An Invisible World (Week 1)

• Episkey wrote on 2012-05-27 19:26
  [SIZE="3"]Disclaimer:[/SIZE]
  [SPOILER="Spoiler"]It was wisely brought up to my attention by another forum user about my intentions with writing this.
  
  Whereas my tone is probably direct, I'm not trying to "force" anyone to believe in something. Rather, my goal is to inform everyone about Christianity and help those with questions about God realize who and what he is.
  
  Although there are other reasons are to why I wrote this - those will remain elusive for now.
  
  This is going to be a weekly project of mine, so expect a thread every week - probably on Sundays.[/SPOILER]
  
  
  What if I told you that there was an invisible world that co-existed with our visible world?
  
  And that this invisible world can have a severe impact on the visible world? Your well-being, decisions, mental and physical health - can be subject to this invisible world.
  
  ...
  
  If you think about why you wash your hands, this idea of an invisible world may not be foreign to you.
  
  However, before the 19th century - you may have thought of my assertion as nonsense.
  
  See, people used to believe in the principle that life formed from inanimate matter on a day to day basis. This belief was known as Spontaneous generation.
  
  Therefore, any diseases or infections arose "spontaneously" upon individuals. It was completely random and was believed to have been the cause of death in individuals.
  
  Other scientists, most notably Louis Pasteur, disproved the idea of spontaneous generation as being the cause of illness and disease.
  
  As Louis Pasteur stated, "Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover from the mortal blow struck by this simple experiment."
  
  Therefore, the ideology switched from spontaneous generation to germ theory.
  
  
  So today, I'm going to talk about the invisible world.
  No ... not the one populated by microorganisms. A different invisible world, a world you may not be aware of.
  
  
  Just as there is a world of bacteria and viruses, there is also a spiritual world - which obviously contain spiritual entities.
  
  
  Currently, the spiritual world is inhabited by God and his angels - as well as the Devil and his fallen angels.
  
  Now, whenever you hear about the Devil, you probably imagine a red figure with a pitchfork. Maybe you imagine him living in a fiery place where "bad" people go. In any case, modern society has done well to create the Devil as a symbolic representation for evil.
  
  However, this representation is inadequate at best. The Devil is actually a real living entity - just like you and me are.
  
  Are you familiar with a person by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth? The one who said such iconic phrases such as -
  
  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
  
  and
  
  "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)
  
  
  Well, this same Jesus refers to the Devil as being an actual individual (not a human obviously).
  
  There came a time when the Jewish religious leaders questioned and refused to listen to the words of Jesus simply because they were descendants of Abraham. In addition - they said that they had God on their side, that God was their "Father". Jesus replied by saying this:
  
  "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:42-44)
  
  
  Wow. Try calling someone's father the Devil in a normal conversation and see how well that goes. What did Jesus mean by that? He obviously wasn't referring to the Devil being their literal blood-related father.
  
  Satan (The Devil) is a spiritual entity and has some authority over this world. (Luke 4:5-7)
  
  Satan's main way of negatively influencing us is through lies and deception. He takes the truth and twists it.
  
  Appetites become Addictions. Desires become Greed. Love turns into Lust.
  
  Some of you may be asking, "Well, you can't see this invisible world. Therefore, I don't believe in it's existence."
  I say to you, look carefully at the negative effects. You can't see Satan and his demons unless they manifested themselves, so look to see their negative influences.
  
  
  Think about your past and current decisions. Have you ever noticed a lack of judgement in some of your decision making? "Why did I ever do that?" - you constantly ask yourself.
  
  An easier task might be to think about someone else. To you, their current and past decisions seem so stupid - yet, they don't seem to realize it. You may tell them time and time again about how they need to make better decisions, but to no avail.
  
  Look at the state of our world. Evil people exist, sure. But then look at genocides that have occurred in recent times. Planned systematic murderous attempts at an entire group of people? That isn't someone simply killing another by accident or on a whim ... it's much more profound than that. On top of which you have the masses of civilians who simply refused (or couldn't) to stop the acts of violence.
  
