Revelation 18:2 English Standard Version (ESV) And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

The ESV does not provide many uses of the word haunt. Isaiah links it to jackals and here in Revelations our Lord links it to the fallen. It might be best to look at haunting memories as unclean spirits, but do not confuse them with demons. Man has a spirit, a life force that is separate from the Holy Spirit.

Thanks to PTSD therapy I am no longer haunted by the memories of being shot by someone I knew. That was dealing with trauma involving the action of another person..

What continues to haunt me is the emotional attachments to a completely innocent event which stirred up strong emotions. The world recreates that image in one form or another in what should be considered innocence but in me it triggers an emotional image that is not so easily shaken.

My childhood is littered with events associated with my  Asperger’s syndrome. As a child that was undiagnosed and I had no coping mechanism. As an adult, having a better understanding of that disorder I can place a mature understanding of the emotions of my youth, misplaced as they were.

That does not remove the memory. I have to deal with those memories as a life without Christ. While I was innocent then, I am no longer innocent because I have partaken of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I now know what sin is and what sin does. While the memory is not sin, the image leads to strong emotions that left unchecked could lead to sin.

I can only assume that we all have something in our past that is better left to forgetfulness.

I thank God that He has chosen to forget that which I find difficult to forget.

Paul had his thorn, we all have our own to deal with.

Grace is sufficient. Amen!!