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The Devil - Just a metaphor or cold hard reality?
3/11/2010 8:21:36 PM
Last night, it sounds like both groups at Bible study had a lively discussion about the existence of the devil. Tom didn’t want to spend too much time on the issue in his group and I think, generally, that’s a wise approach because there are equal and opposite dangers present – Not believing the devil is real in the first place, and “believing in” the devil so much that he inadvertently becomes the focus of your faith instead of God. Neither extreme is healthy.
In a manner of speaking, it would make it a lot easier to sleep at night if, in fact, the devil (and fallen angels in general) were reducible to mental or physical illness or some other unknown but entirely earthly/material force. However, it’s precisely when we try and “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” that evil often gains its greatest foothold. The Second Vatican Council reminded us that we are at war and the Bible too reminds us that the nature of this war is spiritual, not physical. (“Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the fallen angels that lead this present darkness.” Eph 6) We are, therefore, called to put on the armor (not the knitted gloves) of God accordingly.
Certainly, in ages past, many both inside and outside the Church misperceived problems such as mental illness and physical illness as symptoms of “demonic” foul play. Some today still do. The Church today is well aware of the difference between the two and, thus, is very careful (almost to a fault sometimes, I might argue) to have someone that is alleged to be possessed examined carefully by secular professionals first. When she gives the green light for a solemn exorcism, she wants to make sure there is good reason for doing so.
Certainly someone behaving “strangely” does not in itself qualify as a sign of possession. But when that same someone, for example, has a blessed object COVERTLY brought near them or placed on them and they throw a huge fit over something they’re not supposed to know is there…One must begin to wonder…When one demonstrates knowledge of something that happened well outside of their presence or ability to acquire knowledge of… When objects go flying across the room unprovoked…You start getting the idea. There HAS to be something else going on.
Well known psychiatrist M. Scott Peck notes in his highly compelling book “People of the Lie” that, “Authorities who encounter cases [of potential possession] often like to ask, ‘Is the patient possessed or is he or she mentally ill?’ It is not a valid question…The proper question is, ‘Is the patient JUST mentally ill, or is he or she mentally ill AND possessed’?” (Emphasis mine) Peck converted to Christianity just prior to the publication of the book, apparently because of his work with people in whom he encountered an altogether different reality than those he was used to working with.
After fifteen years of practice, curiosity got the best of him. Peck let it be known that he was looking for cases for prospective possession so that he could study the matter face to face himself and see if there was really anything to it. He says the first two cases that came to him turned out to be just mental illness and he began to think, “Yeah, I didn’t think this demon stuff was real.” Then he received his third referral. “The third case turned out to be the real thing,” Peck states plainly. He goes on to say, “I know Satan is real. I have met it.” (“It” is not a misprint. It is the label Peck chooses to give the devil over “she” or “he” because of the devil’s “anti-personal” nature.)
I highly recommend the book for a thorough and extremely balanced (almost "apologetic") treatment of both human and demonic evil and the distinct differences between the two.
“St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle…”
Greg
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P.S.
3/11/2010 8:42:27 PM
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
II. THE FALL OF THE ANGELS
391 Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy.266 Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called "Satan" or the "devil".267 The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing."268
392 Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels.269 This "fall" consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter's words to our first parents: "You will be like God."270 The devil "has sinned from the beginning"; he is "a liar and the father of lies".271
393 It is the irrevocable character of their choice, and not a defect in the infinite divine mercy, that makes the angels' sin unforgivable. "There is no repentance for the angels after their fall, just as there is no repentance for men after death."272
394 Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls "a murderer from the beginning", who would even try to divert Jesus from the mission received from his Father.273 "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil."274 In its consequences the gravest of these works was the mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God.
395 The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God's reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but "we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him."275
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And this...
VII "BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL"
2851 In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who "throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ.
2852 "A murderer from the beginning, . . . a liar and the father of lies," Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world."165 Through him sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will be "freed from the corruption of sin and death."166 Now "we know that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one."167
The Lord who has taken away your sin and pardoned your faults also protects you and keeps you from the wiles of your adversary the devil, so that the enemy, who is accustomed to leading into sin, may not surprise you. One who entrusts himself to God does not dread the devil. "If God is for us, who is against us?"168
2853 Victory over the "prince of this world"169 was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is "cast out."170 "He pursued the woman"171 but had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring."172 Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus,"173 since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One.
2854 When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."174
Deliver us, Lord, we beseech you, from every evil and grant us peace in our day, so that aided by your mercy we might be ever free from sin and protected from all anxiety, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Greg
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Luke 4:1-13
3/11/2010 8:47:35 PM
One more little nugget from the Catechism that I didn't realize was in there...
Jesus' temptations
538 The Gospels speak of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for forty days without eating; he lives among wild beasts, and angels minister to him.241 At the end of this time Satan tempts him three times, seeking to compromise his filial attitude toward God. Jesus rebuffs these attacks, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert, and the devil leaves him "until an opportune time".242
539 The evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event: Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfills Israel's vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God's Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil's conqueror: he "binds the strong man" to take back his plunder.243 Jesus' victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father.
540 Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him.244 This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: "For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning."245 By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.
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Rome's Chief Exorcist
3/21/2010 1:39:11 AM
At the risk of seeming to violate my own advice about not "fixating" on the devil by posting more on him than I have so far on any other subject, I thought the timing on this article and video clip from CNN (of all locations) was rather interesting and feel the "need" to share it...
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/03/16/vatican.exorcist.devil/index.html
Greg
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The Solution
5/21/2010 12:27:55 AM
Well...Since the discussion on the devil in this forum continues to be the #1 "best seller", judging by total number of visits to the thread, I suppose it would be appropriate to add one more post regarding the antidote to demonic harassment.
It comes in the form of an online book that is relatively brief, though certainly too long to post in its entirety here. The link to chapter 9 (and beyond) instead:
http://www.christendom-awake.org/pages/dombenedict/book-fall/fall5.htm
For the record, chapter 9 is the only chapter I've actually read in its entirety so far, so I can't absolutely vouch for the whole rest of the book. But if the rest of the book is anything like chapter 9, it's a FABULOUS "beginner's manual" on the topic.
(Note that there is a link to the beginning of the book at the top of the page.)
Peace,
Greg
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