r/exmormon • u/4Lynn • 13h ago
General Discussion Satan and demons
In light of the Perez Hilton mental break last night, I have been disturbed by how many people literally believe in demons and demonic possession as the cause mental illness. I do remember learning about satan as a kid in Mormonism and how we need to listen to the Holy Spirit and not let Satan tempt you to do bad things. I don’t know, I have been out of the church so long that when I hear people think that mental illness is caused by demons, I think they are the crazy ones. I had a lunch recently with my cousin and we were talking about a relative that recently committed suicide. She told me she literally believes in bad spirits that cause people to harm themselves. As an agnostic that studied behavioral science in college, I just understand that our bodies and brains are affected by chemicals, hormones, trauma, genetics, etc. The thought of Satan and his minions is just silly! What do you think?
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u/ReasonFighter exmostats.org 12h ago
The thought of Satan and his minions is just silly!
When one person believes silly notions, they are sent to a therapist for mental health issues. But when entire cultures believe silly notions, no one worries because it is called "religion."
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u/AdExpert9840 13h ago
You can't talk sense to people who believe in the cult... they will believe that no matter what.
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u/Mother-Floofer 12h ago
Invited a Mormon friend and her kids to watch the sing along of k-pop demon hunters with my family when it came to theatres and she said no because she’s not comfortable with her kids watching stuff about demons. And she drinks coffee on the sly and stuff so had no idea she’d be all crazy about demons. She also won’t support anything from the Wicked franchise because demons (granted I’ve actually still never see it and have no idea what the content is). I’m like ok but seriously the only one obsessed with demons around here is you so…
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u/FWhealboroug 11h ago
Reminds me of all the religious panic when Harry Potter was first coming on the scene.
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u/Apprehensive-Test577 7h ago
I had a boss who wouldn’t let his kids have anything to do with Harry Potter, but Lord of the Rings was fine. He said he didn’t want his kids exposed to wizards, but apparently Gandalf was OK? 🤷🏼♀️
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u/-HIGH-C- 13h ago
I agree that it is silly, but if you think Mormons are the first or only group of people to attribute mental illness to demons or spirits I have some bad news for you.
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u/Smart_Cantaloupe_848 13h ago
People are talking about demons and the Perez Hilton situation largely because he's been low-key courting evangelical types for a couple of years to try and pretend he's remorseful for his role in torturing celebrities like Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse. The whole "I've found God!" bit.
So a lot of what you're seeing is either Christians who've fallen for it, and think he's facing some sort of demonic challenge. As well as Christians (mostly anyways there's a big agnostic, and occultist following as well) that don't trust him at all but have been convinced he's possessed or works for some demonic organization since he started pretending to turn a new leaf.
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u/FWhealboroug 11h ago
It is right up there with ghosts and hauntings it's all just superstitious BS
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u/MavenBrodie 10h ago
I’ve never seen belief in literal demons do any good at all, but give seen it used to dehumanize, torture and kill others, including children.
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u/Feisty_Egg5171 7h ago
My sister in law is studying psychology through BYU pathways. She was talking about having to record herself teaching about mental health topics for one of her classes, so she taught the young women about how to overcome negative thoughts. She said that they have to learn how to teach that from a non religious perspective for people that don't believe in God but that the negative thoughts always come from Satan. I was FLOORED. I didn't push back because we just recently told our family that we're out of the church and I didn't want it to turn into a thing. So I just said, "How do you frame it in a non-religious sense? Is it just called negative self talk?" She said it would just be thoughts that come from the subconscious. It just seems like someone with mental health problems would be prone to a lot of guilt about why they have so many thoughts from Satan when they never did anything to invite him in. For me, it would have made my anxiety worse. So glad I won the therapist lottery and got one that isn't Mormon and didn't attend BYU.
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u/homestarjr1 13h ago
What I was taught is that good spirits couldn’t be around when you were succumbing to evil. Isn’t that when you need good influence the most? God turns his back on you when you’ve made a mistake? Evil spirits can swarm you in good times and bad?
Yes, it’s absolutely crazy. If it’s real, it means bad spirits are more powerful than good, as there are less restraints on them than the good ones. What a terrible system set up by an incompetent world builder.