Nestled within the heart of our society, and probably every society, is a firmly seated fascination with the macabre and fantastical. And, most of this ghoulish preoccupation is with such things as ghosts. But, the subject of ghosts is one that simultaneously piques and repels our interest; especially for Christians. There is no doubt that the general public openly embraces this fixation with the popularity of TV shows such as Ghost Hunters, Weird Travels, and the like. However, for the Christian, the strangeness and mystique that lies behind such hype that compels us to watch and wonder, also provides us with a reason to be on guard. It smacks too much of the occult or preternatural belief systems that run counter to the traditions of our faith for us to indulge them. In light of this, I believe this warrants our exploration of the subject of ghosts. What are they? Are they real or just in the mind? And, can one believe in them and still be a Christian?
Obviously, ghosts, as generally defined, are disembodied spirits that haunt the earthly abode of the living. Supposedly, they can be seen, heard and even touched, according to some accounts. And we all have either encountered similar stories or have stories of our own, which begs the question, what are they? As far as our faith is concerned, the Bible gives no allowance for the existence of such beings. The closest we can come to something like a ghost is when Saul sought the help of what we would a call a medium, through whom was conjured up the ‘ghost’ of Samuel, for the purpose of inquiry. But, in other passages we find that this is not a normal occurrence. Once the soul leaves the body it is no longer a resident of this world, “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.� And in Ecclesiastes we read that “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.� There seems to be no room for ‘hanging out’ in this world for a soul that has departed. In the case of Saul and the medium, we must assume that God allowed this to happen only to prove Saul’s unfaithfulness, not view it as an example of normative causes that the result from the special powers that mediums and psychics either possess or acquire through incantations.
But, what of the varied, numerous reports of ghosts? Are they true? To be sure, I would not deny that these individuals experienced something, but what it was they experienced is not necessarily a departed loved one, or the ghost of a certain residence. I have heard theories that such phenomena are actually demons that either pretend to be a ghost or are simply exercising their ability to frighten people. And then again there is the psychological explanation to where it is ‘just in one’s mind.’
As to the former theory, this is quite possible. After all, demonic activity is certainly a part of our faith. But, can demons effect the physical environment? They are ‘just’ spiritual beings. Does the spiritual realm supervene upon the physical structure of our universe, to which, the means of ‘moving objects’ (as in the case of doors slamming, the audibility of noises and other such physical manifestations) is not only accomplished by way of a physical body, but by ‘non-physical’ means-since demons, like angels, do not have physical bodies? This is an issue I struggle with, and to be honest, I have no answer. However, it would seem unlikely that a spiritual being would be able to affect the physical realm, unless God ‘allowed’ it to happen. In scripture, demonic activity is primarily achieved by directing the minds and hearts of men, not their bodies.
The possibility that ghosts are merely something of psychology, or temporary psychosis, I think can be sustained some of the time: But not all of the time. There are cases where a number of persons have ‘seen’ or ‘heard’ some ghastly, otherworldly creature waltzing through our world. What is the cause of these bizarre events is still unknown
My best guess is that ghostly accounts are most often an issue of adrenaline, fear and possibly strong emotions that can color one’s environment with spectral hues of mystique. But, I think in those cases where this explanation is less likely, sure, maybe demons are ‘messing with our heads.’ Are they shutting doors and moving objects? I doubt it, but I know that, like in the case of Job, Satan can only do so much to us. God puts His limits on the supernatural. The maniacal forces are subject to his ‘leash laws’, not their own. Horror movies always get that part wrong. He is in control, not the ghouls of the damned underworld.
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Comments
Concering the topic of Are Ghosts Demons messing with our heads...
I am wondering where the assumption came from that demons can not effect the physical world? If demons are fallen angels and the angels in the Sodom and Gamorrah story were able to blind the eyes of the towns people and call down fire from heaven to destory a city is it not possible for demons to effect the physical environment within the bounds of the God given leash law?
I have no trouble understanding that most ghosts are demons becaue of my experience of commanding them to leave in the name of Jesus.
Since I am not all knowing I also leave room for some ghosts to be something else other then demons but these kind of ghosts I have not personally experienced.
Erick Kern
Spring City, PA. USA
Posted by: Rev. Erick J. Kern, Jr. | April 6, 2006 09:21 AM
The only reason I can think of as to how this assumption came about concerning the inability of demons to effect the physical environment is that they are non-physical beings. They are like angels, but I would not be quick to assume that certain angels' abilities to effect the physical environment are in virtue of some inherent feature that they possess. If so, I should imagine that interaction between them would be more frequent. No, I suppose that they are non-physical to the point of not being able to interact with the physical world, save, God provides this mechanism to do so superfunctionally. In Corinthians (I believe, I may be wrong-I am appealing to this by my poor memory) that Paul enumerates various types of bodies, those of physical and spiritual, which implies that there is a distinction. This would further imply that these different categories of bodies function differently and separately. In order to move a physical object, one must have a physical body, unless some sort of supervenience is performed by a being with the ability to do so that would trump this process.
Posted by: Robert Henry | April 23, 2006 09:44 PM
The only reason I can think of as to how this assumption came about concerning the inability of demons to effect the physical environment is that they are non-physical beings. They are like angels, but I would not be quick to assume that certain angels' abilities to effect the physical environment are in virtue of some inherent feature that they possess. If so, I should imagine that interaction between them would be more frequent. No, I suppose that they are non-physical to the point of not being able to interact with the physical world, save, God provides this mechanism to do so superfunctionally. In Corinthians (I believe, I may be wrong-I am appealing to this by my poor memory) that Paul enumerates various types of bodies, those of physical and spiritual, which implies that there is a distinction. This would further imply that these different categories of bodies function differently and separately. In order to move a physical object, one must have a physical body, unless some sort of supervenience is performed by a being with the ability to do so that would trump this process.
Posted by: Hannah DollingerJr. | February 2, 2007 09:59 AM
I agree with most of the above article, but I have to question the suggestion that demons are unable to act in the physical realm. Demons are fallen angels and have apparently been allowed to retain at least some of their God-given abilities. Since non-fallen angels have various roles, abilities, and "appearance", it seems reasonable to assume the same thing about demons. I'm not an expert on angels by any means, but scripture describes various duties angels carry out...worship God, take messages to people (both good and bad news), fight against powers of darkness, protect people, protect cities, destroy cities, etc. In Sodom, angels caused the mob of homosexual men to be blind...and then destroyed them and their city after they continued still to pursued their sin. These same angels apparently had the ability to take on the appearance of men, because Sodomites wanted to "know" them. (Lot however recognized them as angels immediately; he fell on his face before them as they entered the city.)
Since angels can work in the physical realm, it stands to reason that demons can also...although I like to think they have LESS ability to affect us because they are still under the authority of God and can only do what He allows. Job is perhaps the greatest known incidence of demons (actually, satan himself) manipulating the physical world...within the boundaries God placed on him.
I agree with the article...demons (and angels) can only act as God allows them to. As far as things going bump in the night...I'm sure demons CAN move objects...some humans can even move objects w/o touching them (although I have to assume that demons are doing the actual moving of those objects and that these people dabble in occultic practices. While demons likely have the ability to move objects and act in the physical realm, it doesn't seem they would have much occasion to do so. If they went around just freaking people out, it seems that many of their spooked victims would seek God for protection. Sure, some people might become interesting in the occult through strange physical phenomenon, but I would guess that the majority would be scared and seek out what they believe will protect them from further menacing.
Posted by: Dawn | July 16, 2007 01:52 AM