I went to the church, and got vials of Holy water and asked them to help me because Satan was trying to take me. When I ran out of crucifixes for the doorways, I made more out of bobby pins, and I could not sleep well, and wound up heavily sedated and in the mental ward. They eventually gave me a drug that lowered my white blood count, aside from making me a zombie, and I was completely incapacitated for 22 hours some days. I remember going five days without doing any hygiene at all before, and being too weak to eat.
Hollywood did not help. The images they create of innocent women and girls- just the age range I was- helpless to a horrible demon who was torturing their pure, innocent bodies, horrified me to the extreme, because I believed that is what was happening to me. All the while, I prayed to be "delivered from evil."
Evil was defined as the devil getting you.
But Biblically, it is defined as nasty things and decisions human beings make. Things people did to one another that created strain in relations with god and with others.
Yet, the prayer is not "Help me to make good decisions that bring me closer to you and other people," thus acknowledging human beings responsibility. NO- they want god to DELIVER them- thus doing it for them. Words have power. If you say something often enough, you believe it. These folks are walking around, believing they are helpless to a Satan, when the Bible states god made man a little lower than the angels. If Satan is indeed a "fallen" angel, and man is not fallen- then man is above Satan and does not need to be afraid of him possessing them.
So on one hand, these folks say they have accepted Jesus, and many of them state once they belong to the Holy Spirit, nothing can harm them, yet they live in constant fear of Satan. Both things can't be true. It is one or the other.
Considering the billions of human beings who have existed for thousands of years, god and this devil would have to be pretty interested in just ONE individual to monitor their every little thought and word.
According to Biblical writings- no, I will not list scriptures here- if you are Christian, and don't know what passes I refer to- put this blog away and go read your Bible- Your salvation is YOUR responsibility, and nobody can sabotage it. Only you can.
People forget Jesus was Jewish- not a Christian worshiping himself- their faith was stricter and had more observances. You were held accountable for what YOU did, and nobody could do anything for you. Christians say Jesus did away with all these expectations when he died- so all they have to do is believe- no matter how they treat each other, and no matter what they do to people, all they have to do is believe and they will be okay.
Wishful thinking at best. Kind of like belief in the tooth fairy.
Taking responsibility for your own life and your own decisions is living your faith, not thinking somebody loves you and died. It has nothing to do with visiting a building a couple times a week and doing potluck gatherings and discussions about religious topics. It's got nothing to do with passing church flyers at restaurants instead of tipping your servers and absolutely nothing to do with protesting veterans funerals.
Back to spirit possession- regardless of being baptized or accepting a god or not- you cannot, under any circumstances, be possessed by a spirit unless you allow it.
Each of us has at least one spirit in us- OURS. Asking a spirit, including one of a dead relative, a god, a demon, an animal spirit, you name it- to come into you- or allowing it to if it asks is a personal choice you have a right to make. They have to leave when you tell them to. They cannot trap you. They can convince you to let them stay, and that is your right as well. But this Hollywood, and scared Christian suspicion Satan can take you against your will- it's bullshit. Don't buy into it.
If you believe "The Holy Spirit" resides inside of you along with your own personal spirit, and you belong to this holy spirit, that is a case of spirit possession.
If you believe your holy spirit is more powerful than demons and will not let demons touch you- then you need not fear demons- or the one you believe is the king of demons, Satan.
So why pray all the time for god to "deliver you from evil?" Do you believe he will forget unless you remind him? Do you think he will get mad at you for something you have done- some "sin" and allow Satan to get you as punishment?
Why not simply follow your own advice you dispense liberally to those who are uninterested and BELIEVE what you say your god told you?
If you believe you are saved, then it's done and over with already and you do not have to be re-saved ten times a week. Stop being scared and insecure, and just BELIEVE.
Focus on your relationship with that god you say chose you and watches over you . Focus on it by taking responsibility for it. Do not leave it all to your god, and ask him to do it all for you. Deliver YOURSELF. Make your god proud of you.
"But," you say,"the devil tempts me to stray." You think this? I do not. But for the sake of discussion, I will pretend I do. So, you get tempted to do something you feel is wrong. Whose fault is it of you decide to do it? the devils? Do you need delivered from him if he is tempting you? NO. it's your decision and it would be your fault. that is how what you call free will works.
As human beings, we think very highly of ourselves, believing a god and a demon king of evil would concern themselves with nothing but fighting over us for all of time.
I disagree.
Here is what i think.
