Chapter VII

SUPERSTITIONS IN THE GOSPELS

 

 A study of the New Testament shows that it is not free from the element of superstition.

       1.         Mark, for instance, has to say

“And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness for forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.”     [Mark 1:12-13]

The incidents recorded here are nothing but delusions. The laws of God are against them. On this earth man lives in the company of men and not in the company of animals, satans or angels. It is inconceivable that the law of God were different at that time. We do not have satans living visibly with men in this world, nor do we find angels doing visible services for men. To witness such things in dreams and visions is a different matter. Such experience were had by persons in the past, and they can be had even today. But neither did we in the past nor do we at present have human beings living with animals such as wolves and lions. Nor do we have Satan coming to a human being and carrying him off with him, so that the man follows him and obeys him against his will, rebelling only occasionally. Nor do we have angels coming and doing such services as baking bread, cooking and fetching water. In fairy tales we do have such accounts, but what place can they have in a religious book? If the New Testament was a book like Kipling’s Jungle Book, it would have been a different matter altogether. But the New Testament is a book for the religious guidance of man. What use can such a book have for fairy tales of this kind? Jesus was a virtuous and pious man. We cannot attribute such fantastic thing to him. He was an honored prophet of God and was sent for the guidance of his people. It is impossible that he should have taught such things. It is impossible that his teaching should have upset the mental balance of his followers and driven them from the path of reason into the morass of superstition. We are constrained therefore, to say that these superstitious elements were added to the Gospels at some later time. Jesus is not responsible for them, nor are his disciples. The responsibility for the introduction of these superstitions into the text of the Gospels lies on those Christians who came later, who were no longer spiritually sensitive and who preferred popular applause to strict truth.

       2.         In Mark we read

“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, now with chains: because that he had been bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in piece; neither could any man tame him. And always night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For He said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many, And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea (the were about two thousand): and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.”    [Mark 5:1-14]

This passage contains so many superstitious ideas that the reader is left wondering how they very crept into the Gospel account. We are told, firstly, that a man had become so violently insane that he could not be held by the strongest chains. Medical science and ordinary human experience do disbelieve such a statement. There certainly can be chains strong enough to hold and restrain the most violent maniac. Did not people in those days know how to make chains strong enough to hold human beings?

Secondly, we are told in his passage that the maniac would cut himself with stones. Such a thing is most amazing. For years apparently, a man goes on cutting himself with stones and yet he does not die.

Thirdly, we are told that Jesus addressed his man, saying, ‘Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit’. Such a thing would only be said by persons entrapped in primitive and ignorant ways. It would not be said by a prophet. If unclean spirits could ever enter human beings, why do we not see such phenomena today? Have we no means of tracing unclean spirits? True, medical science today identifies mental diseases as neurasthenia, hysteria, insanity and so on, but medical science attributes them to other factors, not to unclean spirit. The Gospel account, however, tells us that a rational, truthful person like Jesus thought that when a person goes mad it is because an unclean spirit enters him. To attribute such a superstitious thought to a Prophet seems a cruel thing. It is to project one’s own superstitions on to a great teacher. Jesus himself could never have said such a thing. Nor could his disciples. It is certainly a fabrication of later times. But the superstitious thought is deepened further. We are told that Jesus asked the unclean spirit his name, and the spirit answered, ‘My name is Legion: for we are many’. This means that there was not just one spirit but an army of them. We are told further that the spirits pleaded with Jesus not to send them away out of the country. But Jesus did not agree, upon which the evil spirits begged him to send them into a herd of swine, that they might enter into them. To this Jesus readily agreed. The unclean spirits then went away entered into the swine and the herd ran violently down a precipice into the sea. And in this way 2,000 of them were drowned.

How superstitious and stupid does this passage seem! We are told that the evil spirits wanted leave, to quit the body of man and to enter into the swine. This herd of swine must have been somebody’s property. The question then arises, what right did Jesus have to destroy another man’s property? If it is said that the son of God had rights over all manner of property, then the question is, why call God, the God of love? If God as Master of everything can destroy things in the possession of ordinary human beings, then what law or order do we have in the world? And what evidence do we have of the beneficence of God?

Besides this, there is another serious superstition taught in this passage. We are told that when the evil spirits entered into the swine, the swine ran over a steep place into the sea. The question can be asked: Why this difference of behavior? When the evil spirits entered a man, he did not hurl himself into the sea. But when they entered into a herd of 2,000 swine, they all ran into the sea and died. The whole passage is superstitious and stupid. Anybody who is convinced of the greatness and rationality of Jesus cannot attribute these things to him or to his disciples. He will have to conclude that such passages have been added to the New Testament account by later writers.

       3.         Jesus is reported to have said that if his followers had faith as small as a grain of mustard seed, they would be able to shows Signs greater than those shown by him. This can be found in John:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be Glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.”    [John 14:12-14]

One can be tempted to ask if Christians today can restore the dead to life?

       4.         In Luke we found the following

“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”   [Luke 11:24-26]

What abject superstition this is! What possible meaning can such accounts have? Can they be attributed to a man like Jesus? To tell a lie is bad enough but to coin a superstition is just as bad. To attribute lies and superstitions to God and His prophets is cruel. The unwary and ignorant writers of the Gospels have been responsible for perpetrating this cruelty. In doing so, they have ruined the Gospels and made them unworthy as religious books.