Does Belief in God Necessitate Belief in Demons?

Earlier this week I ran across a post on Experimental Theology that discusses different approaches to the theology of demons. The author provides two viewpoints on either end of a spectrum: the Liberal and the Literalist. The former being a sort of demythologizing of the New Testament and the latter a sort of high-alert “demons are everywhere!” approach. Most people fit somewhere in between those two stances.

Hop on over and read the entire article, the author presents some fascinating descriptions of where those views on demons go wrong.

The post got me thinking about whether or not belief in God necessitates a belief in the devil and demons. Can you believe in God without believing in Demons? It would seem to follow that if one believes in a higher supernatural power like God, you then they open up the possibility for other beings who exist on the supernatural plane: some of which would be sources of evil. The Bible would seem to corroborate this, yet few people actually live as if this is part of reality.

Truth be told, I personally put little stock in demons. What little belief I do have in the power of demons is balanced by my trust that God is far more powerful than any demonic force that may or may not exist. In short, I don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about the powers of darkness; I’d rather spend time focusing on the good in the supernatural realm. Yet, the evidence points to evil forces in the world, so should I believe in them and—like the demons do towards God—”shudder?”

What about you though, what role do you see demonic forces play in our world? Do you believe that Satan has a hand in everything, is mainly an impotent being, or doesn’t even exist?

6 Responses to “Does Belief in God Necessitate Belief in Demons?”

  • Rick says:

    The bible is very clear in the New Testament scriptures about the reality of Satan and his demons. Jesus cast out demons and healed the effects of demons. When we sin we open up the curse in our life for a demon to effect…. they are the effects of sin. If we are forgiven in our spirit through Jesus we also have our job to do to cast out the effects in our flesh. To not recognize demons is to say we have not an enemy.. a perfect situation for our enemy to rule us in our sins.

    Are we believers of the Word? or unknowing of the spiritual world we fight against?

    Ephesians 6:12 (New King James Version)
    12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

    If we neglect our FULL armor described to us by Paul, we are like a naked Christian running around with just our helmet of salvation.. buffetted by the winds of sin in our life.. not taking hold of the weapons we have to fight and win over sin in our life completely…

    Mark 16:

    And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they[b] will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

  • Sy Finley says:

    These comments do not address the question I have asked. I want to know why God who had enormous power and moves mountains with His word, needs a creature like Satan to do what He is perfectly able to do Himself!

  • Stacey says:

    The Bible is also very clear in Genesis that God gave man dominion over the earth and everything in it. So, what we allow, God allows. He gave us free will. To be in this earth, one must come legally, as through childbirth. Satan is a spiritual being, thus he and his demons must inhabit others’ bodies to operate.

    The reason I even found this topic is that I witnessed and participated in the casting out of demons from a 17 year old young man at my church this morning. It was like something out of a movie – the eyes rolling back in his head until only the whites showed, the growling voice that came from deep within him as we rebuked Satan and demanded that he leave. I will never forget it, and I am fully aware now
    (if I weren’t before) that my God is all powerful!!!

  • God is making a use of everything that He has created.It does not matter who you are and where you are. It is the inner right of God as He has created all things. He is making a use of trees, mountains, seas, spirits, etc. men and women likewise. No evil no good can make God powerless in using the things he has created. Therefore, all human beings and spirits need wisdom to understand that nothing and nobody can affect God’s plan and therefore willingly all must be submissive to God understanding that for God there is no time and space frame. I have the right to use all the things that i have made. The gardener has the right to sow and plant trees and then use them or cut trees and burn them if they dont bear fruit. You cannot say that why the garener is acting like this. Being powerful does not mean for the gardener that he cannot use the trees that he has grown. Let’s not deceive ourselves. Like in the human kingdoms (states) – if i am a doctor i am used to treat sick people, if i am a thief I am used to do things even in the prison. Whatever God gives us he does not take it back. Likewise, although Hitler was an evil person God did not take back his brain from him. the same way God had annointed satan before it sinned, but even after the failure of satan God did not take back the power fully from satan. I lose my life or health just because of breaking the divine rules and committing sins. Because beyond the divine rules there is no life, no health, no happiness. So when we sin, many times we dont know the consequences, but God knows.Therefore God out of his love towards us warns us and wants us to be far from breaking his word as His word contains life.In a word, my punishment comes from my sins as my sins takes me away from the word of God.Therefore, proverbs say say that fear of the lord is the beginning of the wisdom – meaning that when we understand that departing the word of God leads us to hell, we stop sinning.We fear that by sinning we might lose God’s mercy and eternity, and this means fear of the lord. Fear does not mean that God wants us to worship him by force, otherwise it would not be a true love to God.The same happens in the family, when a father foreknowing that his son using the money for drugs he will not keep supporting his son financially as it would mean that the father is not bringing his son up.on the contrary the father out of love would stop giving him money for his good to force him to quit drug.The same does God.And it means god’s love.The problem is how you interpret it.Fear of God means that I am afraid that I can lose Him.As regards evil spirits and satan, yes they exist and try to entice us and take us away from the word of God.But it does not mean that they are free.It does not mean that God cannot use them. God is able to use every evil for His good purposes.But originally when God created spirits he did not program them for bad purposes.For implementing his plan God does not need my evil actions, for he is Holy.God knows that because of His Holiness sinful man cannot approach God.Therefore,he wants us to be holy too in order to be with Him for ever. Because of my sins God cannot change his Holiness, and God knows that outside the holiness there is nothing.

  • apz says:

    Satan in literal terms has three different meanings in the Bible. Obstacle, Accuser, and Oppressor are the actual words which were translated to Satan. Satan was first characterizied by early Christians as a prosecutor figure. Later the Western Churches dipicted Satan as some red horned man-beast which resembled Pan one of the pagan gods. Satan in the Bible seems to be a spiritual tormentor.

    for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night Revelation 12:10.

  • Katherine says:

    I think humans do a great job of representing/imitating Satan without any need for Pan. People accuse, torment, and make stumbling blocks out of themselves.