Well create a separate thread to my cessationism thread and counter my arguments and we can go from there. Just make sure you read through it all because I’m not big on repeating stuff already answered and I’m even less keen on wasting my time to correct someone who seems to not even know what I believe. If you scroll up a bit you’ll find the now closed thread on why I’m a cessationist. If you want to, read it and make your own thread separate from this one and if it’s actually countering my positions I’ll worry about doing the same.
I was an active participant in that thread. If you didn’t believe me then, you won’t now.
Richard
The devil is in no way an equal, opposite force. Saint Michael the archangel is the opposite of the devil.
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To be honest I walked away from that thread even more confident in my stances. So far in my life after every discussion I’ve ever had for a decade on this subject at the end I have been left even more certain cessationism is the best interpretation of those issues. So much so I don’t even pretend in my mind that there is a possibility of it being wrong.
I would take experience over interpretations every day of the week and seven times on a Sunday.
Richard
Me too. It’s a contributing factor to my beliefs.
Is there a conflict? It depends on your interpretation.
I believe that Jesus is returning and he will establish a kingdom on Earth. What Isaiah wrote may be symbolic language but it may also be a description of life in that kingdom. Or both.
What about the adversary (Satan)? He is still alive and acting. Yet, those who are children of God do not need to fear him because Satan cannot rob them from God. When God puts limits to what the evil is allowed to do, Satan cannot cross the line. If Satan scares someone, the answer is to look at Jesus and listen how he says ‘do not fear’.
The scary movies are just scary movies. Imaginary stories. If they make someone feel afraid, why should that person watch those movies?
No one has to do anything they don’t want to do.
My main response is that that second apostrophe is doing my head in. It must be demonic.
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I guess for me I fall in a weird middle ground where I think demonic possession did exist but ended in the first century and everything since then is jut either mental illness, hyperbolic campfire tales or out right lies or maybe someone being deceived by the “victim”.
I just knew from various conversations in here that some believed in it and some believed it’s a mental disorder as your mentioned. So was curious how did everyone respond in general to those kinds of questions. I’ve never read Heissler or whatever his name is but I know someone by a name similar to that has some kind of book out on this subject that comes highly recommended and I’ve heard it on The Bible Project a few times. I’m also not 100% certain on my stance of Satan being a cosmic being vs a metaphor for what we call sin. Until recently I never considered Satan as a literary device and so I’ve never studied any work on it from that angle.
It’s really tragic because in some countries where they don’t understand mental illness, it’s treated as a spiritual problem, and people are actually chained up in prayer camps.
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That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in the devil (a fallen angel). I just don’t believe in demon possession.
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Have you heard about the documentary Jesus Camp ?
I highly recommend it. It’s about this huge, awful Pentecostal minister, Becky Fischer, who ran a religious camp for children. She was really big on the devil, and considered Harry Potter to be evil. She would whip the poor children into a frenzy of babbling, weeping hysteria.
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I’ve not heard of it. But I’ve heard of plenty of stories similar to it. As a person who has been watching horror since childhood, I’ve constantly had to deal with views about it being evil. Goosebumps was evil. Creepshow was evil. When I was like 11-13 I don’t remember exactly , maybe even a year or so older. But at one point my mom started going to this almost Pentecostal like nondenominational church and she went hardcore into a devil behind everything. Luckily it only lasted a short while but before it was over a lot of my stuff got burned. Clothes, artwork, cds, board games. Before that there was phases of Pokémon being “pocket demons that encourages dog fighting lol “.
Which was amusing because my mom was a 80s style goth who watched tons of horror. When I was really young I remember my grandma getting mad at mom and tossing out a insult about how she use to bring me as a baby to the theaters watching horror films. When I was like 4-5 I had a goosebumps cookie for my birthday. I’ve always disliked cake. So it was always cookies. Chocolate chip licorice cookies xd.
I’m in a handful of Christian Gothic groups, even though I’m not one, they closely match a lot of my interests in entertainment. One of the things they often bring up is being accused “ appearance of evil “ and “ inviting the devil in “. I have even been told my calico is evil by lady once because the colors are Halloween colors . I have a bunch of tattoos and am often told it’s evil and defiling the flesh and ect….
In one of the forums I’m in on another Christian group there is a person who is asking for prayer over horror movies possibly being demonic. They are worried about it. Tons of the people are telling them “ that shameful feeling is the Holy Spirit stop fighting it because horror is just torture porn that’s hardening your heart “. I pointed out it’s probably not the Holy Spirit but simply personal preferences and even more likely it’s cultural peer pressure brainwashing you into feeling bad “. You don’t have to watch them, but you can’t really say God told you it was evil when the Bible is full of horror.
Another thing I hear is that archeology is evil because they are digging up the things god hid with floods, fires and war. They are digging up these idols and it’s satanic lol.
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Well, uplift and erosion are revealing plenty. In Jesus Camp, some counselors enter the cabin of boys telling ghost stories and tell them to knock it off.
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For more on demon possession take a look at this thread from 2016:
See how I’m outnumbered?
(Casper_Hesp used to be a moderator here)
This is very important point. I know some cessationists theologians who have a higher view of Holy Spirit and his work than some of their continuationist counterparts.
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Just a reminder, y’all, opinions of the moderators are opinions of the moderators. Opinions of the moderators ≠ the official stance of BioLogos. Thanks. 
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