Who first introduced the belief in demons, devils, ghosts, was it pagans or...

[danman]

...christians? If it was the pagans should Christians believe in them just because demons and devils are mentioned in the bible?
.2.5. Now the sagacity and wisdom which God had bestowed on Solomon was so great, that he exceeded the ancients; insomuch that he was no way inferior to the Egyptians, who are said to have been beyond all men in understanding; nay, indeed, it is evident that their sagacity was very much inferior to that of the king's. . ...

God also enabled him to learn that skill which expels demons, (4) which is a science useful and sanative to men. He composed such incantations also by which distempers are alleviated. And he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never return;

and this method of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was this:
He put a ring that had a Foot of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately, he abjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed.

And when Eleazar would persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know that he had left the man...
[Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 8.2.5

 

[jethom33545]

Does it matter?Pagans have been around much longer,they get the starting nod.

 

[Volunteer teacher]

An angel made the choice to turn against his creator when he told a lie to the first woman Eve. The thought of not dying was planted. (Gen 3:1-4)
Ghosts are supposedly persons that died and come back. (Ecc 9:5)

Demon is an fallen angel. So this came to existence when this angel fell away from the truth. Later others angels joined him. Gen 6:1,2,

 

[strpenta]

The Jews existed long before the Xians, they were hedonists at first, the Hindu religion and Judaism have the oldest writings on spiritual matters...
ghosts, demons, devils...all are a spiritual beings and have existed as long as any spirituality has been around, whatever they were called.
Edit: Judaism and Hinduism have written texts but some of the others are right...there were shamans and all kinds of pagan religions in different parts of the world...btw, 'pagan' is an umbrella term and covers different religions (IE: Norse, Hellenistic, Celtic, Cherokee, Greek, Roman, etc.)
@ luvtheot..., There is no afterlife in the OT, the satan mentioned in Job is an anti-human servant of God, not Gods nemesis, that doesn't happen until the NT
names of great kings and/or gods (Lucifer, Baal)and the animal mentioned in the Garden story were said to be the same NT character, Satan.

 

[light]

Eve should be told her temptation to someone. "The voice inside my head: Eat!" And I guess they've got her wrong. Devil is in head. It's a childish explanation of an abstract notion. Mistakes arise from wrong or mixed ideas.

 

[Rudolph]

Dan-man
I am a atheist, in other words I do not believe in GOD or angels. But I have seen demon or ghost whatever you want to call it.
I have studied Christianity, I were a Priest. Then I became a Muslim, but after 30 years of studies I found that it all is based apron astrology, and there is no prove that there is any GOD.
But not every thing that exist is carbon based. We can't see dark matter but scientist can prove that it must exist. So to ghost exist, they are not godly, but some pagan believe called them gods.
and philosophized them. Lucky they are I wish it were me.

 

[ladyren]

We don't know where some of those things came from. All primitive tribes lived in fear, and lived very short lives. Things happened to them that they did not understand...babies died, women died, crops failed. Many likely thought that "If I sacrifice things I love, the Potato God will make sure our harvest is good."

Those people who lived before there was any science invented anything and everything to explain events. Since they knew nothing, the options were wide open. And "Spiritual Leaders" used their powers on desperate people. Religions do the same thing today.

 

[Rodney]

All societies speak of them in different words and meanings! The German called them Gremlins, the Greek Demon, and even the muslim who unbeknownst to them worship the demons filth of the air, call them genies! For proof of Gods mystery being finished and the genies/unclean spirits called by the Great Physician having been found through His Bible code/keys sent visit the website mentioned below...IT HAS BEGUN...

{{Website mentioned below has many pictures with zoom and copy ability, and Image of Darwin being Beat down By MY Lord Jesus on the proof in the news and science page}}
Go to your google search and type in Adam and Eve seed gathering, and enter the website {{especially the about page and services page where the unclean spirits/satan are actually exposed in images}} and through out the site on each page are many proofs of the now end of sickness and premature aging, and the end of all unnatural acts of Mankind/womenkind, the mystery of God is finished Rev:10:7, and the code/key given of His Bible and the now end of death is soon brought through His medical code/key sent Rev:21:4, Rev:1:18...contact page is for questions and proofs being sent or received, as is the e-mail...IT HAS BEGUN
Must be of an age of understanding to visit the Epic gathering website

 

[Atheist John]

Pagans were before Christians..

 

[Journey]

I have never read up on the subject but I hear it was pagans. Does it matter? No.
God has showed me the Bible is true so yes if the Bible says they are real, they are.

 

[Anonnie Mouse]

Shamanism is one of the oldest forms of religious belief. It predates paganism, even.

 

[use your brain]

prophet adam

 

[E. M]

Satan (the devil) is mentioned at virtually that start of the bible. He dwelt with God in heaven as an angel until he rebelled and took a third of the angels with him. The devil certainly did not begin as a pagan belief. Eve met him in the Garden of Eden.

 

[Jon M dn ?p?s s??+]

Pagans existed long before Christians, and they had lots of ghosts and demons and stuff. These ideas didn't originate in the Bible or with the people who compiled the Bible.

I never looked this up, but I bet all religions have some kind of ghosts, spirits, or demons.

 

[Yes i'm a BELIEVER]

They existed before Adam and Eve.
If you read the bible, God kicked Satan who was known as Ludacris when he was an angel, because he tried to overthrow God and God kicked him out and all the ones who agreed with him. So they've existed since before the beginning. Ghost is just another word for demons or devils

 

[LuvtheOFFICE!]

There is one Devil Satan.
He does have demons.
There are no ghost, that would be demons trying to torture you.

Background:

Satan use to be an angel of god, but he got jealous that everybody was worshiping god and decided to tell Jehovah that he could get all people on the earth to worship him, because he believed that he was a better god than God! Anyways, some of god's angels decided to follow satan and go with him....that is how they became demons.

Titled: "Satan—Myth or Sinister Reality?"
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20021015/article_02.htm

 

[I TRY]

Well the first demon/devil recorded was Satan in the Garden of Eden, who knows what happened from then on?

 

[Bell Sound]

Is a continuation of pagan rituals that got incorporated into christianity which is another myth.

 

[Actual Answer VPD]

Pagans but what does that matter. You're better off pointing out the similarities between Xtianity and the Cult of Mithras or the Cult of Isis. That way you don't sound like a smelly Pagan saying "we did it first. They stole from us!"

 

[That Damned Heathen]

Pagans, but the meanings aren't exactly the same. Like Demon... actually comes from the Greek Daemon, which merely meant Spirit and didn't mean good or bad. Of course we have devils... our religious concepts show that even in the spirit world you have good, bad AND neutral! It's not just you're either good or your bad... At least in Paganism, you can see they didn't treat everything so Black n White.

Judaism has enough paganism in it as well. It isn't just Christianity that took up these things.

Funny - when Christians get TD like this, they claim it just proves they are right =D