Do You Believe In Spirits?

[SilentLoner]

I believe in ghosts, but also that they're scientifically explainable that aren't understood.

 

Spirits, dunno.

[Religion Destructor]

I believe in spirits, drink 'em all the time.

[OpheliaGinger]

I'm not too incredibly sure, but I would like to think there is. Hell, I would love to meet E.A. Poe, Billy the Kid, Elizabeth Bathory, Oscar Wilde, and many others.

[Exalya]

I believe there is some force out there that is not of the physical world, but that's based entirely on my subjective experiences. I don't think it's a "god" as such... no judgement or anything... but I think there are definitely forces beyond us. I do not believe that all there is to me is the physical... but I think some people lack "souls."

 

My beliefs are very open and border on agnostic. I have broad theories which may or may not be true--and it doesn't matter if they are true or if they aren't true. They come from how I feel and interact with the world, but I have no obligation to persuade anyone else to see what I see. I'm content with the recognition that I could be wrong in all things.

[PIRACYs LADY]

I really dont know what to believe. We have seen some wierd ass stuff. and had taken 100's of pics showing what appeared to be lights in the form of a person and one rater unpleasent skull looking thing. Then for what ever reason our camera just stopped working right at the time there was the most activity.(of course) when we were using the mini voice recorder nick was talking on it and this voice just would come over his voice so it sounded like a person trying to talk over him. Hell if i can explain. but it did happen. Also just recently my natural healing dr. gave me the ph. num of a lady in florida i believe and said call her you will be amazed. it took me 3 months to get through. when i finally did all she asked was my 1st name, to sit facing east and that was all.(this was over the phone) She proceded to tell me stories of my grandfather and myself. stories that noone else knew. things that happened when only him and i were together. For one example, "He wants to know if you remember the day you guys were over at your parents house and he kept on biting the bottom of all the Sees candy to see which one he wanted and then his tooth cap feel out and you and him were on your hands and knees looking for it and you kept finding peanuts thinking that was it. I mean yeah boring story. but how the hell did she know that. she told me 8 things i would say that absolutly no one could know. I wish someone could explain it to me.

 

Oh and also I have seen CHris Angel do some pretty crazy shit up close, wish I knew what the heck was going on there.

[burntwings]

I'm not sure exactly what I believe in. I define it as spirits, but all of these spirits are so different from each other that I don't know if they can really be in the same category. For example, I believe in spirits that are eternal and are either good or bad, and that's just how it is. I also believe in reincarnation, and believe that spirits can be in between life cycles. These don't have to be good or evil, more of whatever they were while they were alive. Does that make sense?

 

I've also had a few experiences that I KNOW were real, despite what everyone tells me.

A few years ago, when my family lived at a different house, i woke up during the night. I looked to the other side of my room (usually when I wake up like that, I'm either wide awake, or my eyes are only open for about half a second before falling asleep again) and saw my desk chair was in a different spot, and there was someone sitting there. He was huge (tall & fat I mean) and wore a hockey mask, kinda like a goalie's mask I think, but I don't know for sure because I know very very little about hockey. I told myself "this is just a dream. close your eyes and he'll be gone." So I closed my eyes, but I could sense him moving to my bed. He went to the other side of my bed (the side I never got in or out of the bed on) and started shaking my mattress. I opened my eyes and the whole room was shaking. Then, for no apparent reason, he stopped and walked out of the door.

 

A few months later, I woke up again like that. In the same part of my room, there was an angel. Except she was really short; her head was the exact same height as my dresser. She had the white angel dress and wings, but also had really long jet black hair and lots of heavy gothic makeup. She was playing a trumpet, but no sound was coming out. She didn't scare me; more just confused me. While I was staring, she disappeared.

 

A few months after that was the worst one. It still gives me chills. I woke up (it was closer to morning this time) and on the side of my bed I used, there was a witch. She had the typical witch halloween clothes- long black dress, pointy black hat, big nose. No warts though. She also looked pretty young; I would guess mid-20s. And, just like the hockey player, I could feel her evilness. Except hers was much stronger. So I turned over on my side, hoping she would leave. But she didn't. Instead, she started tapping on my back with her long black fingernails. She was trying to find a way to get inside me; I could feel it. I scrunched myself up as small as I could and just waited for her to leave. I was too scared to check to see if she was there, and it took forever for me to fall back asleep, even after she stopped tapping.

