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Let's talk about Demons.

Thor 2 said:
Demons get a few mentions in the OT but many more, from my reading, in the NT.
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Most of the Old Testament was written before there could be much influence from Zoroastrianism, but Zoroastrianism could have influenced the new Testament (and later Old Testament stuff). Zoroastrianism seems to have invented the good/evil dichotomous view of the world (as opposed to having the world and its gods reflect division into multiple contesting entities like human tribes/cities). Its language family (Iranian) reassigned the word for "gods" (related to Indic "diva" along with the name Zeus, the "Iu" in Iupiter, and the "Tues" in Tuesday) to mean "demons".
 
Darat said:
According to the RCC (by far the largest Christian sect, with claims of a membership of 1.2 billion) anyone with faith can perform an exorcism, but there is also a form of exorcism that can only be carried out by an ordained RC priest, that's called a solemn exorcism.

That would mean there are - in the RCC's view - 1.2 billion people who can perform an exorcism and it's around (if my recollection is correct) 400,000 priests that could perform a solemn exorcism. I think 1.2 billion is a "huge number" of people.
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Evidence?
 
One is running for POTUS:


"Obama and Hillary smell like sulfur."
 
Exorcisms are on a steep increase as well.

Fr James LeBar, of the Archdiocese of NY, in involved in 15 cases a week of "people suffering serious contamination with the forces of evil".

link

Fr Vincenzo Taraborelli is performing up to 100 exorcisms a week (obviously doesn't take long!) in Rome, while seven new exorcists have just been appointed in Milan.

link

I wonder if newly-exorcised people give heavily to the church?
 
The Atheist said:
Exorcisms are on a steep increase as well.

Fr James LeBar, of the Archdiocese of NY, in involved in 15 cases a week of "people suffering serious contamination with the forces of evil".

link
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From the link:
"We know there are Catholics who have not received good formation and doubt the existence of the devil, but this is an article of faith and part of the doctrine of the Catholic Church," said Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, in announcing the revisions. "Whoever says the devil does not exist is no longer a believer."
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Delvo said:
Most of the Old Testament was written before there could be much influence from Zoroastrianism.
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When do you think most of it was written, and when it stopped being redacted? I think Z was already influential in this period. It is implicitly referred to in Isaiah 45 - and the long period of post-exilic Persian rule would be a source of Zoroastrian influence.

Isaiah 45:7 looks like an explicit denial of a Zoroastrian doctrine, written by a person well acquainted with Persian religious beliefs.
 
Darat said:
According to the RCC (by far the largest Christian sect, with claims of a membership of 1.2 billion) anyone with faith can perform an exorcism, but there is also a form of exorcism that can only be carried out by an ordained RC priest, that's called a solemn exorcism.

That would mean there are - in the RCC's view - 1.2 billion people who can perform an exorcism and it's around (if my recollection is correct) 400,000 priests that could perform a solemn exorcism. I think 1.2 billion is a "huge number" of people.
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While technically any ordained RCC priest can perform a solemn exorcism, except in emergencies it may only be performed under licence of the Diocesen bishop.
 
Darat said:
As an aside - if you want an idea of what the world would be like and how horrifying and terrorfying it would be if the RCC's beliefs about demons and possesion were true try to see Apparitions - a TV series from 2008 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparitions_(TV_series)

We are fortunate that the world is not as the RCC claims it to be.
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An excellent series. BTW your link is missing a terminal ')'.
 
The Big Dog said:
for your claims of "According to the RCC..."
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Unfortunately the demons have stalled my attempts at getting links direct to the Vatican's site - see attached screengrab


1.2 billion RCs

Non-solemn exorcism: http://www.catholicfirst.com/thefaith/prayers/simpleexorcism.html

Solemn exorcism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism_in_the_Catholic_Church

...snip...

Solemn exorcisms, according to the Canon law of the Church, can be exercised only by an ordained priest (or higher prelate), with the express permission of the local bishop, and only after a careful medical examination to exclude the possibility of mental illness.[4]

...snip...
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I believe all this exorcising is just a fad: I got a subscription to an exorcising club, but I hardly ever go, and when I do it's mostly empty with only one or two seemingly possessed working out.
 
I'm coming from RC perspective.

If someone believes in God, and in baptism rejects satan and his works and empty promises (which is arguably rejecting evil generally not necessarily an anthropomorphized evil entity) I don't see it as such a stretch given those beliefs that, in very rare cases, someone may be spiritually affected in a way that they may benefit from an exorcism.

Even if one is not a believer, one may believe in a placebo effect...(I recall some discussion of that in the original Exorcist movie).
 
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