The Only Demon to Fear

I don't believe in Demons. I am not saying I don't believe in beings that are hell bent on over-throwing the Kingdom of Heaven, no that part is totally plausible. In fact it makes a lot of sense. Given an infinite universe, with an infinite number of created beings, all with the gift of free will, it follows the laws of chance to assume that at least a handful of these creatures turned on their creator. It's practically the law of probability. A discussion of the existence of extraterrestrial beings, Angels or otherwise, is not what I'm discussing here, I am specifically addressing the idea of demons that inhabit people's bodies and force them to do or say things that they normally would not.

The propagation of the idea of demon inhabitation has been at the heart of Christianity from the beginning, and probably apart of all religion from the beginning. However, Christianity has taken this idea to a whole new level, and I'll try to explain why. Most religion relies on one very important sentiment, and that sentiment is sensationalism itself. People like to feel as though there is something beyond them that is in control of their environment. People thrive off the feeling of fear. Fear drives all bad religion, and it drives the belief in the supernatural as well. Not only that, but the supernatural validates the believers faith an alternate power source that is contradictory to the evil one. In other words, Christianity uses the demonic influences to prove its own legitimacy. 

You see there is one extremely inconvenient truth to religion, at least all poorly constructed religion. There is no outward proof of God's existence. You cannot go in to a church and look at the pulpit and find God standing there ready to talk, neither do you go in to a church and see angels standing guard over the communion bread. However, guess what is more than available to us everyday? You guessed it, demon possession. 

You can step outside and see any number of evidences of it. Katy Perry sings extremely well at a super bowl concert. We all know Katy Perry isn't that good, so the only explanation is that she performed a seance and channeled the lead singer of heaven himself, Lucifer. The other day I saw a demon-possessed lady out in front of the cafe I frequent. She was talking to absolutely no one, yelling at the air and having a conversation with herself. The demonic influences are so conveniently evident. I can go to the local psychiatric ward and find dozens of demon-possessed people. So if the demons are real...God and His army of peace and Justice must be real as well, or at least that is the reasoning of some. Do you see how wrong this sort of reasoning is? I know this type of reasoning because I took part in it for years. We would tell these demon possession stories with awe that bordered on reverence. And we would shiver when we heard how God had triumphed over evil when the pastor cast the demon out. You see, these stories validate our beliefs. They give us a reason to believe, it is real hard evidence that points to the existence of God. Thank God for demons, or we might not even be aware that God exists. 

As you should be aware by now, I take very little stock in the sensational. I do not worship God because it makes me feel tingly. I do not worship God for fear of demons haunting my nightmares, I worship God from a logical mind that has thought through the options and come to the conclusion that there is a creator, a beginning to this never ending cycle. There is an unmovable mover and yes, "He" does desire a relationship with me. Not one built on fear and superstition, but one built on love, understanding, and knowledge. That relationship is seen practically in how I treat those around me. This relationship isn't some superstitious prayer ritual in which I communicate with a higher being. This relationship is seen in its ability to change my way of thought, my desires, and my actions. The relationship is acted out in my ability to choose, to think, and to do. This relationship is acted out in existence itself, the fabric of reality and the small part that I play inside of it. 

God does not force, ever. God does not posses people and control their actions. This would be a violation of free will. If you have read my articles on the Bible and inspiration, than you will know that I believe normal people wrote the Bible according to their individual understanding and knowledge of God. The Bible is a reflection of man's experience with God over the past several thousand years. I don't believe there is such a thing as an absolute revelation from God. The relationship that these men write about is inspired, but their individual understandings of it, and the words with which they choose to describe it, are not inspired. It is purely the mind of humanity reasoning out faith. God gave us minds with the ability to reason for this exact purpose, to be able to discover Him. With this is mind the idea that some other created being can inhabit the human mind and take over their body is rather contradictory to me. 

Free will means so much to God that I do not believe he has even made such an inhabitation possible. We are the only things that can actually possess our own mind. The human mind is a marvelous machine. It has processes that we haven't even begun to comprehend. In one aspect it is just a collection of electrical circuits and connections. We feel the world around us because of receptors throughout our body that detect sensations such as pressure, temperature, pain, and vibration. We smell because of electrical impulses triggered by special chemoreceptors in our nose that carry electrical signals to the brain, which then get interpreted, sorted, and stored in memory. We can see because of photoreceptors that convert light energy to electrical energy that the brain interprets as shapes and movements. Our entire reality is based on "simple" electrical impulses sent to our brain, impulses that can be corrupted and misinterpreted. Our brains also have a quantum source for the storage of memory, etc., but that's another topic. Suffice it to say, our brains are crazy machines, but they are just that, a machine, and machines can be corrupted. 

