Is there such thing as a good demon?

Answer 1

In ancient times and in objective thought

In ancient times, many demons were thought of as good. They ran the spectrum from good to evil and everything in between just like humans do. Some rationalist paranormalists still hold this view, if they even believe in demons at all. Socrates was said to be protected by good demons. Both Good and Evil demons served Solomon in myth. And some Arabian legends say a Djinn(sort of demonic entity) can give up evil and accept Islam (this is not official Islamic theology). Sometimes even God(s) was/were even thought of as both good and evil in ancient times. Zoarastrianism was the first religion to come up with the idea of an omnibeneficent (all good) God called Ahura Mazda and an omnimalevolent (totally evil) God called Angru Mainyu. This was the first time all-good or all-evil supernatural beings were thought of in a mythos. Many modern religions adopted this.

Shortly after the fall of Rome the Catholic Church took that theory to its ultimate conclusion and issued a Papal Bull with the idea that there were only three types of spirits. Human Souls, Spirits of God (Yahweh/Christ specifically in this case) , and Spirits of Satan. Nothing else existed according to them, and, that was pretty much the end of belief in good demons in the west. In eastern and native cultures around the world, the belief still exists, and for many post-modern occultists in the west the idea is sometimes accepted again.

From other sources

It depends on how you look at it. All demons are evil in a way, they are good if the definition of good is powerful. Demons have the abilty to be good but they can still be bad.

According to the Christian bible

No, all demons are evil and serve Satan. He is their master, and they only exist to do evil. They were cast out of heaven along with Satan, because they went along with him when he tried to take upon himself Gods power and glory.

Gargoyles are demons and said to protect buildings from evil spirits, hence the reason why many are seen on old Gothic buildings.

Answer 2

Yes and no.

Demon comes from the Greek "Daimon" which essentially translates to lower spirit. Now by lower, they don't imply bad or evil. The Greeks believed there was a hierarchy of spirits ranging from the gods (which had little to no contact with mankind and were sort of CEO's) down to the daimons (which dealt almost exclusively with mankind, like the customer service reps at your favorite store).

Daimons were less powerful, but not necessarily bad. However, because these spirits did tend to get bored easily, they were frequently mischievous and might play pranks on people, or do something as a joke that "got out of hand" and so they acquired a reputation of being untrustworthy.

When the Catholic Church began converting people in Rome a few hundred years later, the people still believed (at least a little) in daimons, and the Church, in response, taught that these entities worked for Satan and were irredeemably evil, working to destroy mankind and keep him from salvation.

So... in short, from the Christian perspective, no. From just about anybody else's perspective, yes.

Answer 3

maybe the worlds full of possibilities(perspective of strong Christianity) but normally demons work for the devil