Ghosts or demons?

Question

The diversity of religion around me is overwhelming. My pentecostal friend thinks that when people see a ghost they are really seeing a demon. So my question is...is she right? Does the bible speak of ghosts? I know it speaks of demons.

Answer 1

I cannot say that I don't believe in them, but I know people who admently believe in ghosts.



This is my personal theory.



Ghosts can be either angels or demons. There are those who seem to want to help and there are those who want to torment. But I also believe there is a lot of mind play at work as well.



There are unseen forces around us 24/7/365.



As far as the Bible mentioning ghosts...it depends on the interpretation you are reading. When referencing the Holy Triligy...you have Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Spirit, etc).



If you really want to know, find an online Bible Concordance and look it up.

Answer 2

I guess it depends on what you have experienced, and how you perceive it within the belief structure you follow.



Remenber everybody sees thing from a different perspective from each other. Just because somebody or a group may see ghosts as demons, and think they are evil, that doesn't mean that it is the truth.



Remember some people like vanilla and some people like chocolate. Also some groups choose to believe that anybody that does not follow their particular religious teaching is evil and going to a place called hell, now doesn't sound silly. Personal belief and choice does not always rely on logic or facts, it is what you believe.



What do you think?



P.S.

Just for clarification, for some of the others answering:

It is 'Woman of Endor - not Witch', a change of words here and there in some of the newer versions of the Bible, have caused many social and political problems. Try and get an earlier version like the King James or earlier, some of the changes are devistating.

Answer 3

The Bible includes references to both ghosts and demons. In some translations, the word ghost is used to mean "spirit" generically (remember the "Holy Ghost" of the KJV, which is more usually spoken of as the Holy Spirit by Christians today?). However, ghost in the specific mythological meaning of a semi-corporate spirit of a dead individual also occurs--look at the story of the Witch of Endor in the OT... The Bible refers to numerous mythical creatures (which may or may not actually exist based on one's belief system), such as giants, leviathans, demons, ghosts, and angels.



Is your friend right? Isn't that a question of individual belief? There is no ironclad, consensual agreement on matters like demons, ghosts, or other mythic creatures, only the horizons of individual and community belief systems. You might need to think about what you believe.



By the way, many Pentecostals think a *lot* of things are demons, while some other Christian groups believe that the gifts of the spirit so central to Pentecostal belief are themselves signs of demonic possession. See what I mean about figuring it out for oneself?

Answer 4

When King Saul visited the witch of Endor and asked her to call up the spirit of Samuel, that might qualify as a ghost. (One gets the impiression that she had previously just been a carny act, as she seemed surprised that Samuel did come up. I suppose God took the opportunity to give Saul his pink slip.)



Also, when the disciples saw Jesus after He rose from the dead, they were afraid and thought they were seeing a ghost until He took a piece of fish and ate it in front of them. So they apparently thought there was good evidence for ghosts. There are certainly spirits, and a ghost is just a visible spirit, isn't it?



Did you hear about the recent event in a castle in England where closed circuit tv cameras saw a transparent moving figure when nobody else in the room saw anything? Turns out it was an insect on the camera lens and all the tv saw was its transparent wings fluttering around.



Bottom line: God is not only in charge, He is in control. If there are ghosts around, even if you see them, there is no need to be afraid of them.

Answer 5

The bible speaks of ghosts in a number of places, depending on the translation, but I'm not going to comment on the actual meaning of the passages (since I'm not a scholar of Greek or Hebrew).



The Holman Christian Standard Bible has "ghost" mentioned in two stories. The first is in Matthew 14 (paralleled in Mark 6) where Jesus walks on water. The second is during Luke's Easter story (Look at My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself! Touch Me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have. (Lu24:39))



If you want to go old school, the King James Version (authorized) has 111 mentions of the word "Ghost"; though in fairness, a good number of these are references to the "Holy Ghost"; and a whole lot of the rest are contained in the phrase "gave up the ghost". In the New King James version, the phrase has been changed to a number of expressions, notably "breathed his last", "died", or (in the case of Mt 27:50 the death of Jesus, "yielded up His spirit".



The difficulty comes in the translation: whatever words were translated into alternately ghost, spirit, and who knows what else; each giving the audience a slightly different interpretation.



However, I *would* be willing to stick my neck out and wager that when the disciples on the boat saw Jesus walking out to them upon the water and cried out "It's a ghost [spirit, depending on translation]!"; they thought they were seeing the earth-trapped spirit of a person who had died at sea.

Answer 6

The bible states that when you die, you either have everlasting life in Heaven or hell. You do not get to roam the earth as a ghost.



If you see a ghost (or have dealings with something beyond your understanding in that nature), it is a demon. Demons can disguise themselves to look like past loved ones. They can even fool you into thinking that they are protecting and helping you. They will do anything to keep your worship from God. That is why God warned us to pray to no other gods. He knew that demons would fool us into thinking that they were helpful, they can even look beautiful as God's angels (as they once were angels of God). That is why you should never pray to angels. God will let you know if it is one of His angels, you can test it. Command it, "Go away in the name of Jesus!" It has to depart on the name of Jesus. If you are not saved, it can come back with ten others.



