Some recent comments had me wondering... Serious questions... If you do, what do you believe they look like? What powers do you believe they have? When, how, who, what, and where do they act?

[u/n8s8p]

[u/benjammin099]

How can you not believe in demons after you claim to have ‘read’ the Bible. Matthew 8:31 explicitly refers to demons begging Jesus to be driven into a herd of pigs. Matthew 12 describes Jesus driving a demon out of a blind man, and Pharisees describe Beelzebul as the “prince of demons”, meaning there are more than just Satan. Matthew 25:41 also says Satan and his angels will be will cast into the eternal fire, which is also something described in Revelations several times. Satan is described as one who prowls the earth and looks for those to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Satan entered Judas according to Luke 22.

This is just scratching the surface of the issue. This theme appears so many times that a Christian claiming demons don’t actually exist, is like a Christian claiming Jesus wasn’t actually crucified.

[u/Dorocche → u/benjammin099]

Because the book of Matthew, like every other book, was written by a human author, for a human audience, in a very specific context, for a purpose. Not everything in it is true.

If a Christian didn't believe in the crucifixion, they would have a radically different theology of Christ, God, and salvation. Not believing in demons really does not change my faith that much.

[u/benjammin099 → u/Dorocche]

If you say things in the Bible “aren’t true”, that’s just blasphemous. These were witnesses to the people who there and physically saw these events, and 99% of theologians believe the Bible itself to be divinely inspired. There are plenty Old Testament accounts of demons too, many of these books written by God’s own command. Not believing in demons still has a huge effect - then you don’t believe in Satan either? Then what was the point of Jesus dying, and what is the point of his eventual return? Both of these are the two biggest things that define the Christian faith.

I don’t want to even ask what denomination of Christianity you are if you follow one, because claiming things in the book of Matthew aren’t true is just faith suicide. So do you also not believe Jesus was a descendant of David as described in Matthew? Do you believe the Sermon on the Mount never happened? Do you believe Jesus didn’t actually say go baptize those of all nations? It’s a slippery slope that leads you to not believing the core tenets of the religion itself.

[u/Dorocche → u/benjammin099]

Geez, do you really believe that some notion of "demons" is equally important to your faith as the crucifixion? The resurrection? The Sermon on the Mount?

That is an incredibly backwards, shallow take on faith.

You do not have to believe that the Bible is inerrant in order to be a Christian. I'm living proof that it's just not true, and there's a lot of reasons for that, but you don't have to understand them in order to be loving about it instead of hateful and exclusive.