What's The Deal With VIOLENT Exorcisms?

[Barbarella]

I've been hearing a lot about kooks who think a loved one is possessed by Moloch and decide to physically clobber said loved one to death. This is not about debating whenever exorcism & possession is real or not, this is about methods used.

Take a gander at this Listverse article:
http://listverse.com/2014/02/04/10-deadly-exorcisms/

Now, what the heck is wrong with these people? Why PHYSICAL violence & TORTURE? What's wrong with the old standbys of prayer, chanting, laying on of hands, rebuking the entity, etc.

Some of the above-mentioned brutality-fests were committed by Christian pastors. You'd think Christian pastors would stick with the non-violent methods I mentioned (I mean, Jesus just rebuked the spooks and they left the person)  but noooooo, these pastors committed hardcore torture-murder.

I used to be a Roman Catholic who attended Catholic Mass, I also used to be a frumie who went to "charis-maniac holy-roller"- type churches (Don't worry, I've since eschewed conservative/frumie-thinking and is now a ShaktaPagan who's as progressive as they come).

I've never seen a Catholic exorcism (though I'd imagine it might be like in The Exorcist.).

The holy-roller "deliverance rituals" I saw in both Mega Churches & Non-Denominational storefronts consisted of "Lay on hands, rebuke demon  & pray a lot (but humanely restrain the person if they go nuts)".

All in all, ANY FORM of physical violence was NEVER considered.

But there's all these cases involving some serious hardcore beatings, torture, mutilations, drowning, crushing, suffocating, biting, and even sexual assault. WHY?!! Even if these nuts are amateurs, they should at least have some vague pop-culture understanding of what an exorcism is....usually intense but nonviolent with prayer, chanting & stuff.

I have yet to find an explanation for this phenomenon. Anybody have any theories as to why. "They be crazy", while obvious, is not enough.

[Ultimate Paragon]

I don't know, maybe they're trying to force them out through violence?

[Witchyjoshy]

I don't know, maybe they're trying to force them out through violence?

I'm thinking you're right.

Unfortunately, this is one part of Christianity that I have no experience with - my evangelical upbringing told me that a lot of Catholic conventions (including exorcisms) were heretical and that "evangelical exorcists" were scam artists.

In retrospect, that last part may have been because I was raised Baptist before we went to a Charismatic church.

Also, that laying on hands and praying thing?  It may not be physical abuse, but that is something I have some experience with, and it is absolutely psychologically damaging.  You get your emotions all worked up to a rolling boil until they all boil over (which is probably the point you go into a frenzy and thus need to be "humanely" held still).  Until you believe that you really had <x> problem, and that the "spirit of God" is filling you, and all that bullshit.

And you promise yourself that you'll "change", that you won't be "possessed by the spirit of iniquity" anymore...

...and then the high wears off, and you go back to "normal".  Except you don't go back to normal, you go lower than normal, and a deep depression sets in and you just don't know why you keep failing and failing and failing.

In some ways, I almost think being crushed to death is merciful compared to this.  Almost.

At least with this you can recover by leaving the poisonous environment and getting a healthy dose of fresh air.  Like Satanism (Paganism works, too).  Or Atheism.  Or other self-empowering philosophies and/or spiritualities.

Just something to give you power over your own life.

[Random Gal]

The ones in the Bible consisted only of Jesus and His followers verbally commanding the demons to leave their hosts, IIRC.

[Witchyjoshy]

The ones in the Bible consisted only of Jesus and His followers verbally commanding the demons to leave their hosts, IIRC.

My memory is a bit fuzzy, but there was this attitude in the Christian community I belonged to that, while miracles still happened, they were happening with less and less frequency the further away we got from the time of Jesus because of... hm... I'm thinking it was either "Their faith was much stronger then because they got to actually see Jesus" or "God is withholding his power now".  Probably the first one.

[Sigmaleph]

If I had to guess (beyond "Crazy!") I'd say it's a matter of not knowing what else to do. Suppose you start your exorcism by chanting and rebuking and calling on the name of the lord and all that crap, but that doesn't magically make the person better. So then you try harder, you chant louder, whatever, it still doesn't work. The demon is right in front of you, probably laughing at your feeble attempts to remove it, so you get angry in an already emotionally charged situation, faced with a creature you believe is quite literally evil incarnate...

Like I said, just a guess. But it sounds plausible, at least for some cases.

[Barbarella]

If I had to guess (beyond "Crazy!") I'd say it's a matter of not knowing what else to do. Suppose you start your exorcism by chanting and rebuking and calling on the name of the lord and all that crap, but that doesn't magically make the person better. So then you try harder, you chant louder, whatever, it still doesn't work. The demon is right in front of you, probably laughing at your feeble attempts to remove it, so you get angry in an already emotionally charged situation, faced with a creature you believe is quite literally evil incarnate...

Like I said, just a guess. But it sounds plausible, at least for some cases.

I'd imagine that makes sense. That explains a lot. I'd imagine that all of these started out nonviolently then the exorcists "lost it".

[Art Vandelay]

...Are they violent, or are they exorcisms?

Sorry, once I saw the title, I just had to. Just pretend I'm not here...

[Witchyjoshy]

...Are they violent, or are they exorcisms?

Sorry, once I saw the title, I just had to. Just pretend I'm not here...

I think the joke just sailed over my head

[Art Vandelay]

...Are they violent, or are they exorcisms?

Sorry, once I saw the title, I just had to. Just pretend I'm not here...

I think the joke just sailed over my head

Seinfeld related joke.

[Witchyjoshy]

...Are they violent, or are they exorcisms?

Sorry, once I saw the title, I just had to. Just pretend I'm not here...

I think the joke just sailed over my head

Seinfeld related joke.

That would explain why it sailed over my head

[Katsuro]

I guess for some people violence is the answer to everything.

[Barbarella]

I guess for some people violence is the answer to everything.

I guess so.