  This invisible world has had a profound impact on human behaviors and mentality. So, what can you do?
  
  
  1.) Factor this into your thinking
  
  Recognizing a potential source of evil will give you a much better chance at resisting it. I'm not advising you to look for a demon under every stone or when you burn your hand with coffee to blame it on the "Hot coffee demon".
  
  Satan (The Devil) is the father of all lies - a good description of him. Recognizing these lies will allow you to better resist them for the evil they are - lies are simply put, lies.
  
  Lies only seek to impede and harm you. They never improve or help you.
  
  
  2.) Arm yourself with the Truth
  
  The truth will set you free.
  
  A popular idiom, it was originally said by Jesus. Jesus said this about himself:
  
  "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)
  
  Your greatest need is to have your sins forgiven by God - which you can have, through Jesus.
  If your sins are forgiven, you can enter Heaven and Satan has lost his hold on you!
  
  Satan's lies will falter under the strength of the Armor of God. The Armor of God is something you can receive as a Christian in order to prepare you against these negative influences. The Armor of God can be found in Ephesians 6:13-17.
  
  
  "10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:10-12)
  
  
  There is a war going on right now, so to speak. The war isn't against man, but against the Devil.
  
  
  ________________________________________
  
  
  Feel free to Private Message (PM) me if you have any personal questions or want to know more about God. Jesus Christ died for your sins and would want nothing more than to accept his sacrifice.
  
  At this exact moment, a war is going on over you - over your very soul. How you respond to this message will greatly impact the rest of your eternity.
• Zack wrote on 2012-05-27 20:43
  Is the main "argument" of this supposed to be that the devil is the cause of all bad things that happen? If the case, then I don't agree. The brain is a powerful thing and causes people to do things that they believe is right to do (Emotions and disabilities). Sure you could argue that the devil is the cause for this, but science can prove otherwise. I don't want to offend anyone so I won't argue and express my feelings over this topic furthermore.
  
  I did find this interesting to read, though. I would suggest maybe making it a bit more organized for further weeks. It was a bit troubling to follow along the entire time and figure out what was your main point/argument. Also. try expanding your points when implementing a quote to back it up. I found you added a lot of quotes but not a lot of information to explain it's figurative meaning.
• Episkey wrote on 2012-05-27 21:00

  Quote from Zack;873952:

  Is the main "argument" of this supposed to be that the devil is the cause of all bad things that happen? If the case, then I don't agree. The brain is a powerful thing and causes people to do things that they believe is right to do (Emotions and disabilities).

  
  
  Not all bad things. The source of evil can be summed up in three regions - the human condition (which is what you are referring to), the nature of this very world, and Satan himself.
  
  The Devil doesn't have the main source of the evil in this world - but most evil eventually stems from him.
  
  Are you familiar with Adam and Eve? The Devil convinced Eve to eat from the forbidden fruit, which was forbidden by God. As a result, sin entered humans. Sin, by definition, is the act of disobeying God's commandments. Since God is a being of perfection and goodness, doing evil is considered sinful.
  
  Therefore, the Devil could be called the "main source" of evil - even though humans have their own free will.
  
  
  

  Quote from Zack;873952:

  
  Sure you could argue that the devil is the cause for this, but science can prove otherwise.
  I don't want to offend anyone so I won't argue and express my feelings over this topic furthermore.

  
  
  Science doesn't really like to say much about the cause of evil. The only realm of "science" that I could think of being applicable, would be Sociology.
  
  However, if you had something specific in mind - feel free to share.~
  
  I think you are capable of adequately expressing your own beliefs - no need to limit yourself. I won't be offended if you simple dissagree - i just ask you write out your disagreements tactfully and in good taste.
  
  

  Quote from Zack;873952:

  
  I did find this interesting to read, though. I would suggest maybe making it a bit more organized for further weeks. It was a bit troubling to follow along the entire time and figure out what was your main point/argument. Also. try expanding your points when implementing a quote to back it up. I found you added a lot of quotes but not a lot of information to explain it's figurative meaning.

