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Post by Divides the Waters on Feb 22, 2008 10:23:25 GMT -5
I can see it now...
"And this, boys and girls, is Thorn, Paul's Personal Demon."
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Post by rwley on Feb 27, 2008 3:31:20 GMT -5
Now I have a question on the theological view of this; why doesn't Paul just cast the demon out? He'd done that before. Doesn't the demon have to bow to the authority of Christ? If Paul casts it away in the name of the Living Son of God, doesn't the demon have to leave? Or does God allow it to stay in spite of that? How would the demon react to that? How would Paul react?
This is what you get when you can't sleep and you're up till almost three in the morning . . .man, I need some sleep.
Robi
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Post by Jeff Gerke on Feb 27, 2008 9:08:51 GMT -5
I've never done one so I don't know, but isn't exorcism calling on the power of God to make the demon leave?
In a sense, wouldn't Paul have to ask God to make the demon leave?
Paul writes that three times he asked God to remove the thorn, but God said no.
Maybe he did try to cast it out, but God didn't bring the power to do so.
Remember that this is just a thought experiment. I'm not trying to argue conclusively that Paul's thorn was demonic. But it is an interesting line of thought.
Jeff
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Post by rwley on Feb 27, 2008 10:20:12 GMT -5
Oh I wasn't trying to start an argument. I don't know anything about exorcism either. Just a question and probably one without an answer. I was just curious as to how Paul might feel if he could cast demons out of others, but could not cast out his own. Yeah, it is interesting.
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Post by strangewind on Feb 27, 2008 13:24:54 GMT -5
Sometimes, moderns sort of lump "demon-casting" as an automatic skill level for those who achieved "new testament apostlehood." But, as I read the exorcisms of the new testament, one thing becomes very clear: the true exorcists really didn't understand how exorcism worked. Those non-believers who treated it as a "exorcise by numbers" sort of affair came undone in the face of evil.
Jesus made good use of demons: to demonstrate His power. A good way to demonstrate Paul's dependence on God is to allow him to go forth in ministry, plagued by this mysterious "thorn."
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Post by JC Lamont on Oct 19, 2008 0:46:29 GMT -5
Jeff, the way your brain works is fascinating. I love it.
As for the casting out question -- one only casts out a demon who's possessed a person. Thorn didn't possess Paul, a Christian can't be demon possessed. He would be, as Jeff said, his traveling buddy.
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Post by dizzyjam on Oct 19, 2008 9:23:26 GMT -5
I always took Paul's thorn in the Flesh to be something of the flesh he struggled with, like lust, arrogance, lying, cursing, stealing, or something else like that. But if we want to take the path of it being an actual demon and then as a recent post asks why couldn't Paul get rid of it?
I'll ask this in response: Have you ever noticed how effective prayers are in your life when someone else prays over you? Maybe something you had been greatly struggling with just suddenly gets easier or vanishes when someone else prays over you. Maybe that's why in the Bible God encourages us to pray for each other. Sometimes the selfish prayer just doesn't reach God because we're thinking of so much else.
Maybe when Paul prayed to God, he was thinking of other things on top of this and God wouldn't respond.
Ever have something going on in your life that was so embarrassing that you feel you can't tell anyone? And you pray and pray and it just doesn't go away?
Perhaps Paul felt the same way. He never even mentioned it in the letter he wrote. He was too embarrassed about it. Yet if he had just opened up and let someone else pray for him it would have been dealt with.
Just as what happens in our lives.
These are my thoughts on the matter.
Don't forget to "pray ye one for the other" as we were instructed. I'm glad there's a prayer board on here. We should visit it more often.
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Post by mongoose on Oct 20, 2008 16:34:34 GMT -5
I, too, was taught that demons couldn't posess Christians. But I talked to one friend in the ministry who had personally observed a demon posessed Christian manifest that demon, prior to its being cast out.
I say that only to say this: Let's not state blanket assumptions as though they were fundamental and universally accepted truth within Christianity.
If, in your story, Christians can't be posessed, fine. You may or may not choose to have a character justify that belief through their words and/or actions. If, on the other hand, your Christian characters can be posessed, fine. You may or may not choose to have a character justify that belief through their words and/or actions.
It just bothers me when authors assume that all Christians believe the same way about doctrines not stated in the Apostle's Creed. It is evident that doctrines such as this one are not fundamental to the faith, and are not accepted by all Christians.
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