According to the Bible are mental disease and epilepsy caused by demonic possession?

Answer 1

No.

how can we possibly think that epilepsy is demon possessed. Jesus found these people in this condition that is recognised as epilepsy today.There was no word for this or any other type of disease of the mind and body,so if a person was struck down by such disease's then they would be ascribed to the devil/demons. The whole idea of the miracles was the fact that Jesus was illustrating that if you have enough faith to believe that Jesus can heal, then he will. On a couple of occasions Jesus told the person that he was healing that their faith had made them whole. Don't fall into the trap that these people were struck with the same illness's after Jesus left the scene. What would be the point. When Jesus heals he truly heals.

When lazarus was raised from the dead what was the reason?

So that the glory of God could be revealed. sin is about what we are when God finds us. When we turn to God we acknowledge that we are sinful because of what we are inside. there is no third party involved its between God and us.

Answer 2

No, they are not, nor is there anywhere where The Bible teaches this. Demons caused certain things to happen to people which resembled these medical conditions. When the demons were cast out the symptoms ceased. If the symptoms were caused by an underlying medical condition then the symptoms would have continued and Jesus would have been regarded as a fake. These simple facts escape those who wish to make the Bible say something it doesn't. Even today those involved in treating mental disorders who are also Christian acknowledge the importance of proper diagnosis of medical conditions and of mental illness. It is also recognized that mental disturbance of various kinds is an attribute of demonic possession. Those who do not believe in demons will of course discount this and attribute it all to mental illness. For mental Diseases, I don't know if Evil Spirit qualifies as Demonic Possession; if it does then the answer is yes. In 1Samuel 16:14-16, God sent an evil spirit to Saul that caused him a mental breakdown.

Luke 7:21 wrote about infirmities and plagues caused by evil spirits being cured by Jesus. See also Luke 8:2 & Acts 19:12-16. Certainly if a person has an evil spirit or 'a devil' (as opposed to 'the devil') or a demon, they have essentially the same thing. The are possessed by a demon.

They thus do not have a mental illness or epilepsy. They are demonically possessed.

In Jesus' day there was certainly limited medical knowledge compared to today (although there is of course plenty we don't know). What does not follow from this is that people did not know what demonic possession was and that they didn't recognize there was such a thing as either epilepsy or mental illness (although of course they would have called it something different). It is indeed a very difficult assumption to make that they did not know of these medical conditions, when there is no evidence whatsoever of this, at least in the Bible, and quite likely elsewhere as well.

The Bible also makes a clear distinction between medically induced conditions and those with demonic or spiritual causes. As stated earlier, if the relevant conditions of the people Jesus healed were not demonic but were either mental illness or epilepsy then the people would not have responded to Jesus' 'treatment.' They would have continued to be 'sick' with whatever they had. Casting out a non-existent demon would not have helped them.

Those who witnessed the casting out of the demons also included a number who were opposed to Jesus. Such were no less keen than opponents today to prove Jesus to be a deceiver and so they would have taken the first opportunity to point out any unsuccessful 'treatment'. The best they could do was to attribute His work to the devil. This is an admission that it 'worked' but they were not prepared to admit it was the work of God, whom they allegedly worshiped.

Any number of Bible verses can be used to refer to the casting out of demons. Not one single verse anywhere in the Bible refers to either mental disease or epilepsy being caused by demons, although in both cases some of the symptoms may be similar. The Bible does refer in a number of places to people who are 'not in their right mind' and this is not linked in these cases to demonic possession. Such indicates the Bible authors (including ultimately God Himself) knew the difference.

Answer 3

In a way some of them can be. But most were not. Most thought such like dilusions, autisum, mentally handicap or schztaphornic were from demons, but basically was found out that a cause of disease in the brain or mind. People then believed people who were ill in the brain or mind. I have autism and I use to have a lot tantrums at church, school and home. Typically the people in my church would not believe that it was a demonic possession.

Answer 4

No