  
  
  It's not really an argument ... just a sort of collection of my thoughts and what I learned today. Admittedly, I wrote this in some-what of a rush - I hope to be more coherent later.
  
  The quotes must refer to the Bible verses?
  I tried explaining them before-hand, if there's something you feel as if I didn't explain adequately - please feel free to ask.
• Zack wrote on 2012-05-27 21:41

  Quote from Episkey;873956:

  Not all bad things. The source of evil can be summed up in three regions - the human condition (which is what you are referring to), the nature of this very world, and Satan himself.
  
  The Devil doesn't have the main source of the evil in this world - but most evil eventually stems from him.
  
  Are you familiar with Adam and Eve? The Devil convinced Eve to eat from the forbidden fruit, which was forbidden by God. As a result, sin entered humans. Sin, by definition, is the act of disobeying God's commandments. Since God is a being of perfection and goodness, doing evil is considered sinful.
  
  Therefore, the Devil could be called the "main source" of evil - even though humans have their own free will.

  
  
  Ok I get what you're saying now. (Nothing really to say :P)
  
  

  Quote from Episkey;873956:

  Science doesn't really like to say much about the cause of evil. The only realm of "science" that I could think of being applicable, would be Sociology.
  
  However, if you had something specific in mind - feel free to share.~
  
  I think you are capable of adequately expressing your own beliefs - no need to limit yourself. I won't be offended if you simple dissagree - i just ask you write out your disagreements tactfully and in good taste.

  
  
  What I mean by science is just mutations in the brain and body. I believe it is more of the cause of evil. But yes, social groups do play a big role on human behavior (Religious wars, racial conflicts, etc). Anyways, I too am Christian. I went to catholic school for 12 years and I have VERY mixed feelings on Christianity. Science plays a big role and the fact that there is little proof that Jesus and God are real causes an issue for me. I know the point is to believe in God even though there is no proof, but that's difficult. I also know that just because I went to Catholic school doesn't mean much, but when you get all this knowledge forced into you, you start to believe it and it does affect you.
  
  

  Quote from Episkey;873956:

  It's not really an argument ... just a sort of collection of my thoughts and what I learned today. Admittedly, I wrote this in some-what of a rush - I hope to be more coherent later.
  
  The quotes must refer to the Bible verses?
  I tried explaining them before-hand, if there's something you feel as if I didn't explain adequately - please feel free to ask.

  
  
  Also I wasn't trying to bash your writing if it sounds like that :s . I just had a bit of a hard time following along :P But yea I understand what you did with the versus now.
  Obviously we have different views and similar views (Not sure if I talked about similar views but we do). I respect your opinion so if I'm sounding like a jerk I'm not trying too!
  
  Anyways I have to go so I won't be able to discuss more!
• Episkey wrote on 2012-05-27 21:47

  Quote from Zack;873969:

  
  What I mean by science is just mutations in the brain and body. I believe it is more of the cause of evil. But yes, social groups do play a big role on human behavior (Religious wars, racial conflicts, etc).

  
  
  Ah - I suppose so. I differentiated between random acts of evil and evil done in ... groups?
  
  Not really the right way to word that, I think.
  
  
  

  Quote from Zack;873969:

  
  Anyways I have to go so I won't be able to discuss more!

  
  
  That's fine, take care! I appreciated your input :p
• Chiyuri wrote on 2012-05-27 22:26
  While I agree with the existance of the Spiritual side of the world, I don't agree with you adding god and the devil in it.
  As far as I can tell from the data I get from the spiritual realm, there is no godly being in this world. The only data relating to a possible godly being is only about some sort of nameless "maker" that left the world after it made it.
  Anyway, as for spiritual entity.. It wouldn't exactly be fair to call them demons but some are indeed oriented to negative actions. Nearing all spiritual entity are created by people unconciously. and a very small amount were conciously created by people. The source of all spiritual entity remain people through as only people (and maybe, maybe a few animals(remain to be tested.)) can produce those.
• Episkey wrote on 2012-05-27 22:41

  Quote from Chiyuri;873998:

  As far as I can tell from the data I get from the spiritual realm, there is no godly being in this world. The only data relating to a possible godly being is only about some sort of nameless "maker" that left the world after it made it.

