Responsibility, Accountability, and Forgiveness...
There was an online discussion I found in which someone was implying most of the horrific acts, like a madman in a tower with an AK-47, are driven to this point by demons. Yeah... Pass the buck. Awesome. My response is below...
Sometimes a "madman" is just a "madman" and the only demons are the chemical imbalances. Sometimes the only thing driving said madman to climb a tower with an AK-47 is the psychotic features they are experiencing.
People have good and bad within them. If I am a good person, did my Deity force me to be good? or did I choose to follow what my Deity asks of me? I chose to be good. If I am bad, is there a demon forcing me to do something? No, more than likely, I made a bad choice or deliberately decided to be a channel for that bad as easily as I can choose to be a channel for good.
People with psychoses already have a compromised world view and the degree of the compromise varies with the psychosis and individual. Sometimes triggers can be found in their environment, and sometimes those triggers don't even need to be rational. Sometimes the triggers exist only in their mind.
It's a personal pet peeve of mine that we as a society are so quick to pass off our bad things as others' faults; I was abused as a child so now I'm a criminal, I have a demon oppressing me so I am forced to hurt others.... I have found a gross lack of personal responsibility and accountability in today's society and it aggravates me. Personally, I own my shit... If I messed up, I say so and apologize and make darn sure I learned that lesson so I don't repeat it. I feel the true penance is not merely asking for forgiveness, it is proving your are worthy of forgiveness by making efforts to learn the lesson of how not to be. Any one can ask God/dess for forgiveness, that's easy. But really applying yourself to learn why you did what you did and then learning ways to avoid doing it for the future, that takes true strength and shows worthiness of forgiveness... This is what I do when I mess up. I'm not perfect, but I try.
Side story. My ex was abusive and denied he did anything wrong, it was always in my head and nothing was ever his fault, he was always driven to it by something else. Within a year after we broke up, he had another 3 failed relationships who all told him the same things I did. He asked me for forgiveness and how could he ever make amends. I told him to learn how to not do those things to any one else and treat his new partner(s) with respect and dignity and in doing that, he honored me by remembering how he should not be. That is how I feel true forgiveness and absolution works. It's not enough to ask, you need to follow through.
Am I saying demons never bring any evil in to the world? No. Am I saying it happens all the time, absolutely not. Am I saying things force us, I mean *REALLY* force us to do evil where we have no control other than to do evil? I call that possession and that does not happen frequently.
Here's a question to any one who cares to answer it... Why is it we are *forced* to do only evil and are not at fault and actually are the victims. But the good, we can choose to do and praise ourselves for it? Sounds a little suspect to me. But what do I know? I have flaws I actually admit to...
I'm sorry, I honestly feel a lot of the demon influence talk needs to be re-evaluated and analyzed to determine if people are looking for excuses of bad behavior of themselves or other people.
A good majority of the time, it is our *own* fault when we do bad things... Popular opinion or not, its mine.
Sometimes a "madman" is just a "madman" and the only demons are the chemical imbalances. Sometimes the only thing driving said madman to climb a tower with an AK-47 is the psychotic features they are experiencing.
People have good and bad within them. If I am a good person, did my Deity force me to be good? or did I choose to follow what my Deity asks of me? I chose to be good. If I am bad, is there a demon forcing me to do something? No, more than likely, I made a bad choice or deliberately decided to be a channel for that bad as easily as I can choose to be a channel for good.
People with psychoses already have a compromised world view and the degree of the compromise varies with the psychosis and individual. Sometimes triggers can be found in their environment, and sometimes those triggers don't even need to be rational. Sometimes the triggers exist only in their mind.
It's a personal pet peeve of mine that we as a society are so quick to pass off our bad things as others' faults; I was abused as a child so now I'm a criminal, I have a demon oppressing me so I am forced to hurt others.... I have found a gross lack of personal responsibility and accountability in today's society and it aggravates me. Personally, I own my shit... If I messed up, I say so and apologize and make darn sure I learned that lesson so I don't repeat it. I feel the true penance is not merely asking for forgiveness, it is proving your are worthy of forgiveness by making efforts to learn the lesson of how not to be. Any one can ask God/dess for forgiveness, that's easy. But really applying yourself to learn why you did what you did and then learning ways to avoid doing it for the future, that takes true strength and shows worthiness of forgiveness... This is what I do when I mess up. I'm not perfect, but I try.
Side story. My ex was abusive and denied he did anything wrong, it was always in my head and nothing was ever his fault, he was always driven to it by something else. Within a year after we broke up, he had another 3 failed relationships who all told him the same things I did. He asked me for forgiveness and how could he ever make amends. I told him to learn how to not do those things to any one else and treat his new partner(s) with respect and dignity and in doing that, he honored me by remembering how he should not be. That is how I feel true forgiveness and absolution works. It's not enough to ask, you need to follow through.
Am I saying demons never bring any evil in to the world? No. Am I saying it happens all the time, absolutely not. Am I saying things force us, I mean *REALLY* force us to do evil where we have no control other than to do evil? I call that possession and that does not happen frequently.
Here's a question to any one who cares to answer it... Why is it we are *forced* to do only evil and are not at fault and actually are the victims. But the good, we can choose to do and praise ourselves for it? Sounds a little suspect to me. But what do I know? I have flaws I actually admit to...
I'm sorry, I honestly feel a lot of the demon influence talk needs to be re-evaluated and analyzed to determine if people are looking for excuses of bad behavior of themselves or other people.
A good majority of the time, it is our *own* fault when we do bad things... Popular opinion or not, its mine.