Do Christians believe in ghosts?

Some do; I know one who does.





David

There seems to be some semantic confusion in the minds of some of the posters here. Ghost and spirit mean the same thing; the two words are inter-changeable in any theological discussion. That's why the King James version of the Bible has it as "Father, Son and the Holy Ghost" whereas most revised versions render it as "Father, Son and the Holy Spirit." The word "ghost" comes nto English from the German Geist which is always translated as "spirit" when not in a supernatural context. The word "spirit" is from the Latin spiritus. It is meaningless and self-contradictory to say you believe in spirits but not in ghosts.

But you can believe in ghosts but not spirits (in the biblical sense).
Ghosts only need to be demonstrated by evidence and physical interpretation, whereas spirits are defined by liturgies and predigested belief systems and dogma..

Though I've heard, some define spirits by alcoholic content and various other more or less important characteristica.

That too, But not to make too fine a point,A pirit is the term used to describe a wool mordant that is made with the chemicals produced by distillation.

So all we are doing is parading through a virtual dictionary

Evidently there are some spirits hanging around in the neighborhood in which I work. A resident was telling me that there have been a lot of reports of people seeing ghosts. These are rational, upper middle class professional people that I wouldn't have expected to admit such things.

The person telling me about this (asking if I'd been hearing what was happening) said she had awakened one night to a dark figure at the foot of the bed. She ignored it.

A couple of nights later "he" was beside her bed when she woke up to the use the restroom. A few days after that he appeared by the couch as she was watching tv. It was late afternoon. She told him that if he wanted something, to please let her know what it is and if there was nothing he needed from her he needed to leave. He has not been back.

A few days later she was visiting someone several blocks away and they mentioned seeing a dark figure. Evidently, through casual conversation around the neighborhood there have been dozens of reports. "Don't think I'm crazy, but last night..." "Oh, really? I saw the same thing last week..." kind of reporting, so it isn't as if anyone is hearing it and then experiencing it through suggestion.

A couple of ladies from the cleaning crew at the clubhouse told me one morning that they had straightened the rockers on the back porch three times that morning. It is a gated pool area below the back porch and do one was in the area. They went to double check that everything was cleaned and straightened and the chairs had been moved to face the opposite direction when they had just been out there together and had turned them around. The one lady said "You got a haunt." I thought about it and said "I just might." I had been going through straightening chairs for some time without any thought to who might have moved them... when no one had even been in yet that day.

our 1700 home neighborhood is built where an old plantation once stood. Don't know that there's a connection, but I find it interesting. I do not discount that ghosts can exist.

We might not have seen a ghost, but I am sure many more than dare to admit it have had some experience about something creepy not explainable being around in a place we have visited.
How many of you would dare to stay overnight on a cementry all alone?

It sounds a little boring.
I cant think of a reason to do that,
but I 'm not afraid of ghosts; I do not discriminate against them;
(well, I woud not lend one my car).

If I met one, I 'd try to strike up a conversation.





David

I have done so. Very pleasant experience, much better than a city park. More privacy. Nobody hassles you because so many people are superstitious about going into a cemetery after dark.

I 'd heard that cemetaries were used as venues for pharmaceutical commerce, after midnite,
tho I have no personal experience with this.





David

When we were kids in Sacramento, we used to walk through the cemetery at night once-in-awhile just for the fun of it.

Did u encounter any pharmacists ?

I like to have picnics in cemetaries. I've camped on the grounds of one. I guess that counts as staying overnight.

No biggie. Nice trees. Well-maintained grounds. It's all good.

Never saw any street pharmacists in a cemetary, David. Daytime or night-time. Many of them are superstitious, too, you know.

The local Latvian-American community here in Boston used to hold an annual cookout/picnic at Gethsemene Ceettary which, for some reason, was and is a favorite burial ground for the local Letts. The practice seems to have fallen into disuse in recent years but I'm sure that has nothing to do with a fear of spooks showing up.

Not that I know of, but I did work for a pharmacy in Sacramento during my high school years.

Afraid of DEA agents ?

Bell, book and candle.

Christians believe in ghosts, or disturbed spirits, call them what you will: they perform exorcisms.

I don 't believe that it is a matter of religion (except on this thread).

Its that like u can see a radio n hold it in your hand,
but u can t see a radio wave, which is what gets it to do what matters.
Likewise, u can t see the conscious, living mind.
Large numbers of people who have returned from death
(meaning flat lines on EKG, EEG, n respiration monitors for a while)
have described observing from above, as rescue efforts
were exerted on their behalf by medical personnel
in additional adventures; (as a result of which some folks were disinherited).

It has been said that if the life force of a man is mentally unhealthy,
or "disturbed" (perhaps by violence) he may remain around,
not being aware of the passage of time.

www.IANDS.org


David

The concept of possession by evil spirits and the practice of exorcism are very ancient and widespread, and may have originated in prehistoric Shamanistic beliefs.

A ghost usually haunts a place. An evil spirit - not a ghost - takes over the personality of a human being.