A fine way to speak about a respected Biblical scholar (who is now deceased.) His comment about the geographical problem was only a footnote, anyway.
You don’t need to be able to tell the future to be a financially successful fortune teller.
Edit: Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: The global network keeping a 20-year scam alive
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I have no idea which “respected Biblical scholar” you are talking about. I don’t recall mentioning any particular scholar. (I addressed an idea, not a person.) Complaints about the geography of the Demoniac & the Drowned Pigs are quite old and have been discussed for many years. It is an alleged “Bible error” found on many skeptics’ websites. That is why I considered it topical and worth discussing.
Whether or not a scholar is deceased is irrelevant to whether or not an idea has merit.
If one is looking for an offense, one can usually find it.
Again, you seem to avoid almost my whole argument? Paul exerts the authority of Jesus’ name to cast out this spiritual entity.
I’m not saying that there are no profitable fake fortune-tellers. But the passage also makes very clear that this woman lost her ability after Paul rebuked the spirit. Moreover, her fortune-telling ability is also validated by the fact that she knows exactly who these men were: “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”
It would be strange if the slave-owners became angry at Paul just for having cured her of any mental illness she might have. If she had simply started refusing to do fortune-telling, they would have become angry only at her.
Whatever explanation you construct, you can’t get around the fact that Jesus and all of His disciples explicitly interacted with bad spirits many times. Each and every time, they showed that Jesus’ name is more powerful. And I repeat, possession by spirits and mental illness don’t have to be completely separate phenomena.
So the question remains, why would you go for the rather awkward explanation that bad spirits don’t exist? Just because you can’t believe it? There are many spiritual teachings in the Bible that are hard to believe, yet we don’t reject them just because they are difficult to fully grasp.
Bad spirits exist because angels exist. They are basically angels that sided with Satan. Do you believe in the existence of angels and Satan? If not, how do reconcile that with the teachings of Moses, the Prophets, Jesus, and the Apostles?
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I have decided that I do not believe demon possession is a modern phenomenon. I believe the cases in the New Testament were special events to maintain a balance between good and evil (Jesus was directly manipulating the physical World, so no doubt Satan was granted more power too). I believe Demon possession, spiritual gifts like prophecy and tongues as well as miracles ceased once the Bible was completed.
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I never said that bad spirits don’t exist. Why can’t you read what I actually wrote?
And by the way, if we have an imaginary lake that 2000 pigs could fall in to their deaths, isn’t it a problem that Jesus would cause a lake to be filled with the bloated carcasses of 2000 unclean animals, let alone let the demons tell him what to do?
So, if bad spirits truly exist, then why is is it so difficult for you to believe that they would take possession of human beings at certain times? Especially since there are so many biblical and extra-biblical accounts of such occurrences?
I already said that Jesus actually showed the people the extent of His authority by this event. Even for a small request as being allowed to enter an impure animal like a pig (according to Jewish law), the spirits basically needed to beg Him for permission. Also, in some way it shows the hard reality of spiritual evil (otherwise we wouldn’t be having this discussion 
).
Someone can ask all sorts of haphazard questions about any of Jesus’ miracles. “Why did He curse the tree which didn’t give Him figs?” “Why did he let Lazarus die before resurrecting him?” “How did the disciples fill all those baskets after Jesus fed thousands of people?” Et cetera. All those questions find their answers in the spiritual importance of these occurrences in Jesus’ ministry. If Mark would have considered those aspects irrelevant (or simply untrue), He would not have included them in his version of the Gospel.
I repeat, there is no proof that this lake was imaginary.
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I believe this passage confirms that spiritual gifts have ceased and no longer occur in modern times. I really see no other way to interpret it. And it fits with the evidence also.
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It’s not that I am Pentecostal or anything, but I don’t really see convincing Scriptural support for that position either. There is only an ambiguous statement in 1 Corinthians 13, which refers just to tongues and prophecies. And even that reference could just be meant to describe what will cease to exist in Heaven versus love, hope, and faith which will remain forever. Beyond that, there is nothing to find in the whole Bible that can be even remotely suggestive of cessationism…
Many Christians of all denominations are still testifying of events such as miracles, demonic possession, and healings. Although many of the healing accounts should be taken with a grain of salt, I believe there are authentic healings being witnessed by critical people.
Modern Western societies seem to have less “activity” of bad spirits compared to, e.g., African societies. One might say that this is simply because of superstitions among Africans. But what do you think about the following alternative explanation? I am going to speculate here. In the West, many people completely reject spiritual realities and are thus in some way already trapped by Satan. If Satan is the criminal mastermind which the Bible holds him to be, he probably thinks carefully of where to send his troops. Sending his troops to perform demonic manifestations within Western societies would probably just lead to revive the belief in spiritual warfare among the general population which could indirectly lead people back to Jesus… So the most tactical thing for Satan to do would be to “lay low” and keep directly observable manifestations of demons to a minimum. Instead, he can keep up the disbelief of people in spiritual realities by working in more indirect ways to destroy society from within.
