HAYDEN, Idaho - A man who believed he bore the "mark of the beast" used a circular saw to cut off one hand, then he cooked it in the microwave and called 911, authorities said.

The man, in his mid-20s, was calm when Kootenai County sheriff's deputies arrived Saturday in this northern Idaho town. He was in protective custody in the mental health unit of Kootenai Medical Center.

"It had been somewhat cooked by the time the deputy arrived," sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. "He put a tourniquet on his arm before, so he didn't bleed to death. That kind of mental illness is just sad."

It was not immediately clear whether the man has a history of mental illness. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Johnson would not say whether an attempt was made to reattach the hand, citing patient confidentiality.

The Book of Revelation in the New Testament contains a passage in which an angel is quoted as saying: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God's fury."

The book of Matthew also contains the passage: "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Rest of the article here: Linky

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The fear of hellfire and god's fury is a mental illness... Interesting for sure.

I thought the Beast was meant to be Nero? Oh well logic doesn't apply to these people.

There's already a thread for this in the 'Bizarre News' forum.

What do you mean by Nero?



This is to discuss the religious aspect of the article... Not fit for the bizarre forum.

MICROWAVED IT???????????

Hell that just makes it tough and dry.

Saute is the way!



And, on a more serous note:
That answers the question about religion being dangerous, no?
But I'm quite sure someone will come forth to spout "But he isn't a REAL christian......"
Not picking on christianity, but ANY religion/faith/cause that could affect a person in such a way is....... insane.

Edit: was wrong

There are circular saws and microwaves in the Bible? Totally missed that one.

This guy is a nutter and needs medical help and it looks like he's finally getting it. There's no church or religion mentioned in this article that "made" him mentally ill.

They hear voices in their head that no one else can hear and often attribute it to God for lack of any other rational explanation aside from mental illness. Often they don't even believe in God before the illness sets in. Other mentally ill people think terrorists are after them, there have been interesting cases where some mentally ill people try to make sense of what's going on in their head through twisting science. Most mentally ill people dont' see themselves as sick more than half the time.

It's sad he's ill... but religion didn't make him ill just as the person who thinks that terrorists are manipulating the laws of physics for their own evil means aren't made ill by science.

They did mention it though... Christianity...

The Book of Revelation in the New Testament contains a passage in which an angel is quoted as saying: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink the wine of God's fury."

The book of Matthew also contains the passage: "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

He is trying to avoid hell.

But it make no mention if he's actually a believer. You'd be surprised how many people who have schitzophrenia, when they're stable, don't actuall believe in God.

And he's not trying to avoid hell.. he has a scientific chemical inbalance.

I imagined the entire scenario in my mind and boy was it something...no pleasant dreams for me tonight...

Actions do speak louder then words to me at least... He cut off his hand in fear of hell. That fear of hell that is pushed into children all over the world and into adults to make them straighten up is what drives people into madness sometimes.

And why's that just have to be it? If a person prays or confesses to avoid the very same hellfire, this man is afraid of, are they mentally ill as well then?

Sweetling, it mentions that he believed his hand had "the mark of the beast" on it.
Quick! Name three religions that dicuss "the Beast" and "the mark of the beast"

Give up?

Answer:
christianity
christianity
christianity.


Editted to add:

Please note that I do not think his religion caused his illness.
Chances are, he would have cut off a body part for other reasons, even without the help of the book of revelations.
Hel, I seem to recall a case where a man sliced of his genitals because it was the source of his "sin".

I'm curious as to what he saw on his hand that made him think it was the mark...

And that could be taken in a way that.. I'm not going in... but uhm.. think in the *ehem* dirty minded way... i've been known to Espcialy with how that Matthew verse is...

Sounds like he is a believer, why else would someone do this, chemical imbalance, maybe, but he diffinatly did believe the bible.

Love Omnaka

i think your right hand refers to the man you trust the most. if hes a bad influence cut him off.

and the whole mark thing is simple alliance stuff. if you fly the enemie's flag you will take fire like the enemy.

