Any Atheists here experienced a demon?

Originally posted by badkitty

Originally posted by kode
The devil is as real as the god, and like god has influence on us, so does the devil.

Im not an atheist

Kode - I'm not trying to be confrontational so please don't take this as such but - How do you know the devil is real? You seem very sure of this and I want to know how. I would also like to be as sure of this fact. And as far as a non-atheist responding - I was hoping this would happen. I really want to see how many have had demonic experiences and what their religious affiliation is.

"Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8)."

[Oh no people are going to think I turned into one of those bible quoters, cheers Byrd]

Lots of religions and spiritual beliefs have demons and devils. As I am a believer in gods, then I am a believer in the devils of a sort. Not that I worship evil [respect a little]. If you are an atheist, then this will make no sense at all as you believe in nothing other than reality. [There are some good threads on this topic which explain a hell of a lot better then I can].

Basically, I believe in gods demons and devils because, I have learnt from the history of our world and have a gut feeling that there is more to all this here, in reality, then meets the eye.

I heard that the Excorsist was based on real events...

There was also another film very similar about a boy that is possessed which is also based on real events... can't remember the name though.

The Ring? Don't make me laugh, you want a creepy film get the Japanese version (just called Ring, no 'The').

Also Ring 2 and Ring 0 (Ring 0 is by far the best, you just can't help but feel sorry for Sadako (Samara I think shes called in the remake) and understand why she is evil.

Awsome films, just awsome. (not the remake though... shudders).

Originally posted by kode

Originally posted by DaTruth
We try to blame the devil for all the wrongs and evils in the world when it is really us humans that cause all the pain and suffering. People uses the devil as a scapegoat so they don't have to accept responsibility for there actions.

Lots of people subscribe to this. Sometimes people are the culprits. But not always. The devil is as real as the god, and like god has influence on us, so does the devil.

Im not an atheist [so why im I posting here] but I once glimpsed the devil in a dream, he leapt into darkness and out of sight.

One night, I was in West Sussex, i had been out for a drive after an argument with the misses. I stopped in this quite lane by a gate which lead into a field and got out. It was a warm night, clear sky, and a big full moon. As I stood there having a smoke looking up at the stars, I got this intense feeling I was being watched. I turned round to get back into the car and I couldn�t help but notice across the lane in the bushes these bright glowing red eyes staring back at me. I never moved so fast in my life. Demon? Maybe. Werewolf? Who knows?

Badkitty I thought The Exorcist was the scariest film of all time, then I saw The Ring.

[edit on 9-7-2004 by kode]

Sory that i have to disagree with you but people are allways the culprits. We have free will remember. We choose to follow who we want. Some people choose to follow the figure you call the devil. Well the devil has no power unless you give it power and his power is confinced to this hell we call earth. God the most high is the lord ot everything that exist. The devil dosen't have as much power as God as some people would like you to believe. In fact his power is very limited compared to God.

Originally posted by kode

Lots of religions and spiritual beliefs have demons and devils. As I am a believer in gods, then I am a believer in the devils of a sort. Not that I worship evil [respect a little]. If you are an atheist, then this will make no sense at all as you believe in nothing other than reality. [There are some good threads on this topic which explain a hell of a lot better then I can].

Basically, I believe in gods demons and devils because, I have learnt from the history of our world and have a gut feeling that there is more to all this here, in reality, then meets the eye.

Kode - I am not an atheist. I believe in God, one God. I was raised a Christian (in fact I was a sundayschool teacher) but after years of questioning and seeking I left the Christian religion - and now consider myself a Deist. So the idea of devils and demons is not beyond my comprehension but I am not confident in their existance and wanted to see other views. So no explanation of the idea of them is necessary, I am seeking proof of their existance.

Originally posted by Faceless
I heard that the Excorsist was based on real events...

There was also another film very similar about a boy that is possessed which is also based on real events... can't remember the name though.

The Ring? Don't make me laugh, you want a creepy film get the Japanese version (just called Ring, no 'The').

Also Ring 2 and Ring 0 (Ring 0 is by far the best, you just can't help but feel sorry for Sadako (Samara I think shes called in the remake) and understand why she is evil.

Awsome films, just awsome. (not the remake though... shudders).

Yes, the Exorcist was loosely based on a supposed true story. It was actually a boy, not a girl and basically the whole movie was fictionalized. I actually saw a documentary about the actual story it was based on - it was creepy but nothing like the movie. I believe the boy was orignialy from Connecticut (not sure) but then was moved to St. Louis where the majority of the story took place. So, I guess the whole thing isn't imagination but the really horrifc stuff was.

And thanks for the tips on the other movies!

Originally posted by DaTruth
Sory that i have to disagree with you but people are allways the culprits. We have free will remember. We choose to follow who we want. Some people choose to follow the figure you call the devil. Well the devil has no power unless you give it power and his power is confinced to this hell we call earth. God the most high is the lord ot everything that exist. The devil dosen't have as much power as God as some people would like you to believe. In fact his power is very limited compared to God.

Interesting ideas here. I have a few questions.

