ALTERNATIVES Considered (HS book pt 10)

            B. Alternatives to be considered

                  1.   Divine

                  2.   Demonic

                        a.   Biblical examples of demon possession

                              (1)    Matthew 4:24

                              (2)    Matthew 8:16-17 (= Mark 1:32-34; Luke 4:40-41)

                              (3)    Matthew 8:28-34 (= Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-37)

                              (4)    Matthew 9:32-34

                              (5)    Matthew 12:22-28 (= Mark 3:22-30; Luke 11:14-20)

                              (6)    Matthew 15:21-28 (= Mark 7:24-30)

                        b.   Other references to demons

                              Matthew 7:22; 10:8; 11:18; 17:14-18 (= Luke 9:37-42); Mark 1:39; 3:15; 6:13; 9:38 (= Luke 9:49-50); 16:9 (= Luke 8:1-2); Mark 16:17; Luke 4:33-37; 7:33; 9:1; 10:17; 13:22; John 7:20; 8:48-59; Acts 17:18; 1 Corinthians 10:20-22; 1 Timothy 4:1; James 2:19; Revelation 9:20.

                  3.   Paranormal (and related) phenomena (See Try the Spirits, pp. 2-3). “Paranormal” can refer to something in the natural realm but not something that everyone can do: perfect pitch, total permanent recall, photographic memory. More specifically, the items below are the kinds of things people have in mind when they use the term. It ends up serving as an alternate expression in principle for psychic phenomena, that is, natural but not normal.

                        a.   Telekinesis: movement of objects at a distance by will power alone

                        b.   Precognition: foreseeing the future

                        c.   Telepathy: transference of thought from one person to another without

                              means of communication

                        d.   Apports: transference of object from one place to another, sometimes

                              through walls

                        e.   Materialization: persons or objects coming to material form as in a séance room

                        f.    Clairvoyance: the faculty of seeing something mentally without the aids of physical sense

                        g.   Clairaudience: the faculty of hearing something mentally without the aid of physical sense

                        h.   Extra bodily experiences (out-of-the-body experiences)

                        i.    Hypnotism

                        j.    Poltergeist phenomena: manifestation of noisy and mischievous entities who also move objects

                        k.   Psychometry

                  4.   Magic/fakery

                  5.   Illusion

                  6.   Mental illness

                  7.   Psychosomatic

                        Psychosomatic medicine illustrates the significant role mind and attitude can have on healing (the placebo effect).

                  8.   “Mind over matter”

                        Sometimes people behave as if concentrating on something hard enough can make it happen. The mind is regarded as a force that can control physical objects.                 

                  While we distinguish in principle between paranormal and demonic, the categories may overlap. They could also be caused by either natural (parapsychological) or supernatural (demonic) means. More significantly, distinguishing between these various phenomena is not always practical for us to deal with.

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