 

My mother (I only told her about the hockey player) told me it was demons that I had invited into the house with my evil music. That day, she did a prayer walk all over the house. My friends tell me they were dreams, but I know they weren't. I've learned a lot about dreams (it was my major obsession for about 2 years) and I know the difference in dreams and reality. For a while, I thought maybe it was sleep paralysis, but in every instance (except for the angel) I either sat up or rolled over or something that makes sleep paralysis impossible.

 

A year after that, just before the right amount of time had passed for another visitor, my family moved to a different house. I haven't experienced anything like this since then.

[youngster84]

I did believe in spirits. I think I subconsciously forced myself to believe it, because I "had" to believe it, so my religious world (fundamentalist evangelical) would still make "sense".

 

I found out that I believed in lots of things to "protect" and sustain my inner "operating systems" by which I run.

 

For example as a teenager I couldn't really believe in angels, but I remember kind of forcing myself to believe it, because it simply "must" have been true, in my fundamantelist world.

But as a teenager I couldn't allow to question it, because I lived in very controlling ghetto fundi world at that time.

 

But things didn't add up any more and I feared very much loosing my mind, age 21.

 

So I moved away from "home" and for the first time of my life was financially independent, I started to question my "loving" father and my entire upbringing.

Since I realised what had really happened during my first 20 years of life, all God and prayer, spirits, demons and stuff never again appeared real to me.

I'm angry in what I believed in, because it was all a fraud and I had worshipped nothing but a wicked moron.

 

But at the end I can't be angry in what I believed in, because at the end my "faith" was nothing but a coping strategy to survive a sadistic upbringing. But I can tell you how angry I am at the persons that made me having to use this coping strategy!!!

[Naughtyhamster]

I think there is life on other planets, and they come here and visit us often out of curiosity, but my beliefs about aliens are way different than my BF's as he seems to think we are one big alien experiment perhaps.

[Ameen]

I think there is life on other planets, and they come here and visit us often out of curiosity, but my beliefs about aliens are way different than my BF's as he seems to think we are one big alien experiment perhaps.

 

It seems egotistical to think we are the only life in a universe so vast--and with earth sitting in a relatively unremarkable part of the galaxy. However, I don't think alien life is humanoid or has the same motivations we do. Rather, it would probably be so alien that we would not recognize it even if it were staring us in the face.

 

I don't believe in bug-eyed aliens in flying saucers who abduct eathlings for diabolical experiments, but... Life on other planets is the only belief I have left, as that belief is scientifically acceptable/explainable/predictable. (Is there a thread about this on our board? Please let me know.)

 

When I was a Christian, though, I believed in flying saucers, spirits, hauntings, psychic powers, the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, magical beings, and a host of other things I no longer do. Supposedly, I have "the gift," which all women on the maternal side of my family supposedly have. (Interesting that I am male, though. I guess "the gift" considers gay men as women! )

 

I have read through and greatly enjoyed this entire thread, and I, too, can attest to a number of odd things that happened when I when I was young--but nothing since I became an atheist. I can't explain them, but that does not mean an explanation does not exist. A few examples...

 

When I was a teenager, a group of us were sittting in my friend's garage, talking about ghosts. One friend said he did not believe in them and thought the whole thing bullshit. A knife then came shooting through the air and would have hit struck him if he had not jumped out of his chair. There was nowhere in the garage for anyone to hide and throw the knife, and there was no escape route even if there had been a place to hide. Also, considering what could have happened, it was not a prank any of us would have pulled.

 

My mother's close friend also had "the gift," and before the telephone would ring she'd sometimes announce that it was about to ring and say who was on the other line. In Atlantic City she was incredibly successful at slot machines, which she said "talked" to her. She sometimes knew when a machine would make a big payoff, and would play it and win big. Two days before her sudden death from a heart attack in the early 90s, she dreamed that she was looking for a place to rest.

