Moderator's Note: This is a thread requesting theological advice, by request of the original poster. If your arguments or advice on the topic are not linked to theology, please do not post. This thread is discussion within the realm of Christian theology and therefore posts denying its veracity are disrespectful and will be dealt with accordingly. This is up here for the people who reply without reading the entire original post.

Hello. Hopefully this ends up being "serious" enough for this section...

Anyways, I was looking up stuff about hypnosis on wikihow, and it looked like something I might want to get into if I ever get any real life friends. However, when I asked one of my Christian friends about hypnosis, she practacally freaked out and basically told me that hypnosis was demonic and connected one to Satan.
I decided to look up some topics specifically on this issue:
I found these two, which are obviously against hypnosis...
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/hypno.htm
http://www.gotquestions.org/hypnosis-Christian.html
And these two that seem to be relatively ok with hypnosis...
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-improvement-articles/christian-hypnosis-839899.html
http://byihypnosis.com/religiousviews.html

I also can't help but notice a couple consistent thing with the Christians who think hypnosis is demonic:
They consistently view Eastern Mysticism as inherently evil and occult.
They believe that the hypnotist has complete control of the hypnotized (other sources claim that if the hypnotist tries to suggest anything that goes against the person's morals or beliefs, the person will refuse and sometimes immediately wake up).

Also, here are my wikihow sources (I read wikihow for fun sometimes, and this is where I started learning most of what I knew about hypnosis):
http://www.wikihow.com/Category:Hypnosis
http://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Yourself-Using-the-Best-Me-Technique
http://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Someone-Using-The-Dave-Elman-Technique
http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Self-Hypnosis
http://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Someone

What do you guys think? Is hypnosis ok or not?

(NOTE: This is NOT a debate thread. I'm asking for advice from people who are preferably good Christians. In other words, I don't want atheists to start ranting at me for believing in God in the first place. I want to know if hypnotism is ok according to the Bible or not, not according to some secular source.)

Oh, and in case it matters, I wasn't planning on using it for any "therapy" or "medical" purposes. I was actually thinking it would make a nice way to show trust and intimacy in a romantic relationship, similar to hugging, kissing, making out, etc.

EDIT: Oh and please post BEFORE voting, I accidently made it so that I can't see anyone's votes until I vote, and also, I want to be able to know why whoever voted what .

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Jun 27 2009, 3:23 am by DT_Battlekruser. Reason: fail grammar

They moved it to the "Null" thread because it wasn't serious enough? A religious question concerning something that could potentially be dangerous isn't serious? Meh, I dunno how they judge "serious" around here...

But anyways, I found a wikipedia article on the kind of use I had in mind for hypnotism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnofetishism

"A religious question concerning something that could potentially be dangerous isn't serious?"
By that logic, "Is clean water poisonous for humans?" could be a 'serious' topic - were there any significant defense of the possibility, it'd be huge and profound... but everything that anyone who knows what they're talking about knows says it's nothing but absurd.
It was also a rather limited topic.

I take it you're trying to tell me that nothing is wrong with hypnosis from a religious perspective?

No, though I must admit that I also posted about a point which, while I believe true, I also don't think is as significant in the context of why your thread was moved (of course, I bear no illusion that I know why with any kind of certainty).
As you stated, it's you asking for answers to a specific question from specific people. While many threads do start with a question, it is, in those cases, prompt for a debate.
...
or I have no idea what I'm talking about in general.
Don't know why I keep doing that in certain peoples' threads.

No, you're fine, except that I'm having difficulty interpreting what you're trying to tell me XD.

Let me rephrase what I'm trying to say about this not being a debate:
You don't go to a theolgician when you have a question about biology. You don't see a therapist for surgery. I don't go to secular sources for spiritual advice.

Get it?

Jesusfreak, they for some reason demand that every discussion topic be a debate (despite the fact that not every discussino is a debate), and remove all topics that don't prompt one.

Ok, thanks for the explaination. I wonder if anyone's voted yet... I can't see the results until I vote XD.

