Do Christians believe in ghosts?

I am intellectually certain that certainty without rational logic or evidence for same is something some would call blind faith
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A shorter term and a more correct term is insanity.

Not necessarily. Most of us believe at least something that we were taught or were convinced was correct to believe even though we have not experienced it or seen evidence for it. A child, for instance, can be taught to believe that an object is hot and to touch it will painfully burn him even though he has not tested that himself. That would be blind faith. Millions of people believe what they have been told about Einstein's theory of relativity or black holes in space or many concepts of history though they have never been able to check that out themselves. Such is also blind faith.

Thay don t appear to be dreams
if thay happen while u r actively conversing with someone else,
which was my situation for each of them, except one.

Some people (not including me) have had objective confirmations.

There have been people who have been disinherited
on the basis of what the decedent saw n heard them say
to other family members in the waiting room,
while the decedent 's body was dead.

Death is a fraud.
Death is as fony as a $7 bill.





David

Yes we do tend to believe our elders as that is needed to survive to adulthood and that is fine when the information is base on the real world and not some fantasy.

Using this build in trust to pass on nonsense from one generation to another is nothing short of child abuse would you not say Foxfyre?

As far as taking the word of an expert on how the real universe work that is not blind faith as for example if someone can show me that my knowledge of black holes is incorrect I would reacted with interest not fear and would not tend to wish to burn the person with the new information alive<grin>.

I am fully aware that the experts could be wrong in other word and if i do take an interest in the subject I would be able to increase my own direct understanding of the field in question. No blind faith in your meaning at all apply.

The theory of evolution is another fine example of reason ver blind faith.

The ID crowd is always trying to attack this theory for religion reasons using incorrect science and waving their hands around a lot behind their backs.

Now I have only have a fairly deep understanding of the theory in question at the level of a layman and can not off hand always find the faults in all of the ID attacks. Frankly I do not also do the research on every claim they come up with as life is too short to do so. This however does not mean that I have blind faith in the theory.

If they did cone up with a serous hole in the theory of evolution it would become known even coming from them and would be look at. That I do have faith in.

My reaction to that happening would be something of the order of talk about SOBs monkeys blindly typing away and coming up with a master piece!

Then my reaction would be how interesting and I can not wait to see how our understanding of the universe will change as a result.

No blind faith as the above could happen and if so would be interesting.

While I neither condone nor deny the Crusades, Inquisitions, Salem Witch burnings, etc., I daresay more people have been killed under the banner of Atheism than under the banner of Christianity or any other faith. And certainly it is not only some religious who have denied scientific theory but others who demand orthodoxy and condemn heretics. The current global warming debate provides several good examples. But that is a discussion for a different thread.

Do not assume that the religious are any less reasonable to acknowledge error in the face of new evidence than you, or that the anti-religious or non-religious are any less fanatical or intractable in their beliefs. There are the blind faith religious fundamentalists who cannot or will not tolerate any challenge to their beliefs, but there are far more who not only welcome challenge, but the opportunity to defend their beliefs with logic and evidence. There is none so fanatical in their beliefs as the Atheist who feels revulsion at the sight of religious symbols or expression and argues passionately for these to be removed from public view. And this person also operates on blind faith that the object of his scorn has no validity in fact and is an invention to control the minds of the people.

You say you accept the testimony of an 'expert' that certain scientific phenomenon exists without needing to confirm that for yourself. Yet you do not accept the testimony of millions or billions of 'experts' who have experienced God by whatever name because you have not confirmed that for yourself. To me, that is a blind faith point of view unsupportable by any logic other than religious ideology. It does not make you an inferior or bad person in any way. It only makes you illogical on that one point.

I can fully embrace a belief in ID by critical observation and personal experience while I also fully embrace the wonders of science and all that it has shown us and made possible for us, and I believe--blind faith yes, but as you described a rational blind faith--in all the possibilities that remain . I think we know only a tiny fraction of what there is to know of God. And I think we know only a tiny fraction of all the science that there is to know. So who is more open minded? Me? Or those who deny the spiritual realm despite the testimony of such a cloud of witnesses that it exists?

There is a difference between not knowing and not believing. I don't know whether there are ghosts as I have not experienced one nor is there yet any widely accepted science that can verify their existence. But I keep an open mind as I do not believe all who believe in ghosts to be delusional or irrational and therefore believe they have a logical basis for their belief. And I don't discount the possibility that one day it was be accepted that science has verified that such beings exist.

"Ghosts of 'lectricty howl in the bones of her face."

Bob Dylan.

Foxy.
In the known history of man kind there have been many kinds of Gods but as man has evolved and began to understand the true structure of of his earth and how things work,the number of God have shrunk but even the one's left -- have split up into different branches from the original Christian one, with different names and can't agree with each other.
However, all said and done -- I can't agree with your "belief" that atheist is a religion and that people who call themselves atheists have a god called atheist. I'm a godless person like many others and prefer to be called a humanist. But I respect the right of anyone to have a God, but not they have no right to try to convert anyone into their religious belief, especially the minds of little children

Atheism is a religion recognized by the United States of America Supreme Court and, as such, organizations promoting and practicing Atheism qualify as a 'church' qualifying for 501(c)3 tax exempt status. I think the rationale is that it requires as much faith to disbelieve in God as it does to believe.

