Whats the Difference Between Devils and Demons???

Soloman_The_Wise
Soloman_The_Wise Members Posts: 2,817 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited February 2013 in R & R (Religion and Race)
ran across this article when looking up the difference between Devils and demons after a discussion...
A large portion of the population of the United States would declare itself Christian, if given a questionairre with boxes to fill out. However, despite this loyalty to Christianity there is a remarkable lack of attention to detail and to the study of the Bible that lays out the basis for the religion. For instance, most people are unaware that nowhere in the Bible is there a description of hell. That was provided by the poet Dante. Ditto our description of the devil, which has been elaborated on by various writers of fiction and the opinions of biblical scholars. All we know for certain is that he's charming, charismatic, a tempter who is evil and against ? . Not much to go on. Often these oversights boil down to a lack of explanation and historical context, combined with translations from one language to another and needing to translate ideas in meaningful ways. This is where the difference between devils and demons comes from.

Most people, if asked, would just tell you that a devil and a demon are the same thing. They're both evil spirits that do bad things on the command of Satan. Some people might even get cute and tell you that Satan is the devil, and that demons are those that follow his orders. While this is close, the devil's really in the details. To see the true difference between them, you need to look at the language that evolved into these terms, and to understand the biblical reasoning behind them.

Let's begin at the beginning. Angels, in all their shapes and sizes, have a hierarchy. At the top are the archangels, or archangel in the case for those who believe it is just the archangel Michael who holds that spot. Archangels, and proper angels who were created by ? , can change their appearance and exist either in the realm of spirit or in the realm of Earth, making themselves physical bodies. The argument is that devils are cast out angels, who also have the level of power given by ? to his creations, and these beings likewise have physical forms that can be altered and manipulated as desired.

Moving on to the word demon. The word demon, which is used for a number of different religions in translation, comes from the Old Greek daio, which means "to separate." This term referred to beings in the pagan myths who were higher than men, but lower than the gods. The word eventually morphed into the more familiar daemon or daemones, which then changes to demons. So from this we can construe that demons are less powerful than devils, and if we look a bit closer, we can also guess that they're formed from the breeding of the divine with the mortal.

There is a phrase in Genesis that refers to the sons of ? coming to the daughters of Man. Without out and out saying it, it's referring to the breeding of angels (or devils in this case, since it's assumed the act is below angels still in heaven) with mortals to form "giants." Examples of this sort of breeding can be seen in a variety of forms, such as Lilith breeding with mortals and with spirits to create her offspring. Succubi and incubi are creatures of spirit that come to sleeping mortals and have sex with them; with the succubus creating evil spirits and the incubus impregnating women to create half breed children called cambions. An old Celtic myth claims that Merlin might have been a cambion.

In the bible, this race of giants was referred to as the Nephilim. While once great and powerful beings who had flesh and spirit of both parents, their bodies were destroyed by the flood (or so the book says). Powerful even without bodies, these beings became demons and were creatures of pure spirit who had no bodies. Much like the djinn and the ghouls in Islam, demons are creatures who are evil spirits, seeking to influence but not as powerful as the purer and stronger devils who are their progenitors.

It's for this reason that you only hear about demonic possession, but never devilish possession. Men may cast out demons, and rebuke them in the name of ? , but devils are stronger and older, more powerful than anything but beings of an equal, divine weight class. It's for these reasons that while demons might possess people, the devil always shows up in person.

Comments

  • MzKB
    MzKB Members Posts: 3,366 ✭✭✭✭✭
    interesting read
  • BiblicalAtheist
    BiblicalAtheist Members Posts: 15,668 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2013
    "Men may cast out demons but devils are stronger and older, the devil always shows up in person."


    I'm confused, is there devils or the devil.
  • Soloman_The_Wise
    Soloman_The_Wise Members Posts: 2,817 ✭✭✭✭✭
    .IRS. wrote: »
    "Men may cast out demons but devils are stronger and older, the devil always shows up in person."


    I'm confused, is there devils or the devil.

    both the terms devil and devils has been used in various cultures for many generations...
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Unless you ascend to the next level. I can become intangible and untangible in the third dimension and I gotten in some ghetto fights with them.
  • Drew_Ali
    Drew_Ali Members Posts: 1,403 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2013
    Interesting thread.......

    However......

    The definitions/understandings of demons and the devil are off........

    Some scholars believe that the word “devil” comes from the ancient Sanskrit/Vedic word “deva,” which has the same root as “divine,” which refers to angels in the Hindu pantheon. The words divine and devil come from the same Sanskrit root (dev). This theory is based on the knowledge of the prophet Zoroaster, who in the 6th century B.C.E., conquered Hindu lands and thus transformed their “devas” into Persian devils.

    Likewise, the word demon is derived from the Greek “daimon” or “daemon,” which was used to refer to beings with ? -like qualities, not evil spirits. Another coincidence, or was the redefinition also propaganda to persuade ancient Greeks and Romans to reject their former “daemons” in favor of new religious beliefs?

    I guess most of this is irrelevant now that we have officially redefined “diva” as a female version of a hustler......

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  • WYRM
    WYRM Members Posts: 993 ✭✭✭✭
    My opinion would be demons take a more physical role in defiance of creation, such as possession. The Devil or devils whispers temptations and ideas but do not take an active role, they prefer free will take over. Both are experts in humane nature, rebellious spirits with the same general motivations of destroying or bringing a fall to humanity. They are ? and throwing temper tantrums cause their "daddy's" creation "humanity" allegedly is his/its shining star.
  • vitoria
    vitoria Members Posts: 445 ✭✭✭✭
    edited March 2013
    The devil can't make you do anything physcially he use's his power of psychlogy and socialogy to encourage ppl to do things. For example he will create a situation for you to act on it but him knowing you have freewell he is very cunning and precise. And his demons helps him along with that
  • BiblicalAtheist
    BiblicalAtheist Members Posts: 15,668 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I view "Satan" as what it is: adversary. Adversary to what? The adversary to everything "Christ" stood for. Forgiveness, compassion, awareness, everything VS spite, apathy, ignorance, self. Satan/Adversary is in everyone. Devils I liken to "spirits". When someone is full of rage they are full of the "spirit of anger". People are often in "good spirits". So devils would be people in the spirit of adversary. Makes sense you'd not want to be in their company.
  • WYRM
    WYRM Members Posts: 993 ✭✭✭✭
    My opinion would be demons take a more physical role in defiance of creation, such as possession. The Devil or devils whispers temptations and ideas but do not take an active role, they prefer free will take over. Both are experts in humane nature, rebellious spirits with the same general motivations of destroying or bringing a fall to humanity. They are ? and throwing temper tantrums cause their "daddy's" creation "humanity" allegedly is his/its shining star.

    All in all I do not believe in "possessions" and the "devil" is an escape goat concept for when things go wrong or we do bad. When things go well or we achieve things we thought difficult or impossible, "? " gets the credit. The above statement is just from a christian experience I endured as a child and any research I have done in the esoteric, after the fact.