A Fresh Perspective

  This is the first of several instances in Mark’s Gospel where Jesus confronts and expels an unclean spirit or spirits, also called demons. In the world of Jesus and other cultures, both then and even today, it was and is assumed that spirits, both good and bad, share this world with humans, and these spirits can take possession of human beings. I’m not sure how a modern day psychiatrists might describe or diagnose such a condition today. I suppose that in light of their training they would describe it in psychopathological terms. If you ask me what I believe about the existence of spirits in our world separate from humans I would say, “I am skeptical, but open to the possibility. Just because I have never encountered the phenomena does not mean they don’t exist.” But let me stress that a passage like this should not be read literally, but spiritually, that is metaphorically and symbolically. This is a religious text, and therefore should be read spiritually, not literally or hist...

Jesus said, according to Luke, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you, . . . Do to others as you would have them do to you . . . Be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate" (Luke 6:27-28, 31, 36). I have been praying that I might feel some compassion, rather than anger and hate toward President Trump and his deluded followers. Yes, he is an evil person who has done much evil.  The description that Paul (or someone writing in the name and tradition of Paul) employs in a rather strange apocalyptic passage in 2 Thessalonians fits the President and his followers quite well: "He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship . . . declaring himself to be God" (2:4). The writer calls this person "the lawless one" (2:3). Those who follow this "lawless one" are imagined as having been deceived by "a powerful delusion," which leads them ...