Community Forum Archive
The Epilepsy Community Forums are closed, and the information is archived. The content in this section may not be current or apply to all situations. In addition, forum questions and responses include information and content that has been generated by epilepsy community members. This content is not moderated. The information on these pages should not be substituted for medical advice from a healthcare provider. Experiences with epilepsy can vary greatly on an individual basis. Please contact your doctor or medical team if you have any questions about your situation. For more information, learn about epilepsy or visit our resources section.
Epilepsy and Demonic Possession...or something of the sort
Tue, 06/24/2008 - 16:43Has anyone had problems with religious family members whipping out Mark 9 (the chapter where Jesus heals a boy who apparently is having seizures of some sort), then declaring that you must have demons in you, or you have spiritual unrest, or are somehow "not right" with God?
My father did that to me recently. When he started talking about it, I was afraid he was going to try an exorcism on me right then and there. But he didn't - he just prayed. Ever since then he's been pushing me to talk to my minister about my alleged spiritual unrest. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do that - soon we'll have a new minister and I can just see me going in on his first day on the job and saying, "O hi, sometimes I wake up at night with a yell and then I shake. Can you help me? I must not be right with God." The poor minister would probably put a request in for a transfer that same day.
I mean, I do have Demons. I really do. And I have Crime and Punishment and The Idiot and Brothers Karamazov and most of Dostoevsky's works. (Sorry - had to get a book nerd joke in there.)
Seriously, I thank this very same Deity (with whom I am supposedly not right) that I'm an adult and live a few states away from my father. But this still bothers me because I have to deal with my father's pestering me to talk to the minister. Truly, I think it goes beyond just a religious matter and it's more a question of my father's sanity.
So has anyone else dealt with this demons issue?
Comments
Re: Epilepsy and Demonic Possession...or something of the sort
Submitted by maBenzi on Mon, 2009-09-28 - 10:35
So go to the parents of tiny babies who have uncontrolled epilepsy and tell them that their innocent little babies are demon possessed. Go along... add to their misery and trauma. Make you feel good? And you are a nurse??
God loves us all. I have never asked Him why me? Where is your humility? And get an education while you are at it. You are part of the medical profession. How can you possibly be so mediaeval? Do you use medical knowledge (that He is helping us discover) or misuse the scripture to verify your own stupid notions.
This is for lb34
So go to the parents of tiny babies who have uncontrolled epilepsy and tell them that their innocent little babies are demon possessed. Go along... add to their misery and trauma. Make you feel good? And you are a nurse??
God loves us all. I have never asked Him why me? Where is your humility? And get an education while you are at it. You are part of the medical profession. How can you possibly be so mediaeval? Do you use medical knowledge (that He is helping us discover) or misuse the scripture to verify your own stupid notions.
This is for lb34
Re: Epilepsy and Demonic Possession...or something of the sort
Submitted by stephsobota on Mon, 2009-09-28 - 15:37
Hello LB34!
Thank you for your note and honesty. I used to be ignorant about epilepsy, too - I thought it was all grand mals. Well, I've learned a lot in the last 2.5 years! I've also learned a lot about myself and a lot about other people. Yup - it's pretty much a learning experience.
Thank you, too for Matthew 4:24 - if my father were speaking to me, I would mention that to him. (I don't know if he's not speaking to me because I'm "full of demons" or because he's mad at my brother and is spreading the anger around to me. In any case, I'm praying that his heart will be softened and not so full of fear and anger.)
Yesterday I found a great prayer to say for turbulent family members or other folks:
"Lord, have mercy on them all today, unhappy and stormy as they are, preserve and guide them. All ways are yours: save them according to your ways. You are love, you will send joy to all!"
It's from Brothers Karamazov (my favorite book) by Dostoevsky, an epileptic. I'm reading the book for like the 10th time, and I could never believe that anyone who was "full of demons" could write something so inspired.
Take care, and many {{HUGS}} to you!
Steph
Hello LB34!
Thank you for your note and honesty. I used to be ignorant about epilepsy, too - I thought it was all grand mals. Well, I've learned a lot in the last 2.5 years! I've also learned a lot about myself and a lot about other people. Yup - it's pretty much a learning experience.
Thank you, too for Matthew 4:24 - if my father were speaking to me, I would mention that to him. (I don't know if he's not speaking to me because I'm "full of demons" or because he's mad at my brother and is spreading the anger around to me. In any case, I'm praying that his heart will be softened and not so full of fear and anger.)
Yesterday I found a great prayer to say for turbulent family members or other folks:
"Lord, have mercy on them all today, unhappy and stormy as they are, preserve and guide them. All ways are yours: save them according to your ways. You are love, you will send joy to all!"
It's from Brothers Karamazov (my favorite book) by Dostoevsky, an epileptic. I'm reading the book for like the 10th time, and I could never believe that anyone who was "full of demons" could write something so inspired.
Take care, and many {{HUGS}} to you!
Steph
Re: Epilepsy and Demonic Possession...or something of the sort
Submitted by lb34 on Sun, 2009-09-27 - 22:59
Hi Stephs,
Because you mention Mark 9 and "minister" I am assuming that your dad is a Christian and encouraging you to see a Christian minister. I smile as I write this because I am a Christian (raised Catholic and Lutheran and Baptist all together) and I did not get epilepsy until I was in my mid 30's, I was Registered Nurse, very commited to the Lord and very ignorant. I had a couple of blind friends and heard that the apostle Paul's thorn in his side might have even been blindness. I had heard that Jesus made blind men see. I had heard many positive things in the curch about many illnesses, however, like your father, even though I was very well educated at a University Hospital my suspicions about epilepsy still held and I figured that it was probably still related to demon posession. You can imagine my surprise when I was the one who woke up in one of my own ER beds with a Grandmal seizure (a bed in which I had silently prayed for deliverance of other seizing patients).
Well, God is gracious and He knows the future and knew it when He wrote the Bible. When I went home and in the following weeks cried out to Him in prayer I came across this scripture which you can give to your dad. It clearly points out that demon posession and epilepsy are two different things or Jesus would not have listed them seperately.
Matthew 4:24
And the news about Him went out into all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, taken with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.
God Bless you, I know it is a rough road. I'm not healed yet but God is using this to reach a lot of my family and bring me closer to Him. He loves us deeply. He is our sympathetic High Priest. LB34
Hi Stephs,
Because you mention Mark 9 and "minister" I am assuming that your dad is a Christian and encouraging you to see a Christian minister. I smile as I write this because I am a Christian (raised Catholic and Lutheran and Baptist all together) and I did not get epilepsy until I was in my mid 30's, I was Registered Nurse, very commited to the Lord and very ignorant. I had a couple of blind friends and heard that the apostle Paul's thorn in his side might have even been blindness. I had heard that Jesus made blind men see. I had heard many positive things in the curch about many illnesses, however, like your father, even though I was very well educated at a University Hospital my suspicions about epilepsy still held and I figured that it was probably still related to demon posession. You can imagine my surprise when I was the one who woke up in one of my own ER beds with a Grandmal seizure (a bed in which I had silently prayed for deliverance of other seizing patients).
Well, God is gracious and He knows the future and knew it when He wrote the Bible. When I went home and in the following weeks cried out to Him in prayer I came across this scripture which you can give to your dad. It clearly points out that demon posession and epilepsy are two different things or Jesus would not have listed them seperately.
Matthew 4:24
And the news about Him went out into all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, taken with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.
God Bless you, I know it is a rough road. I'm not healed yet but God is using this to reach a lot of my family and bring me closer to Him. He loves us deeply. He is our sympathetic High Priest. LB34