Reacting to the exorcisms....
While I have personal reservations about some of the practices and methods
described in this article, my tour spent in Thailand during my USAF chaplain
duties altered forever my Westernized, rationalistic, and skeptical views as to
whether spirits are real or imagined. Most Thai people believe in evil spirits
and most homes have a spirit house, similar to a small doll house, outside
their houses. These are considered homes for the spirits and are intended to
keep them out of their homes. They place small gifts of food and other items in
these houses to "keep the spirits placated."
At the Thai/American base where I was stationed, there was a large banyan tree
in the distant glide path of one of our runways. It was a hazard for an
aircraft trying to make a forced landing. Our pilots were flying sorties in
Vietnam and often returned with serious battle damage to their aircraft. A
decision was made to remove the tree to increase the available landing area.
When the local villagers heard of the plan, they gathered at the base main gate
demanding that the tree not be cut and threatening to riot if the tree was cut.
There was no question about their sincerity or determination. They were
terrified. They considered the ancient tree to be the local "spirit tree," and
home to a host of spirits. They feared that, if the tree were to be cut down,
the spirits would be released to seek new homes in their village and in their
homes. Not logical? Irrational? Impossible? In whose worldview?
There were several spirit-related incidents on our base and in the local area
during my tour of duty. In addition, I learned of other incidents occurring in
various areas in Thailand, witnessed and verified by American missionaries,
which absolutely defy rational explanations. As a result the resident
missionaries that I knew in Thailand (Christian missionary Alliance, Baptist,
Presbyterian) had drastically altered their views about spirits and the spirit
world. It simply became impossible for them to deny what they heard and
experienced. They had to revamp their world views in order to cope with the
spiritual realities encountered. Missionaries in other countries where spirit
worship occurs, frequently find themselves in similar circumstances. In a large
part of the world "so-called "supernatural" events are more or less commonplace.
While I realize that those who take both pride and comfort in an
empirically-based, rationalistic, world-view will scoff at the notion of a
supernatural realm existing, as I once did, the world-at-large does not support
the evidence for a purely natural realm with no supernatural component. Until I
had my own personal encounters with spirit-related incidents and saw with my
own eyes the truth underlying the Christian Church's teachings regarding
spiritual encounters, I shared those views. Miracles are supernatural, yet the
Christian Church, and some other religious bodies, have experienced
supernatural events for thousands of years. Exorcisms are not unknown to the
Church either. (Hollywood movies depicting such things are simply
ignorance-spawned foolishness.)
Is it not a fact that every known civilization has had a "god-consciousness?"
People may disagree as to what constitutes a "god," but somehow the belief that
there is one (or more in some cultures) is pervasive. Is that, as Freud
maintained, a product of our own wistful thinking and desire for some heavenly
father-figure, or is there some spiritual "truth" underlying the belief? (It
might be pointed out that those who are terrified of their "gods" are
definitely not seeking a "father figure.") Is there some kind of a spiritual
imprint within the human species?
Is our resistance to such simply an expression of our desire to be
autonomous—to own no creator other than blind chance? Is that why we are
willing to accept the notion that we are mere by-products of a fortuitous
merging of light, heat, chemicals, minerals, and moisture (a primal "ooze)
spontaneously forming a single cell that animated itself, reproduced, changed,
and one day produced a human being? That alone should cause one to believe in
miracles—big time. ;o)
Do you ever wonder where/how the ingredients of that primordial ooze
originated? Is it logical to simply accept them as a "given," with no known
origin? How do we do that? The same way that we accept the fact that the
universe simply is? The same way that we accept the notion that a single "Big
Bang" explosion produced heavenly bodies with dramatically different
compositions from a common source? (Atoms gone wild?) What activated the
elements that caused the cosmic explosion? What is the source of the atoms that
produced It? (My poor mind reels at such questions.)
Inquisitive minds want to know these things—don't they?
My two cents. YMMV.
Robert
---- Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Interesting:
> > http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/19/swaziland-church-battles-demons/?hpt=hp_bn14
>
> I find it very challenging to avoid going into launch mode here. From
> two different directions. The rational "thinking" person in me is
> asking the question "are they nuts?" The irrational "religous" person
> in me is asking the question "does my form of church and worship creep
> other people out?"
>
> Then the concept of perspective kicks in. You think this is crazy? You
> should see what the heathen are doing.
>
> --
> Ken Norton
> ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.zone-10.com
> --
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