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Ghosts and Faith


When people say "we need Jesus now than ever" it pisses me off. It's like saying that you need him b/c you can't change things on your own, or that without the teachings of the bible, the world will turn to dissarray.

People were benevolent and charitable before the days of Jesus, and personally, there have been far to many wars about the man that I feel it's to late for this figurehead to be used for any good.

The wars waged are more about a perversion of Christianity, a reason to wage war, than about Jesus himself. Whether you are kind and compassionate because of Jesus or not, the end result is the same: kindness and compassion.

However I will agree that the "we need Jesus" thing is rather annoying. How about you just shut up and be nice, whatever your reasons are. We don't need some Godhead just to know how to act. Christians don't have some monopoly on virtue. If it helps them act civilized, fine, just keep it to yourself. Actions speak louder than words, but those words are best left for the choir.
 
The wars waged are more about a perversion of Christianity, a reason to wage war, than about Jesus himself. Whether you are kind and compassionate because of Jesus or not, the end result is the same: kindness and compassion.

However I will agree that the "we need Jesus" thing is rather annoying. How about you just shut up and be nice, whatever your reasons are. We don't need some Godhead just to know how to act. Christians don't have some monopoly on virtue. If it helps them act civilized, fine, just keep it to yourself. Actions speak louder than words, but those words are best left for the choir.


You catch my point. I didn't mean for it to sound like it was Jesus that was the cause of the wars, but moreover Christianity in general. Though it can be argued that these wars would happen anyways, and that religion was just the cause they used to keep the masses interested and invested.

I'm looking at you vatican.
 
When people say "we need Jesus now than ever" it pisses me off. It's like saying that you need him b/c you can't change things on your own, or that without the teachings of the bible, the world will turn to dissarray.

The people saying that have nothing to do with being christian, they're apocalytic types who want Jesus to come back so he can DESTROY THE WORLD and make a new world exclusively for them to live in, free of evil things like gay marriage, evolution and independant thought.
 
You catch my point. I didn't mean for it to sound like it was Jesus that was the cause of the wars, but moreover Christianity in general. Though it can be argued that these wars would happen anyways, and that religion was just the cause they used to keep the masses interested and invested.

I'm looking at you vatican.

yah, about that Christianity in general... want to add a few other religions to that? Christianity has been around for about 2000 years, give or take a decade or two, and war has been fought long before that, and in places Christianity never found its way to, and many times religion was used as the excuse.

There are many on this site who can quote historical fact, and conjecture, and back up their statements far more eloquently than I can on the subject of religion, and they will not be able to disagree with me that Christianity is not the only religion to have wars fought using it as a reason, nor will they disagree the Vatican does not speak for all Christian churches.

People can be civil, but many of them/us, need something to rally round, to make it purposeful. People can be patriotic, but add the flag, and they have a symbol to remind them of what they are doing, why they are doing it, and that it is important.
Jesus can be used as a tool like that, a symbol of what can be achieved by one person who lives their life dedicated to the betterment of others. Take any figure in history who is held up as a shining example of goodness and use them if you dislike the idea of Jesus, it won't matter. An instantly identifiable symbol can convey in brief nano-seconds what pages and pages of words cannot. That is why we could use Jesus, or Buddha, or whatever. The symbol, meaning, message of what he preached is now more important than the man.
My opinion, anyway.
 
But, in spite of that, many still believe in the existence of ghosts and are unaware of anything that I mentioned in the above paragraph. I want to point out that the point of this thread isn't to ignite theological debate, or anything like that. But, rather, I'm just curious to know how many people believe in ghosts and believe themselves to be Christian.

Additionally, I would like to hear from those who believe in ghosts but are NOT Christian. I would like to know what those people practice and what their general beliefs are.

You are making the mistake in assuming that the only explanation for ghosts is that they are the "souls" of deceased humans. This assumption shares the same inherent flaws as assuming all UFOs are alien spacecraft. The truth is that we have no idea what a ghost actually is, nor why the behaviour of ghosts and the nature of hauntings seem radically different from case to case.
 
You are making the mistake in assuming that the only explanation for ghosts is that they are the "souls" of deceased humans. This assumption shares the same inherent flaws as assuming all UFOs are alien spacecraft. The truth is that we have no idea what a ghost actually is, nor why the behaviour of ghosts and the nature of hauntings seem radically different from case to case.
My thoughts, exactly.
I'm going to shamelessly paraphrase Terrence McKenna.
"UFO's, ghosts, bigfoots, and all other manner of weird shit is something else, disguising itself as "all other manner of weird shit," so as to avoid alarming us.
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My thoughts, exactly.
I'm going to shamelessly paraphrase Terrence McKenna.
"UFO's, ghosts, bigfoots, and all other manner of weird shit is something else, disguising itself as "all other manner of weird shit," so as to avoid alarming us.
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hmmm... encountering a ghost wouldn't be alarming to most? or a UFO? Bigfoot in the forest? not sure about McKenna, but I do know I would be downright alarmed if I came across any of those 3 :D how much more alarming could the 'something else' be?
 
hmmm... encountering a ghost wouldn't be alarming to most? or a UFO? Bigfoot in the forest? not sure about McKenna, but I do know I would be downright alarmed if I came across any of those 3 :D how much more alarming could the 'something else' be?

I have seen quite a few ghosts, and they still make me jump upon first encounter....depending upon how they make their presence known....One ghost in a flat i lived in was actually quite polite, and somewhat curious. He would stand in the doorway of the bathroom watching me shave. If my girlfriend went into the bathroom he would retreat to the other end of the flat....
 
well, at least he was considerate!

yeah he was....I never actually saw him in that he never appeared but I knew exactly where he was and what he looked like.....I would hear him walking around the other end of the flat to where I was...but as i said I knew where he was all the time and what he looked like....It was quite cool actually....
 
It's difficult to say. My own theories about ghosts aren't all that concrete. Suffice it to say I'm not sure it's a problem technology can solve as easily as a pair of glasses or an infra-red lense. I don't think the technology we need for this sort of thing has been invented yet, so in that sense yes, "outside the spectrum" is as good a term as any.
and maybe, it's not a spectrum problem, maybe a frequency problem or maybe it's not the spectrum but maybe more on the lines of someone that is color blind can pick up a few extra shades of tan and omit other colors. Ok, Maybe that falls into a spectrum thing too, but it's also a Physical defect, Or enhancement if you were a plains indian hunting deer on a golden grassy field.
Happens to me all the time. My husband sees deer all the time and I never see them.
He says , "deer". I search and search and it takes me alot longer to see it.
 
and maybe, it's not a spectrum problem, maybe a frequency problem or maybe it's not the spectrum but maybe more on the lines of someone that is color blind can pick up a few extra shades of tan and omit other colors. Ok, Maybe that falls into a spectrum thing too, but it's also a Physical defect, Or enhancement if you were a plains indian hunting deer on a golden grassy field.it.

Technically, that's all spectrum but I'm using the term metaphorically, not literally referencing the electro-magnetic spectrum.
 
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