Ok, so another parent wrote a book – but the title of the book, Life with an Angel and a Fight with the Devil, is something I find extremley offensive. The book title about raising a child with Aspergers Syndrome seems to hint that Aspergers Syndrome is somehow connected to the devil.
I find it completley of poor taste for Judy V. Creel, an mother who claims to be a Christian to so publicly say that her son is affected by the devil in some way that causes Aspergers – as the book title seems to hint. Am I the only one who finds this book title completley unacceptable?
Related Posts |
{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }
I find it completely unacceptable. I’m offended like you are.
Unfortunately it sounds the old “charitable” view that has always lacked acceptance for what people see as lacking in the values they claim to support.
Things that don’t fit their views and claims keep showing up in their environment and they keep inventing way to demonize those things and get rid of them.
It seems they forget that people are involved.
You’re not the only one who’s offended by that book. How dare the author sound totally judgmental about people who have AS! He or she should be punished.
There is a difference between Judgmental…and Discernment…”You will know them by their Fruits”! Wise up and don’t be a fool………..Christ gives you this ability…use it Wisely……..
Good grief. I just read the excerpt posted online and it’s pretty terrible. First, she’s saying that her son is “an imperfect child,” in contrast to herself and her siblings, “perfect children.” There’s the “praying that he will be healed and normal” aspect. Even without the mention of Satanic influences this is disgusting. Someone needs to tell Creel that being a devout Christian does not have to mean being an ableist prick.
This post leads to a view of this fine book that is totally false. Apparently Sarah did not even read the book or she would have seen the angel in Judy’s son Nick and would have known that the fight with the Devil is referring to Judy’sbouts with cancer and other difficulties that she faced. Sarah puts the term ableist prick at the end of her post apperently this is how she signed off because it refers to her, certainly not Judy. Rewad the book and you will see the real truth for yourself.
FWIW, you can supposedly contact Ms Creel here:
http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/author_contact.asp?authorid=34730
I think I’ll skip, I don’t think I could pull it off without resorting to the use of a word that rhymes with “witch”…
I couldn’t find your email anywhere or any other way of contacting you, so I am commenting again.
what was the point of deleting my comment? I wasn’t bashing you or your point, I just stated a different one… not to judge books by their covers. Goes many ways, such as not judging a person just by the way they look or their initial actions.
And if you would have read my comment completely, I actually agreed because I thought another book about another person and their dealing with a person dealing with Aspergers was total crap and there should be MORE books by people with Aspergers themselves, rather than people like McCarthy just trying to sell books. With something like calling their child a devil as the title.
I have Christian beliefs myself, but even I think the book and its title are unacceptable. Especially where the author says that she and her NT children are “perfect children.” No human is perfect. It is accepted by Christians and non-Christians alike. It is people like her that make me question my faith in humanity.
And just to remind the readers, there is a Christian in opposition to this piece of Pharisee trash.
I think anyone taking the time to look into the content of the book “Life with an Angel and a Fight with the Devil” with more than a cursory glance will find that it is indeed a Christian’s book with God and Jesus referred to throughout the book. Judy’s son Nicholas is indeed the Angel the book is about. The Devil appears in many forms such as an onset of cancer, a terrible neighbor and other encounters, but certainly not Autism or Autistic people. Read the book and get the proper perspective on this wonderful book about a devoted mother that would not give up on her sons condition and with the blessings of God kept the Devil under her feet.
I am a mother of a child with Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified, a form of Autism. So I know whereof I speak. I love my child like I love God…with ALL MY HEART, MY SOUL, AND MY MIND. It is only normal to feel stressed under some of these conditions. To assume that parents should never voice any frustration is an unrealistic and unhealthy expectation. And besides all of which, her “fight with the devil” refers not to her child, but to her bouts of SURVIVING SEVERE CANCER, not once but twice. I completely support Mrs. Creel because I know EXACTLY how she feels, and so does God.
