But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.” Others, testing him, sought from him a sign from heaven.
Mental illness can be treated by having a more powerful supernatural entity override the lesser one causing the symptoms.
Medicine
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The cited passage
What current science says
This is like arguing whether your car was fixed by a better gremlin overpowering the gremlin that broke it. Mental illness involves measurable neurochemical imbalances, structural brain differences, and dysregulated neural circuits. Schizophrenia responds to antipsychotics that block dopamine receptors — not because the drug out-demons the demons, but because it adjusts a specific neurotransmitter system. The entire framework of dueling supernatural forces as an explanation for mental health assumes facts not in evidence: namely, that any supernatural entities exist at all.
What the text says
This comes from Luke 11:15-16. Observers debate whether demons are being cast out using the power of 'Beelzebub the chief of the devils' — the entire discussion assumes mental illness is caused by warring supernatural factions, and the only question is which faction is doing the curing.
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.