Ooh, thanks, I didn't know the mods could do that . That outta help people...

On a largely secular website such as this, a request for theology advice is not likely to be treated seriously by many members. Also, as someone said, there is a perception that topics in Serious Discussion need to be debates. The organization of the Other forums is not perfect, and I think this thread falls through the cracks.

I personally find nothing wrong with it. It's simply the power of suggestion, much like passing by a McDonald's can make you think you are hungry. I don't think those people who do hypnosis shows are using occult forces. Neither are people who use hypnoses therapeutically, to cure cigarette addictions and such.

Ok, then... anyone else?

EDIT: By the way, while we're here, can anyone tell me if the information in the wikihow sources is accurate?

I'm not a Christian, but here's how I see it: Christianity says that evil is anything that directly harms or suggests harming any person in any way (physical, moral, spiritual). If hypnosis is used within that rule, it cannot be evil according to what Christianity dictates.

So, then, using self-hypnosis for fun/self-esteem-boosting/relaxing-in-general or as a bonding between romantic couples is perfectly fine, as far as Christianity is concerned (also if there are any physical safety hazards to anything I suggest, don't be afraid to inform me just because they aren't spiritual)?

Fun - depends on a case by case basis. Christianity suggests that sex for fun/pleasure (assuming you're not married) is bad, as it is damaging to your spiritual health. Perhaps some Christians would draw an analogy here.
Self esteem boosting - a propper Christian would probably tell you that the only source of good self-esteem must be faith in God combined wiht the kindness and strength of your heart.
Relaxing - see "fun".
Bondage between romantic couples - probably a nay also. I suspect Christianity wants you to have a spiritual bond without any altered states of mind. Again, the source must be faith and love, not an experience shared.

The only case I see a propper perfect Christian fully allowing and supporting hypnosis in is mental disorder treatment.

Ok, thanks... grr, so much for using self-hypnosis to boost my self-esteem and theoretically gain the confidence to get a girlfriend.

So, are there any Christians that don't agree with him?

I'm not a Christian either, but I agree with JaFF on what a moralist would probably say.

Ok, thanks. I'll be sure to ask my youth group leader too on Sunday just to finalize it.

Also, since hypnosis for fun was compared to sex for fun, would married couples hypnotizing eachother for fun be perfectly fine, or is that not what you meant?

EDIT: At the bottom of the screen, it shows the names of the people viewing the thread. Sometimes some of the names are in italics. Do the italics mean anything?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 26 2009, 11:26 pm by Jesusfreak.

Disagree. It's not at all the same. Fornication is frowned upon because, according to Christian doctrine, sex was designed to be between married couples. That doesn't say anything about anything else.

Disagree again, because that seems stupid. If something works for you, go for it, I say. Otherwise, by that argument, antidepressants would be evil.

See my response to "fun".

I do agree with this point. Although if it's just something you want to do for fun, that's different.

I am a Christian, in case you're wondering.

Ok, thanks. I found another source, by the way: http://www.infinityinst.com/articles/hyp_relfaith.html

It seems that there's a direct correlation between one's experience in hypnosis and one's appreciation of it (people who actually know what hypnotism is and who have actually used it tend to have a more positive opinion of it).
Things are looking pretty good for hypnosis so far, but I'll probably end up asking most of the people I trust in my church before I feel safe doing it (in case you haven't noticed, I tend to be paranoid and obsessed with caution).

As a scientist, there's nothing wrong with hypnosis; however, if you plan on practicing it on yourself alone as opposed to using a professional hypnotist then I would suggest making sure you have some idea of what you are doing.

From the moral standpoint, there are a lot of different sects of Christianity and they all take varying stances on morals. If I remember, lifelong chastity is viewed as the spiritual ideal; as humans we compromise for the sake of procreation. Similarly, people like the Puritans believe that all pleasure on Earth is sin, and that we should lead hard, virtuous lives so as to receive our reward in Heaven.

We live in a less moral age, and people (especially the testosterone-led teenagers that inhabit this website) like to reason away old morals to suit their desires. Your morals, however, are your private business and opinions.