The topic for this section came up during an online discussion about ghosts. When one of the participants found out that I was Christian, he immediately announced that he thought I was a hypocrite because "The belief in ghosts is in direct defiance of the Christian Bible." Yes, believe it or not, that's an exact quote. It struck me that someone would feel this strongly about the topic. It also got me wondering where they might have gotten this particular point of view.
From other comments that were made, it was obvious that this person had a profound dislike for anything that the Bible might say. Why? I would guess that he might have had some bad experiences in the past. If that was the case, he wouldn't be alone. I've met many, many people who have been completely turned off to what the Bible might have to offer because of past run-ins with "religious" people.
I'm sure you've all met people who throw out broad general ideas that they claim are Biblical. They usually do this in an attempt to prove that they're "right" about some topic and to imply that if you disagree with them you're "wrong" because you also "disagree with God." Unfortunately, people like this are often just re-stating what they think they've heard someone else say. Maybe they're even parroting what a trusted pastor or a teacher has told them. A LOT of people then take these second-hand ideas, assume they are accurate without even checking, and try to push them on people as the absolute truth.
The worst thing about this particularly lazy practice is that it almost always gives the listener a inaccurate and negative image of what the Bible is all about. I guess I can understand some resentment from anyone who's only exposure to the Bible is a sermon from one of these folks. But it becomes a real problem if they take it another step and immediately jump to the conclusion that EVERYONE who reads the Bible is:
- Out of touch with reality
- Scientifically backward
- Closed minded and ignorant
- Judgemental and very opinionated
- Pretty much just a dork
Sounds extreme, but this list does summarize a popular stereotype. One that often makes people afraid to even be associated with the Bible much less read it. Since the ghost example is apparently based on these kind of ideas, I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify the difference between what some people claim the Bible says and what it REALLY says. It's important to demonstrate that while some people might misrepresent what the Bible says, the REAL book itself contains much more information than most people have been led to believe.
In fact, if the person that I mentioned in the first paragraph had been able to overcome his Bible-phobia long enough to do a little bit of research on the topic he could have easily found that ghosts are actually mentioned numerous times in the Bible. Note that neither of the following examples are obscure passages either. Anyone who's been to Sunday School is probably familiar with both of them, but it seems that very few people remember the details they contain.
|
Matthew 14: 25-27 (NIV) During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, |
It's obvious from this example that the disciples believed in ghosts. If they had no idea what a ghost was, why would they assume they were seeing one? Well, I suppose they could have heard stories. Most of us have heard ghost stories, even if we've never seen a ghost. Does that mean that we all believe in ghosts? Not necessarily. Just because we're all pretty much aware of the stories that are out there about hauntings and ghosts doesn't automatically make them real.
Ok, so there's a chance that the disciples might have just been reacting to some ghost stories. Perhaps they were just recalling some urban legends that were going around Galilee when they were younger. Just in case, let's go to their supervisor for further clarification on the topic:
|
Luke 24: 36-43 (NIV) While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. |
One thing that occurs to me in these passages is how Jesus doesn't say anything like "Don't be silly, ghosts are just a wives tale and don't really exist." He instead lists specific physical traits of ghosts - they don't have flesh and they don't have bones and they certainly don't eat broiled fish. Was he making these traits up about some imaginary entity? Or did he know more about the reality of ghosts than we usually give him credit for?
Keep in mind that this passage was written by Luke. A physician. A scientific mind. If any of the gospel writers would have questioned this idea, it would have been him. Yet he was the one who chose to include it in his account.
So, is the belief in ghosts really "in direct defiance of the Christian Bible?" Develop your own conclusions about the whole thing, but before you do, please read the accounts for yourself and see what is really being said. Also, it's often very useful to get to know the Biblical characters - what they were like and how they acted can tell you a lot about what they knew and believed.
After all, isn't the Bible just that, a book about real people? Even though they lived thousands of years ago, they were pretty much like you and I. You'll find that these people weren't "backward, out-of touch dorks" at all. Most of them were just normal people put in extraordinary circumstances who recorded their eyewitness accounts of these events.
Why did they take the time to do this? Probably just so we can read these accounts now, learn from their experience and hopefully gain some valuable wisdom about how this world really works.
There sure is a lot of that wisdom in there. Just be careful to check the facts before you believe every "ghost story" that you hear about what the Bible supposedly says.
