Ghosts...Fact Or Fiction? From a Christian Standpoint

As any of my friends will tell you, I LOVE GHOSTS As many of you know, I LOVE GHOST TOURS...and ghost stories, spooky movies, etc. A lot of it probably comes from my dad's mother, my Nana, who had strange experiences all her life. Her stories always scared us when we were kids, but they intrigued me as well.

With the very religious background and belief system I have, however, it makes the whole "paranormal activity" theory somewhat hard to believe. I don't have a single second thought or problem in believing there is demonic activity on this earth that we cannot see. My question is...what about the spirits of family members, small children, "friendly" spirits, if you will?

For those of us who believe in Christ, I believe we mostly agree that once we are deceased, our spirits go to be with the Lord, not left wandering the earth. I certainly don't believe that I will be here anymore, but with my God in Heaven. Not to say that there aren't a few people I wouldn't mind haunting (grins mischievously).

One quote states very well, "I believe...that those apparitions and ghosts of departed persons are not the wandering souls of men, but the unquiet walks of Devils, prompting and suggesting us unto mischief, blood and villainy; instilling and stealing into our hearts that the blessed Spirits are not at rest in their graves, but wander the solicitous affairs of the World." - Browne, Religio Medici.

That being said, I have been on enough Ghost Tours myself, got enough pictures and weird feelings of my own to say that I do believe there are entities of some sort wandering around these places. Is it really the spirit of a woman who was murdered violently? Or is it merely the evil presence that lingered there to begin with, causing such anger and tragedy from the very beginning?

Is the small childlike apparition really the little girl who was neglected and beaten, or is it another kind of spiritual inhabitant taking on the form of the child in order to bring about fear in the hearts of men? Are these "spirits" merely trying to cause us to question our fundamental religious beliefs? I don't think it is too farfetched of an idea.

In 1 Peter 5:8, the Bible does say, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" These ghosts, apparitions, poltergeists; could they be the works of the devil roaming about to find whom he may devour with his deceitful ways?

Feeling this uncertainty about the spirits, why do I continue on my journey with ghost tours and the like? Well, I guess the unknown certainly still does lead us in many ways. All the more reason that I see the possibility of these "ghosts" being a tool of deceit....because we as humans are very easily caught up in the fear of the unknown, the curiosity of what might be. We are easily distracted and even swayed in cases like these.

And I guess the uneasy, restless, and even violent spirits could in fact be those of the deceased, if in fact the Devil did allow them to walk the earth as part of his devices. However, I have a hard time believing that once in his grasp, he would let them come back to this realm of life.

My biggest area of doubt simply comes from a staunch belief that if we are Christians, we will not be left here to roam, but taken to be with our Lord and Savior at the time of death. How then, could the spirit of a man that was known to be a Christian, be left here to wander? Would God allow a spirit to come back to square things away with unfinished business? Or would He simply allow us to believe we saw the person we have lost in order to comfort our own hearts, if indeed that is the case.

There are several Biblical references which substantiate my belief that the spirits are not free to roam, as many would believe.

In the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-30), Lazarus was taken by the angel's into Abraham's bosom at death, and the rich man was buried, then in the next verse, looking up from hell. The rich man is begging for just a drop of water from Lazarus in Heaven (verse 24). In verse 26 it states, "And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence."

2 Corinthians 5:6-8: "Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

Philippians 1:23: "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:"

These verses would say to us that the spirits of the human dead are not free to roam. They are either confined and under punishment, or comforted in the presence of their Savior.

I could go on forever questioning each and every view point because there are so many different cases and circumstances around each haunting, that there are possible a million questions to ask. There are also so many personal experiences that my Nana had, and even strange happenings that I have experienced, that there is just too much to put down here. Maybe I should write a book!

I guess we will never really know the answers to these questions until we can sit down with our Father in Heaven and ask Him. For, only He truly knows what is and is not allowed to walk and wander on the earth before, during and after our earthly lives.