What if we choose to follow neither?
Is following one or the other the only option - are we only meant to be followers?
Do you really think earth is hell?
How do you know that the devil's power is limited or that he is not as powerful as God? (again, no confrontation here - just seeking your source for this knowledge)

Originally posted by DaTruth
Sory that i have to disagree with you but people are allways the culprits. We have free will remember. We choose to follow who we want. Some people choose to follow the figure you call the devil. Well the devil has no power unless you give it power and his power is confinced to this hell we call earth. God the most high is the lord ot everything that exist. The devil dosen't have as much power as God as some people would like you to believe. In fact his power is very limited compared to God.

Originally posted by badkitty
Kode - I am not an atheist. I believe in God, one God. I was raised a Christian (in fact I was a sundayschool teacher) but after years of questioning and seeking I left the Christian religion - and now consider myself a Deist. So the idea of devils and demons is not beyond my comprehension but I am not confident in their existance and wanted to see other views. So no explanation of the idea of them is necessary, I am seeking proof of their existance.

But your free will can be manipulated. And yes it is true of Satan, but lets not forget that the bible says things that are not entirely correct. The devil of the bible may not be more powerful then god but he still has some influence, as expressed by (1 Peter 5:8)."

What I think is, sometimes demons are mistaken for bad spirits like poltergeists shadow people and other creepy spiritual manifestations. Belief is belief, do you have any proof of your uninfluential god.

Were the glowing red eyes I saw in a bush proof of a demon of sorts?

Demons like aliens seem to be an elusive phenomenon, there are lots of stories but no solid proof. Earthsister started a good thread on proof, which had some interesting comments in the alien and UFO forum.

I have seen some strange things in my time. Some of which I might say was proof of demons and bad spirits but they are only my experiences, to you they are just a strange tales.

Along the same lines of the exorcist, many religions have ceremonies that are practiced to disperse of bad spirits/demons that can occasionally posses our beings, and like I said I came to my beliefs through what I learnt from our history. No explanation it�s just my opinion.

Another way I look at it is positive negative forces, ying yang, cane and able, the good and the bad. If there is a god then there is a devil.

Alternately if there is just one god then that god may have a bad side which might manifest itself as a devil in our eyes.

Reading through this thread I really haven�t said much that hasn�t already been said, I was just giving you my take on these things. But yes I have had experiences of a demonic or spiritually bad kind.

[edit on 10-7-2004 by kode]

Originally posted by kode
Were the glowing red eyes I saw in a bush proof of a demon of sorts?

I have seen some strange things in my time. Some of which I might say was proof of demons and bad spirits but they are only my experiences, to you they are just a strange tales.

Another way I look at it is positive negative forces, ying yang, cane and able, the good and the bad. If there is a god then there is a devil.

Alternately if there is just one god then that god may have a bad side which might manifest itself as a devil in our eyes.

Reading through this thread I really haven�t said much that hasn�t already been said, I was just giving you my take on these things. But yes I have had experiences of a demonic or spiritually bad kind.

[edit on 10-7-2004 by kode]

Thanks for sharing your experiences - I do not think they are just strange stories. I believe you that they were real and probably very scary. If I had seen those eyes you told of I am sure I would believe it to be a demon or some evil spirit. And that is exactly what I was looking for - related first hand experiences or lack of them because I haven't had any myself.

isn't the question a contradiction itself.

how could one claim to be an 'atheist', if a 'demon' is something spiritually based.

how could someone ask a supposed atheist to acknowledge ever seeing one?

I tell you this though. i don't cosider myself to be an atheist; i consider religion not to be anything more worthwile than a fictitious book or movie, calling myself an 'atheist' gives religion too much credit as is. (not out of spite.. simply because if i hadn't ever been taught about religion, i don't think i'd have automatically assumed there was some magical power somewhere up in the sky...).

I do consider myself to be spiritual tho. My definition of spirituality is my open-mindedness to the things that are unknown. If I canot back something up with scientific fact (if there even is such a thing), my educated assumptions are what I consider to be my spirituality.

----here's my story

On the night of the OKC bombing, my HS teacher had a friend on the outskirts of OKC who was tasting a new high-end camera of hers. The story was, the camera was high-end and she wanted to see how good it took pictures of the night sky. She aimed the camera up to the stars and snapped a few images. Upon reviewing her developed pictures, one of them stuck out. Of the three or so pictures this woman too of the night sky in OKC, only one had this amazing feature; what appeared to be an 'angel'.

Viewing the image upright, it looked like a whisp of clouds. This really cought my teachers' friend's eye, because she didt notice this cloud in any other picture. When she looked at it more carefuly and rotated the image 90 degrees, it showed an amazingly detailed image of what appears to be a woman in a white flowing gown, with clearly defined facial features, as well as a very defined 'crown' upon 'her head'. the image struck this woman enough that she sent it to m teacher, who showed it to me knowing i was into this sort of 'paranormal' stuff.

i won't say I saw an angel. how should I know that's what it is? and what gives it any more credibility as an angel, than it being an alien... or even my preferred viewpoint: something we know nothing about. in regard to the image though, of all the similar things i've seen of shadows, clouds, fires and 'mists', nothing i'd ever seen that was similar could compare to the striking detil of this image.