I am not surprised at the negative responses to the title. Stupidity is correctable Ignorance is irreparable. And the latter seems to be the case of the people that do not know Christ. A life with an Angel says it all….I know Nick and I know he is connected with Christ! A fight with the devil is not uncommon…that is if you Believe in Christ..otherwise maybe you might think of yourself as an agent of the devil which is always the case if you hate Christ. Try to follow Christ, associate yourself who you know is a believer no matter what the affliction and see if you are not attacked by Satan’s followers..it is what the book is about…wise up folks…you will be in a fight with Satan if you live with an angel…….end of story!
I THINK THE BOOK THAT LIVING WITH AN ANGEL AND FIGHTING WITH THE DEVIL WAS A VERY GOOD BOOK. TO THE ONES WHO DIDN’T THINK IT WAS HAS A PROBLEM. IF YOU ARE CONNECTED WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AN HIM ALONE WHEN YOU READ THIS BOOK YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT VERY CLEARLY. YOU HAVE TO PUT JESUS FIRST AS YOU READ IT. I THINK SHE WAS TELLING EVERYONE WHAT YOU CAN DO, IF YOU HAVE AN AUTISTIC CHILD. SHE LETS YOU KNOW NEVER GIVE UP THROUGH THE GOOD TIMES AND THE BAD, FOR JESUS WILL HELP YOU TO OVERCOME ANYTHING IF YOU REALLY TRY AND LET HIM DO THE REST.SHE WAS TRYING TO EXPLAIN LIVING WITH SOMEONE NOT AS FORTUNE AS YOU MAYBE, AND HOW HE HELPED HER TO OVERCOME THE BAD THINGS SHE FACED EACH DAY.MY ADVICE TO ANYONE WHO READS THIS BOOK IS DO NOT JUDGE ANYONE OF WHAT YOU WOULD DO UNTIL YOU HAVE WALKED IN THEIR SHOES. THEN YOU CAN JUDGE. MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU. JACKIE
I think these people to take their own advice and not judge… you know, like the religion they follow suggests.
–A Christian who fully understands how the title can be offensive. A subtitle would have been appropriate.
“Ok, so another parent wrote a book – but the title of the book, Life with an Angel and a Fight with the Devil, is something I find extremley offensive. The book title about raising a child with Aspergers Syndrome seems to hint that Aspergers Syndrome is somehow connected to the devil.”
Got to say… that is how it seems, regarding the title; and yes, it is – at the very least – offensive, and possibly even inflammatory.
David
seems like it might be necessary to read the whole book. All very well to say that Nick’s the angel and cancer is the devil, but why then would you pray for healing for nick? The ‘perfect’ children is also a bother – besides being anti-christian. Nobody’s perfect though we’re told to aim for it.
Wouldn’t worry too much about the all caps. Looks like ignorance of nettiquette to me.
It seems that those that purport to be educated like David…..who is apparently very liberal..or at least from a very liberal part of our planet…and educated at a liberal university in Birmingham…in the UK… would have a bit of an envious streak in him. Do Not Necessarily Judge a Book By It’s Cover…or for that matter it’s title. David could possibly learn something from the book if he were to read it and become more educated in his field of endeavor and…he could really “toot his horn on his website”. This I have seen much of from my experience of spending some time in Great Britian and it may just be a hangup with the non Christians living there or in Finnland!!!!!!And there are Many!…I know, I have met many of them! Christ is very offensive to those humans who have rejected HIM! …and accepted the world of the devil! But then again… should I not be Judgmental as Christ was with the “money changers” …and the US was when we went to war against Hitler in behalf of unGreatful Britians! Was this not a fight with the devil…….Oh, but that would be judgmental…….to judge the enemy as a devil…duh….
How hypocritical you are! Sometimes being judgmental necessary, especially if you’re being attacked. Are you trying to make people too perfect? I’m a perfectionist but not all the time.
And shame on you for typing “duh.” That’s rude! Didn’t your parents teach you manners? >:(
I am a Christian, I have aspergers syndrome and I am a Christian. I am not the devil! I believe it has helped me with my faith so God can use it.
I pray that this author will issue an appology.
Read the book. It does not say that Aspies are the Devil, nor does it say that they are in any way connected with anything Satanic. I am glad that you are a Christian. The main character in the book, Nicholas is also very much a Christian as is his mother Judy. I am sorry that you took it to mean anything like that that. It looks as though you are basing your assumptions on the derogatory post that someone posted to show their ignorance abour the book and its contents.