In African countries, this tactic doesn’t work because most people already believe that spiritual entities exist and are capable of manifestations (e.g., through possession). This means Satan can allow his soldiers to manifest directly within such societies, without harming the greater scope of his plans.
I am aware that this is all highly speculative, but you should never underestimate that serpent…
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That is all very well and good but the issue is the complete lack of evidence to suggest miracles and possession occur today. African tribes are an un-enlightened bunch that rev themselves into psychological frenzies that appear to be the result of a Demon. However they spend hours or days doing these ‘rituals’ and the person just basically breaks mentally. Western exorcisms are all fraud. Look at the people who were exorcised, they are never any better than they were before. More often than not they are in on the circus act.
No one claiming to be able to perform miracles works in a hospital. There are no cases of genuine miracles occurring in the World. Unlikely events do occur like people being cured of cancer inexplicably or people defeating an addiction… But these things also happen to Atheists and members of other belief systems too. It isn’t limited to Christians who prayed. No one who is prayed for fairs any better than anyone else.
I see it all the time, people attribute their lucky experiences or achievements to God and miracles… But there are always non-miraculous reasons behind them.
The worst part is that when someone doesn’t beat their cancer or addictions, the Christian who believes in modern miracles will simply say that God has a plan or perhaps they were too evil to save… Absurd. I have even read of people claiming that babies who died at birth must have been going to grow into evil people and so the World was spared from them… To those people, Hitler says hi.
What this shows is that only people who actually believe in demons, experience attacks from demons. So non-belief is an excellent defense against demons.
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I almost deleted your entire comment above, but I decided to cut you some slack. But for future reference, it deserved to be flagged.
This comes across as racist. Please don’t make any further insinuations about an entire continent being full of people too ignorant to accurately assess reality.
Um… no. Refrain from making Hitler associations with Christians you disagree with. This is always 100% inappropriate.
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I believe that Satan and his followers have been bound to some extent. In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus talks about the strong man whose house could not be taken until he was bound. Jesus is referring to Satan and the evil ones. The question is: When will these spiritual beings be bound? If I were an amillennialist, I would say at Jesus’ first coming. If I were a postmillennialist, Satan is being bound more and more as the Gospel is spreading through the world. Premillennialists, whether they be historic premillennialists or dispensationalists, would say at the Second Coming of Christ when the millennial reign of Jesus begins. Historic Premillennialists also say that Satan is bound to some extent now. I believe that Christians cannot be possessed because we are the temples of the Holy Spirit; however, what about unsaved people? They do not have God’s Spirit within them; therefore, I must conclude that demon possession is still possible. Look at the Son of Sam in the 1970’s, the Boston Strangler, or Jack the Ripper. There was something demonic about these people. I must say that anyone who does not believe in miracles lacks something in faith. Why does our fellow companion keep coming back to miracles? I have seen too much in my time not to believe in these. Is this person trying to test the faith of others? Is there something driving him to do this? Is it his logic or is there something else driving him to return to this matter ? I wonder. I know there are modern miracles. I have seen them. Thomas, why do you keep taking about this subject? Isn’t there not something else more interesting? What is making you have so much doubt? You always come back to the same subject. Perhaps I am wrong, but I believe you want to cause doubt in others. It will not work with me. Also, let’s think about the Austrian gentleman you keep mentioning. Don’t you think there was something different about him? I have known people that knew him. They think I am right. Could it have been that he was demon possessed? Think about it!
Find_My_Way: This was meant for you. Would you like to respond? It was really not meant for Christy. What is your response Thomas. By the way, is Thomas your real name or does it refer to doubting Thomas in the Gospel of John?
If Jesus feels he needs to do the bidding of demons, even if that means fouling the water with 2000 bloated, putrid pig carcasses not to mention destroying the property of the owner of the pigs, that shows lack of authority and lack of foresight. Therefore, I don’t find your explanation very convincing.
btw, the Romans conducted a sort of crude biological warfare by throwing dead animals into wells.
You could say the same about people here. But I think you’ll find that belief in demon possession in Africa is correlated to a heartbreaking lack of resources and doctors to provide proper care for the mentally ill.
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You have not replied to my question above. I do expect an answer. Since you have doubts, are you trying to place doubts in the minds of others. Before you answer, read what I have written above. I want an answer.
Why would you say that it takes very little water to drown a pig? Pigs like water. They have to keep their skin moist to remain healthy. They will wallow in mud if necessary, but prefer water if it’s available. And they can swim.
True. But in a society with hardly any understanding or resources to deal with mental health, the mentally ill can be terribly abused by those sincere but misguided people who try to help with exorcism. Did you see my video above? In some countries the mentally ill are chained up for years in prayer camps.
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That’s precisely why people who believe in demons are potentially dangerous. The situation in Africa is particularly dire.