It's a nice reminder to myself that there is much more that we don't know about.

Who says an atheist can't see a demon? :-P

[edit on 13-7-2004 by radardog]

Originally posted by vinrockOn the night of the OKC bombing, my HS teacher had a friend on the outskirts of OKC who was tasting a new high-end camera of hers.

Sorry lol!

Thats a great typo

Originally posted by vinrock
isn't the question a contradiction itself.

how could one claim to be an 'atheist', if a 'demon' is something spiritually based.

how could someone ask a supposed atheist to acknowledge ever seeing one?

vinrock - First thanks for sharing your story. Any chance you can post the picture here? I'd love to see it.

As for your statements above - radardog was kind enough to point out to me that being an atheist does not mean completely ruling out the possiblitiy of spiritual beings (see previous pages for the wonderful explanation). But further, how do we know that these things - if they exist are "spiritual"? My thought was that if someone who does not have a pre-disposition to seek these things had seen or experienced something they ultimately define as evil or demonic then that would be compelling evidence to me that these things do exist separate from human imagination. What makes me doubt their existance as it seems to me that only those who practice certain "good vs. evil" type religions experience demons. (not just Christians, but any religion that recognizes a good force and an evil force). However, if someone has had an experience with an entity that lead them to become religious (as in they had no religion prior) then that would be just as compelling evidenc. Maybe I should have said "any ateists or those with no religious association prior".

I guess it would really be nice if I could survey some indiginous tribe that has no religion at all and see if they tell tales of dark figures and menacing entities.

I don't like to label myself as an Atheist but i'm sure my beliefs fit your idea.

I've always been into this paranormal stuff. From as young as I can remember i've grown up learning about the odd and spooky stuff that goes on in this world.

That said, I have had a couple of events happen as a child growing up that I can vaguely remember in regards to seeing ghosts or having spooky stuff happen.

However, the mind plays tricks and everything I remember happened at an early age. I cannot trust my memory so in my opinion, at 26 years of age, I have never witnessed anything out of the ordinary.

I grew up Roman Catholic and gave up religion as I got older. Not out of spite, I just don't see a need for religion or to even cosider it. I hear about 'signs' and etc... but I won't believe it until I see it. And even then i'd need a DNA test or something to be absolutely sure that what I saw wasn't my imagination or a trick.

No matter what subject I might have strong interests in, I do think our natural world is much simpler than we hope it to be. IMO It's just a lack of understanding that makes a person's mind fill in the blanks and creates these 'unknown' topics for people to discuss.

But MAN do I hope to see the aliens show up in their UFO's before I die.

MODS: Sorry for the multiple posts, my computer is acting goofy! Please delete this one, as it was incomplete.




[edit on 18-5-2006 by Athenion]

MODS: Sorry for the multiple posts, my computer is acting goofy! Please delete this one, as it was incomplete.




[edit on 18-5-2006 by Athenion]

MODS: Sorry for the multiple posts, my computer is acting goofy! Please delete this one, as it was incomplete.




[edit on 18-5-2006 by Athenion]

MODS: Sorry for the multiple posts, my computer is acting goofy! Please delete this one, as it was incomplete.




[edit on 18-5-2006 by Athenion]

I used to be an athiest, but now I am a Mormon.


I've had several experiences with demons, devils, dark spritis, or whatever label you want to give them. They started just after I left on a two year mission for my church, and have occured with some regularity ever since then.

My theory as to why it started happening, is that by the time I was ready to devote two years of my life to God, my belief in God and my religion where no longer a question of faith, but were a matter of fact. So these "demons" had no reason to try and hide their existence from me. So instead, they have tried to use fear and intimidation to sway me away from the life I'm leading.

But some of the experiences I've had have included:

1 - Things, physical objects, being thrown at or around me.

2 - I've seen them, and they've spoken to me.

3 - I participated in an excorcism while I was in south america. Nothing melodramatic or cliched like one would see in the movies, but believe me, there is nothing more frightening than seeing a 14 year old spanish speaking girl begin swearing at you in english in a voice very distinct from her own.

That's about as specific as I'm comfortable talking about them, as something I've discovered in my life, is the more you dwell on them, and tell "scary stories" which may or may not be true, the greater influence of theirs you are inviting into your life.

I'm not an atheist , but at one time I quit believing to try to get with this chic . But yeah I totally believe and although im not sure if i've seen a demon or even one has tried to scare me . But whenever im going to go to church the night before wierd things happen like I hear cups drop and stuff rattle and I hear wierd noises . Sometimes I see shadows of things and others I actually see things . It really scares me and im not sure if i've lost my mind or if its demons .

I'm an athiest.

• No Demons
  
• No Previous Lives Remembered
  
• No spirits or ghosts
  
• I haven't heard any god speaking to me in my mind
  

Not to mention, as an athiest, how could you believe in a demon? I believe some people are evil people, but that's just a balance of whether you're a good person or a bad person. I'm interested in the results of this. U2U me when you're done, or post here if you can!