Human beings all over the world, from all cultures, for all of time, have created our gods in our own image. We pick up on higher power, and ascribe human qualities, and put ourselves about all other species. Deity represents those qualities we are proud of. Justice, kindness, love, peace, plenty, immortality, wisdom, beauty, victory- we want to win all the time, don't we? A god is all that. The good stuff. Satan is just the asshole side of us we are ashamed of. He's inappropriate, bawdy, probably smells bad and eats poorly, he's most likely a drunk or druggie, his ways are disease inducing and obscene. he probably farts in public and makes passes at other people's wives. He doesn't get along with anybody, and if he was gay, he'd beat his boyfriend, I bet. I suppose he'd never hold down a job, and would mooch off everybody. I bet he's even got lice and dandruff and his socks don't match. He lies , he steals, he cheats, and all he cares about is himself. He's anti-establishment, and wants the system to fuck itself, but he wants to be the one telling everybody else what to do. He probably smells like ass and does not keep his laundry up. He wants god to go fuck himself and stop being such a goody two shoes. He just can't do anything right, can he? He is all the nasty, unhealthy stuff we are ashamed of about ourselves.
Even I wrote more about Satan than I did about the Abrahamic god. And I don't believe in either of them per se.
There is just so much more emphasis on what NOT to do and how NOT to be, than there is on what TO do and how TO be from Christians in general, that I know ore about what they reject than what they embrace.
So, Christians, just what DO you want to be? Do you want a god to deliver you from what you perceive is evil, or do you want to participate in a relationship with who you worship and take responsibility for your actions? You cannot do both. One is running from something you think is bad, and the other is walking proudly with your god. One mindset views humanity as pathetic and incapable, and the other views us as noble, and just, and able.
Your "sins" and "vices" are just a basic part of human nature. For example, lust is viewed as bad. Without list, people would never enjoy sex, and seldom have kids, and the species would die out. Sex is a huge stress reducer and if the sex is good, relationships improve. But not with the dog, or the neighbors 16 year old. We are wired for sex. But it is up to each individual how they handle this. It is not the devil using your weak desire for sex to try and take you from god. And it is not god using it to test you.
If you believe god made you in gods image, then how can you tear yourself down and say how awful you are? You would be criticizing your creator. If you believe your creator is good, and wise, and capable, and just, and that you are in that image- then so are you.
Having written all this, I have a special request for you Christians out there. I would like you to please stop misrepresenting your god and the way decision making occurs, and start having a real relationship with what you worship. The goal is not being rescued from a nasty, evil demon king and being possessed by demons and going to hell and suffering like the movies show it.
If, as adults, your faith has not matured to a relationship beyond asking god to make it all less scary- then spiritually, you are no more mature than a little kid who thinks a tree branch is Satan trying to get into her window- or the adult who convinced her of it.
As for the clergy- you are the parents of your parishioners. They look to you for answers. It is much easier to scare them into obedience with fear of suffering and punishment or to push them on with promises of rewards with paradise- but it shows that you feel they are self-centered, childish idiots who are worshiping just to benefit themselves.
You Christians have a pretty bad rep these days, you know?
Too many of you "hate fags", expect women to be baby factories, proselytize, hate the "foreigners" and the Muslims, say you hate sex, then molest children, and try and cover it up, you misappropriate thousands of tithe dollars you were entrusted with. People have not forgotten the Inquisition, the Crusades, the role your faith played in the genocide of the Americas and the Transcontinental Slave Trade.
The devil did not make you do it all. YOU do it all.
The key to not doing all that nasty shit is shifting the focus from Satan and thinking if you believe a rabbi died and is god that everything you do is okay- to holding yourself accountable, and living your faith.
I love my Christian friend and my Christian family member. The fact they are Christians worries me. Not because of YHVH and Jesus, but because of what Christianity has become. I don't like the concept of salvation because it creates a mindset of personal helplessness and shifts responsibility away from the individual.
Christians, please shift the responsibility back.
I don't like the idea of a land of eternal rewards or eternal punishments because it shifts the focus from doing what you know is right for the sake of doing right to just doing it for personal satisfaction.
Some of you Christians make this earth the land of hell for people because you think you can get by with it and get off because you are saved.
I implore you to focus on personal responsibility and your personal relationship with your god and forget having a demon king to fear and blame.
Some of you become your Satan with your deeds, and that is a personal choice to do what is within you to do- not loss of control based on some evil spirit.
Live your faith, and don't make other people's lives miserable.
Blessed Be from your local Wiccan Blogger.
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