  
  
  "Data" from the spiritual realm? Are you referring to your own personal experiences with contacting the spiritual realm?
  
  

  Quote from Chiyuri;873998:

  
  Anyway, as for spiritual entity.. It wouldn't exactly be fair to call them demons but some are indeed oriented to negative actions. Nearing all spiritual entity are created by people unconciously. and a very small amount were conciously created by people. The source of all spiritual entity remain people through as only people (and maybe, maybe a few animals(remain to be tested.)) can produce those.

  
  
  Spiritual beings created by people? How could we posses such a power?
  
  If we had the power to create spiritual beings, then there would be a large and increasing amount of them. If we indeed create them unconsciously.
  
  Or do you believe spiritual beings can die?
  
  I'm not trying to attack you - but rather, understand your viewpoint.
• Chiyuri wrote on 2012-05-27 23:18

  Quote from Episkey;874006:

  "Data" from the spiritual realm? Are you referring to your own personal experiences with contacting the spiritual realm?
  
  
  
  Spiritual beings created by people? How could we posses such a power?
  
  If we had the power to create spiritual beings, then there would be a large and increasing amount of them. If we indeed create them unconsciously.
  
  Or do you believe spiritual beings can die?
  
  I'm not trying to attack you - but rather, understand your viewpoint.

  
  
  I could not find a better word than "data" since it's kinda like knowledge without words. When you get information from the spiritual realm, it's like you just end up with knowledge added into you. That's mostly why I refer to it as been Data.
  
  As for spiritual entity. Would there be a reason in particular that make you ask "how could we posses such power?" ? People have always been able to influence the spiritual realm, it's just that people are forced to think it's impossible/too hard/out of their range and whatever. Those kind of thoughs really block out the possibility of manifesting the ability on a willingful basic.
  
  Anyway, most spiritual beings are horribly made/poorly made. They don't have self-awareness, a clear purpose or anything. They were randomly created from human emotions and thoughts without the person's awareness of making them. Most of those that are atleast stable enough to act, try to leech spiritual energy from people to keep existing. Without such, they would just fade away into nothingess. Also just as easily as people make them, people can also destroy them without trying.
  
  Since the concept of "death" apply only to biological structure, you can't really say spiritual entity can die. But if you think of death as to stop existing, then yea, Spiritual entity can easily die.
• Episkey wrote on 2012-05-27 23:55

  Quote from Chiyuri;874026:

  I could not find a better word than "data" since it's kinda like knowledge without words. When you get information from the spiritual realm, it's like you just end up with knowledge added into you. That's mostly why I refer to it as been Data.

  
  
  The knowledge is simply ... added? As in ... oh never mind.
  
  Dare I ask, how does one gain such information from the spiritual realm?
  
  

  Quote from Chiyuri;874026:

  
  As for spiritual entity. Would there be a reason in particular that make you ask "how could we posses such power?" ? People have always been able to influence the spiritual realm, it's just that people are forced to think it's impossible/too hard/out of their range and whatever. Those kind of thoughs really block out the possibility of manifesting the ability on a willingful basic.

  
  
  Because, simply put - human beings don't have any spiritual power whatsoever.
  
  Any "spiritual power" if via magic or rituals always comes from an external source.
  
  Even if Christians use spiritual power, that comes from God himself via prayer or because of the Holy Spirit (an spiritual entity, who is God) dwells within us. It's always an external source, not because of our human nature.
  
  If its as simple as the thoughts that prevent us from achieving such power, why aren't there more instances of people effecting the spiritual realm?
  With all this New Age movement, surely some have become "enlightened" enough to realize that they could influence the spiritual realm.
  
  On that same notion, since a thought is a learned behavior - why aren't infants or small children able to effect the spiritual world?
  
  Simply put, we cannot. Any "influence" on that spiritual world comes from an external source.
  