Because our brains can generate the reality in which we exist, how hard do you think it is for our minds to create alternate realities by misinterpreting the senses being received from the environment? It isn't hard at all, in fact it's quite common, it occurs with drug induced hallucinations, brain damage, and psychological disorders. Our brains have the ability to distort the reality in which we exist. You may be wondering about the stories of superhuman strength etc., exhibited by these supposedly possessed people. Again, our bodies are amazing machines, there is no such thing as super human strength, it is simply strength that the body does not normally exhibit. There is a massive amount of energy stored in human muscle. Normally stretch receptors protect us from actually using our muscle above its capacity. In fact, these receptors are so finely tuned that they will not allow you to pick something up that would harm you. If a weight is too heavy these receptors will fire and cause your fingers to automatically extend causing you to drop whatever it is you are holding. Your body normally protects itself. If something happens to this system it becomes possible to do some truly amazing things, such as the mother lifting a car off her child. She suffered a compressed spine and torn ligaments and muscle because of it, but she was able to do it because of the shear adrenaline and terror that overrode the normal sensory response of her body. The same phenomenon can occur by drug induction, or by psychological disturbances and hormonal imbalances. 

I am 99.9% sure that virtually every "demon possession" is simply a manifestation of a sick mind. These people need help and rehabilitation, not an exorcism performed by prayer. There is nothing to fear from the demonic world. "Demons" are nothing more than created beings that are involved in a very similar experiment, as we are, that is, "what would the universe be like without Love being the driving force of existence?" These "demons" are created, and besides physiological differences and potentially dimensional differences, these beings are not much different from us. By believing in such things as possessions and haunting etc., we give to them a certain amount of adoration that they, as created beings, do not deserve. 

I know what is for most on your mind as you read, that is that the Bible talks extensively about demon possession. I have a number of answers to that argument. Firstly, Bible writers had no knowledge of the processes of the mind. They wrote according to their understanding of the time, so when someone with a mental illness starts screaming insanities and speaking in other voices and claiming to be a demon, what else would they assume? Bible writers thought that the heart controlled the thoughts and actions, they thought the mind was nothing more than filler for the skull and a bed for the soul, so the processes that alter our state of consciousness were not well understood at all. It is easy then to see why Bible writers would conclude the often-erroneous concepts that are often found in the Bible. It doesn't lesson scripture, it merely sheds light on times and culture. To me it makes the Bible more real, and even more believable. These writers were real humans, operating under their own free will to think and understand. 

"Why then, did Jesus give so much consideration to demon possession?" You might ask. When I read those stories I focus on something completely different than you likely do. You see it's not important to me how the writer chose to describe the story, or what Jesus said to the demon possessed person, what matters is what Jesus did. You see Jesus paid them no mind. He faced them head on and he commanded them to leave. Jesus was not awed by the "posseessed", he gave them not a second thought. He looked at the individual and He saw a person. Jesus healed people he did not perform exorcisms. Jesus had the power to heal people's minds. I've seen it a few times. Someone is going crazy and flipping out, yelling at the trash can etc., and I watched as my Bible worker calmly walked up to the person and merely talked to them as a person, prayed with them and put a comforting hand on their shoulder. Do you know what happened? The person calmed down, they relaxed. Usually these "demon possessed" incidences were brought on by drug use or alcohol. What brought these people out of their raging was simply a calm peaceful person that demonstrated compassion and concern for their condition. The simple prayer revealed to these people that someone cares and was willing to take the time to speak with them and offer assistance and healing. This is exactly what Jesus did. He was a man of compassion; He healed people, mind, body and soul. 

So you see, my focus isn't on the interpretation of the writer, but in the actions of Jesus. I ask myself the question, what did Jesus think of these people? How did Jesus view demons? What did Jesus do? Jesus recognized demons for what they were, merely created beings that had abandoned the grace of God. There was no room in the mind of Christ for superstition and sensationalism. Christ did not preach a doctrine of fear. He did not scare people in to following him, he merely preached of the love and perfect character of Himself and lived in such a way that drew people to him. He cared for people; that was the doctrine of Christ. 

The fact of the matter is, we all have a demon inside and it is ourselves. The same free will that God established to allow us to choose life and love, also allows us to make decisions and do things that harm our bodies, twist our reason and alter our judgment. We have the ability to deconstruct our reality and mold it in to something dark, deceptive and demeaning. We see what we want to see, we fear what we want to fear, and we will ultimately become what we desire to become. Even if demon possession was a real thing and every mentally ill patient truly was infested with demons, I would not give it any more thought than I give it now. To me, I just don't care. I really do not care if Katy Perry really did summon demons to her aid, I really don't care if our president prays to the devil for guidance, I don't worry about the secrete societies who control government and do the bidding of the devil himself. None of these things faze me. There is no room in my mind to dedicate to such a waste of brainpower. I desire truth above all, I desire reason and I desire thoughts from a sound mind. My focus is on the revelations of the character of God found in Jesus and all of creation. Be beholding I intend to be changed in to the perfect image of God, into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. By the grace of God I will become like the most high. 

I want to call each of you to a deeper understanding; I want to call you out of a religion based on fear and illogical assumptions, "For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7) I desire that each of you obtain a knowledge of God that surpasses fear, that overcomes superstition and that matures in to understanding. May your religion be as intellectually honest and logically contrived as is the theories of a scientist studying his field. God has called us to seek and find, to discover and learn. Do not allow fear to rule your mind and construct your philosophy. 

“Finally, brothers and sister, what ever is true, what ever is honest, what ever is just, what ever is pure, what ever is lovely, what ever is of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)