You know, when Galileo Gaililei invited the Vatican officials to look at the moon through his small 30-power telescope and they saw craters, they said it was an illusion.
According to the cardinals, Satan was creating a deceptive illusion of craters on a "heavenly" body, and we all "know" (through some "revelation" or something to that effect) that anything that is "in heaven" is perfect and cannot have craters. All planets, therefore, must be perfect spheres.
This is the type of dogmatism I am talking about.
When Galileo observed with the same telescope different (lunar-like) phases of Venus, it was obvious that Venus could not be going around us, as was believed and taught by the Church, but rather around the sun, just as we do.
For this irrefutable proof of heliocentricity, based on simple geometry of shadows and observation, coupled with some intelligence, Galileo was accused of "vehement heresy" and would have been burned at stake for this were it not for his reputation and old age. He died in a house arrest, as a convicted "heretic." The Catholic Church did not recant its ridiculous anathema against him until 1992!
Nothing illustrates better that this type of retrograde mentality is alive and well then in various oxymorons called "creation museums," where dinosaurs and humans are shown living together. Or in the Evangelical literalistic journals where they insist man was created "just the way we are" less then 10,000 years ago.
It is not Satan but the very people who arrogate themselves to be the mouthpieces of God who are deceiving the world.
I remember my daughter attending a Baptist church in her early teens because her best friend was Baptist. We spoke often about these issues and when I mentioned fossils to her, I was shocked with her answer. She said "they were planted in the gorund by Satan, to deciev us."
At that moment I knew the same spirit that condemned Galileo was alive and well among Bible thumpers. They are the reptilian size brain speed bumps to our betterment as a human race, a reactionary force that would rather have the whole world believe everything in their Bible. This includes the notion that the disease is caused by "demons," (it must be true, after all, it's in the Bible, right?) and that God in the flesh believed it too!
Please, I have no stomach for anyone who is willing to say that medicine belongs to demonology because, after all, diseases are either caused by God's wrath or, worse, by demons.
So, when they tell me that Jesus believed in Noah and in Moses, and Jonah, I remind them that he also believed diseases were caused by satanic spirits. But, it's all to no avail, because it changes nothing. All they have is the Bible and everything else is satanic "deception."
Good luck.
I’m a Bible Christian of sorts. But there is nothing so foreign to the Bible as “the Bible alone” and “faith alone”. So I’m not afraid to use the intellect God gave me and to profit, I hope, from the insights of others who love God and seek truth (even Aquinas or Scotus or the Pope!).
Speaking of the Baptists, I do have to say that as a boy I too went to a Baptist church with a friend on several occasions and even publicly accepted Jesus (a big deal for a boy of 9-10 years old) and was “saved”. That act of faith was a big step in my life. My friend’s family was profound in their faith and love for Christ; but as my friend grew up he began to live a very scandalous life. According to them, that was “okay” because he was “saved”—very illogical and unbiblical—the kind of predetermination/predestination you wrote of earlier (how one could be destined for Heaven yet not freely cooperate with God’s grace or even blatantly reject it can be a scary doctrine, and it’s not biblical). This was one of the experiences that helped me to realize the importance using my intellect and looking at tradition to understand better what the Bible really means and how to follow Christ.
I’m clocking out until Monday...