In the case of seeing demons (or ghosts as they would be called by man) on television, remember, believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see. How real does any movie producer make a ghost on a movie look? Pretty real. But just b/c they make it look real, is it? Of course not.

Answer 7

I'm leaning toward the theory that ghosts are just impressions of energy that have been imprinted within the fabric of space and time. Kinda like video recordings. If someone during their life did the same thing in the same place day after day, the image could keep playing out for long after they die. It just gets stuck. Just as an analogy, it would be like if you were to stare at lines of text on a page for a long time and then look away. You still see lines all over everything that you look at because it is imprinted in your brain. Also, if someone dies a tragic death, it is more likely to get stuck because of the intense emotions they are feeling at thier time of death. The same applies to intense emotions during life such as abuse, torture, mourning etc. These are not the actual spirits of the deceased but they are lasting relics of the impact of thier presence.

Answer 8

I don't believe in ghosts. When they see a strange figure the brain does something called matrixing. Basically it fills in the blanks until what it is looking at makes sense. The human face is a fairly common choice for the brain. But the face does not make sense all the time so the mind freaks out at what it has created. If you understand the phenomena then the next time it happens it can be fun for you and not scary.

They only demons exist in our imaginations.

Answer 9

Technically, yes. They are refered to as "familiar spirits". There is only one time when an actual dead man's ghost was brought forth and that is of Samuel by the witch of Endor. This freaked out the witch because it was not like what she had conjoured before.



Demons know all about us since they dwell in the spirit world. So it is as easy as cake for them to appear as a "departed loved one". For the greiving, they will beleive anything to soothe their anguish. The problem is, the demon's purpose is to lie and lead astray the one that is being deceived. That is why the Bible condemns the practice of seeking them out.

Answer 10

The bible says that once a person is dead they can't get out of where they are. Meaning there are no ghost!! The bible also speaks of fallen angels aka demons roming the earth confusing everyone. The devil like tricks like this because if you have your mind focused on things like this you wont have it focused on God.

Answer 11

there are only two possiblities after death - heaven or hell. wondering around as a ghost is not an option. So i have to go with demon. If a ghost could say one thing, wouldn't it be what religion was right?

Answer 12

i believe ghosts and demons are totally seperate entitlies. demons being the spawn of satan and ghosts being (as said so rightly in harry potter) the imprints of departed souls. and if you have read the bible (i dont know if you have or not) you should remember the phrase "the father, son, and the holy ghost". now, sasying "holy ghost", would totally contradict the thought of ghosts being demons, right? yes the bible does speak of demons, but thats the only ghost referance i can think of off the top of my head. i hope ive helped.

Answer 13

Demons live in the 7th level of the underworld and can only get to us in our dreams, and even then they have no power to hurt you- all they can do is scare the heck outa ya....

Ghosts, however, are earthbound spirits who either cant or wont go to the light and Home to the other side.

Hope that helps :)

Answer 14

There is no such thing as ghosts.

The Bible tells us at Eccl 9:5-"the living are conscious that they will die,but the dead are consious of nothing at all"

When we die,it is as though we are asleep.

People who think they are conversing with the dead,or see the dead are realling conversing with the demons.

Demons are very powerful spirit creatures who want nothing more than to taunt and misguide humans.

It is important therefore to study Gods Word the Bible and keep close to him

Answer 15

I BELIEVE IN GHOSTS, BUT, I DO NOT THINK TAHT ALL GHOSTS ARE DEMONS. THE BIBLE DOES SPEAK OF DEMONS, I AM NOT FOR SURE IF IT SPEAKS OF GHOSTS OR NOT, NOW IT DOES SPEAK OF THE HOLY GHOST, BUT, THAT ISN'T AN ACTUAL GHOST

Answer 16

i do not know if the bible speaks of ghosts but i do know they exists demons are just the words of the devil wich he is trying to turn us the other way by putting them in the book of the lord

Answer 17

Some ghosts are demons some arent.

Answer 18

I DEPENDS ON THE LIFE THE PERSON LEAD I STILL SEE MY GRANDFATHER'S GHOST AND I FEEL BETTER AFTERWARDS AND THEN THERE ARE THE DEMONS AND THEY DON'T CARRY THE HOLY LIGHT...IT IS ONLY THE ONES THAT HAVE NOT FINISHED THEIR WORK ON EARTH ONCE IT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED THEY MOVE ON.

Answer 19

don't know of any, except, holy ghost which in original language is HOLY SPIRIT--GOD aint no spook!

Answer 20

JESUS IS MY HOMEBOY!!!i dont believe in ghost but demons r real...

Answer 21

I agree with Schneb, he explained what I believe very well.