Sunday, January 29, 2012

Exorcisms 6

... continued from here
________
Another activity that Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us about Jesus doing is casting out demons, exorcism.  Not only did they bring Jesus the sick, but the demon possessed as well (e.g., Mark 1:32).  Interestingly, this is one aspect of Jesus' earthly ministry that John tells us nothing about, but it permeates the synoptic gospels.

Situations in the gospels where people are possessed by spirits are different from those where they are healed of sickness. In almost every case, the evil spirits speak and they are beings distinct from the person whose body they inhabit.  Jesus heals many people where no connection is made to an evil spirit, and most of the times where a demon is mentioned there is no clear physical sickness involved.

There are only a couple instances where we might wonder if something was described as demon possession that we might describe differently today.  For example, on one occasion Jesus heals a man who was mute (Matt. 9:32-33).  The demon does not speak. In another well known instance, a boy has symptoms that would make us think of epilepsy (Mark 9:17-20).  The boy has seizures and foams at the mouth.  Again, the demon does not speak.

The important point is that Jesus healed them more than their precise diagnosis.  Were there instances where the people Jesus healed were schizophrenic rather than truly demon possessed?  The reason I ask this question is because we know that there are people today who speak in voices who are mentally ill rather than demon possessed.  At the same time, Christians in the two-thirds world continue to report numerous incidents of demon possession where people act in ways that seem well beyond normal schizophrenia.

We do not have to pick one or the other.  We can believe both in schizophrenia and in demon possession.  But we must be very careful. Very few if any individuals reading this blog are qualified to make this sort of diagnosis.  Throughout history, numerous individuals have been put to death who were mentally ill rather than possessed.

We should exhaust every possible medical avenue before we conclude someone is possessed. We do not need to know exactly what is wrong with a person to pray for them, even to lay hands on them.  God knows the precise diagnosis, and it is the Spirit who does the healing or performs the exorcism. This issue should not be something that causes you to have doubts, nor should we ever hesitate to pray for someone no matter what their problem...

9 comments:

Angie Van De Merwe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Angie Van De Merwe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JohnM said...

I don't see a reason not to accept as demon possession those incidents so identified in the bible. That said, I think the subject only deserves so much of our attention. I've seen Christians fixate on it the way some obsess over end times studies (and speculation), to the near exclusion of every other topic.

THAT said...I can't deny the possibility of the thing occuring somwhere. Since you mentioned it -do you suppose it is something that is for some reason more common in the two-thirds world? Something invited by certain practices?

Angie Van De Merwe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ken Schenck said...

The usual answer John is that we have just as much demon possession here as they do, only we don't recognize it for what it is. It's Lewis' Screwtape Letters.

I certainly don't have a problem with thinking all the mentions in the gospels are literal demons, but I'm also trying to write for those who have questions, to show them that a person can accept the findings of modern psychology and still be a believer.

Angie Van De Merwe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Angie Van De Merwe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Angie Van De Merwe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ken Schenck said...

Angie, six comments here with no one responding to you. I'll confess even I don't read them all. If you could sum up your thoughts in one or two comments of one or two paragraphs each (unless of course someone responds to you), I promise I'll read more of them... and I know others will be more likely to read them as well.