I always consider the historical context in which things happened or were uttered.
Jesus was speaking to a certain people, in a certain time - many of whom had little intellectual development and were influenced by lots of traditional superstition and symbolism.
The Devil - or ‘demons’- may have been useful designations for Evil, back then. But that doesn’t mean that modern people should personify and fear those same things, in the same way.
I believe that Individuals should stand up and take personal responsibility for their own minds and imaginations. What you believe in CAN hurt you; what you don’t, Cannot. And I don’t like any religious system that teaches people FEAR. Jesus, to me, seemed to be all about telling people to adamantly reject FEAR.
(I don’t think that Matthew 8:13 refers only to faith or belief in the Positive. I believe that the Law is simply that ‘it is done unto us’ AS we believe, either way.)
And I don’t take everything in the Bible absolutely literally. I doubt that you do, either.
Sorry, creating your own reality doesn’t mean that reality doesn’t exist.
What you advocate is basically suicidal..
Jesus does not pander to people’s beliefs but rather tells it like it is and corrects wrong beliefs. If He says there’s a hell, then there is. If He says there’s a devil and He drives out demons, then there is and He did.
He certainly did not pretend to drive them out knowing they didn’t really exist just to cater to people’s belief systems. That would have made Him a fraud.and a liar and the Truth would not have been in Him.
You can disbelieve in spiritual reality all you want but then you have no reason to believe in God or Jesus either.
THIS is a crafty lie: “What you believe in CAN hurt you; what you don’t, Cannot.” Those who have heard the Gospel of God’s Grace in Christ and chosen to not believe are spiritually dead and the consequences of being spiritually dead are eternal ...