Why is everything turned into a religous debate when news like this involves god AND A MENTALLY ILL man. ? Obviously this guys has EXTREME problems. I just find it funny when a mentally ill person says they did something because god told them do it... what makes you think they wouldn't do it if god wasn't involved? Just from the way this thread is going, alot of people are blaming religion for everything...next issue will probably involve global warming, cancer, aids, and who knows what else. Atheists out there...quit blaming EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM with our world today on religion! Of course I do know there are those extremists out there that take religion out context and cause more problems then good. Even though you might not believe it, but there are normal religious people out there! I bet if I told the man I was an alien and would spare the world from disaster if he cut off his own hand, he would still do it. There is WAY too much hatorade going around this forum with religion.

get your panties unbunched raoul.
If you actually read any of the posts you would see that most people said the same thing you did, without the drama.

Because he did it for religious reasons?

He also doesn't claim that god told him to do it... Not sure where you got that from.

He followed the religion... So would someone praying or confessing to ward off hell... Are they mentally ill as well with EXTREME problems?



Only when it is justified using real facts in cases. I'm also not blaming religion for global warming or 'EVERY SINGLE PROBLEM' out there. Just the cases like this one were it applies.

Oh I read them, im just getting tired of people blaming every single problem today on religion. It's disrespectful and can cause alot of issues between the non-believers and believers..if it was my choice, I would ban religious chatter from this site. Im not trying to be an a** hole but it just seems the same things are being discussed every single day with no end and will continue be discussed everyday after that. IMO I think you should keep your beliefs to yourself no mattter what belief system you follow...less people get hurt that way. And as far someone cutting off their own hand for WHATEVER reason, he obviously wasn't put in the mental ward soon enough. And if I all of a sudden I saw the 666 appear suddenly on my hand...I would probably get it checked out but I wouldn't be stupid enough to cut it off because of what it says in the bible. But some morons out there would unfortunately

if it bothers you that much sparky, then don't visit the beliefs & spirituality forums.

There are, I believe, other sections to these boards.

I remember reading that the number of the beast was meant to represent Emperor Nero of Rome who persecuted early christians, so the belief that 666 represents some mythical demonic beast that is going to bring on judgment day is based on absolutely nothing.

I get the feeling that if he knew that he probably would have cut something else of for some other reason though.

Mental illness occurs, regardless of Religion. He might well have convinced himself that his hand had gangrene for example, if he was an atheist, and done the same thing. Possibly not the microwaving bit, but it's hard to tell - when you go insane, normal mental reasoning doesn't usually follow.

Really? I didn't know that, thanks for the tip! Ill keep a look out for the UFO section but I heard it was an urban legend.

No, he did it for scientific/biological reasons, the illness caused him to think and act that way.



Correct.



No, he didn't follow the religion, he followed the crazy voice in his head. There was no indication if he was religious ever.



I once knew a guy, who was a totally normal dude for the most part, joe average, agnostic, until he was injured in a car wreck and sustained brain damage. (you can liken mental illness in some ways to brain damage) and when he awoke from the coma he had this nutty profound notion that he could talk to aliens and communicate with ghosts, he even had occasional conversations with "gods prophets", none of it made any sense. Havin' your bean messed with either through physical or mental trauma can make you think things you would NEVER otherwise think.

Religion, the Bible nor Christianity did that to him or caused him to cut off his hand in religious fervor... his broken brain however did cause it and you know it Kratos... it's just another one of your attempts to make christianity look bad... but you're working against your own cause brotha.

This guy is actually more Of a believer than Most christians, how does any know the words in the bible are not literal??

He obviously believes That this world is Not the real life, and Hell is real.

There is much In revelations which is literal, that the average Man will pass off as not realuntill he sees for himself.

Was Abraham Crazy? Or was he just chemically imbalanced.

How about Jesus?

Then there is Solomon,HMMMMM.



Love Omnaka

Its a myth son.

Better stick to crypto



Peace brother.

Theres no doubt that this fella is a nutter. There are some serious questions as to why this happened. I'm not saying religion is to blame at all......but his illness could very well been hidden as a result of religion.

If he was not affiliated with any religion his illness may have been noticed alot sooner.

What I'm saying is that if this guy was at church three times a week warning people about the mark of the beast, persecution, fire and brimestone......he might have been looked at as overly enthusiastic more so then crazy!

If he continuously proclaimed these obvious products of paranoia in the supermarket or library he woulda been picked up and treated alot earlier.

Alot of characteristics of religious zealots seems nothing more then an extreme enthusiasm or devoutness in the context of religion........but to remove the context of religion these characteristics are seen for what they actually are....an illness.

I think it is sad, mental illness is really a sad state to be in. I don't this is the right place for this thread.

