Demons are Real, Not Just Human Inventions

Deuteronomy 32:17 says Israel sacrificed to shedim - and the verse calls them elohim, spirit beings, not carved blocks of wood.
Paul read it that way. When he warns the Corinthians about eating in pagan temples, his concern is not superstition. He says they would be sharing a table with daimonia. The logic runs in one direction only: if the beings in Deuteronomy are imaginary, so are the ones Paul feared.
That is why the reality of demons cannot be cut loose from the Old Testament. Paul is not inventing a category. He knows his Deuteronomy.
Scripture links:
- Deuteronomy 32:17 - sacrifices offered to shedim, to gods they had not known.
- 1 Corinthians 10:20 - what pagans sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons.
Idolatry was never really about the statues. It was about who stood behind them.