Moving Beyond "The Demon of the Gaps" in Christian Theology

A Critique of "Occam's Demon" in the Study of the Supernatural

Photo credit Stephen Leonardi

Readers of A Magical World will note my penchant for criticizing what I call the “demon of the gaps” argument. This term, of course, is a spin-off from the classic “God of the gaps” fallacy, sneeringly described by Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion:

If you don’t understand how something works, never mind; just give up and say God did it. You don’t know how the nerve impulse works? Good! You don’t understand how memories are laid down in the brain? Excellent! Is photosynthesis a bafflingly complex process? Wonderful! Please don’t go to work on the problem, just give up, and appeal to God. Dear scientist, don’t work on your mysteries. Bring us your mysteries, for we can use them. Don’t squander precious ignorance by researching it away. We need those glorious gaps as a last refuge for God.¹

Though Dawkins indulges in some hyperbole, the basic problem with a “God of the gaps” approach to knowledge is obvious: Just because we don’t understand something does not mean we can simply posit the immediate action of a deity to explain it.

Similarly, the famous cosmologist and outspoken atheist Carl Sagan wrote a volume entitled The Demon-Haunted World in the mid-1990’s. He presented scientific knowledge as an ever-growing light, gradually eliminating our superstitious tendencies of attributing the unknown to the agency of spirits. Both Dawkins and Sagan make valid points, though they themselves are guilty of the opposite error of “promissory naturalism”—the belief that every apparently supernatural event will eventually be explained by the scientific method.²

When I use the term “demon of the gaps,” I refer to a modified form of this fallacy that comes from Christians who (rightly) affirm the world of the supernatural, yet have a distinct bias toward the activity and power of evil spirits. That is to say, when we do not understand something—particularly regarding things that would fall under the rubric of “paranormal” or “supernatural”—many Christians seem to have a default reaction of attributing the phenomenon to demons.

This phrase came to my mind independently while doing research for my book, but I am not the first to use it. (My friend and colleague Matt Arnold is fond of using a similar phrase, the “devil of the gaps,” to describe the same unfortunate tendency.) Sometimes I am even tempted to call it “Occam’s Demon,” given that many Christians seem to think the activity of a demon qualifies as the most parsimonious explanation for supernatural phenomena.

Demons, Demons Everywhere

I have observed the prevalence of this “demon of the gaps” approach particularly with regard to the study of extrasensory perception (ESP), near-death experiences (NDEs), ghosts, and sometimes even the Charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit! Consider, for instance, one popular Christian website on the topic of ESP:

If ESP could be proved by science beyond a shadow of a doubt, we could still be assured that such a thing would not be of God but rather from demonic forces (2 Corinthians 11:13–15). To claim ESP ability is foolishness and a rejection of God’s ultimate power and authority (see 2 Chronicles 33:6). Demons are real, and they are liars by nature: “In later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Christians must be on their guard against being led astray by bogus wisdom, false ideas, and deceptive visions. ESP, intuition, emotional impressions, or voices in one’s head are no replacement for God’s Word. We must reject all that downplays God’s special revelation in the Bible (1 Peter 5:8; 2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Though GotQuestions is far from an academic resource (a mentor of mine once wrote for their website and now cringes at his own entries), it nonetheless represents the thinking of many mainstream evangelical pastors and laypersons. And its one-size-fits-all approach to ESP accurately captures how many of these people instinctively view the subject of the paranormal. Gary North—whose Unholy Spirits is a valuable and fascinating trove of information on the paranormal—likewise defaults to this approach when speaking of scientific studies of psychokinesis, bluntly writing: “What is happening is quite simple: demons are beginning to affect the experiments.”³

Similar approaches have been taken with regard to NDEs. A household name like John MacArthur has this to say:

For anyone who truly believes the biblical record, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that these modern testimonies—with their relentless self-focus and the relatively scant attention they pay to the glory of God—are simply untrue. They are either figments of the human imagination (dreams, hallucinations, false memories, fantasies, and in the worst cases, deliberate lies), or else they are products of demonic deception.⁴

Another target of MacArthur is the Charismatic movement, whose displays of ostensibly supernatural power he views as demonic at best. He famously characterized Charismatic manifestations as nothing more than a repackaged “Kundalini Awakening” empowered by evil spirits.⁵

The Lutheran exorcist Kurt Koch, though more guarded in his language, also intimated that the Charismatic “gifts” may be attributed to “religious suggestion, hysteria, hypnotic and occult influence” and should be viewed as “a worldwide threat and a confusion to true Christians.”⁶

Finally, on the topic of ghosts, the tendency for Christians to jump to the “demonic impostor” theory is ubiquitous enough that it seems quite unnecessary to cite specific examples. So far as I have been able to discern, Tertullian seems to have been one of the earliest proponents of this view.⁷ And today, evangelical Christians largely agree with him.

