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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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Satan, Demons, Spiritual Warfare and Reality
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Are demons procreating or are there just as many demons now as there were at the beginning of Satan's fall? If demons are procreating, then that's weird stuff! Baby demons??? Or maybe Satan is creating new demons? No... only God can create something out of nothing right? So is God creating new demons for us and Him to deal with? That's odd too?
There is still only one Satan right? I thought so!
So if there are the same number of demons now as there were at the time of Adam and Eve, then the ratio of humans to demons are increasing towards our favor every day! Yeah!
That means we may not be experiencing as much spiritual warfare as we Christians claim. We may be dealing with every day life in our beautifully created world! It's tough sometimes I know, but it's also our world created for us by our wonderful Father.
My viewpoint is based on my own personal observations. I don't deny that their are demonic forces and a singular, defeated but crafty Satan. But think of that... a singular and defeated Satan! So why do we spend so much energy on these things? I think it's because we are looking for an excuse when life throws us a hardship.
I hear prayer requests for headaches blamed on Satan, flat tires blamed on the evil one and financial hardships due to the oppressive nature of the demonic spiritual world.
I'm believe most described "spiritual warfare" is just simply oppressive fear mongering perpetuated by our Christian teachers, pastors and laymen so that they can wright books and go on speaking tours. Ouch! And I've already heard the guilt trip rebuttal... "satan would love for you to deny his abilities and involvement in this world".
This is my humble opinion, that's all. It's true that I have no grid for REAL demon activity. But I do believe real demon activity exists. I believe it has happened in the Bible times and in the modern world. I just want to add some common sense to the concept. Sometimes we take an idea and expand it way beyond real life. I think that is what is going on in the Christian faith in regards to the influence of the "evil one".
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Craig from Illinois 10/21/2011 07:58 |
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Lanny Carlson
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10/21/2011 08:27 |
Interesting comments, Craig.
If Satan and the demonic exist (and I'm not about to get into that issue again),
what would delight Satan more than to be given credit for things he never did
and granted power he never possessed!
What an ego trip that would provide the old deceiver!
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Bibleman
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10/21/2011 13:20 |
ooah! I am in agreement. Fear can be a useful tool to control people. The greatest deception of all is when some churches use fear to control people, and are completely unaware that is what they are doing!
having said all that, I also say that fear is not necessarily a bad thing, and some fear is certainly good to teach. But I know uneducated enthusiasm when I see it [get this - a lot of early christians believed in incubi and succubi - demons that had sexual encounters with humans! nowhere in the bible, and they still believed in this stuff!]
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Catholica
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10/21/2011 15:05 |
Without going into too much explaining why, so that no one might think that I am trying to convince them of anything, I can do my best to expound the beliefs of the Catholic Church, if that adds to the discussion.
The way I understand it is that God created all the angels at the beginning, and that he gave them an instant to decide whether to serve him or not. One third of them rebelled and were cast out of heaven. No more demons are being created, they cannot reproduce, as there is no such thing in the celestial realm.
There is only one prince of demons, known as Satan, that is right.
The idea of "ratio of demons to humans" however needs some analysis. There are two banners that we can be under: Christ's banner and Satan's banner. A banner is akin to warring armies, basically. So we need not only consider the ratio of persons to demons, but also the ratio of "demons + those under Satan's banner" to the number of "angels + those under Christ's banner", keeping in mind, of course, that God is sovereign and nothing happens but what He allows. In our life we have to choose to be under Christ's banner, but people naturally are fallen and their nature tends them to fall under the demons' banner. Once they are a slave then it takes very little for the demons to keep them under their banner.
There is a tremendous amount of spiritual warfare, more than even most Christians realize. An apparition of Mary (I know, take it for what you will) once revealed that if one could see the demons, they would blot out the sun. Prayer is an extremely potent weapon in spiritual warfare, however, and we really owe it to ourselves to fight, as it is part of what we are called to do.
It is, however, important to find that common ground, where we first don't neglect to accept that spiritual warfare is real, but also to not blame the devil or demons for everything, as there are three prime enemies of sanctity: the world, the flesh, and the devil. We need to take personal responsibility for our actions, and realize with humility that we are weak without God's help, even if the demonic are not involved.
It is not necessary for the Christian to be afraid of spiritual warfare, but rather to trust in God, his sovereignty, that everything that happens to us is for our good, even being tormented by a demon, should that occur. God allows things to happen to us for our sanctity. However I must also say, easier said than done. It takes a lot of humility to reach that point anywhere near perfect, and humility is the toughest virtue to attain.
Anyway I hope that at least addresses questions so that you might know the Catholic point of view, if that is beneficial to you.
God Bless.
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