11/9/2023 0 Comments Demonic activity synonymAnd without controversy is the fact that these writers described cases of demonic activity during the ministry of Jesus. Greenleaf argued in The Testimony-with dramatic authority-that the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John passed the strictest tests of authenticity, and thus may be regarded as dependable (1903, 1-54). His massive three-volume set, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence (1842-53), is to this very day a standard on the topic of evidence. Greenleaf was the greatest authority in the history of legal procedure on what constitutes evidence. In 1846, Simon Greenleaf, Dane Professor of Law at Harvard University, produced a work titled The Testimony of the Evangelists Examined by the Rules of Evidence Administered in Courts of Justice. While I do not have the space to explore this matter in depth, I would like to make this observation. The reality of demon activity, therefore, is not to be determined upon the basis of twentieth-century experiences rather, it is grounded in whether or not the New Testament documents are credible. There is validity in the credibility of historical testimony. But such an ideology simply is not an intelligent basis upon which to establish conclusions. The skeptic, and even those religionists who have been influenced by the rationalistic mode of thought, repudiate anything that is not consistent with current human experience. This sort of a priori dismissal of the historical record is typical of unbelief. There is no other way to view the matter. Either these evil spirits were a reality, or else the biblical record is entirely wrong. He even commanded demons to do certain things. The New Testament does not represent Jesus merely as believing in demons, but depicts him actually speaking to these beings, and being spoken to by them. To suggest that such a comment is a reflection upon the deity of Christ is an understatement. He did not come into this world to give men medical knowledge, and there is no reason to think that his medical knowledge would be any more advanced than that of the people of his day (Ibid., 27). The Scottish scholar went on to concede that Jesus may have believed in demons, but that If a man believed that he was demon-possessed, then, illusion or no, he was definitely ill in mind and body (1976, 26). If a man believes he is ill, he will be ill. One thing certain is that in the time of Jesus people believed in them with terrified intensity. We need not argue whether demons were realities or not. Such primeval superstitions should be left behind, in our colorful past, where they belong (Hayes 1996, 129-130).Įven religious modernists are prone to dismiss the biblical accounts of demon possession. Belief in demons and fairies and goblins and dragons ended, for most people, ages ago, and is remembered only in some Fairy Tales. That tells us a lot about fundamentalists. Fundamentalists would have us believe that this is a true story. He then causes the devils to enter, instead, a herd of swine, and the swine, thus bedeviled, race over a cliff, fall into the sea and drown. Mark 5:1-13 relates an incredible story wherein Jesus casts out the “devils” from an unfortunate man. The following quote represents a typical atheistic approach to this matter: There is only one devil, but many demons.)Ĭritics of the Bible, of course, allege that this is an example of the sort of gross superstition that characterizes the ancient volume. Other terms, daimonizomai (found thirteen times), daimon (once), daimoniodes (once), and daimonion (sixty-three times), are transliterated as “demon(s)” (or some equivalent) in the American Standard Version. (“Devils,” as found in the King James Version, is an incorrect rendition. 4:24, ASV).įrom this point on, there are numerous references to demons or demon possession in the New Testament. The first Gospel writer recorded these words:Īnd the report of him went forth into all Galilee: and they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied and he healed them (Mt. As one begins a perusal of the New Testament, he encounters an unusual phenomenon known as demon possession.
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