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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 28, 2015 at 12:21 pm
(July 28, 2015 at 12:18 pm)Godschild Wrote: (July 28, 2015 at 11:37 am)Neimenovic Wrote: Oh.
Uh, well, those people described in the op are christians, though it would be more fitting to pin this behavior on religion in general.
What makes you believe these superstitions came from any religion, they come from not understanding illness.
GC
._.
OP Wrote:It soon dawned on me that for many people, disability was considered not a physical or mental impairment, but in fact a spiritual sickness or curse that could either be healed by prayer or by confinement, and in some cases by physical violence.
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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 28, 2015 at 12:50 pm
(July 28, 2015 at 11:45 am)polar bear Wrote: I call bullshit here huggy. It has EVERYTHING to do with religion. Christianity does not teach that disability is contagious.
(July 28, 2015 at 11:45 am)polar bear Wrote: I have been diagnosed with a mental illness (you can keep reading I won't kill you). Members of my church saw fit to "lay hands on me" and pray for me. One went so far as paying for time with a "pastor" who could cast out demons. I drew the line there. Being touched and prayed for was down right humiliating but being told I am possessed by demons? Really?
Religion Sucks Sounds like they did the Job they were supposed to do, your job was to have faith.
Here's a video of a woman claiming to be healed in one of William Branhams meetings, Branham, for those of you that don't know, was the guy who was photographed with a light hanging over his head (I posted it in another thread) and scientifically verified by FBI agent and president of The American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, George J. Lacey, to be Authentic.
Start at 1:48
Actual Audio from 1958 is included at 4:18 that shows events happened just the way she described.
Is she lying?
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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 28, 2015 at 1:26 pm
(July 28, 2015 at 12:21 pm)Neimenovic Wrote: (July 28, 2015 at 12:18 pm)Godschild Wrote: What makes you believe these superstitions came from any religion, they come from not understanding illness.
GC
._.
OP Wrote:It soon dawned on me that for many people, disability was considered not a physical or mental impairment, but in fact a spiritual sickness or curse that could either be healed by prayer or by confinement, and in some cases by physical violence.
That's only an opinion and I was referring to a time before Christianity, when these superstitions were developed.
GC
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 28, 2015 at 1:34 pm
(July 28, 2015 at 1:26 pm)Godschild Wrote: (July 28, 2015 at 12:21 pm)Neimenovic Wrote: ._.
That's only an opinion and I was referring to a time before Christianity, when these superstitions were developed.
GC
Keywords in the op: spiritual, curse, prayer. It has everything to do with religion, it's religious superstition. Doesn't have to be christian to be religious -_-
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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 28, 2015 at 4:38 pm
(July 28, 2015 at 11:16 am)Huggy74 Wrote: Apparently none of you has been to a third world country where the people tend to be highly superstitious. In fact here in America , you can find plenty of superstitious people particularly in the south.
Quote:The people I met during my trip were mostly devout Christians, but who had imported traditional beliefs to shape the way they explain disability.
Key phrase being TRADITIONAL BELIEFS (superstitions) not CHRISTIAN BELIEFS
Demon possession is not an imported belief for Christians:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonic_po...e_accounts
What we have here are Christians who take the Bible more seriously than some Christians do.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 28, 2015 at 4:41 pm
(July 28, 2015 at 12:18 pm)Godschild Wrote: (July 28, 2015 at 11:37 am)Neimenovic Wrote: Oh.
Uh, well, those people described in the op are christians, though it would be more fitting to pin this behavior on religion in general.
What makes you believe these superstitions came from any religion, they come from not understanding illness.
GC
The idea of demon possession is Biblical:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonic_po...e_accounts
If you were serious about Christianity, you would know about this.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 28, 2015 at 5:26 pm
(July 28, 2015 at 11:45 am)polar bear Wrote: (July 28, 2015 at 11:16 am)Huggy74 Wrote: Apparently none of you has been to a third world country where the people tend to be highly superstitious. In fact here in America , you can find plenty of superstitious people particularly in the south.
Key phrase being TRADITIONAL BELIEFS (superstitions) not CHRISTIAN BELIEFS
I call bullshit here huggy. It has EVERYTHING to do with religion.
I have been diagnosed with a mental illness (you can keep reading I won't kill you). Members of my church saw fit to "lay hands on me" and pray for me. One went so far as paying for time with a "pastor" who could cast out demons. I drew the line there. Being touched and prayed for was down right humiliating but being told I am possessed by demons? Really?
Religion Sucks
Demons need a new host when they are expelled from their old one. The church should have had a herd of pigs for your demon to go into and then the pigs would have ran off of the nearest cliff. The process seems to work better in mountianous areas than in city churches. At least that's what the fairy tale says. Of course they might throw you off the cliff instead and blame it on the demon. I wonder if the DA would prosecute such a case since it involves freedom of religion?
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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 28, 2015 at 5:56 pm
This is a very sad thing to hear about, so I imagine seeing this firsthand was extremely difficult. This is the result of foundations being built upon belief (superstitious or religious), instead of knowledge. Religion certainly isn't the antidote to these dangerous misconceptions about illness. Often, Christianity offers only slightly different, yet equally dangerous misconceptions regarding illness. Disability is a curse vs. disability can be healed with magic words? Not much difference. An understanding of reality through education is what's needed more than anything.
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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 28, 2015 at 6:05 pm
(July 28, 2015 at 12:18 pm)Godschild Wrote: (July 28, 2015 at 11:37 am)Neimenovic Wrote: Oh.
Uh, well, those people described in the op are christians, though it would be more fitting to pin this behavior on religion in general.
What makes you believe these superstitions came from any religion, they come from not understanding illness.
GC
Yeah, G-C....and I wonder WHERE they got that shit from?
Quote:Mark 9:25
When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You deaf and mute spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again."
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RE: Christianity in Ghana and the Spiritual Sickness
July 29, 2015 at 11:39 am
I get it now, gawd caused me to be mentally ill and because I didn't truly believe he could heal me it is MY fault I remain with that diagnosis.
Nothing to do with counseling or medication...hmmm
You see I tried it your way huggy, IT DOESNT FUCKING WORK. Take personal responsibility and don't rely on a fictional piece of shit to control your life.
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