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Thread: Interesting take on Ghosts

  1. #1
    contraeverything
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    Default Interesting take on Ghosts

    I found a Christian movie review of a recent horror flick involving ghosts. The majority of the review really isn't about the movie, it is about having a Biblical conception of ghostly/paranormal/spiritist phenomena.

    I'd be interested in getting some feedback on what others think of this article.

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    The Campbell family thinks that their world is nearly falling apart when their teenage son is diagnosed with cancer. What with the emotional impact, the financial strain, the attendant sorrow and strain on the marriage, and the fact that Dad is a recovering alcoholic, they can't imagine things can get any worse.

    To facilitate the cancer-stricken Campbell's treatment, the family rents a second home closer to the cancer hospital where he receives his radiation and/or chemotherapy. The house is suspiciously cheap. This is your first clue something is up - sorta like hearing anybody on the Scooby Doo cartoon say, "Let's split up! Shaggy and Scoob, you go THAT way, and we'll go THIS way!"

    The house not only once was a mortuary, but was owned by a mortician who loved to conduct both seances and experiments with the dead which he thought would intensify the effectiveness of his paranormal work.

    And by the time the Campbells arrive, let's just say things have gotten out of hand.

    I confess to being jaded by horror flicks. I remember the first Jason Vorhees movie and saw the first Freddie Krueger movie in theaters. I grew up watching late-night horror movie marathons on Friday nights when I was a kid in rural North Carolina, and continued with watching Joe Bob Briggs' Monster Vision as an adult. I've seen it all, and when it comes to horror movies, done it all. I used to put in a copy of The Exorcist to watch as I was going to sleep. It calmed me....

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    It's a lengthy article viewable at Christian Media Reviews.

  2. #2
    ChrisLaRock
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    So-called ghosts might be echoes from past events. A rip in the fabric of time might make it possible for us to see brief snap shots from the past. The world we live in is a fallen creation, so I think this might explain a lot of the things people have seen in old buildings and old battlefields.

  3. #3
    TheSword99
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    The Bible explicitly forbids attempted contact with spirits that pretend to be spirits of the dead (Deuteronomy 18:11). The Bible states that the dead do not have contact with the living (Luke 16:19-31). The reason for this is because such spirits are not spirits of the dead but rather deceitful spirits under the command of Satan.These demonic spirits are familiar with the departed dead whom they seek to imitate. This is why they are able to supply people with intimate details of names, places, and facts. Isaiah 29:4 calls such a spirit a "familiar spirit"

    Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 tells us that the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any [thing] that is done under the sun.

    Nothing is said in Scripture about the spirits of the dead remaining as disembodied spirits roaming the earth. The Bible does say that spirits are either angels or demons and we are forbidden to have anything to do with the spiritual realm.

  4. #4
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    Question Ghosts

    Sorry for the late response..

    Actually the Bible does not say that spirits are either angels or demons (where is the proof). As things go, there are always exceptions to the rule. Case in point is the ghost of Samuel that Saul had a medium conjure up. We know it was actually Samuel because the Bible says it was, and his prophecy came true, which confirms it.

    With that said, most of the ghost phenomena has to do with fears stirred up out of supers***ions. The term poltergeist comes from 2 Germanic words - polter and geist. Geist means "ghost", of course, notwithstanding the original meaning is "breath." Polter means "chicken." So you see, that a child's imagination runs away to imagine spirits of the dead when they hear knocking and pecking noises underneath the house; but the grandmother laughs and says "poltergeist" - "chicken ghost". But generations later people still imagine ghosts.

    Decades ago, back before I obtained real power and authority from God, I had several experiences one could describe as demonic visitations. At the time I was fully convinced they were demonic experiences. But today, I have to ask the question, was it real, or simply my imagination? I might not really know, until either the day of reckoning, or if perchance God calls me to use this authority in a real demonic situation.

    From my almost 1/2 century of Christian experience, I have never once seen a demon cast out the way it was done by Jesus and his apostles. The question remains - is today's phenomena real, or simply peoples' imagination?

  5. #5
    pilgrim1411
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    I once saw the real silhouette of a ghostly apparition with my own eyes, and I used to live in a house with real poltergeist / haunting events, like someone walking up the stair case over and over again, but no one was there. These were not "creaks" in the wall, but real things that actually occurred. There were many witnesses too --except i alone saw the ghostly apparition, because I lived alone. I think poltergeist means angry ghost.

