definition of terms: exorcism

8/7/2019 Definition of Terms: exorcism

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DEFINITION OF TERM

Shamanism

Shamanism is perhaps one of theoldest divinatory practices in theworld to promote healing. Byarchaeological and anthropologicalevidence the practice has existedfor some 20,000 to 30,000 years,perhaps since the beginning of thehuman race. Evidence of shamanism has been found globallyin isolated regions of the Americas,Asia, Africa, regions of Europe andAustralia.Usually shamans are called to their

profession in two ways: by heredityor by spontaneous and involuntaryelection by the Supernaturals.There are some who seek out thetraining, but these individuals arenot considered as powerful. Anexception to the latter is found theNative North Americans becausemany undertake vision quests toask for healing power or the help of a guardian spirit. The shaman is


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distinguished from others by thegreater number of his guardianspirits, by the intensity of his vision,

and by his greater power.

Devil

In Christianity there rises theneed for the Devil because theChristians accept and pray to an all

good and perfect God whopossesses no imperfections or evil.Such a god concept becomesburdensome when evil in the worldhas to be admitted to and accepted.This concept becomes even moreburdensome when the Christiansprofess their all-perfect God createda perfect world. At this point, thebelief and the reality becomescontradictory. An all-perfect Godwho creates a perfect world cannothave evil or imperfection in such a

world, but in reality this worldpossesses evil. This leads to theconsequential questions, where didsuch evil come from and how did it


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enter this world? The answer is theDevil.

J esus Christ In his public ministry Jesus

Christ was portrayed as an itinerantreligious teacher traveling fromtown to town throughout Judea.From both an objective and

religious viewpoints Jesus is moreof a mystical and mythologicalfigure than a historical one.

J udaism Judaism, the name emerged

around the period of the opening of the Christian era (2 Maccabees 2:21, 8: 1, 14: 38; Galatians 1: 13).Judaism, like other aggregatingnames of major religions, isambiguous by implying that there isa uniformity of belief and practice

among all Jewish people, whichcertainly is not true.

Hinduism Hinduism is commonly thought of

as a religion, but this is an


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inaccuracy, it is a Way in whichmost of the people of India who arenot Muslim live. Some say those

belonging to sects such asBuddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism,plus various schools includingtantra and bhakti, do not belong tothe Way of Hinduism. This also ispartially inaccurate if one considers

those sects as daughters or offshoots of Hinduism. Taken as awhole, Hinduism comprises somefifty percent of the earth's people.

B uddhism When teaching the Buddha

regarded himself as a guide andphysician, diagnosing ailments andpointing out the path to recovery.As presented now in texts, hetaught in the basic components of Hindu cosmology and psychology

(long cycles of time, and equallyperiods through which a self or soul, atman, is reborn as it moves,controlled by karma as cause,toward freedom or salvation,


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moksa), but modified themdrastically: he saw all appearanceas characterized by dukkha

(transience, anicca, accompaniedby suffering that arises if one seekssomething permanent or eternal inits midst). It follows that therecannot be a soul, but only thesequence of one moment giving

rise to the next, constitutingappearances with characteristicpossibilities (human, for example,as oppose to animal, through theskandhas, aggregations). The no-soul doctrine is referred to asanatman.

Islam Islam is the religion of the

allegiance to God and to hisprophet Muhammad. It is believedby followers to be the religion that

God always intended for hiscreation, but which is derived in itspresent form from the propheticministry of Muhammad (c. 570-632AD), and from the revelation


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mediated through him, the Qur'an,or Koran. The verbal noun islamappears eight times in the Qur'an,

and is derived from the identicalSemitic root as the Hebrew shalom(peace). It means entering into acondition of peace and security withGod, through allegiance andsurrender to him.

Muhammad

Muhammad ibn Abd Allah (570-632) is the last of the Prophets fromwhose proclamation of Qur'an Islamderives. Muhammad was born inMecca in the Year of the Elephant,or when the Assyrian army attackedMecca. He was of the family of Banu Hishim in the tribe of Quraysh.

definition of terms: exorcism

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