XPost: sci.psychology.psychotherapy, alt.consciousness, talk.origins   
   From: KimbaWLionATaolDOTcom@127.0.0.1   
      
   On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 18:02:26 +0000 (UTC),  wrote:   
      
   >Your condition sounds a   
   >little like the man described in Mark chapter 5 of the New Testament where   
   >the man was tormented by a legion of "devils".   
      
   You bring up a reasonable alternative. There are people who frequent   
   alt.religion.spiritualism who are well informed on this subject. Maybe   
   I'll post an invitation there for someone to look at the original post.   
      
   >I once heard a preacher talk of messages from beyond the grave, so to speak,   
   >of people who have tried to influence the lives of the living.  He asserted   
   >that the only *person* with the right to communicate with the living, from   
   >the spirit world is Jesus Christ because of the fact that He is not dead.   
   >He is alive again after His resurrection.  Any other communication from the   
   >other side is not who it claims to be if it claims to be that of a deceased   
   >relative, friend, celebrity, etc.   
      
   I've run into this POV often, and I feel that it assumes a woeful lack   
   of discernment abilities on the part of the living. But even if one does   
   abide by the premise, what's to stop the malicious spirit from then   
   claiming to be Jesus?   
      
   >I believe there are evil spirits that   
   >mock or echo the memories of those who have passed "claiming" that they are   
   >who they say they are.  Basically, I don't believe in "ghosts" but I do   
   >believe in "deceiving spirits" or "devils."   
      
   Again, there are folks on alt.religion.spiritualism who will agree with   
   your basic idea. They warn about being too open, that there are   
   malicious sorts willing to take advantage of a person. The difference in   
   interpretation is in the nature of these religious spirits; rather than   
   a new class of entity called "devils", they maintain that it's simply a   
   matter of a malicious person in life will retain that nature after life.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Reply address munged. You can figure it out.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)