  
  

  Quote from Chiyuri;874026:

  
  Anyway, most spiritual beings are horribly made/poorly made. They don't have self-awareness, a clear purpose or anything. They were randomly created from human emotions and thoughts without the person's awareness of making them. Most of those that are atleast stable enough to act, try to leech spiritual energy from people to keep existing. Without such, they would just fade away into nothingess. Also just as easily as people make them, people can also destroy them without trying.
  
  Since the concept of "death" apply only to biological structure, you can't really say spiritual entity can die. But if you think of death as to stop existing, then yea, Spiritual entity can easily die.

  
  
  I don't see how a spiritual essence or being - could cease to exist.
  
  What about humans? Do you believe we posses some sort of spiritual essence?
• Chiyuri wrote on 2012-05-28 03:10

  Quote from Episkey;874045:

  The knowledge is simply ... added? As in ... oh never mind.
  
  Dare I ask, how does one gain such information from the spiritual realm?
  
  
  
  Because, simply put - human beings don't have any spiritual power whatsoever.
  
  Any "spiritual power" if via magic or rituals always comes from an external source.
  
  Even if Christians use spiritual power, that comes from God himself via prayer or because of the Holy Spirit (an spiritual entity, who is God) dwells within us. It's always an external source, not because of our human nature.
  
  If its as simple as the thoughts that prevent us from achieving such power, why aren't there more instances of people effecting the spiritual realm?
  With all this New Age movement, surely some have become "enlightened" enough to realize that they could influence the spiritual realm.
  
  On that same notion, since a thought is a learned behavior - why aren't infants or small children able to effect the spiritual world?
  
  Simply put, we cannot. Any "influence" on that spiritual world comes from an external source.
  
  
  
  
  I don't see how a spiritual essence or being - could cease to exist.
  
  What about humans? Do you believe we posses some sort of spiritual essence?

  
  
  A good example of added knowledge. Intuision, deja-vu and such.
  
  As for how.. that's a rather difficult question. It's like trying to explain how you move your arm as a willingfull action. You just instinctively do it as if it's a part of you. Reading information from there is similar but not completly willingful either. It's difficult to target specific information and once you establish a link to receive data, you don't have full control of it.. Most people are connected to it to some degree but when you start increasing your awarenss of the data, it start to keep pooring more and more into you.. At some point it can even get annoying since a lot of data is pointless.
  
  
  Because, simply put - people always had spiritual abilities whatsoever. What your religion teach you to believe isn't always the truth of everything. Spirituality is more of an internal source in which you use your own spiritual energy by your own will (or even without trying)
  Prayers themselves can be counted as an inscription to program spiritual energy to do something. While some peopel mgiht think it is their god doing something for them if something happen, it's quite possible it's their own doing. Of course, if you think of spiritual energy as some sort of godly force.. you could say that the "holy spirit" dwells within us.
  While there are those who affect the spiritual realm on purpose to modify reality to their desire, there are those who disbeleive in such thing and their own strong belief that it is impossible also affect the spiritual realm. You can already tell which is the stronger force inbetween the two. Disbelief in such thing by the mass has heavily restrained the effects of the spiritual realm over the physical world. Also, there are many many peopel still that practice spirituality still. There is just not much point in trying to make it public to a large audience since the requirement to bring proof is a difficult basic to fufil with all those who strongly disbelieve in such thing.
  
  Why can't an infant ride a bicycle or drive a car from the start? The answer is pretty much the same. You need to learn somehow how to do it, either by someone else teaching you or by self-taugh, try-and-fail method. Anyway, it's possible that they still somehow affect it on a willingful basic but they will forget about it with time as they are raised into normal citizen.
  
