See, this is some of your 'I said so approach'. (Gal. 5:19-21) says nothing and offers nothing about Job's adversary being human and not Satan. Your question of 'why' is immaterial. What is said is what is important. More of your 'I said so approach'. Better known as bs.
The "Why" was a struggle.
No, you don't thank me. You don't mean it and you know it. Quit playing your games.
Scripture speaks of 'the' devil and devils. The devil is Satan. Satan has others devils who follow him. Some are angels and some are demons.
The devil is a great sinner,. But he is not simply sin. The devil has personality as an angelic being.
That's a mouthful stranger!
Why should you wait to comment on (Mark 1:34)? Scared? If so, say so. Don't hesitate, unless you don't know what your are talking about.
Stranger
Well lets state some facts stranger!...facts are good, because apparently the "I said so approach" doesn’t like "why" questions. You may concede that 1000 pages of Old Testament Scripture has NO mention of demons? Now before you run off to check, you will see a few possible references, but these speak to false gods which most certainly do not exist.
Understandably you turn to the first chapter of Mark to a strange phenomenon which you infer is a person taken captive by an evil creature who is possessing a randomly chosen victim. You Stranger, don’t find it strange that these demons should have been so active and evident in the time of Jesus, and yet nowhere to be seen for long periods of time before and after?
An even mildly inquisitive believer would be inclined to ask why?
I am sensing you are not that ‘why’ kinda guy.
Another issue to address is the fact that the well know diseases mentioned in the gospels as being a demonic influence are curable today by medical experts none of whom believe in the existence of evil spirits.
Another fact realises Jesus never believed or taught anywhere in his ministry the existence of unclean spirits (demons) or how to avoid them, rather acknowledging the thinking of people would not be changed given the difficulty with superstition at the time. Jesus tacitly adopted commonly understood terminology without supporting or encouraging such ways of thinking.
Another fact is that disease’s and illnesses are healed alongside your supernatural demons. It's clear to all reading that the gospel provides us a plain matter-of-fact diagnosis of the physical and mental disabilities Jesus healed.
1. “A dumb man possessed with a devil, (Matthew 9: 32).
2. “One possessed with a devil, blind and dumb: and he healed him” (Matthew 12: 22).
3. “(His friends said) He is beside himself. And the scribes said, He hath Baalzebub ... “ (Mark 3:21,22).
4. The demoniac was found “sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15).
5. “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is epileptic... and Jesus rebuked the devil...” (Matthew 17:15,18). People with epilepsy do not have devils!
6. “And they that were vexed with unclean spirits were healed” (Luke 6:18).
7. “A woman which had a spirit of infirmity... and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself” (Luke 13:11).
8. “He hath a devil, and is mad” (John 10:20; the same idea is implied in John 7:20 and John 8:48).
And there is Mark 1
Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him: “Silence! Come out of him!” the news about him spread quickly throughout all the region around Galilee.
So he healed many who were sick with various diseases and drove out many demons. But he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
The word daimonion to the Greeks was first applied to gods generally and later to inferior gods. It was thought that these inferior gods, or demons, were the departed spirits of human beings. Good demons came from good men, and bad demons from bad men. Bad demons preyed upon humans, entering their bodies and causing certain maladies. Hence people with such ailments as madness, deafness and dumbness were described as being possessed with demons.
We have commented on the types of illnesses attributed to demons are clearly those which could not be related to an obvious physical condition.
Lameness was not attributed to demons because the abnormal condition of lame people’s limbs provided an explanation for their halting gait. But mad people, deaf people and dumb people looked like others there was no simple physiological explanation that they knew of and so demon possession was taught.
You see this in Matthew 9:28 and Matthew 9:32.
I believe, some reading this, will discern how Greek Mythology entered into the times of Jesus Christ ministry.
Cultural context applies here.
Are there ailments today which Christians automatically refer to as demon possession?
It equates to “sneezing and witchcraft”.
Strangers two letter acronym fits well here.
F2F