Quote:
Originally Posted by awareness
You mean to say that back then they believed in superstitious answers to life's goings-on?
How could they not? They didn't have the science we have today, nor did they even have the medical answers we have today. They didn't know bacteria and such caused disease. They attributed it to spirits and demons. Epilepsy, for example, wasn't considered a medical condition. It was demon possession to them.
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Your debunking reflex has kicked in. My point is that from the ancient worldview until the modern era, the predominant worldview was one in which
spirit figured as a seldom challenged explanation for how things worked. In that grand narrative, the set of all spirits included the Holy Spirit and the human spirit in a hierarchy. Today, people can explain the world in a far more comprehensive way without recourse to the notion of spirit at all. So, if spirit is going to play a role in religious life at all, it must be explained to the convert whereas in those earlier cultures such an explanation would be unnecessary. Enter Nee and Lee and other "ministers of the spirit" to connect proselytes with the traditional spirit world.