Do You Believe in Ghosts?

[watersprite]

Sometime in the 1990's I was visiting my parents. I needed some air before going to bed, so I stepped outside their house which was located in the gold country of the sierra foothills. This was out in the countryside, on 33 acres, atop a hill with a 125 or so year old homestead, orchard, and the crumbling, collapsed entrance to a mine. I had stayed there many times over the years, and nothing spooky had ever happened.
This time however, while peacefully looking at the stars I heard men's voices singing, and saw about 8 men with shovels and other tools, walking past me down the steep hill, towards the presently abandoned homestead. I went back into the house immediately.

 

[AsheSkyler]

I love the mystery around ghost stories. It cannot be proven scientifically, and yet there are people that are perfectly sound of mind who have experiences that cannot be explained any other way. Old houses settle, creak, and pop, and can sound rather like you're not alone, but seeing kind Mrs. Givens in the hallway in broad daylight is quite another thing.

I have not had any experiences remotely related to a ghost as far as I know. But I also think some people are just born with the ability to sense them more than others. I tend to have strange premonitions, but I think I've missed the ghost sense.

There are actually plenty of biblical passages that do suggest that souls continue to live without the body. (There is even a ghost story). I'm not going to go into them because of forum guidelines against religious debates/arguments. It is true that interpretation of Scripture is difficult. Almost all Christians love the Bible-please don't say that they don't just because their interpretation of it differs from yours.

I don't give a hoot about debates, I would like to know the chapter and verse so I can go read it! I do remember the story of a fortune-teller kind of woman summoning a spirit, which I think is the same story that piney13 mentioned on the exchange between Samuel and Saul.

 

[Ste11aeres]

I love the mystery around ghost stories. It cannot be proven scientifically, and yet there are people that are perfectly sound of mind who have experiences that cannot be explained any other way. Old houses settle, creak, and pop, and can sound rather like you're not alone, but seeing kind Mrs. Givens in the hallway in broad daylight is quite another thing.

I have not had any experiences remotely related to a ghost as far as I know. But I also think some people are just born with the ability to sense them more than others. I tend to have strange premonitions, but I think I've missed the ghost sense.


I don't give a hoot about debates, I would like to know the chapter and verse so I can go read it! I do remember the story of a fortune-teller kind of woman summoning a spirit, which I think is the same story that piney13 mentioned on the exchange between Samuel and Saul.

The story mentioned by piney13 is the one I was referring to. When I've got more time, I'll try to look up the chapter and verse for that, as well as others for some briefer references.

 

[AsheSkyler]

The story mentioned by piney13 is the one I was referring to. When I've got more time, I'll try to look up the chapter and verse for that, as well as others for some briefer references.

No need now, the story and of Samuel and Saul are enough keywords for me to be able to raid a search engine on my own.

 

[DC1346]

Hi DC1346 ,my sympathies to you on what you went through, perhaps that bad lady was secretly in love with you and felt you reject her or she is just plain mean.

Well ... she was a widow ... but no ... after I left I was told that she had orchestrated my ouster because she wanted to replace me with a Mormon teacher. I do not know why this mattered to her but no matter ... what was done was done and there's no point in my moping on about it.

The funny thing is that she actually did me a favor. I wound up crossing state lines after losing two more jobs due to state budget cuts. I now live and work in Nevada where I'm making $10K more and since Nevada has no state income tax, that puts more in my pocket.

BTW ... if you know of any teachers who are looking for jobs, the Clark County School District has an acute teacher shortage and they're paying a $5K bonus to certified teachers who want to work for CCSD.

To fund these bonuses, the rest of us got our salaries frozen.

(Sigh)

But I'm still better off than I was in Arizona.

Hi I'm appalled to hear a minister talk this way about Mormons, I don't agree with Mormon theoligy, but I have nothing bad to say about them. They seem to me to be very lovely Godly folk, we could use more people like them.

Most of the Mormons I've met have NOT tried to convert me. I like their family values and their sense of community and we could do worse than have more of these people as neighbors.

 

[Maelstrom]

"DC1346, post: 257380, member: 13975"]Well ... she was a widow ... but no ... after I left I was told that she had orchestrated my ouster because she wanted to replace me with a Mormon teacher. I do not know why this mattered to her but no matter ... what was done was done and there's no point in my moping on about it.

The funny thing is that she actually did me a favor. I wound up crossing state lines after losing two more jobs due to state budget cuts. I now live and work in Nevada where I'm making $10K more and since Nevada has no state income tax, that puts more in my pocket.