As someone who takes the Gospel accounts at face value, I am the last person to downplay the activity of evil spirits. In fact, I agree that we should be wary of the involvement of evil spirits in psychic abilities, near-death experiences, and ghostly activity. My chapter on demonic activity and exorcism in A Magical World should make it clear that I am deeply cognizant that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood” (Eph. 6:12).

Undermining Dialogue

That said, I find the “demon of the gaps” approach to these topics to reek of a knee-jerk reaction and insecurity rather than sober analysis. Furthermore, it seems to me that taking such a default view stymies dialogue with non-believers who have had spiritual experiences.

One example that I cite in A Magical World concerns a teacher named Marie, who would involuntarily “receive” premonitions about various students in her school. As she expressed it: “I knew when a kid was going to get beaten when he got home, or that his parents were going to get divorced. It was emotionally very difficult.”⁸

Since time immemorial, people from all walks of life have reported these sorts of experiences—both inside and outside the Church. They have been given various names: spiritual sensitives, seers, those with “second sight.” Many from within my own circles of friends and family have testified to their own such experiences. And while I accept that some forms of preternatural knowledge come from nefarious, discarnate spirits (Acts 16:16 is explicit here), I find it difficult to believe that all such abilities are necessarily demonic in origin.

Take the rather benign example of Marie’s “ability” to receive premonitions. Let’s imagine her as a non-Christian entering a church and attempting to share her experience with the local vicar or pastor. If she is greeted by either polite dismissal or by the suggestion that she needs an exorcism, her conclusion may well be that the modern-day representatives of Christ have little insight to offer someone with a genuine spiritual aptitude.

By contrast, consider the approach of someone like Donald Bloesch, a Reformed and Charismatic systematic theologian. In a section dealing with the relationship between psychic abilities and the Charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit, Bloesch is comfortable using the term “natural sensibilities” in reference to such spiritual abilities or paranormal gifts.⁹ The use of the word “natural” reflects his openness to the idea that such abilities are innate to the human spirit rather than ipso facto deriving from an external spirit (either the Holy Spirit or an evil spirit). He leaves open the categories for natural (and thus neutral) aptitudes of the human spirit.

The renowned John Warwick Montgomery expresses the very same disposition toward these “magical” abilities, calling them a “mental faculty” rather than demonic.¹⁰ Likewise, D.L. Moody’s close associate F.B. Meyer once remarked: “Neither telepathy nor clairvoyance appears deserving of our censure. They are natural properties of the mind, and only reveal the wondrous faculties with which the Almighty has endowed us.”¹¹

Take another example: that of the thousands of individuals who saw apparitions of their loved ones killed in World War I. Many of them sought for answers from their clergymen, and many walked away disappointed that Christians had no room for such phenomena in their worldview. Their encounters of intimate closure with a husband, son, or father were dismissed as hallucinations or illusions by demonic imposters. Thus, many of these individuals abandoned their Christian roots and sought comfort in the Spiritualist movement, which was more than willing to fill the spiritual vacuum.¹²

By contrast, thoughtful Christians from the patristic and medieval eras, as well as Puritan divines like Richard Baxter, evangelists like John Wesley, and apologists like John Warwick Montgomery fostered a more holistic view of the afterlife. They were content with accepting the tacit biblical acceptance of ghosts as well as the universal experience of mankind with these encounters. (I refer readers to the Appendix of A Magical World or to my forthcoming article in The Christian Parapsychologist for a historical summary of the Church’s view on ghosts.)