  
  
  Humans are both physical and spiritual beings. well actually pretty much everything alive is to some degree or another a bridge inbetwen both sides.
  The spiritual side of living beings is something I call the Spiritual System. It's a flow of spiritual energy that goes aroudn and inside the body and within it seem to be created the spiritual energy itself. From one person to another, the spiritual energy varies a little in detail but in every case, the energy is temporal.. it vanish quite quickly outside the flow. Most spiritual energy trace vanish within 24 hours (through some methodes help make it a little bit longuer)
  Now for spiritual only beings. As they are not living, they do not have their own spiritual system and so they don't have a stable flow of spiritual energy. Without that, they cannot exist. They are just programs inscribed into spiritual energy of the maker or something else. Think of it as a peice of paper with writings on it. The paper is always burning away and the writings need more paper suplied to them to keep existing.. once there is no paper left, the writing have no where to exist, so they simply cease to be. The one way to avoid that it to use Universal energy. Through my research I found out of a specific type of spiritual energy that is quite unique on it's own. It's not temporal. It doesn't vanish after 24 hours, a week, months, years.. quite probably eternal. You can image it as a fireproof-paper. That Universal energy seem to be everywhere and no-where at the same time.. it's like reality itself is made out of it.
  Because of how difficult it is to dicern it's existance, I find it doubtful someone could uncouncisouly create a spiritual entity using that. Only someone who can willingly create programs could do it on Universal energy. If done, it could create a spiritual being that is eternal (through another user could simply errace the programming themselves hence "killing" it) The various data I reicived from there indicate that Universal energy is the spiritual energy of the "Maker" But since it gone from this world, the Universal energy left is Limited. Which is quite different than Living being spiritual energy which is infinite but short in time. This could possibly link to some text saying a god made man like him. Both have spiritual energy afterall.
  
  I've left out a bunch of details about variousd other stuff sicn e I did not feel the need to write them for the time being.
• Okami wrote on 2012-05-28 07:37
  Very interesting read! I really don't have a major disagreement or issue with anything you said, but I do have a question though. :D
  
  

  
  Think about your past and current decisions. Have you ever noticed a lack of judgement in some of your decision making? "Why did I ever do that?" - you constantly ask yourself.
  
  An easier task might be to think about someone else. To you, their current and past decisions seem so stupid - yet, they don't seem to realize it. You may tell them time and time again about how they need to make better decisions, but to no avail.
  

  
  
  From what I understand, you're saying that these bad judgements are caused by the demons in the spiritual world, correct? But couldn't our emotions just be an answer for this too? I mean a lot of the situations where I lacked judgement were situations were I had an intense emotion attached to the situation. And personally I've seen it happen for other people too.
  
  But, I'm guessing for you it wouldn't be just the emotions causing the bad judgements. The emotions would then would be considered the negative influence from the demons, correct?
  
  A few silly unsure questions from me, hopefully you can clear them up. xD
• Rin wrote on 2012-05-28 13:57
  Perhaps what he means is that the Devil could give you "nudges" to make you do things you wouldn't otherwise while being emotional.
  
  For example, the demons could influence someone who is angry to cloud their thoughts and murder the person who caused the anger.
• Episkey wrote on 2012-05-28 15:56

  Quote from Chiyuri;874236:

  I've left out a bunch of details about variousd other stuff sicn e I did not feel the need to write them for the time being.

  
  
  It was interesting to read your beliefs, while I could further ask questions - I think it would be appropriate to ask another time.
  
  
  
  

  Quote from Okami;874333:

  Very interesting read! I really don't have a major disagreement or issue with anything you said, but I do have a question though. :D

  
  
  Wow. Thanks! Feel free to ask any more questions.~
  
  

  Quote from Okami;874333:

  
  From what I understand, you're saying that these bad judgements are caused by the demons in the spiritual world, correct? But couldn't our emotions just be an answer for this too? I mean a lot of the situations where I lacked judgement were situations were I had an intense emotion attached to the situation. And personally I've seen it happen for other people too.

  
  
  A portion of these bad judgments can be caused by demons in the spiritual world.
  
  Human beings and their emotions, like you mention, are surely the main cause of bad judgments. However, I'm merely introducing the point that there is another external source humans should be aware about.
  
  I think Rin sums up what I was further going to say quite nicely.
  
  
  

  Quote from Rin;874433:

  Perhaps what he means is that the Devil could give you "nudges" to make you do things you wouldn't otherwise while being emotional.
  
  For example, the demons could influence someone who is angry to cloud their thoughts and murder the person who caused the anger.

