ghosts.....religion.....go hand in hand?

Ive been thinking about this for quite some time now and was just curious to what other people have to say about it. Im a firm believer in ghosts and paranormal "beings" of that nature. and i usually get a bunch of crap for believing in ghosts from friends and family, but a majority of them are Christians or believe in god. To me, this doesnt make sense, because if you believe in god and angels, wouldnt the whole idea of ghosts make sense to you? The spirit/energy living on past dying? Im probably not explaining myself well at all right now, but i think you all get the idea of what im saying.

basically.... how can you believe in god, but not ghosts? someone explain that to me.

The idea of ghosts is found in the Bible on numerous occasions, such as when the disciples thought they had seen a ghost when Jesus walked towards them on water, and later after his resurrection. This shows that ‘seeing ghosts’ or just the idea of ghosts was common at that time.

So yes, ghosts are real.

But, what they are – and where they come from – is an entirely different thing, as is whether they should be taken as evidence for life after death, for apart from the times when bible characters and writers made reference to the resurrection, and spirits being conjured up by witches, the idea of someone’s “spirit/energy living on past dying” has no basis in scripture, as far as I know.

My take on this is that people in general (regardless of religion) just go and associate ghosts to the paranormal, and consider the paranormal to be something that only weirdos believe in, and some even calling it the work of the devil! I've encountered a few situations where, in hindsight after deconverting out of Christianity, I have seen this to be true.

Oh, I may stereotype all Christians with some of what I say. That is not my intent. I know there are Christians around who are not quick to stereotype all paranormal activity as something for kooks to believe in.

This is sort of a reverse example of how the paranormal is associated to bad/evil behavior. A few months ago my wife's friend, with whom she lived before my wife and I married. This friend married a few months prior to our wedding. So, this friend and her husband had been having ongoing problems which involved him being extremely controlling and having some mental issues come out in forms of verbal abuse, among other things. One day all of it came to a head and she ended up leaving him. When my wife told me about what happened and the conversation she'd had with another friend (a pastor and his wife, whom she has been close to for like 20 years), they got to thinking that this guy is/was demon possessed. I personally think that the guy just has some mental problems, and my wife has even told me that he does struggle with things like schizophrenia, ADD, and slight obsessive-compulsive problems. How can they just connect that with demon possession?

Another time my wife and I were having lunch with the pastor I mentioned, and his wife, and somehow the topic of telekinesis came up. He told us that he had actually witnessed someone moving things with their mind. I was actually quite fascinated by this even though it was prior to my deconversion, and I asked him what he thought was going on when he saw the telekinesis at work. He quickly said that it was obviously Satan at work.

I could mention other examples, but all paranormal activity can be put into two categories for most (not all!) Christians. If it's good and beneficial to Christians, then it is the work of God. If it's bad and comes across as evil, then it's clearly Satan trying to cause doubt and/or harm to a Christian.

So, to get to the matter of ghosts and poltergeists and hauntings, I think that most (not all!) Christians see them as the evil things I mentioned. Seeing ghosts shouldn't be possible if the belief that a saved person dying goes to heaven is true. Perhaps they'd feel that the ghost is the spirit of a non-believer, but then shouldn't they be in hell? Or perhaps it's just an illusion being used by Satan to pull believers away from their beliefs.

Originally posted by John_Q_Llama
So, to get to the matter of ghosts and poltergeists and hauntings, I think that most (not all!) Christians see them as the evil things I mentioned. Seeing ghosts shouldn't be possible if the belief that a saved person dying goes to heaven is true. Perhaps they'd feel that the ghost is the spirit of a non-believer, but then shouldn't they be in hell? Or perhaps it's just an illusion being used by Satan to pull believers away from their beliefs.

This is what I believe. I'm taking some of my belief from several episodes of the Discovery Channel show "A Haunting". It seems on more than one occasion, the "ghost" haunting a family was either a demon masquerading as a "ghost", or it was a deceased human soul (read: damned soul) under the control of one or more demons.

I believe Hell's door may not be locked like Christians might like to believe. Evil entities do roam the earth, and it is entirely possible that Satan uses the spirits of the dead to woo people away from a belief in Heaven and Hell.

I believe that "saved" souls won't make contact with the living unless God allows it--which would be rare, if ever.

Hello,

I am a Minister and Founder of S.C.I.P.P. - Society of Christains Investigating Paranormal Phenomenon. I believe christanity and the Paranormal go hand in hand. Yes, theres several passages in the bible that talks about people talking to and seeing spirits, now those (small percentage) of christains who dont believe in spirits or the devil, should really read the bible from cover to cover. Our society is founded on faith and we use the bible as a guide to help us understand the spirits better. We too, were critized for being christain and being Paranormal investigators. But I simply say this: If other christains see us as "bad" influences, then they surely don't know there bible well enough, my opinion. But then again, we have opened 300 christains eyes and now were not shunned nomore from our community. lol

I was just thinking this the other day after passing by another "ghost" thread. As an atheist, the only explanation I can offer is that we don't know enough about human energy especially in it's kinetic state. I don't believe in spirits, ghosts, entities, but energy is a whole different ball game. I'm also a cut-throat skeptic as must of us heathens are and I've never seen a ghost. I'll believe it when I see it as with most things...

reply to post by ArtifcialFriend


People believe in Ghosts because they want to believe or rather be assured there is something after death. As opposed to rotting in the ground.

reply to post by Stockburn


And I don't know why people are so afraid of dying. It's part of life. As soon as you're conscious of your own existence, you automatically know there's an end. I remember the INSTANT I thought of my own mortality.. I was as young as I could remember and this weird kid was smashing potato bugs right in front of my house. I told him to leave and he was a dork and I was tough so he did and I was looking down at these potato bugs going "Holy S#... I'm done for too."

I'm welcoming a worm party. If you fear death, you fear life. Simple as that.

stock: I believe in ghosts because I have seen one. Don't assume you know how the population thinks.

scipp: i applaud you for not being so closed to such things. keep up the good work!

dead: i agree that death is much easier to come to terms with when you understand how it works - even if it's only your own belief.

[edit on 15-10-2007 by an0maly33]