Well DC1346 , I'm glad things worked out well for you...sometimes there is poetic justice in life. And mean peoples ways sooner or later catch up with them, friendship and love are really the only things that matter in life, everything else is just the extras.

 

[DC1346]

Now here's an odd experience I had.

When I was in my early twenties and still struggling with the concept of religion and whether Jesus Christ was actually the son of God, I remember going to bed and after turning out the lights, I said a rather irreverent prayer.

I said, "Thank you God for today's bread. I really don't know why I'm talking to you. I had a Christian friend tell me today that I should pray for guidance so if you're listening God, could you send me a sign that you really exist?"

And the temperature in my bedroom suddenly plummeted so that it was quite chilly ... and the sliding door to the bedroom closet suddenly flew open ... and my room was bathed in light ... not the honest light of the sun but the cold light of a bright moon ... and I heard my (dead) grandfather's voice bellow, "DAVID!"

Without thinking about it, I simply reacted. I ducked under my covers and refused to look at the shining figure who had appeared in my closet door.

I don't know if that terrible figure was actually my grandfather or if it was something else.

I don't know why the temperature dropped .

I do know that I was absolutely petrified. And so I huddled under my comforter praying now for whoever was standing in my closet to please-please-please go away ... and the light suddenly snapped out and the bedroom was plunged into darkness.

I fumbled for my nightlight, knocking over the glass of water I like keeping by my bed.

The light snapped on and I looked and saw that the bedroom closet door was closed. With some trepidation, I got out of bed, grabbed the baseball bat that I kept by my bed and slow approached the closet door. I poked at the door with the tip of the bat but nothing happened. I opened it to find that it was just a closet ... filled with nothing but clothes.

I have no explanation for this event.

 

[Harry1965]

Yes. Too many times o felt and seen things.

 

[Maelstrom]

"DC1346, post: 257395, member: 13975"]Now here's an odd experience I had.

When I was in my early twenties and still struggling with the concept of religion and whether Jesus Christ was actually the son of God, I remember going to bed and after turning out the lights, I said a rather irreverent prayer.

I said, "Thank you God for today's bread. I really don't know why I'm talking to you. I had a Christian friend tell me today that I should pray for guidance so if you're listening God, could you send me a sign that you really exist?"

And the temperature in my bedroom suddenly plummeted so that it was quite chilly ... and the sliding door to the bedroom closet suddenly flew open ... and my room was bathed in light ... not the honest light of the sun but the cold light of a bright moon ... and I heard my (dead) grandfather's voice bellow, "DAVID!"

Without thinking about it, I simply reacted. I ducked under my covers and refused to look at the shining figure who had appeared in my closet door.

I don't know if that terrible figure was actually my grandfather or if it was something else.

I don't know why the temperature dropped .

I do know that I was absolutely petrified. And so I huddled under my comforter praying now for whoever was standing in my closet to please-please-please go away ... and the light suddenly snapped out and the bedroom was plunged into darkness.

I fumbled for my nightlight, knocking over the glass of water I like keeping by my bed.

The light snapped on and I looked and saw that the bedroom closet door was closed. With some trepidation, I got out of bed, grabbed the baseball bat that I kept by my bed and slow approached the closet door. I poked at the door with the tip of the bat but nothing happened. I opened it to find that it was just a closet ... filled with nothing but clothes.

I have no explanation for this event.

Well there is your answer on whether God exists...if the dark prince shows up to scare you half to death...
well you can't have one without the other.

Did you mess with any dark stuff before? It is unusual for such a blatant manifestation of the dark side with out some sort of invitation in the past, there seem to be some rules on such things.
The basic rule is invitation by act or association with the dark side, or extra interest by Gods side is matched.
Extra time a communing with God seems to push back the darkness, they can not bear his presence.

 

[Clueless in Canada]

No

 

[Progster]

I don't believe in ghosts or any supernatural phenomena. In fact, I believe there is no such thing as a supernatural phenomenon, because every thing has a real and natural explanation.

 

[Dubz]

Nope. I don't believe in ghosts. I also don't believe in Santa or the Easter Bunny. Also no to demons or angels. Psychics um no. God no. Satan no. I do believe people have some pretty wild imaginations and sometimes hallucinations. I also believe in schizophrenia because that's real. I knew a paranoid schizo who was told things by "the color blind people". The color blind people also are not real.

 

[Dubz]

I took this picture myself, look by the tree
View attachment 20932

I see nothing by the tree except water, leaves, and more trees.

 

[WhoDatLady]

I'm Catholic, and yes, I do believe in ghosts. I saw one when I was living in the dorms at my university several years ago.