An Atheistic Bible Study Of The Gospels Jesus Exorcises A Childs Demon.

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A story given by all the Gospels bars that of John. Matthew 17:14-21 Jesus, with an unspecified number of his Apostles, is interacting with a multitude in some way when he is approached by a man who has a son with what is initially described as extreme epilepsy. The boy has even been known to fall in the water (presumably with some risk of drowning) and into the open fire during his seizures. The man has tried to get the boy healed through Jesus’s Apostles, but their healing attempts have failed. (They have succeeded in other miracles performed on behalf of Jesus). Jesus moans that he lives in a generation without faith, and says he can’t do this kind of healing work much longer. He invites the man to bring the epileptic boy to him. The man brings the boy (it is not stated where they boy was at this time or how long it has taken to fetch him over to Jesus. Jesus tells the demon off and it leaves the boy who is seen to be fully healed within an hour. The Apostles ask Jesus why their own efforts to heal the boy failed. Jesus tells them that they lacked enough faith in him in this occasion at least. He tells them that if their faith was strong enough hey could command mountains to move and the mountains would do so. The boy is epileptic, not demon possessed. The Gospel starts by admitting this and then still goes with the idea of demon possession. Epilepsy comes and goes. A seizure coming to a halt naturally can still be claimed as a miracle cure by faith healers to this day, but the boy could potentially have more seizures later in life. Jesus treats the Apostles badly given they have had much success acting on his behalf already, and to this date no Christian has ever shown enough faith to relocate a mountain, or even a pebble by faith alone. Mark 9:14-29 The shortest Gospel gives the longest account of this event. The multitude are not out to see Jesus but a public debate by the Scribes. Jesus has arrived after the event has started and tries to get audience members to tell him what he has missed but his presence cause the audience to notice him in their midst with some excitement. That is when the man approaches him about his demon possessed son. There is no mention of epilepsy here. The boy is described as having a mute demon (one that doesn’t speak through the victim’s mouth). The demon makes the boy froth at the mouth, gnash his teeth and go catatonic. These are very different symptoms than described by Matthew. When the boy is brought to Jesus he is still foaming at the mouth. Jesus asks how long this has been going on. The man tells him that it has gone on since the boy was born. Again, we learn that the Apostles have tried without success to heal the boy. Jesus tells the father to have faith, and the father tearfully pledges his faith in Jesus. Jesus commands the demon to leave the child as a crowd gathers round to watch the attempted miracle. They see the demon come out of the child and die on the floor in front of them. Exactly what the demon looked like is not stated. The Apostles ask why they failed to heal the boy to which Jesus replies that this kind of demon can only be stopped though prayers and fasting. Jesus himself has not been seen praying or fasting to prepare for this instant exorcism, but he expects that of the Apostles. Luke 9:37-43 The third account seems very abridged. We learn that the boy is the father’s only child. The man says that the demon enters and leaves the boy, causing terrible bruising when it finishes tormenting the boy. This is a huge contrast to the other two accounts where the demon has moved in as a more permanent parasitical unwelcome tenant. The demon is in the child when the boy is brought to Jesus who quickly gets it out. As the demon is not described as dying, there is nothing to say it won’t go back in the boy at some later date or time. Jesus does not talk to the Apostles about why they failed this time though the father has again told Jesus that their efforts to help him were unsuccessful. Hugely contrasting and contrary accounts of what could easily be seen a fake faith healing practices, exploiting a boy who Matthew at least tries to honestly describe as epileptic before abandoning that hypothesis himself. Arthur Chappell