I’m so with you on that James. If there’s a law against writing that book, I’d use to to sue its author.
Why is this Christian woman and her Holy Spirit filled son being attacked so viscously on this site? It seems the Devil is in the minds of some of those commenting and cetainly not im Judy Creel or her Son. Some of you are grossly mistaken. Obviously you have not read the book,life with an angel and a fight with the devil, or you would know that this dedicated mother is very much a Christian and has not implied in any way that Autism or anyone that is autistic is connected to the Devil. All of her writing is Christian oriented and by reading the book, you will see that the Devil came into play when she was diagnosed with cancer and certainly not by having such a loving, intelligent, Christian Son. Try reading the book so you will know what you are talking about before making such a fool of yourself by posting such ridiculous false accusations.
“Why is this Christian woman and her Holy Spirit filled son being attacked so viscously on this site?”
Some people here make themselves seem as though think that the whole entire title of her book is about the condition which they have themselves (Asperger’s Syndrome) and that none of the title of her book is about a condition that she had herself and they don’t have (cancer).
IRL, no matter who you are, things that happen (including the author giving her book the title she gave it) are not always all about you!
Sounds pretty accurate to me. Let’s get real: Asperger’s is certainly not of “the Light.” God is Light and LOVE. You would know and understand the author’s connection of Asperger’s to darkness/the dark side/evil if you suffered mercilessly, a life of extreme deprivation not only emotionally but in every aspect you can possibly imagine, as I did as a child and as my mother did as his wife. It has been a LIVING HELL having a robotic, soulless, unloving, selfish, non-empathetic parent with Asperger’s who has no emotions, no feelings, and whose only considerations in life are strictly for himself. We have tried to love him and to help him but he is not interested in either–he only ignorantly denies there is anything wrong and goes about living his empty and ignorant and stupid life. It is as though he is and always has been a walking corpse, a shell with nothing inside.
You’re really judgmental about aspies. Not all aspies are bad. You should be ashamed of yourself.
I’m so shocked at the hurtful remarks on both sides! I am a Spirit filled Christian who has Aspergers. People you need to educate yourself properly about Aspergers. We are NOT emotionless! In fact we are hyper sensitive and often feel too much! This hyper sensitivity can be so incredibly overwhelming we shutdown. Recharge. My relationship with God is very close and we connect on a deeper lever than you neuro-typicals ever could!
I can not believe so many Aspies are religious. Neurotypicals are the type taken in by religion because they cannot think for themselves and believe things without questioning them. Anyone with an awareness of science and the world around them would realise that there is no God.
I am 100% sure there is a God. I have more faith in God then I have in our nations leaders, or that the mail man will deliver mail.
I very much rate the book “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins. He does ramble on a bit though.
Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist, has some interesting ideas on religion – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJQsxfTQVJY
I’m with you on that. But I don’t obsess over theism.
@Asemp:
“You sicken me when you kiss up to that deluded, self-righteous, bigoted, and hypocritical know-it-all Richard Dawkins. Heck, you’re just as blind as he is.
You think that you, him, and other people like you and him are so perfect. Newsflash: NO ONE’S ALL PERFECT!!!
If you ask me, you and Dawkins can burn in Hell for all I care.”
How overly judgmental, blind, hypocritical, and delusional you are. You think that all aspies and neurotypical people are alike. Think again.
You judge everyone harshly for believing in God yet you sound like you want everyone to accept your beliefs (or lack thereof) and follow your way of thinking? Shame on you.
So what if people are religious?! It’s their choice.
You’re really arrogant for thinking that science can solve everything when, in fact, it can’t. If you don’t believe in God, keep it to yourself and don’t force others to stop believing in God. By forcing your standards on others, you’ve become the very being you’ve hated: a fanatic.
On the contrary, I’m more convinced than ever there is a God, and I have Aspergers!