    But these things are mostly demonic, I believe.

  6. #6
    alanmolstad
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    the stories of spooks do fill our imaginations.

    The sounds of a bump in the night do become a bit weird in older houses.

    The human mind has a odd way of filling in the blanks when it only gets a part of the whole.

    One time I thought a old chair had a old man sitting in it...but when i looked closer (a second later) there was only just an empty chair there...

    was it a ghost?

    Or was it as i now believe, just my mind filling-in the blanks when i saw a tree's shadow from the window strike the chair? and my clever mind just ***umed that tree's shadow hitting the chair must be a person?


    I dont believe for a moment that there was actually a spooky old man sitting in the chair now...but i do understand how other people who are in the mood to believe in such things do get swept up in some experiences they have.

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    Quote Originally Posted by alanmolstad View Post
    the stories of spooks do fill our imaginations.

    The sounds of a bump in the night do become a bit weird in older houses.

    The human mind has a odd way of filling in the blanks when it only gets a part of the whole.

    One time I thought a old chair had a old man sitting in it...but when i looked closer (a second later) there was only just an empty chair there...

    was it a ghost?

    Or was it as i now believe, just my mind filling-in the blanks when i saw a tree's shadow from the window strike the chair? and my clever mind just ***umed that tree's shadow hitting the chair must be a person?


    I dont believe for a moment that there was actually a spooky old man sitting in the chair now...but i do understand how other people who are in the mood to believe in such things do get swept up in some experiences they have.
    This reminds me of when someone was in their car (the one in which their alcoholic grandfather sat in the back seat), some months after their grandfather's death, and they suddenly felt the presence of their grandfather in the car, sitting in the same spot in the back seat; they were frightened out of the car, and ran inside the house to tell everyone, and it was concluded that it was a demon.

    Well, I say that the person got a whiff of some pheromones that stirred up memories and paranoia, and they decided it was his ghost or a demon.

    Some years ago, I was living with a family, and one of their daughters started screaming. Everyone ran into the room to find out what the gig was - she was dozing, and the "torchiere" lamp turned on by itself. In other words, someone had turned down the dimmer until the lamp turned off, but the dimmer was not all the way in the "off" position. When the dimmer circuit cooled off, and there was some voltage surge, the right conditions caused the lamp to suddenly turn on. She imagined it to be a demon turning the lamp on. Wow, what a time we had convincing her that she was ok, that it was not a demon, but rather had a perfectly natural explanation! It is unfortunate that people growing up in a Christian home these days sees spirits from a Hollywood view rather than a Biblical view.
    TD

  8. #8
    shirleykapoor
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    Ghost... in a place where spiritual things especially the crucifix is in the house. I really don't think so. It is said that where there is cross there demons or ghost cannot appear or come close to you.

  9. #9
    MacG
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    Quote Originally Posted by shirleykapoor View Post
    Ghost... in a place where spiritual things especially the crucifix is in the house. I really don't think so. It is said that where there is cross there demons or ghost cannot appear or come close to you.
    While I am not sure that blanket statement is true, I heard Walter Martin on the radio once tell of when people ask "Why do you wear such a a big cross around your neck?" "Because the demons don't like it and anything they don't like is alright with me!" That may actually be in his tape examining the movie "The Exorcist" and pointing out Hollywood in the movie versus his experiences in real life.

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    Quote Originally Posted by shirleykapoor View Post
    Ghost... in a place where spiritual things especially the crucifix is in the house. I really don't think so. It is said that where there is cross there demons or ghost cannot appear or come close to you.
    cross or crucifix has no inherent power. Such ideas are what the apostle Paul calls fables, of which type are mere superstiitions coming out of the dark ages. It is possible that some people were told this just so they might have some confidence they weren't being plagued by a ghost. There is absolutely no Biblical evidence that any inanimate object has any power, except for one special case in Acts where it states that God performed "special miracles" through Paul. It is only people full of the Holy Spirit who have power to drive out evil spirits, and this requires faith in God (not faith in objects). So then, demons flee from someone because that person is submitted to God, not because that person is wearing a cross.
    TD

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