This article was written by
Jim Aho
Please visit his site at EARS- Evidence of Alien contact Revealed in Scripture
Answer: Is there such a thing as ghosts? The answer to this question depends on what precisely is meant by the term “ghosts.” If the term means “spirit beings,” the answer is a qualified “yes.” If the term means “spirits of people who have died,” the answer is “no.” The Bible makes it abundantly clear that there are spirit beings, both good and evil. But the Bible negates the idea that the spirits of deceased human beings can remain on earth and “haunt” the living.
Hebrews 9:27 declares, “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” That is what happens to a person’s soul-spirit after death—judgment. The result of this judgment is heaven for the believer (2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23) and hell for the unbeliever (Matthew 25:46; Luke 16:22-24). There is no in-between. There is no possibility of remaining on earth in spirit form as a “ghost.” If there are such things as ghosts, according to the Bible, they absolutely cannot be the disembodied spirits of deceased human beings. The Bible teaches very clearly that there are indeed spirit beings who can connect with and appear in our physical world. The Bible identifies these beings as angels and demons. Angels are spirit beings who are faithful in serving God. Angels are righteous, good, and holy. Demons are fallen angels, angels who rebelled against God. Demons are evil, deceptive, and destructive. According to 2 Corinthians 11:14-15, demons masquerade as “angels of light” and as “servants of righteousness.” Appearing as a “ghost” and impersonating a deceased human being definitely seem to be within the power and abilities that demons possess. The closest biblical example of a “haunting” is found in Mark 5:1-20. A legion of demons possessed a man and used the man to haunt a graveyard. There were no ghosts involved. It was a case of a normal person being controlled by demons to terrorize the people of that area. Demons only seek to “kill, steal, and destroy” (John 10:10). They will do anything within their power to deceive people, to lead people away from God. This is very likely the explanation of “ghostly” activity today. Whether it is called a ghost, a ghoul, or a poltergeist, if there is genuine evil spiritual activity occurring, it is the work of demons. What about instances in which “ghosts” act in “positive” ways? What about psychics who claim to summon the deceased and gain true and useful information from them? Again, it is crucial to remember that the goal of demons is to deceive. If the result is that people trust in a psychic instead of God, a demon will be more than willing to reveal true information. Even good and true information, if from a source with evil motives, can be used to mislead, corrupt, and destroy. Interest in the paranormal is becoming increasingly common. There are individuals and businesses that claim to be “ghost-hunters,” who for a price will rid your home of ghosts. Psychics, séances, tarot cards, and mediums are increasingly considered normal. Human beings are innately aware of the spiritual world. Sadly, instead of seeking the truth about the spirit world by communing with God and studying His Word, many people allow themselves to be led astray by the spirit world. The demons surely laugh at the spiritual mass-deception that exists in the world today. Recommended Resource: The Truth Behind Ghosts, Mediums, and Psychic Phenomena by Ron Rhodes.
(also known as shadow men or shadow beings) are a supernatural phenomenon reported by some individuals. Most accounts of shadow people describe them as black humanoid silhouettes, lacking mouths or eyes, although they are sometimes reported to have red or yellow eyes. They are generally described as lacking mass, although their specific nature varies from two-dimensional (like a shadow) to vaporous or distorted. Their movement is often reported as being very quick and disjointed, or "jiggly", in the sense that they first may move slowly like a fluid (similar to jello rather than water), then rapidly "hop" to another part of a witness' surroundings. Some witnesses describe this movement as though the shadow entities they have seen "danced" from one wall to the next. Observers of shadow people most commonly report that the forms appear at the edge of their field of vision, and that they disintegrate or move into walls when noticed, usually within a split second. However, many also report shadow people appearing in the center of their vision, appearing very close to them, or remaining for several seconds before disappearing. Some individuals have described being menaced, chased, or (more rarely) attacked or raped by shadow people. Sightings of shadow people have been reported all over the world. They are a recurring topic of the late-night talk radio show Coast-to-Coast AM. The former host of the show, Art Bell, seemingly resurrected the term "shadow people." The term appeared as early as September 21, 1953 as the title of a radio drama that was broadcast on Chicago's WGN-AM "Hall of Fantasy"* series. However, reports of beings fitting the description of shadow people have been recorded for centuries in literature. For example, in 1887, celebrated French author Guy de Maupassant pennned the story "Le Horla" ("The Horla") about shadowy beings who live on milk and water, bedevil human minds, and stalk the unwary.
In Ganzfeld telepathy experiments, the receiver's eyes are covered with halves of ping-pong balls and his ears disappear under huge earphones that soothe his auditory sense with white noise. In his padded cubicle, deprived of most sensations, he drifts into a foggy blankness. After a quarter of an hour, the receiver begins to experience brilliant, dreamlike images -- even without the benefit of a telepathic 'sender.' C. Honorton (now deceased), the chief proponent of Ganzfeld experiments, believed that human telepathy, a very weak phenomenon at best, would be best detected during such sensory-deprivation experiments, in which extraneous sensory 'noise' was greatly reduced. In actual Ganzfeld tests, the receiver and sender are placed in separate insulated cubicles. The sender is shown still photos and/or film clips. He tries to send these images, or the sense of them, to the receiver telepathically. In the best Ganzfeld experiments, photo and film clips are selected automatically and everything possible is computerized. Because of the great care Honorton lavished on his experiments and his strong claims of positive results, we easily cannot ignore his work. In fact, Honorton designed his Ganzfeld experiments specifically to counter the critics of parapsychology, who are numerous and vocal. If telepathic transmissions really do exist, they just might be discerned when the receiver's mind is open to the tiniest sensory cues. Have the ubiquitous doubters been swayed by Honorton's experiments? Some critics of parapsychology, such as S. Blackmore, opine that Honorton has come up with best best evidence yet for telepathy; but Blackmore still has her doubts. Already experimental flaws have been pointed out in Honorton's work. For example, the researchers scoring the experiments must be completely ignorant of which film clips were used, but surreptitious peeks at the automated equipment were possible, and there could have been subliminal cues as to film-clip identities from the time periods required to rewind the tapes. Then, in the scoring conferences with the receivers, the scorers could have subconsciously led the receivers along. So, the verdict still seems to be that telepathy is unproven. In fact, one wonders if a foolproof telepathy experiment is really possible at all. (McCrone, John; "Roll Up for the Telepathy Test," New Scientist, p. 29, May 15, 1993.) Comment. One of Honorton's Ganzfeld discoveries was that strongly positive results occurred only with movie clips; still photos were 'transmitted' only at chance levels. Honorton attributed this to the richer imagery of action scenes. However, many other 'remote-viewing' experimenters have claimed success with still photos! No wonder mainstream science is wary of the claims of parapsychology.
APPARAITIONS
Origin They are said to be spirits of the deceased that remain on Earth, visiting relatives. The first accounts of apparitions date back to antiquity.Template:Fact Description The visual appearance of any spirit, ghost, or unusual phenomenon that doesn’t necessarily take on the shape of a human form nor does it show signs of intelligence or personality. Usually they have a translucide human form that let appear the clothing of their period. They can also appear as incomplete, disfigured or headless. Most often, they show up and faint in a second. Types Ghosts can come in a variety of forms: children, men, women, animals and demonstrate various feeling. Some will pass without even noticing you, other remain hidden and seem just to focus on frightening you. Some will try to chase you out of their refuge, other will seek attention and even help or guidance. Apparitions which are not considered as self-induced hallucinations (95% of the cases) are usually divided into 3 categories. These includes “crisis apparitions “ where the vision coincided with the death or endangerment of the person seen, “collective apparitions” where the same figure is seen simultaneously at the same point by two or more observers and lastly “haunts” where is seen in or neat the same place by a succession of independent witnesses. Locations older homes hotels theaters cemeteries. Perfect Apparition G. N. M. Tyrell provides us with a picture of the "perfect apparition." If the "perfect apparition" were standing next to a normal individual, we would find points of resemblance: Both figures would stand out in space and be equally solid. We could walk around the apparition and view it from any perspective as vividly as the normal individual. The two figures would appear the same in any sort of lighting conditions, whether good or bad. On approaching the apparition, one could hear it breathing and making other normal noises, such as the rustling of its clothes. The apparition would behave as if aware of our presence. It might even touch us, in which case it would feel like an ordinary human touch. The apparition could be seen reflected in a mirror just as a real person. The apparition might speak and even answer a question, but we would not be able to engage it in any long conversation. If we closed our eyes, the apparition would disappear from view just as the ordinary person would. The apparition would appear clothed and with other normal accessories such as a stick or a package, perhaps even accompanied by a dog. Many times, when close to, or touched by, the apparition, we would feel an unusual sensation of coldness. If we tried to grab hold of the apparition, our hand would go through it without encountering any resistance. The apparition may disappear when cornered in this fashion. The apparition would generally not remain more than half an hour. It might vanish through the walls or floor. Or it might simply open the door and walk out. Apparitions differ in the extent to which they are able to actually effect physical objects, open doors, cast a shadow, be photographed. The "perfect apparition" cannot really cause any objectively measurable effects, although it may cause the subjective appearance of doing so. There are very few photographs of such apparitions, while numerous collective sightings tend to prove that they really exist. Retrieved from "http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Apparitions"
