Magic, the Occult, Seer Stones, and Religion, more important "Our Religion".

[theplains]

On 22/10/2017 at 9:24 PM, clarkgoble said:

I think his point was more that for primitive peoples (i.e. those in the scriptures) who don't have the benefit of science and understanding bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and so forth would interpret such things as possession. 

It sounds like you're saying Jesus didn't actually cast out demons from those who were possessed in his
time in Israel but rather used psychological words and corrected their mental state.

Please clarify.

Thanks,
Jim

[clarkgoble]

1 hour ago, theplains said:

It sounds like you're saying Jesus didn't actually cast out demons from those who were possessed in his
time in Israel but rather used psychological words and corrected their mental state.

Not what I'm saying. I'm saying that there was no concept of mental illness as we understand it thus the text can't distinguish between bad mental illness and possession or related features. My guess, although it is only that, is that many of the cases may well have been mental illness and not possession. But of course I don't know. I'm certainly not saying Jesus used psychoanalysis to cure them. No idea where you're getting that from. If it was a biological problem of mental illness then Jesus would have drawn on the power of God to repair the brain much as he repaired eyes and other such things. And if it really was possession then he cast the son of perdition out by the power of the priesthood.

[Robert F. Smith]

5 hours ago, boblloyd91 said:

Thanks Robert, were those three experiences yours out of curiosity?

No, I was quoting directly from the old thread I cited.

[theplains]

On 25/10/2017 at 10:22 PM, clarkgoble said:

Not what I'm saying. I'm saying that there was no concept of mental illness as we understand it thus the text can't distinguish between bad mental illness and possession or related features. My guess, although it is only that, is that many of the cases may well have been mental illness and not possession. But of course I don't know. I'm certainly not saying Jesus used psychoanalysis to cure them. No idea where you're getting that from. If it was a biological problem of mental illness then Jesus would have drawn on the power of God to repair the brain much as he repaired eyes and other such things. And if it really was possession then he cast the son of perdition out by the power of the priesthood.

Which biblical passages do believe have Jesus actually casting demons out of people?

In addition, Mark 6:7-13 says, "And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two 
and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; ... And they cast out many devils, and anointed with
oil many that were sick, and healed them."

Do you believe the disciples cast out devils from people?

Thanks,
Jim

[cdowis]

On 10/25/2017 at 12:10 PM, JLHPROF said:

Is it your position that the seer stone (for example) is just a rock and only worked for Joseph because of his faith?

An observation.  Martin Harris demonstrated that JS had to use that specific stone to translate.  He substituted a very similar stone and JS was unable to translate.

Interesting.

Edited October 28, 2017 by cdowis

[cdowis]

13 hours ago, theplains said:

Which biblical passages do believe have Jesus actually casting demons out of people?

In addition, Mark 6:7-13 says, "And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two 
and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; ... And they cast out many devils, and anointed with
oil many that were sick, and healed them."

Do you believe the disciples cast out devils from people?

I certainly have tried to do so on the youtube forums.

[clarkgoble]

On 10/28/2017 at 8:51 AM, theplains said:

Do you believe the disciples cast out devils from people?

I addressed this earlier. I don't think the ancients had a conception of mental illness the way we did and put it under one big category. Given that there's a huge ambiguity in any report relative to what happened. It could be something "supernatural" or it could be something biological. We can't tell. I'm not arguing evil spirits aren't real or can't be cast out. Far, far from it. I'm saying that given the nature of the accounts there's a limit to what we can know about what's going on.

[Tsuzuki]

Being a practicing occultist, and a member of Aleister Crowley's magical fraternity Ordo Templi Orientis, I could contribute a lot to this thread, but I'm not going to.