Do you believe Moses and Jesus and solomon and Abraham were all Chemically imbalanced For hearing and seeing God, there are many more?

This guy is a believer in what he was taught, and the after life is true, Granted God did not tell him to do this, but it is told in the bible.

Love Omnaka

Disrespectful? Religion has made quite a name for it's self through horrors and pain inflicted on mankind.

Not to mention many of religions punish heathens like myself for not being a drone to them. So I guess your point is invalid since what you claim atheists are doing is the very real thing that religion weaves right into it's self.



Ohhh, forgive my stupidity



The same mental illness that has people thinking and acting that praying and confessing with give them a free pass from hell to heaven?




You just agreed he didn't hear voices and now you state that he did?

Hmm... Using scipture to justify ones actions... Sounds religious to me. Plus in this country it's very much likely he was religious just based on statistics.




Never said that mental illness was religious only so not sure what that story was about...

Well, I'm white so I'm not a 'brotha'.

His actions were justified by christianity though... The verses in the article clearly showed that. It's no more of a mental illness then praying or confessing to not go to hell.

You're missing my point entirely.

No, I dont think Abraham and Moses and Jesus were mentally ill...

We don't know what this guy was taught, the article didn't say.

People who suffer from mental illness and/or brain trauma often end up thinking, believing and doing things they wouldn't have normally done otherwise. He likely knew before hand about revelations and the mark of the beast, but good heavens, who doesn't?

What this guy did pales in comparison to abraham about to kill his son, and there was no bible to read, see my point?

Do you think the mark written about is only symbolic, or a literal mark, and if others start getting the mark this dude had, Then what, I'm saying stranger things have happened,

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Iam curious as to what the mark looked like. I got a mark once , it was a small heart which glowed on my Palm for a coule days.

Love Omnaka

no Omnaka, I don't see the point. But let me kindly explain why.

The Bible is the ONLY account of God telling Abraham to kill his son.

While I am a Christian, I believe the Bible is not to be taken literally or verbatum. In my opinion, it's the common man's subjective experience and musings on God and the spiritual. I do not believe the Bible was handed down to the authors through divine intervention. I do not believe it is a divine book. However, that being said, that does not make it useless, it's very useful, like countless other wise texts that should not be ignored.

I actually believe that very few, if any, people ever fully comprehened or understand the Bible. As we can see, it's nearly impossible to tell the parable from the history. In my opinion, God telling Abraham to kill his son is a parable and many other stories like it are also parables.

Shouldn't this be in the Mental Illness Forum? Aaaaa.... wait.... it is, my bad.

You mean in the same way those that practice other rites from the bible like praying, confessing, baptisms, and such should all be in a mental ward? I mean come on... Using one part of the bible is a mental illness but using other parts of it is perfectly normal? The hypocrisy is thick.

Yes, it is.

You know good well the bible didn't make this guy insane, you just want to stir something up. You're worried so much about religious people or their religion being hateful, yet you yourself take a stab as much as possible.
Just an observation, I could be wrong.

We don't know that for sure but it's very unlikely. I'm more to the point that this man took a saw and took off his own hand in the name of religion. I own a saw just like the one he uses and they're brutal machines... The pain and screaming he must have done would have chilled anybody's blood.

To use other religions as examples... My african tribes for religious reasons mutilate their bodies, some hindus will deform their own bodies in the name of a god or godess for a show of their devotion,, among other religions. I disagree with them as well.

Fact still remains those passages are there and that's what he used for this. Just as people use the bible for their baptisms or praying.

I'm sorry , I thought you were a Christian that believed in the bible My mistake , I apologise,

Love Omnaka

LOL, Yea! I don't have to go to the mental ward! I don't fit any of that criteria... Yep, sorry Kratos, you can't get rid of me that easy Even after ya get 'em all locked up, I'm still going to be here to annoy you! w00t!

I believe the Bible is useful for some things, but its inerrancy is of no concern to me.

No need to apologize!

I've heard this several times myself, and sort of agree with it (in the sort of lame-ass, "yeah, why not?" way I agree with any christian doctrine). I mean, what with Nero chucking them to the lions, you can see why the X-men would think that. And not let go.
It's the same reason the shut down the theatres for, oh, 1500 years or so.




I think there's at least a chance that's true.



Nope. It's in the Qu'ran. Naturally, they switch the son to one more important to their own religion, but god still tells Abraham to kill his son:



--Jaylemurph