hjalti

In Iceland a priest from the f***ing lutheran state church composes the textbooks used in religious classes in elementary schools. I've been reading them and it seems to me that the priest is unable to tell the difference between his faith and facts.

For example, in one book he says:

"In Jesus's days many people believed that diseased were caused by sins or demon posessions.
Jesus rejected this."

I know that Jesus, in the synoptic gospels, believes that an epileptic boy is demon posessed. But does he anywhere in the gospels reject the idea that demons cause diseases?

John Kesler

Look at Luke 13:11-12;16:

Or how about Acts 10:37-38:

See also Matthew 9:32-33; Matthew 12:22; Mark 9:17-29 (the epileptic healing you mentioned).

Granted, sometimes sickness and demon possession are differentiated (see Mark 1:34 as an example), but at the very least, Jesus never denies that demons could cause sickness.

hjalti

Thank you John for those verses.

One question regarding Luke 13:11-12;16 and Acts 10:37-38:

The icelandic lutheran state church being extremely liberal would probably give an answer like this:

"When the authors of the books in the NT say that someone is "being bound/oppressed by Satan/the devil" they are not talking about being demon posessed! They are using an metaphor that really just means "being sick"."

How would you respond to this?

John Kesler

By pointing out that exempting "the authors of the books in the NT" from this erroneous belief is blatant special pleading. The burden of proof is with those who assert that the NT authors meant something other than what they wrote.