My previous reference though was only to those nations where religion has been in part or totally outlawed (Stalin, Mao, et al), mass murder of citizens by the government has been of great proportions. I used it only to illustrate that if Christianity is to be condemned for its past sins, then so must 'godlessness'.

So, do you believe in ghosts?

Where do I begin with all this nonsense? Rreligion people can not be wrong as they get their understanding from blind faith so how could they be wrong?

A working assumption that a field of Scientifics knowledge that had been work on for generations by a group of experts looking to find holes in their understanding is not blind faith.

I happen when my brain was young to have been able to follow Maxwell’s equations but even for the people who can not deal with the mathematic themselves if they are told that such equations are behind the ability to design radios/TV/radar/ microwave cookers and on and on and they assume that the ten of thousands of engineers who make used of these equation every day are not lying to them that is not blind faith as in religion faith.

Such working assumptions can be challenge without war or torture following the challenge. When I was a young man there were two theories about the universe one name steady state and one name the big bang theory and when evidence such as the micro-wave background was found most of the steady state supporters converted to the current big bang theory. There was a few hanger on unwilling to convert but they was few indeed.

Knowledge is always growing in science mostly increasing our questions. We found dark matter and dark energy just lately and it seem to make up 98 percent of the universe and we as yet have no real understanding of either of the two.

We just found out from looking at the data from our space prods that there seem to be a force on then a billion times less then gravity acting in ways we do not understand.

The real universe is a billion times more wonderful and interesting then any fantasy universe with some little god with his heaven and hell.

BillRM, Long time no see! Good post, BTW. So simple, and yet so difficult for so many who believe in the poof theory.

Well I don't intend to argue the point Bill. I accept that you don't believe. For me there is no quarrel of any kind between God and science. I accept that you don't believe that anyone could see it as I see it and I will continue to believe that your point of view is based on blind faith however much you wish to deny that. But we can possibly agree to amicably disagree?

So, do you believe in ghosts?

Blind faith that allows our technology culture that you had make used of to try to spread nonsense over the whole planet.

Yes blind faith that allow me to get hot coffee from my micro-wave machine and tie into the internet by way of a wifi connection.

The result of my blind faith is the whole technology inter-structure of every day life we are always surrounded by for the last hundred years or so.

I can not keep writing to you as I need to drive down in my car to take my mother to her medical appointment using technology all the way that show that my blind faith is a fact of the universe not some make up god story.

Your claim that science and the technology it allow is a matter of blind faith is proof enough that religion people are not completely sane.

I do not think that there is any solid proof that what is commonly call ghosts have any foundation in the real universe.

Off hand the common ghost is about as proven as the holly ghost is.

Well so much for amicably agreeing to disagree. (As I have said, Atheism is not the same thing as being non religious. The non religious are completely content in their non belief and do not need to defend it nor do they need to misrepresent or belittle or discredit those who are believers. Atheism, by contrast, is among the most intolerant of religions and the most threatened by the others.) But do have a great day.

Religion people on their face are believers in fairy tales with no backing from the real universe as we understand the real universe.

Harmful fairy tales that had resulted in more mass murder in human history then any other factor I can think of off hand.

Harmful fairy tales that had delay our search for knowledge also over the history of the human race.

Harmful fairy that had cause people to go against their best interest time after time in the hope of gaining a fairy tale heaven.

And on and on we go………..

Bravo! And we can also look at how religious people deny gays and lesbians the right to "marry," and they also intrude on private lives when it comes to pro-choice. They are a dangerous lot who think their religious' beliefs supercedes equal rights and privacy.

Foxy, I said -- quote.... "can't agree with your "belief" that atheist is a religion and that people who call themselves atheists have a god called atheist." unquote. Just because your Christian political leaders ( 80% of your population -- supposedly are Christians, I would say they would have the power to pass such crap ) said that Atheism is a religion doesn't make it so. If I did have a religion I certainly wouldn't pick the Christian God like you have, or perhaps I should say -- the God that your parents and church taught you about. I don't believe in ghosts, but do believe in spirits -- Rum, Brandy.

I am not the one who declared Atheism a religion. The Supreme Court of the United States did. A religion does not require an assumption of a god or gods. Buddhism for instance is a 'godless' religion but nobody would presume to say that it is not a religion. If there is a stated doctrine--you can find the 'doctrine' of Atheism posted on websites devoted to various promoters of Atheism--it presumes the right to stated beliefs, promotes and proselytes, it demands its own tax exempt status as a religious organization, and is based solely on faith, then it is a religion. If it looks like a duck....walks like a duck....etc.

If you were not religious, Tenderfoot, religion might be a source of interest or curiosity to you, but the trappings, promotion, imagery, symbolism, and/or culture surrounding it would affect you not in the least nor would you have any vested interest in shutting it down or disparaging it or discrediting it. You would view it as disapassionately as you view promotions for breakfast cereal or toilet paper.

I know many nonreligious who are just that way. They either ignore religion entirely due to disinterest or enjoy certain components of it such as the music without sharing any of the religious conviction associated with it. The presence of religion affects them or bothers them not in the least.

Atheism, on the other hand, is threated or repulsed by the presence of Christianity and/or other religions and feels the need to justify itself by declaring Chrsitianity delusional or corrupting or evil or intrusive . Those who are inspired or compelled to do that are every bit as religious as the most devout Christian.

It is NATURAL for people to continue living
after their human bodies have failed, gone defunct and been disposed of.

That applies whether u r Christian or not.