Ghosts

[dawnghost]

do you believe in them?

what are they?

have you ever seen one?

know of a good story?

[Piebald]

I only believe in them at night. :hrm:

I don't really have any good stories though.. though I know plenty of people who have claimed to see them. I hope i go my whole life without seeing anything that could be mistaken for a ghost.

[dawnghost]

Today @ 10:47 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=100269#post100269)
Hamster:
I hope i go my whole life without seeing anything that could be mistaken for a ghost.

hahahahaha good answer!

[Xmansmommy]

LOL Hamster. That ghost smiley is cute! :wink:

[Secretary of Education - Colin the Cat]

I believe in ghosts. I used to eat them on Pac Man

http://www.flamingmayo.com/firstchurchofpacman/hangly.gif

[garthoverman]

do you believe in them?

I'm open to considering their existence

what are they?

I've heard them referred to as "energy personality essences no longer focused in physical matter" (whatever that means:shrug:)

have you ever seen one?

Nope.

know of a good story?

Apparently some ghosts like to write books:

Seth: A Literal Ghost Writer (http://www.newworldview.com/library/Helfrich_P_Seth_Jane_Concept_Overview.html)

Yours,
Garth

[Omega Red]

Do I believe in ghosts, apparitions, spirits of the dead? Probably. Ever seen one? Not that I can remember. Although my mother recites a tale when I was 4 (ish), she was downstairs and heard talking coming from my room upstairs. She thought it was my father talking to me, but it didn't sound like him. So she goes upstairs to find my father fast asleep in their bedroom and still hears the talking. She enters my room to find nobody there apart from me. She swears that she saw something like a shadow pass through the far wall as she came in. Later that week she had the room exorcised - really strange because she wasn't/isn't a Christian.

Go figure, I've got no reason to doubt my mother and this was in the mid-70s (can't blame it on drugs). I recall 1 Samuel 28
where Saul asks the Witch of Endor to consult the spirits.

Don't mess - psychologically it can't be good for you.

[JardinPrayer]

Certainly the Christians in the forum will say they believe in the Holy Ghost...sometimes referred to as the Holy Spirit. Could it be that every "ghost story," sighting, near-sighting, or other experience is all part of that one spirit?

In Matthew 22, we are told:
"23 The same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, 24 saying: "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 25 Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. 26 Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. 27 Last of all the woman died also. 28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her." 29 Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. 31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 32 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." 33 And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching."

My personal interpretation of this has always been something like this: In Heaven, we are all part of one spirit: God. Like we are told that Jesus is the head and the church is the body...each of is a part of the whole. This scripture seems to say that the physical being you identify as a "person" in the natural does not bear any resemblence to their immortal soul. I like to believe we will each have an ecstatic awareness of what we have become when we make the transition from the natural to the spiritual.

So, how does that address those stories of disembodied voices, misty apparitions, things moving without apparent physical cause? Honestly, my heart thrills at the greatness, the mystery, the complexity of what the possible answers might be and how they fit into God's grand and divine plan. These signs, like angels, are messengers dispatched from the "central office," so to speak. They may be meant to warn or to comfort, or they may have a purpose we could never conceive of. I've run into a number of folks in other threads who seem to be profoundly unsettled by the notion that stuff may be going on that defies human comprehension or may not fit with the rules we've set up for logic, physics, metaphysics, theism, post-modern thought, etc. To my mind, taking comfort in those neat-but-limited systems of explanation cheats a body of the magnificence of experiencing the hugeness of God. I LIKE being overwhelmed by the thought of what may be going on in the spiritual realm. I LIKE knowing God wants us to "rest" in our faith and allow Him to do battle with evil for us. I LIKE the idea that I may be visited by a spirit or an angel that could take the form of a voice, an apparition, or a human being lovingly placed in the right place at the right time.

Hey, did I wander into the wrong department, or is this an appropriate response to a thread like this? :angel:

[dawnghost]

I think that is an appropriate response :huh: :uhoh: :ponder: :smile: :cheers: :yipee:

[Rubens]

Scientists are beginning to realise that there are more than four dimensions in which we live (the four being three spatial dimensions + time). The current wisdom is around ten dimensions. Interactions between the dimensions we know about and the ones we don't could be called "paranormal".

However, as a Christian I believe this dimensional science is an insight into the structure of God's creation; God above all (outside all dimensions), heavenly realms containing angels/ demons (the unknown dimensions) and our world (the four known dimensions).

