A common misconception that many professing Christians have about mental illness is that it is demonic and because they believe this they think the answer to "curing" mental illness is prayer and/or exorcism. The problem with this belief is that it is more in line with Roman Catholicism than it is with the Bible. In this blog, I will be discussing the most commonly used passage that many Christians use to justify this belief and I expose how they are not properly interpreting the text. After I expose how this belief is unbiblical, I will then explain why this belief is harmful towards mentally ill people. In Mark 5:1-20, we read,
"They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, there immediately met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles to pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said 'what have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!.' For He was saying to him, 'Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!' And Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' He replied 'Legion for we are many.' And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs were feeding their on a hillside, and they begged him, saying, 'send us to the pigs, let us enter them.' So He gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described it to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged Him that he might be with Him. And He did not permit him but said to him, 'Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has mercy on you.' And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled."
In this blog, I will be separating this analysis into three sections: 1) Similarities, 2) Differences, and 3) Dangers. In the first section, I will discuss how this passage is similar to mental illness. In the second section, I will discuss how the passage differs from mental illness. In the third section, I will discuss why the teaching the mental illness is demonic is very dangerous. Something we need to keep in mind about demon possession is that the reason we see a lot of it in the times of Jesus and His apostles was because they were reacting to His coming because they knew their time was up. Simonetta Carr, author of Broken Pieces and The God Who Mends Them: Schizophrenia Through The Eyes of A Mother, says:
"In the gospel accounts, the demons knew exactly who Jesus was and knew exactly that his arrival marked their destruction, which was to be realized in the end. That's why the group of demons in Matthew 8:29 asked him blatantly, 'What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?' Christ's casting out demons showed that hus kingdom had been officially inaugurated, and his death, resurrection, and ascension effectively opened it to anyone who repents and believes"
I hope that you find this article to be edifying to you and I hope that it is glorifying to God.
Similarities
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At first glance, it seems like this passage may be talking about some sort of mental illness. The demon-possessed man isolated himself from the community and he even cried out loud while cutting himself. These are classic signs of depression. I know this feeling all too well because I have had frequent bouts with depression and suicidal ideation and I even resorted to cutting myself too. If these were the only signs that this man exhibited then I would say that this is clear proof that mental illness is demonic. However, these are not the only signs and we must look at everything as a whole before determining whether or not this passage is describing mental illness.
Differences
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One of the main signs that this is not describing mental illness is the fact that this man had superhuman strength. No mental illness will give people superhuman strength. My schizophrenia and bipolar does not allow me to tear apart metal chains and shackles! Sure, when some one is out of their mind and acting out of control it may take three or four people to restrain him or her but this is just regular adrenaline pumping not superhuman strength. A rush of adrenaline can affect any one and everyone regardless of if they have a mental illness or not. Another very clear evidence of this passage not being about mental illness is in the fact that the demons were able to communicate with Jesus. This is very significant because the voices that we hear in our heads do not ever communicate with other people. They only communicate with us. No one else can hear my voices. Now, someone may say well the demons spoke out loud through the man. But, this is just an example of eisegesis because no where does the text say that the demons spoke through the man. People who make this claim are merely only making that assumption but the text in no way tells us this.
Dangers
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There are a variety of dangers about this theology. The first, and more significant, danger is in the fact that it encourages mentally ill people to not take their medication. When you tell mentally ill people that their problem is spiritual not physical and they just need to have demons cast out of them, this will in turn convince them that they need to stop taking their medication and to instead pray for an exorcism. This is dangerous because as I have said before mental illness is degenerative so it will get worse the longer it goes untreated, We need to stop spiritualizing medical conditions. Mental illness is a medical condition that requires a medical solution. We would not spiritualize a broken arm, would we? The other reason this theology is dangerous is because it further causes stress on people with mental illness and it increases our marginalization by feeding the stigma. Again, Simonetta Carr offers some valuable insight here:
"It is equally important to remember that, unlike Jesus and His apostles, we do not have the ability to recognize demonic activity. Labeling mentally ill persons as demon possessed or under demonic assault will serve only to aggravate their agony and marginalization. Instead we should do what the Bible tells us to do: proclaim the good news of what Christ has accomplished for us in his life, death, and resurrection as well as the promises that are contained in his word"
I hope this is article has helped you better understand mental illness and if you were one of the people who held the belief that mental illness is demonic then hopefully this article has challenged your beliefs. We should always be open to having our current beliefs challenged because that will be the only way we will ever grow spiritually. Thank you for reading my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all. Soli Deo Gloria!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
567-343-3727
christcenteredmentalhealth@gmail.com
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