 

There are other things, but I will stop here. I saw these things, and I too have had extreme deja vu where I knew what was about to happen--yet I no longer believe in psychic powers, ghosties and ghoulies. There must have been something I missed in these cases and the ones I have not written about, or there must be a scientific explanation I just don't know about or the world simply doesn't know about in our current stage of science and technology.

 

I may never be able to explain these things, but I do wish I could.

[♦ Fuego ♦]

A few months later, I woke up again like that. In the same part of my room, there was an angel. Except she was really short; her head was the exact same height as my dresser. She had the white angel dress and wings, but also had really long jet black hair and lots of heavy gothic makeup. She was playing a trumpet, but no sound was coming out. She didn't scare me; more just confused me. While I was staring, she disappeared.

 

...

 

A year after that, just before the right amount of time had passed for another visitor, my family moved to a different house. I haven't experienced anything like this since then.

I wouldn't mind seeing that one myself! I like the goth look on females.

 

My siblings tell me about seeing many apparitions in the house where we lived initially. My sister saw a guy at the foot of her bed, and the closet door opening and closing rapidly. I slept in her room once when I was about 4 and saw the ballerina on her jewelry box dancing for a while until this bright light (like a photon torpedo on the old Star Trek) came out of the box right at me. I screamed bloody murder until everyone in the house came in to see what was wrong. I blubbered out what had happened and she said "The ballerina can't move, it is just glued there." So no explanation other than a bad dream, or maybe some kind of spiritual energy that I can't classify.

[Naughtyhamster]

I remember as an eight year old seeing something weird while my grandmother attended a bible study at some person's house. She brought me and I wanted to stay with her during the session, but the pastor didn't allow it so I had to stay in another room of this house with the other peoples' kids.

 

While we colored in our xtian coloring books, sang xtian songs, and talked about "naughty stuff" we heard something scratching at the patio door. We couldn't see what was scratching at the door as there was a heavy curtain on it, but when this older kid and I pulled it back we had the shock of our lives! Some creature with a pale face, scrawny body, spiky "hairs" along the back, walking on two legs, and glowing red eyes looked right back at us! We all screeched in horror which brought the adults into the room. The kids and I told the pastor about the "demon" we had just saw, but all the adults did was laugh and the pastor reassured us that it must have been one of the possums that frequented his yard during the Summer. While on our way home I tried to convince my grandmother that I saw a "demon" but she just reassured me that all I saw was a possum and that the oldest kid of our group was trying to play mind games on the younger kids by telling us that what we saw was a "demon".

 

Later on when I was a teenager I picked up a free newspaper at some independent bookstore, and there it was that "demon" on the front page! I was a bit frightened about seeing the creature in the newspaper and the article went on to explain about the chupacabra. I still have have no idea if I really did see a chupacabra that night, or if it was just a possum that scared a bunch of kids with wild imaginations influenced by the movies ( one of the kids had been talking about the movie Gremlins thirty minutes before we saw this critter). That thing had just sacred the shit out of me and I guess that's why I enjoy reading books and websites about cryptozoology.

[Dhampir]

Don't typically mess with this forum as my argumentative nature is likely to violate the sanctity herein the longer I stick around. However, I would like to answer this question. I don't believe in ghosts, however if they were to exist, I would say it'd be as "traces", as you say in your poll. I've always suspected as much of the apparitions I've seen in my life, if they weren't figments of my imagination that is, which they more than likely were. Its a theory I developed a long time ago, when I was growing up, especially upon hearing stories about dead people that repetitively do the same thing, every day, or on some anniversary or something.

[burntwings]

A few months later, I woke up again like that. In the same part of my room, there was an angel. Except she was really short; her head was the exact same height as my dresser. She had the white angel dress and wings, but also had really long jet black hair and lots of heavy gothic makeup. She was playing a trumpet, but no sound was coming out. She didn't scare me; more just confused me. While I was staring, she disappeared.

 

...