Therefore I am cautious about anything like ghosts. We've all seen the Patrick Swayze movie and a gazillion other artistic interpretations of "what-happens-when-you-die", not to mention real life accounts of ghosts (Just go on the ghost tour at Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia, former penal colony...spooookeeee!!). The accounts generally describe a ghost as someone who has died. You always hear of a clairvoyant/ medium/ whatever going in and describing that the house used to belong to someone who fits the description of the apparation, or other such details that make for compelling evidence that this spook used to be someone who died and they're now just floating around in the nether world.

What bothers me is simply that this is not what God has described to us about our eternity. We are eternal beings whether we like it or not. We are going to "go" somewhere. There is a place called Hell. Call it fire and brimstone or just a place that is "free" of God's love and comfort... If that's how we choose to live our lives, that's where we go. If we accept the gift of salvation that God has laid out for us, we go to the place for which we were originally designed (heaven) before Adam screwed it all up. Apart from making that choice during our life, there is little control we have over the eternity part.

So if some ghost pops up and tells you that he's the spirit of Bob Jones from 43 Evergreen Tce and you're sleeping in his bed, it is another attempt to deceive you, by the master deceiver himself. He likes to throw alternative belief systems at you. The spirit in question is an imposter, who can supernaturally impersonate Bob Jones.

Look at that "Crossing Over" series with the TV-friendly clairvoyant John Edwards. He's giving all these impressionable people hope that they are actually hearing from a dead loved one. I have no doubt he genuinely believes it himself. They are not hearing from their loved one, they are hearing from a very knowledgeable deceiver. But it all sounds so attractive, so positive, doesn't it? You could say, John Edwards is doing people a "wonderful" service, yes? That's what deception is! Evil always rides on a white horse.

Thanks everybody, I'm sleeping with the light on tonight!!

[dawnghost]

nice response. very nice.

[Rubens]

JardinPrayer:
I LIKE the idea that I may be visited by a spirit or an angel that could take the form of a voice, an apparition, or a human being lovingly placed in the right place at the right time.

OK, I should add to my previous post that it does not neccessarily mean all spiritual goings-on in the physical world are demonic. I'm sure there are good ones at work, but I do think that most of the apparitions/ ghostly experiences discussed in the secular world probably are demonic, especially where it is claimed that they are "the spirit of so-and-so".

JardinPrayer certainly has the right attitude; don't be daunted or afraid of anything in the supernatural, it's all under control!

[dawnghost]

hey Rubens

does your nickname refer to Rubens Barrichelo?
just curious :teeth:

[Rubens]

06-02-2003 @ 04:46 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=114821#post114821)
dawnghost:

hey Rubens

does your nickname refer to Rubens Barrichelo?
just curious :teeth:

You betcha, as per my photo (apologies to Tweb for all the blatant cigarette advertising!!)

Rubens is a Christian boy. He's my fave because F1 is such a selfish, greedy, soul-destroying sport (yet I love it- work that out!), where you have to be a hard nosed arrogant type to suceed- yet he has always conducted himself with grace, compassion and respect...a total nice guy. And he can drive some!!

Sorry to divulge from the thread... (if I PM'd you I probably would have raved on about Rubinho for pages)

[dawnghost]

Today @ 06:31 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=116904#post116904)
Rubens:
You betcha, as per my photo (apologies to Tweb for all the blatant cigarette advertising!!)

Rubens is a Christian boy. He's my fave because F1 is such a selfish, greedy, soul-destroying sport (yet I love it- work that out!), where you have to be a hard nosed arrogant type to suceed- yet he has always conducted himself with grace, compassion and respect...a total nice guy. And he can drive some!!

Sorry to divulge from the thread... (if I PM'd you I probably would have raved on about Rubinho for pages)

that's nice! you know he's brazilian, right? and I'm from Brazil as well! :teeth: it's nice to see a foreigner who likes him.

if you ever need an article about him translated from portuguese to english, maybe I can do it for you. :wink:

[David O]

1 John 4:1
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

You have to check them out. If they don't say yes to that question, they're not of God. Even if they seem really nice.

[DunnySaze]

05-18-2003 @ 08:26 AM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=100224#post100224)
dawnghost:

do you believe in them?

No, not really. If what you mean by ghost is the physical presence of the disembodied spirit of a person.

Question: If they are the physical presence of the disembodied spirit of a person, then why are they usually described as wearing clothes? Surely their clothes don't have a spiritual essence.

what are they?

Many things may be interpreted as a ghost.

have you ever seen one?

Nope.

know of a good story?

None that happened to me or anyone I know.