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Originally Posted by mordwyr
A creature can be physical or spiritual or both. One doesn't preclude the other. Creature merely "created entity".
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^ TBH, my dictionary suggests otherwise, mordwyr:
Creature (n)
1. living animal: dumb creatures = animals
2. living person (various examples follow)... creature comforts =
material needs such as food and drink.
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Satan is real, despite what Jenkins might say.
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So do you think Satan " is playing with [Bishop Jenkins] like a toy" as Archbishop Milango warns ?
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"Back in the infamous days"....you wrote. But exorcisms still occur today. They are not a thing of the past, merely a thing of the past in your sphere.
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^ Yes, I know exorcism is still practiced. I guess the point I was making is that it used to be far more widespread in the past, and today it is a relative rarity, as if the attitude of the church had moved from certainty to ambivalence on the issue, though I don't have statistics to back that up.
The Church on Exorcism:
Rather than fighting Satan, in Germany they are fighting a regard action against public opinion:
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The Catholic Church in Germany made the exorcism ritual very difficult to obtain after the 1973 death of exorcism victim Anneliese Michel, a 23-year-old who had her first psychiatric episode at the age of 16. She apparently suffered from depression, epileptic seizures, and various hallucinations. Her zealous Catholic family believed she was possessed by Satan and recruited two priests who performed the exorcism ritual 67 times on the mentally ill woman. At the time of her death Anneliese weighed about 69 pounds (31kg). The priests and her parents received suspended jail sentences, but the Church began requiring priests to obtain permits to perform exorcisms, and the permits are not easy to get. German Catholics now go to Switzerland and Poland for their exorcism
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In the USA, instead of chasing the Devil, they are chasing Hollywood:-
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A program on exorcists, featured evangelicals Tom Brown and Bob Larson.
The exorcists' only prop is a Bible, which is held in one hand while they talk down the devil in very dramatic episodes worthy of Jerry Springer or Jenny Jones. All the participants shown being exorcized seem to have seen the movie "The Exorcist" or one of the sequels. They all fell into the role of husky-voiced Satan speaking from the depths, who was featured in the film. The similarities in speech and behavior among the "possessed" has led some psychologists such as Nicholas Spanos to conclude that both "exorcist" and "possessed" are engaged in learned role-playing.
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Not surprising that the staid old Church of Scotland concluded in 1976, that "such a ceremonial as exorcism does more harm than good by its existence within the practice of the church."