Demons and possessions are genuine

I appreciate the opportunity to be able to discuss this topic. Thanks to Con for accepting. In this debate we will learn alot about physiological disorders and actual demonic possession. My opponent took the position that demonic possessions are not genuine and I will attempt to show they are. I have broke my argument into multiple sections as to not jumble everything together. I hope it will be better understood this way. I have defined what the terms of demons, demonology, possession and genuine are in my first round. In this round I will go on to explain what pshycological disorders are and the difference between them and possessions. Introduction: The thought of demonic possession has been believed by many cultures throughout history. This belief stems from believing that demi-gods or actual spirits inhabit a human being or animal(in some cases). Belief that spirits can inhabit the physical body is were the person's soul or spirit loses its control of the body and are instead controlled by another spirit. I'm sure my opponent will suggest that possession is just merely a physiological disorder which is studied in depth in anthropology. So lets look at what physiological disorders are. I. Psychological Disorder A psychological disorder can also be known as mental disorders. They are patterns of behavior and symptoms that impacts a persons life mostly in negative ways. We should note that there is no single classification for any single case but merely a diagnostic criteria for symptoms. There are over 250 different disorders and most fall under similar categories with similar symptoms. There are many cases that can be possession but on the same coin there are many that are not. The cases that are not possession are sometimes misinterpreted as possessions. II. Miss-Interpreted Possession To be honest, there is far to many times (today & in the past) that demonic possession is used to explain alot of psychological conditions that have nothing really to do with possession. These cases include personality disorders, dyslexia, bipolar disorders, depression, anxiety, epilepsy, tourette syndrome and also schizophrenia. The suggestion that these disorders are all cases of possession is very dishonest and possibly ignorance from the claimer. Though this doesn't mean that possession is false. There are many things to test genuine possession. III. Genuine possessions A possession can be one of the most dangerous and frightening things in all of phenomena. There are certain characteristics that genuine possession show. One would be the possessed speaking in languages that they have never learned or have ever been familiar with. Second would be that they would speak in anger or with intense hatred. Third would be the levitation of objects and in some cases the possessed themselves. Fourth would be the possessed having enormous strength beyond their normal capabilities. Fifth would be the rage towards any religious symbol considered holy(EX. Holy water). Lastly would be amazing knowledge about the past, present and future that the possessed could not know. There are numerous characteristics that also are common in disorders; Irrational loneliness, No self control, conflict with any authority, aimlessness, depression, violent behavior, rejection of Jesus, Selfishness(self-centeredness and passion for control), being irrational, anxiety and irrational fear. Why are people possessed and what is the meaning of it? IV. Meaning of possession I will give three examples of the meaning of possession from highly touted authors. In Gerald Brittle's book, The demonologist, He states, "...The demoniacal strategy is to create fear in order to begin breaking the human will....the entrenched spirit tends to either launch a bombardment of incredible phenomena or embark on a surreptitious psychological attack, dedicated to the complete domination of the victim."(p. 115) Allan Kardec also writes, "Imperfect spirits are used by Providence as instruments for trying men's faith and constancy in well-doing. You, being a spirit, must advance toward the infinite."(#466; p.227) And last comes from the Bible itself, "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."(Rom. 8:20-12) V. Possessions are genuine Possessions are very much real and are in fact around us everyday. You can notice them if you have the eyes to look. You go out and see people acting irrational in very disturbing ways. You see our youth today (more so than any generation in rememberence) who have no repsect towards adults and in fact thier own parents who brought them into this world. They act as if they have pure hatred for even being born. We see that most average people try to do the right thing and love others but we also see people who do the exzact opposite and were does this come from? We see our own governments and powers hurting thier own and other peoples for thier own gain. Today we see greed and selfishness without cease. We all have vibes from others as we pass them or when we interact with them. We feel good vibes when we are around people who are more like us and have bad vibes towards people who are different from us, why? You can't go out and say these people are possessed and possibly they may not be but the horrible actions we see in the world does reflect a presence of evil in the simple sense of the word. Possession can be given anaolgy and proved one here. VI. Analogy of possession In a book by Felicitas Goodman, she gives us a great analogy of possession. She writes, "A possession can be compared to a car and the driver. The car represents the body and the driver the soul. The driver can actually loan his car to someone willingly and can also be car-jacked. Here the borrowing friend or car-jacker are the spirit possessing. The owner of the car is then put in the back seat while the borrower or taker is in control." In this analogy we see the perfect construct of possession. Which takes us to the conclusion. Conclusion: Hopefully here we have concluded that demon possession and disorders are not the same but also can be given the same symptoms at times. It is more than enough for it be reasonable to argue that possession can be a factor of supposed disorders. Quite simply there is no way to show they are not genuine. This problem ultimately is a spiritual problem and can be a multifactorial position, in which involves spiritual, social, psychological and physical symptoms which can all play as factors. In this round I tried to show the many symptoms from both possessed and the non-possessed. In the next round I will provide with actual documented cases on record that affirm genuine possession along with videos. I await my opponent and Thank Him. References: Books: John Milton, Paradise Lost Norman Cohn, Europe's Inner demons Bill Ellis, Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religious, and the Media Armando Maggi, In the company of demons: Unnatural beings, love, and Identity in the Italian Renaissance Catholic Encyclopedia http://class.csueastbay.edu......HYPERLINK "http://anthropology-bd.blogspot.com...;http://anthropology-bd.blogspot.com......HYPERLINK "http://www.psychologytoday.com...;http://www.psychologytoday.com......HYPERLINK "http://psychology.about.com...;http://psychology.about.com......