I think that the term "demon" is loosely used and mostly connotated with the concept of evil and perpetuated with the image of hellish creatures from... well... hell...

I have always believed and pictured creatures of many different types. In my mostly demented mind demons are creatures who are composed of and have great control of many different energies. (thus the different types.) The only cultures, to my knowledge, that share a belief even remotely close to this, are the Japanese. (even though they still mostly connotate demons with evil.) Doomo Arigato gozaimasu, Nihon-jin. Look at they're profound beliefs in archetypical demons and nature-ish demons. (fire demon, fox demon, blah de blah demon...) I beg readers to please not drag Inuyasha into this...

Anyways, i digress... if you want to comment on my half-baked theory, feel free to do so.

And i welcome flamers, because a) I at least have the courtesy to try to understand what you will undoubtedly say, and if i told y'all not to flame, you would anyways, so i'll just roll out the welcome carpet.

Well, the term 'demon' is pretty generic. While Christians define them as 'Fallen Angels'...other faiths have differing views. The same goes with angels. Theyey are agents of pure benevolence in some fiaths, but generic spirits. good or evil, in others.

I personally theorize that there are spirits that are neither entirely .Good' nor entirely 'Evil'. It would seem that that there are otherwordly beings who possess intellect and emoitons just as we do, and have shades of grey in their character.

I use the term incorrectly at times, and I know it.

When I say Demon, I do it from a "Christian" perspective and I generally refer to either the fallen 1/3, or spirits of something that was here prior to Moses and possibly prior to where the creation story starts.

Nobody's going to change my mind, and I don't expect to change anyone elses, so I'm not going to argue about it, that's just my view on it.

True. Lucifer and his company of falen angels --about 1/3 of Heaven's host --- are considered demons. In some circles of Christian belief. you may see them listed as 'devils' rather than demons. I don't know why that is.

Perhaps they reject the Greek term 'daemon' (from which 'demon' originates), or make a distinction between fallen angels and other spirits.

umm what? now i'm confused with all this terminology....sooo not all demons are bad? and what's the difference between a fallen angel and a demon then? Are fallen angels good?

umm what? now i'm confused with all this terminology....sooo not all demons are bad? and what's the difference between a fallen angel and a demon then? Are fallen angels good?

To me the word Demon is just a name that mankind has given to unusual creatures that they don't understand. Which in most religions the " Demon" has special powers.

isnt Demon a word from Greeks, they used to call Demons Daimions they were messangers i think!!

In traditional Christian belief, demons are indeed evil. Period.
In traditional Christian belief, angels are good. Period.

The problem is, Chrisitans see it as purely black-and-white scenairo. Either you're a good angel, you're and evil demon. Fallen angesl are thought of as evil, because they no longer obey God.

Other faiths define angels and demns differently. Some angels have dark dispositions, and some demons not so dark.

I tend to think there are shades of grey. If angels, who do possess intellect, emotions, and free will, perhaps they are not always banished and labelled as 'evil' for each infraciton. Perhaps there is an angelic probation available. Just a thought.

"sooo not all demons are bad?"
Depends who you ask. If you ask me I'd say they're all bad, ask most Anyone else and they'd say there's some good, some bad.

"what's the difference between a fallen angel and a demon then?"
from what I understand, fallen angels are specifically the 1/3, demons are other spirits.

"Are fallen angels good?"
if you ask me, no. others have other opinions.

But I use the terms wrong and I know I do.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=demon

This one http://www.theology.edu/theology/angel.htm is a good discussion on it, but doesn't cover my personal take on it, sort of a mix of theory 1 and 3 with some outside (or inside) thought.

Although I don't totally agree with everything said on this page, it's an easier to follow example of the distinction to be made:
http://users.aristotle.net/~bhuie/demons.htm



BUT, Besides all this. Other cultures and religions Also have Demons.

Some are principalities (with personalities ) or demi-gods or thoughts... Some born of action, some always exsisted... it depends on the tradition you're looking at.

oh okay thnx it makes a lot of sense now!

Daemons were spirits that were messengers.
It is my belief that spirits are neither completely good or evil and as 'Big Daddy GFS' says there is a certain grey area with them.


Lapi'che

It is now a know fact that "lucifer" is a mistranslation, and no such fallen angel and 1/3 of the angels never fell. This is all an exaggeration of a story about a few horny angels that went to earth to have sex with human women. Satan has nothing to do with this either. He is still considered one of the trusted "sons of god" in the book of Job, and no mention of him in Eden in the Old Testament which Jesus endorsed.

There is virtually no hint of demons in the Old Testament at all. They are all an invention of the pagan greek converts to Christianity. In most cases they are merely mental illness. In some cases they may be the ghosts/spirits of wicked humans that possess the bodies of weak minded people.

Oh, and that stupid cartoon Inuyasha has as much to do with real Japanese theology as "Dungeons and Dragons does with Christian theology (though there are dragons in the bible of course). In fact, that cartoon is basically just a jap ripp-off of american D&D, nothing more.

oh yeah, there's also the thought that this is all mythology made up in the minds of man

I like where most of you are going with this. I'm just relieved that at least some people dont see demons as "evil" point blank.

A further in depth to my belief is that they're simply spirits that existed before "Creation" or whatever you wish to call it. As for the evil connotation that goes with them, people simply fear and degrade that which they don't understand, and then blame all of their problems, illnesses, etc. on them.

My theory on spirits is that some of them were here from the beginning, some were once living are were too deranged or disturbed to be reincarnated ( theses are the problem causers with ouigi boards and posession). The ones that are bad (not necessarily evil) are liars and that is when you get the posession cases when them claim to be Hitler or the Pope or something crazy. They were just too 'disturbed' to be given a new body and want one real bad.

Lapi'che