In our own time, we have well-regarded scholars like Ben Witherington III reporting an After-Death Communication (ADC), Dale Allison reporting an apparition of a deceased friend, and Michael Heiser elucidating the biblical affirmation of ghosts. The insights of these men offer far more in the way of dialogue than the needlessly narrow approaches cited above—even if some questions must remain unanswered for a time.

Recovering a “Spiritually Charged” Worldview

Photo credit Marek Piwnicki

It is this sort of approach that is not only more likely to open dialogue between the churched and unchurched, but it is also, I think, more faithful to the worldview of Scripture. The heavens and the earth experienced by the writers of the Bible featured myriads of divine entities, spiritual abilities, and mystical experiences. Though marred by sin, it was a cosmos of glory. It was spiritually charged, especially at certain places and in certain characters. I note in my chapter on ESP that this “magical world” is acutely captured in Tolkien’s legendarium, where Angels (Valar & Maiar), Elves, and Men experience the spiritual world in tandem with the natural world. Contemplating Middle Earth has always made me better appreciate the enchanted nature of our own world. Tolkien was on to something more than just good fiction.

Along these lines, I am much encouraged by the openness of a number of Christian writers who eschew the “demon of the gaps.” The late R.C. Sproul expressed openness toward NDEs, writing that “It shouldn’t shock the Christian when people undergoing clinical death and being revived come back with certain recollections.”¹³ Of all people, Christians should be the most interested in afterlife experiences! Similarly, both Gary Habermas and J.P. Moreland have cautiously integrated NDE research into their knowledge base of the spiritual world.¹⁴ And John Burke’s popular-level book has brought knowledge of NDEs from a Christian perspective into countless venues.¹⁵

My exhortation to Christians—especially to clergy and authors—is that we make a concerted effort toward both clear thinking and openness to the mysteries of God’s cosmos. There are many things we simply don’t understand on this side of the veil. Sometimes we must resist our visceral instinct to neatly categorize the unknown, though it may make us feel more secure.

The approach of Dawkins and Sagan has been to categorize spiritual experiences as hallucinations or superstitions. We Christians rightly demur from such simplistic methodologies. Yet we should be wary of hastily labeling every anomalous experience as “demonic” when we don’t have an easy “chapter and verse” to explain it.

Let’s save the demonizing for actual demons.

1. As cited in Ernie Laskaris, “The New Atheist Sledgehammer: Like Epistemological Air Boxing,” Themelios 43, no. 3 (2018): 438.

2. Thanks to the late Cris Putnam for this phrase. The Supernatural Worldview: Examining Paranormal, Psi, and the Apocalyptic (Crane: Defender, 2014), 37, 67.

3. Gary North, Unholy Spirits: Occultism and New Age Humanism (Tyler: Institute for Christian Economics, 1994), 122.

4. In fairness to MacArthur, his critique was aimed at the popular-level bookselling NDE accounts, one of which was admitted to be a fraud. That said, there is no excuse for his ignorance of the rigorous scientific research of NDEs.

5. While I demur from MacArthur’s hasty 1:1 comparison of Charismatic and Kundalini manifestations, I do consider the topic worthy of study. Outward similarities do not necessarily imply the same origin, but they might indicate similar operations of the human spirit. Even though I don’t necessarily agree with the conclusions, Ewelina Nyske’s article is a more sophisticated comparison and deserves engagement.

6. Kurt Koch, Occult ABC: Exposing Occult Practices and Ideologies, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1986), 31 (emphasis added).

7. Tertullian, On the Soul 57.

8. As cited in Sally Rhine Feather and Michael Schmicker, The Gift: ESP, the Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People (New York: St Martin’s, 2005), 53–54.

9. Donald G. Bloesch, The Holy Spirit: Works & Gifts (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2000), 292.

10. John Warwick Montgomery, Principalities and Powers: A Fascinating Look at the Paranormal, the Supernatural, and the Hidden Things, Revised ed. (Irvine: NRP, 2017), 125.

11. F.B. Meyer, The Modern Craze of Spiritualism (Joseph Kreifels, 1919), as cited in Putnam, The Supernatural Worldview, 220.

12. Thanks to Matt Arnold for bringing this history to my attention.

13. R.C. Sproul, Now, That’s a Good Question! (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1996), 300.

14. Gary R. Habermas and J.P. Moreland, Beyond Death: Exploring the Evidence for Immortality (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2004).

15. John Burke, Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2015).