  
  
  
  Yes. The concept of being negatively influenced by demons - to expand upon this issue, I can categorize it in two main ways:
  
  
  Demonic Oppression/Influence
  
  This is the main portion of what I am talking about. Demons/The Devil are actual spiritual beings and their ultimate goal is to ruin humanity by leading them into sin.
  
  The main way they do this is via lies, accusations, and temptations. The don't have to be audible words - but can be negative thoughts and apparitions.
  
  Anyone can be demonically oppressed, if they succumb to these lies, accusations, and temptations. If a Christian becomes influenced, the demons are successful in tempting a Christian to sin and are able to further hinder a Christian’s ability to serve God.
  
  
  Demonic Possession
  
  An extremely rare phenomenon, but the Bible does make mention of it happening. At this point, a demon has dwelt within a person and has nearly full control of their thoughts, behaviors, and actions.
  
  The good news is that Christians can't be demonically possessed because all real Christians have the Holy Spirit (a part of God) dwelling within us. Our spiritual "home" is already occupied and God isn't going to allow some demon own the place.
  
  
  
  In either case, the only solution is to have that person accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. An exorcism without repentance from sins is futile and only makes the whole situation worse.
  
  
  The power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9) is always available to overcome demonic oppression. No demon, not even Satan himself, can prevent a Christian from surrendering to the Holy Spirit and thereby overcoming any and all demonic activity.
  
  
  
  Feel free to ask anything else if you have more questions or desire further explanation. I didn't want to go too in dept on demonic activity ... lest I seem too esoteric. @_@
  
  
  My point isn't to invoke paranoia or think everything is caused by demons, but simply to recognize their existence and possible influences.
• Okami wrote on 2012-05-28 16:39

  Quote from Episkey;874469:

  
  
  Wow. Thanks! Feel free to ask any more questions.~
  
  A portion of these bad judgments can be caused by demons in the spiritual world.
  
  Human beings and their emotions, like you mention, are surely the main cause of bad judgments. However, I'm merely introducing the point that there is another external source humans should be aware about.
  
  I think Rin sums up what I was further going to say quite nicely.
  
  
  
  
  
  Yes. The concept of being negatively influenced by demons - to expand upon this issue, I can categorize it in two main ways:
  
  
  Demonic Oppression/Influence
  
  This is the main portion of what I am talking about. Demons/The Devil are actual spiritual beings and their ultimate goal is to ruin humanity by leading them into sin.
  
  The main way they do this is via lies, accusations, and temptations. The don't have to be audible words - but can be negative thoughts and apparitions.
  
  Anyone can be demonically oppressed, if they succumb to these lies, accusations, and temptations. If a Christian becomes influenced, the demons are successful in tempting a Christian to sin and are able to further hinder a Christian’s ability to serve God.
  
  
  Demonic Possession
  
  An extremely rare phenomenon, but the Bible does make mention of it happening. At this point, a demon has dwelt within a person and has nearly full control of their thoughts, behaviors, and actions.
  
  The good news is that Christians can't be demonically possessed because all real Christians have the Holy Spirit (a part of God) dwelling within us. Our spiritual "home" is already occupied and God isn't going to allow some demon own the place.
  
  
  
  In either case, the only solution is to have that person accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. An exorcism without repentance from sins is futile and only makes the whole situation worse.
  
  
  The power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9) is always available to overcome demonic oppression. No demon, not even Satan himself, can prevent a Christian from surrendering to the Holy Spirit and thereby overcoming any and all demonic activity.
  
  
  
  Feel free to ask anything else if you have more questions or desire further explanation. I didn't want to go too in dept on demonic activity ... lest I seem too esoteric. @_@
  
  
  My point isn't to invoke paranoia or think everything is caused by demons, but simply to recognize their existence and possible influences.

  
  
  You elaborated nicely and I understand what you meant now. Thank you!
  
  And thank you to Rin too :D
• lightychan wrote on 2012-05-28 16:47
  This is an interesting project. It's so interesting how Christians usually always get the flames :<
  Hopefully your works will show the world that Christianity is a religion of... love and compassion rather than prejudice and selection.
  Good luck :3