Let’s be sceptical on this issue. I would find the book offensive if what was against autism suggests that people without a soul are bad people, because frankly the soul doesn’t exist. Another thing, any religion wouldn’t be anti-autistic if it wasn’t Christianity, such religions treat autistics like equals, I know from experience. I had a brain test which said I have good cognition skills, and also said my brain score was A-, that means I’m rational and intelligent (though I can’t make claim to wisdom). However I wouldn’t take offence to such ridiculous rubbish (the book is ridiculous) just because for instance they portray autistics as stupid or possessed by the devil, it could be that he’s merely possessed by the devil or is silly and it has nothing to do with his autism. As a structuralist I can connect the dots and realise autistics and normal people are related because they both experience the same horror. I chose to drink wine to forget a behaviour that doesn’t work though I would only drink wine in a wine bar because if it was a pub then again I feel ‘soulless’ because it would be weird for me to drink wine in a pub. I’m with the anti-Christians all the way: there’s no soul, deny its existence! Thank you.
Hey you, the selfless mother. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and I’ve seen the autistic ‘soul’, they’re right, you have a ‘soul’ and that’s the problem, because you are most probably an arrogant Christian. Having no soul is a solution to all our problems, because it’s horrible that someone points and says you’re possessed by an evil soul. I would believe that person’s evil, so I’m against the soul, not only for myself but to spread an anti-spiritual message which I think you can understand: the ‘soul’ is a demon, vegetarianism, sacrificing yourself, your interests etc, is the pursuit of suffering, the real end to the spiritual wars is the severe self-discipline, no pleasure (it’s called asceticism), that includes the fact that we were all designed to have sex merely for the sake of making babies; included in this message is: spirituality is evil: no humanity, no justice, so do you still want to possess a ‘soul’ when really it’s evil to have that delusion?
There’s no God, God is a Creator, no deity is our creator. Though Poseidon (look it up in the Merriam Webster dictionary, he’s the god worshipped by the Greeks) would be more realistic since sacrifices symbolise that we love who we worship, and since there’s sea storms which as a structuralist I can connect with Poseidon throwing his trident in the sea, but you can’t say this happened literally, it’s not rocket science, it simply means seas get choppy and have natural disasters, nature itself, so can your God prove that He exists since He has no connection with the events of nature? Of course He can’t! That’s proof that God doesn’t exist. My aim is to take over the world, to structure world domination on justice, peace, freedom of disability, the support of special people together with the support of people who find autism stressful. And a mythological Hellenised system of government to decide your vote against the holy.
Once again: scepticism. You all talk as if social skills is simply good advice from the Unholy Bible (by which I mean The Bible), 1. there’s no proof of the accuracy of the history of Christianity. 2. Christians including Martin Luther have whipped themselves on their own backs to serve a God who never demands actually slaughtering a cow or sheep in this ridiculous faith. 3. The slaughtering of sheep is ‘barbaric’ to a Christian, that’s why he or she never makes a proper sacrifice. 4. I saw a video of the ‘real’ Jesus saying ‘fuck’ several times being nailed to a cross and attacking a talking cat, I rest my case that this can’t be true, though it has put in the effort to be an anti-Christian documentary of truth. 5. Tyler Durden on the film ‘Fight Club’ said we aren’t healed with water on our heads, healing is simply a matter of a medical procedure: we’re neutralised of our burns with vinegar, water doesn’t do anything, which I can prove to be true because Christian healing isn’t physically real, but healing with medical practices, proven by science to work, is physically real. 6. Either Tyler Durden’s atheism is right or I’m right: we’re all God’s unwanted children, and through my experience if I don’t need God you don’t need God. 7. The Jews predicted a messiah, and suddenly he rose from the dead? 1. A ghost isn’t alive. 2. A ghost is a product of your imagination. 3. Jesus made the wish for his ghost to arrive come true. 4. that’s proof that Jesus didn’t exist, He was only seen by Jews because they want to believe, but they didn’t think what they wanted to believe can be such a whiny, loudmouth, arsehole, suicidal person, obsessed with death, and be such an embarrassment to the Jewish faith!
Hey Bubba, Look what Sarah’s grandaughter is doing to Judy’s book. I received notice of 8 new postings a couple of weeks ago and now four more today. Judy doesn’t want to post anything in her own defense saying let God handle them. I hate to see such lies and false statements made about her and her book. almost all of these negative post was done by one person because we said something about her crazy grandmother in one chapter of the book. I hopeJudy is right in saying let God handle them. It is a good book and Judy is a christian who loves her son and would not say anything about him or any other autistic person.
