In my latest video, I address the fact that some accounts of exorcism within the Gospels are described in a manner suggestive of epilepsy. With that in mind, I summarize three ways to think about this: first, it could be that these were simply exorcisms and that the presentation of demon possession is similar to that of an epileptic seizure; second, it is possible that the individual had epilepsy and was experiencing a grand mal seizure and Jesus knew this and healed them while accommodating to the contemporary understanding of epilepsy as demon possession; third, since Jesus in his humanity accommodated to the understanding of first-century Jews and himself grew in wisdom over time (cf. Luke 2:40, 52), it is possible that he understood epileptic seizures to be demonic manifestations: regardless, he still healed the individual thereby heralding the inbreaking of God’s kingdom.
Apparently, summarizing different views on the matter was too much for some people and some commenters posted angry comments in reply. For example, one individual posted:
“To think that you have a position where you teach impressionable young minds disturbs me to a degree that I don’t think you can appreciate.”
China is currently perpetrating a genocide of the Uyghurs, but the thing that really “disturbs” this person is the fact that I’m summarizing different theological interpretations of a pericope on my YouTube channel.
With that introduction, I now invite you to watch the video and see how angry you get:
