Why Do People Believe in Ghosts?

thantlantic ^

[jocon307]

I read this, it’s very interesting.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Not sure if I'd call them "ghosts," as the scripture plainly teaches that the human spirit is transported either to heaven or to hell:

Luk 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; Luk 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Heb_9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Demons seem to impersonate the dead, perhaps to put you into doubt as to whether there even is a heaven or a hell.

I was once haunted by the way, maybe for about a month, by a Demon (or really weird chemical reactions going on in my brain). At that time I had an association with a Pentecostal, who, it turned out, denied certain books from the scripture, particularly Revelation, since he claimed God only gave positive prophecies in the New Testament age (LOL). It ceased when, during an extreme attack, I blurted out "The Lord is my shield," and it was gone thereafter.

[Maurice Tift]

  For something to be proven, we've decided that the experiment needs to be performed by different people in different locations and the results should be the same. We've learned so many useful things from the scientific method. However, a lot of people have personal experiences and they can't reproduce the event in a lab. Sometimes, I tell someone one of my interesting stories and I often hear an interesting story in return. It's not scientific, but I find myself believing a lot of the stories I hear. I don't think I would have heard the story without sharing my own, so I think that there's a group of people who believe these things and then maybe there's another group that thinks that the first group is just crazy.

[FredZarguna]

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

No doubt true. That doesn't mean every stupid thing people believe is real.

[LibWhacker]

Chicken wire ghost. Great practical joke.

[CorporateStepsister]

You know, there is a test to see if the apparition is demonic.

Ask for an embrace; if they embrace you with your hands and theirs around the waist, it’s friendly.

If around the shoulders like a lover, it’s a demon.

I’m iffy about the friendliness of ghosts mainly since, if Heaven is so great, why leave Heaven to come to Earth? In fact, given that Sheol is such a horrific place, it makes sense that a soul doomed would prefer to mingle on Earth, since Earth is as close to Heaven as they’ll get.

Again, demons are smart and it’s just a few simple small tests to be sure.

“Jesus said something like “Do you think I’m a ghost!? Do ghost’s have bodies? See the holes in my hands.””

Exactly; even Jesus let Thomas test his hands to prove Himself that He was truly who He said He was.

[alexander_busek]

I'll have repeatable, verifiable proof, or it isn't so, or I won't rely on that information in my normal course of life business.

Bravo!

Regards

See my tagline!

[therapsida]

Me either

[RegulatorCountry]

I’d say there are presences just barely in this world that some people experience.

The benign ones almost seem like an echo from another time. Maybe time isn’t quite as linear as we perceive? Not sure, but those sorts of so-called “ghosts” are almost always associated with sites involving very strong emotion, mass tragedies and casualties, battlegrounds.

The malign ones are demonic. Scripture is clear.

None of them are your departed loved ones, that is deception. Again, scripture is clear.

[DariusBane]

I saw something in the generator room of the USS Alabama while visiting the battleship in Mobile. A small child in a bright colored coat. I was the only one in the room. Small child, around three or four. I followed the kid because I was worried that he was by himself. Followed him around a blind corner with a dead end. No kid.

Don’t know what I saw.

Not scary, the kid was giggling and happy, but just not real.

Was it me?

That’s my story. I have no idea. That is what I saw.

[wally_bert]

You may get hired on with Project X (xylophone) with the State Science Institute with that experience.

[Tax-chick]

The question of ghosts is one that’s interesting, but not important. If you believed that the woman in the article actually saw a ghost, how would that belief affect what you’re going to do today, tomorrow, or five years from now?

My answer would be, “Not at all.”

[elcid1970]

Jesus also proved His bodily Presence when He asked, “Have you got anything here to eat?” And the disciples gave Him a piece of cooked fish, which He took and ate in their presence.

[driftdiver]

They are mentioned in the bible.

[Bulwyf]

I don’t believe in ghosts. We do have angels and demons though.

[Bulwyf]

because there aren’t any, there are only angels and demons.

[driftdiver]

There are some things we don’t know how to measure or explain. Doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

[Joe 6-pack]

CS Lewis wrote of his dislike for the terms, "supernatural," "paranormal," and such, indicating they were expressions of human vanity, implying we had a complete and total understanding of all that is natural and normal when clearly, we do not. Lewis teased that most people consider God a, "supernatural," being, and yet, as the Creator of all things, nothing could be more, "natural," than God.

I had my own experience while a student at Gettysburg College which really shook me up, and to this day, a quarter of a century later, the hair on my arms still stands up when I think about it. I spoke with a philosophy professor on campus, a former Jesuit who had a background in parapsychology. One of his pet theories was that just as some people seem to have flashes of precognitive insight (i.e. seeing events before they happen), others may have brief flashes of post-cognitive visions, or seeing events that unfolded in the past, which may account for some ghost sightings.

[Dryman]

Interesting.

[driftdiver]

Do you believe in God?