 

A year after that, just before the right amount of time had passed for another visitor, my family moved to a different house. I haven't experienced anything like this since then.

I wouldn't mind seeing that one myself! I like the goth look on females.

 

My siblings tell me about seeing many apparitions in the house where we lived initially. My sister saw a guy at the foot of her bed, and the closet door opening and closing rapidly. I slept in her room once when I was about 4 and saw the ballerina on her jewelry box dancing for a while until this bright light (like a photon torpedo on the old Star Trek) came out of the box right at me. I screamed bloody murder until everyone in the house came in to see what was wrong. I blubbered out what had happened and she said "The ballerina can't move, it is just glued there." So no explanation other than a bad dream, or maybe some kind of spiritual energy that I can't classify.

 

Sounds real to me! And if you don't remember going to sleep/waking up, it's probably not a dream. Unless you dreamed the WHOLE thing, all the way through family coming in to see what was wrong. But what do you tell a kid that young anyway? I actually read this thinking "why didn't she even try to believe him?" but I would do the same thing if I were in that position.

[Naughtyhamster]

Last night I saw some weird creatures on my way home from work, but they turned out to be some cute little possums.

[♦ Fuego ♦]

I was in my basement apartment years ago getting out of the tub when I started hearing something in the wall that sounded like a Tasmanian Devil (and they are appropriately named). Hissing and one of the oddest growl/howl sounds I've ever heard. Initially it freaked me out, but I looked out the window and saw a large hole in the dirt outside next to the window and assumed that it must be a possum. I saw a documentary on Tasmanian Devils and they are just hilarious. The cartoon version is really close to what they sound like, and when a lot of them get together under a house, it really does sound like a pack of demons are under the floorboards.

[OpheliaGinger]

I was in my basement apartment years ago getting out of the tub when I started hearing something in the wall that sounded like a Tasmanian Devil (and they are appropriately named). Hissing and one of the oddest growl/howl sounds I've ever heard. Initially it freaked me out, but I looked out the window and saw a large hole in the dirt outside next to the window and assumed that it must be a possum. I saw a documentary on Tasmanian Devils and they are just hilarious. The cartoon version is really close to what they sound like, and when a lot of them get together under a house, it really does sound like a pack of demons are under the floorboards.

 

Opossums do indeed hiss but it sounds more like a cat.

[MathGeek]

I am not a strong atheist by any means, so there is a possibility that a supernatural realm exists. I have never seen a spirit or a miracle personally, but I think the likelihood of such an event happening is very low. Of course, I am using personal experience to back this up.

[Naiya]

"Spirits that are agentive beings but that don't correspond with the good/evil dichotomy"

 

I only believe because I have personally experienced. I don't think anyone else should believe if s/he has not had a personal experience.

 

I agree with this entirely. There isn't a big Santa Claus in the sky who watches you shower, but...from personal experience I've found that there are other intelligent entities out there. Extra-dimensional beings perhaps? I don't know. In any case, there is something more imo. No idea how it all works, wish I did, and honestly sometimes I wish all those things never happened to me so it could be simple, but meh.

 

But yeah. Not trying to sell anyone else on the idea. Just can't force myself to disbelieve...with God, it was much easier because God never shows up.

[sergei29]

as a former exorcist it is really difficult for me to explain alot of the things i

have seen and felt....

 

You too, eh?

 

I'm in the same boat, and it perturbs me.

 

 

 

that one still bothers me as well. I can disbelief pretty much anything, but I read about a lot of demon possession, oppression, etc., and people could only find freedom through Jesus.

What do you think of that?

[Vomit Comet]

that one still bothers me as well. I can disbelief pretty much anything, but I read about a lot of demon possession, oppression, etc., and people could only find freedom through Jesus.

What do you think of that?

 

I would have turned agnostic/atheist back in the year 2001 were it not for that, actually. That was the only thing that kept me believing for seven more years. I still don't know what to think about that. Well, there's other things too, I'll get into more detail later.

[sergei29]

that one still bothers me as well. I can disbelief pretty much anything, but I read about a lot of demon possession, oppression, etc., and people could only find freedom through Jesus.