I will say what my father use to say to me. Forget reading interpretations, side notes, or even the apostle’s interpretation’s of what Jesus meant when he taught this or that. Simply read what he ACTUALLY said in the red type. It’s a rather enlightening little exercise to do. I believe the TRUE message has been perverted over hundreds of years by those who interpreted the Word this way or that way, sometimes with the best of intentions, sometimes to further their own interests, and taught the masses that THEIR interpretation is the only TRUE interpretation.
Many Christians through hundreds of years once believed that those with disabilities were a curse from God, were demonic, were children of the devil. Terrible things would be done to these individuals, all in order to SAVE their souls, all based on someone elses’ interpretation of the bible. Does that make the original message evil? Or does it prove Machivelli’s point. That all things in their true ideal form are good, but man is corrupt? What that exercise my dad had me do did was teach me how think and question and understand for myself what I was reading instead of accepting someone else’s word on what it actually says and what it’s supposed to mean. And remember, was it not Jesus himself who said “Ask, seek, knock!”?
I wish the anti-relgion comments would stop. You don’t believe in God, got it! Doesn’t mean you have the right to insult those who do. Believing in God does not make me irrational. And you can’t blame the polution and perversion of God’s word on God himself. It is not His fault if people used, twisted, and manipulated His Message for their own ends. That would be the fault of those who did such terrible things, and I fully believe that they shall pay the price for those deeds in full.
Forgive me for the long post folks.
It’s irrational to believe in an entirely intangible deity. People were created in God’s image, so everything is God’s fault as we are God’s creation (not withstanding the fact there is no God). Asperger’s is obviously God’s fault too. When you die all electrical brain function ceases and that’s that. There is no afterlife. What makes you you is a lump of biomass and neurons contained within your skull. That rots away in a relatively short period of time.
People believe in religion simply because they believe what someone else has told them they believe to be true. Had you been born to Jewish parents you would believe in Judaism, if you were born to Muslim parents you would believe in Islam, if you were born to Buddhist parents you would believe in Buddhism, or if you were born to Atheist parents you would believe in Atheism. You believe in your beliefs merely to appease your parents and peers. Religion is such a Neurotypical thing.
Actually, my Dad was rather agnostic. My mom isn’t religious at all. My spiritulity and the values I follow are those that I myself have selected, and those that have held true for me. My Dad taught me to not follow anyone or anything blindly. Therefore, I do not believe what I do because someone told me to, or to appease anyone. I do it of my own choice. And it works for me, and has improved my life and enriched it in numerous ways. I will part with the words of my better half:
“One Truth can not ecompass the whole of the world. What matters are individuals truths, and what best works for YOU. For what may work for you, may not work for someone else. “
hi all, ive reached this place when researching for my recently discovered case: being a highly possible aspie.
it doesnt require science-knowledge to know that god cant exist. just look up in the sky, and make wonders of it. is god is creator, definitely cant be only one. there’s a energy balance normaly called Karma. you should heard of it. have you ever read the bible? its not even talking about one god.. some say it may be alien stuff, which ill not get into it.
but come on, what has religion gave us so far? just wars, insults and ages of slow-growthing as a intelligent race. get real.
if we chose not to believe in god, that doesnt make us the devil. we do no harm at all, we dont even possess the hate or ambition to kill steal, or endanger someone, like church has being doing for ages.
“who have rejected HIM! …and accepted the world of the devil! But then again… should I not be Judgmental as Christ was with the “money changers” …and the US was when we went to war against Hitler ”
sometimes my guess is when you do not understand something or just cant do something by your own, you would just praise or say its the devil or god’s will. which in my point of view, its pathetic.
just dont come with a lame answer related to god if that’s how you prefer to outstand your intelligence, cause it only makes u look stupid. no offense.
as for the title of the book, it can be taken as many possibles things, just for a reference.. watch the episode of south park where the kids wrote the dirtiest tale ever. south park over-exagerates the reality, and you know it. people love to make misunderstandings on purpose to create even more drama. some may joke, some may die for it. amen. (sarcastic)