At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were possessed by demons. All the city was gathered together at the door. He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. He didn’t allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.
All diseases are caused by invisible evil beings living inside the patient's body.
Medicine
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The cited passage
What current science says
Diseases have real, measurable causes: viruses, bacteria, genetic mutations, autoimmune responses, environmental toxins, nutritional deficiencies, and more. We can photograph viruses with electron microscopes, sequence bacterial DNA, and track exactly how a cancer cell mutates. Germ theory — the idea that microorganisms cause infectious disease — was established in the 1860s by scientists like Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. Before that, 'evil spirits' were a common explanation, which is why millions of people died from treatable diseases for centuries.
What the text says
This comes from Mark 1:32-34. The text describes healing 'all that were diseased' by 'casting out devils' — directly equating disease with demonic possession as the universal cause of illness.
Three honest ways to read this passage
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As history
The text records how its authors understood the world with the knowledge they had. Read this way, a difference from modern science is a window into the ancient mind, not a failure.
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As accommodation
The text speaks to its first audience in their own terms, to make a point that isn't mainly about physics or biology. Read this way, the scientific detail is the vehicle, not the cargo.
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As contradiction
The text makes a claim about the physical world that modern findings dispute. Read this way, the difference is a genuine factual disagreement worth naming.
GEBible doesn't pick one of these for you. Each entry shows the passage, what it says, and what current science says — nothing more.