What do you think of that?

 

I would have turned agnostic/atheist back in the year 2001 were it not for that, actually. That was the only thing that kept me believing for seven more years. I still don't know what to think about that. Well, there's other things too, I'll get into more detail later.

 

 

we need some real help disproving this guys. Anyone has any idea about the Spiritual warfare and why "demons" seem to obey when the name of Jesus is being spoken to them?

[♦ Fuego ♦]

It really depends on a lot of interpretation, in my opinion. On the one hand I have seen many pastors confronting what they felt to be demons and the people who were deemed to be "infested" who acted in a manner one might expect. And that is part of the issue for me: they act exactly as one might expect. Which leads me to think that these people are in desperation under the church pressure to become "good" and yet they know they are in sin. This leads them to conclude that they are under the influence of the devil, and so need to be delivered. Once this deliverance happens, all will be well in their lives (so they think), so they fill in the missing demons with what they think demonic activity ought to look like. I doubt this is conscious, but I think this makes up the vast majority of such cases.

 

Having done enough research to conclude that the stories about Jesus are largely just stories, since there are no documents that support his miracles and disruption of Jerusalem other than the gospels themselves, I think that Jesus has become an "archetype" or deeply held symbol of the power of God over evil. Thus when people are acting out as described above, they will react to the name of Jesus.

 

All of the encounters with demonic power that were local to my church seemed very tame outside of the one lady I described earlier in this forum. But even then, there was no manifest power or demonic insight from these people, just manifesting weirdness and then subsiding after the pastors prayed and rebuked. Certainly nothing as dramatic as the Exorcist movies, which were Hollywood, not reality.

 

I think if legitimate demon influence were that common, it would be a lot easier to document. I have read psychiatric books by authors who were genuinely convinced that something more than mind was at play, but these are few and far between. Given the deep creativity of the mind in dreams, it isn't too surprising when a deep seated struggle manifests itself in a cry for help that fits neatly into the belief system of the support group surrounding the afflicted person.

[sergei29]

Guys,

i have left Christianity two weeks ago, but I "backslid" back to believing. The thing is, when I was going through some doubts, one day I was visiting my friend and his mom ended up sharing with me how great it is to live with God. She didn't know why she ended up telling that to me, but it felt like God was speaking to me through her, saying not to leave Him.

 

Also, people prophesied over me and it made so much sense and it hit exactly on the nail, in terms of what I was going through and what that prophesy meant. I have hard times disproving these experiences and situations as they seem to supernatural and real, that it makes me think that Christianity is true.

 

What about other gifts of the Spirit, if they happen in charismatic churches, doesn't it prove that the Bible is true and it works, despite the seemed contradictions?

 

Please respond!...

 

Sergei

[florduh]

If you have reason to believe, then believe.

 

I would bet the house that there are no spirits, demons, etc., but even if there were, that wouldn't be evidence for the Bible and its portrayal of reality.

 

Booga-booga!

[Vomit Comet]

Guys,

i have left Christianity two weeks ago, but I "backslid" back to believing. The thing is, when I was going through some doubts, one day I was visiting my friend and his mom ended up sharing with me how great it is to live with God. She didn't know why she ended up telling that to me, but it felt like God was speaking to me through her, saying not to leave Him.

 

Also, people prophesied over me and it made so much sense and it hit exactly on the nail, in terms of what I was going through and what that prophesy meant. I have hard times disproving these experiences and situations as they seem to supernatural and real, that it makes me think that Christianity is true.

 

What about other gifts of the Spirit, if they happen in charismatic churches, doesn't it prove that the Bible is true and it works, despite the seemed contradictions?

 

Please respond!...

 

Sergei

 

I can tell you're in a real bind. Well, I'll let others respond... but I certainly know how you feel, as do a few others here. I really think that the more bizarro whacky 'supernatural' shit you see while in the fold, the harder it is to break. Well, if I were to make a general statistical rule, I should say. To this day I'm haunted by shit I saw, and I don't know that I'll ever be 100%, or even 80% sure that it was all bunk, or that something wasn't going on.