First, to the atheist perspective, would seeing a human apparition directly in front of you, possibly even interacting with you, be enough to give you a belief in some form of afterlife? Secondly to the theists, particularly the ones who believe in only two destinations for the human after death, how would this effect your beliefs? I ask you all this for a specific reason, I myself, have seen three different apparitions in my own home. I have never used any kind of hallucinogen or mind altering drug, and know for a fact I was not asleep or sleep deprived. I know what it did to my beliefs, I was merely wondering what kind of effect, if any, it would have on yours. (Yes, of course I expect half the responses to this to be that I am a whack-job or was having some kind of hallucination, but I am not the only one who has seen them, so I don't believe that is the case, or at least hope not.) Also, I will clarify by saying these were NOT angels, at least not to the extent they are described in the bible, no wings, no light, just a human form that was there, then wasn't.
Are these apparitions that you know have died? Did these apparitions speak to you? Can you describe a little bit more the apparition? Demons can take the human form so seeing a human apparition is not necessary a ghost.
If you can see them then they are interacting with light so they must be physical. If they have physical properties then they can be investigated by science. All you seem to have at this point are unexplained physical phenomena. But answers to Okinru's questions would be useful.
It is possible that they give off their own light or that Tyrell has some sort of supernatural perception.
Interesting first question okinrus, I hadn't thought of that before, but the answer is no I have no idea whether or not these were people who have died. (In other words they weren't people I recognized that I knew were dead.) No, none of them spoke to me. The first one I saw, and I saw "her" on two occaisions, was a young girl. She was dark skinned with black hair and appeared to be American-Indian. (I come to this conclusion based on the white buckskin dress she was wearing and the feather she had in her hair.) Once I saw her standing in my kitchen as I entered the room. I froze and just stood there, and she turned towards me then walked out of the room. At this point I regained some form of sense and went to the doorway she walked through and there was no one in the next room. The second time I saw her I was watching tv and saw her reflection in the glass door of the entertainment center and turned around to see her walk into the next room, and again when i went to the doorway there was no one there. The second was an elderly woman with white hair, wearing a blue flower print dress. She appeared to be very slim, and she was standing in one of the windows looking out into the yard. My entire family was home, and I asked if we had any company that day and the answer was no. The third was the one I had the closest proximity to. He was an elderly man with wispy white hair, a black button-up shirt, and bright blue eyes. He also had no teeth. I was sitting at my computer and saw someone come into the room in my peripheral vision. The "person" was about the same height as my dad and I just assumed it was him coming to the fridge to get a drink. Then this "person" walked behind me and placed one hand on the back of my chair and the other on the desk next to the mousepad. When I saw the hand on the desk, knowing it was not my dad's hand as it was too thin and wrinkled, I turned and was looking this "man" straight in the face. I flinched in surprise, and "he" was gone.
okinrus, it is not any kind of special perception I claim to have. One of my closest friends also saw the indian girl and explained her to me exactly as I saw her, with me never telling him that I had seen her. My younger brother and sister have also told me stories of seeing her, again with me telling them nothing of my experience.
I think most atheists would have to see this apparition before they would know what kind of effect it would have. Simply because the notion of a ghost would seem implausiible. My question to you is this: What kind of effect did you think it would have on you prior to you seeing these human apparitions?
Well, prior to seeing them, I was raised in a baptist church. I can honestly say that before seeing them I wouldn't have considered seeing them because I wouldn't have believed they could exist. Christianity teaches two destinations for the human soul period. (Or at least any version of it I have been exposed to.) So that was what I believed because I was rather young and impressionable. What effect they did have was to invalidate that belief because it contradicted the notion of "one place or the other."
No, what I really meant is the soul might have an extra perception apart from normal visions. This is observed in the visions given to Paul and some latter day ones such as at Fatima. Jesus made his disciples touch him so that they would not think that he was a ghost, which may suggest a widespread belief in ghosts at that time.
Ok thefountainhed, perhaps I need to modify my question to say "Assume you have just seen a human apparition or "ghost" what does this do to your beliefs"
No, what I really meant is the soul might have an extra perception apart from normal visions. This is observed in the visions given to Paul and some latter day ones such as at Fatima. Jesus made his disciples touch him so that they would not think that he was a ghost sugesting a widespread belief in ghosts at that time. Christianity teaches two final places but the where the spirits go after death might not be so simple. The belief in purgatory or spiritual prisons does not go against christianity. It's even been suggested that the gates of hell may be opened to a few who will be brought closer to God.
disclaimer: This is just my opinion, though I can back it up with Biblical texts there are many interpritations of this particular text and I in no way say mine is the correct one (I haven't studied it indepth.) In revelation it says that after Jesus returns the souls of the dead will rise up to heaven to be judged. It is a common belief of christians that when we die we go derectly to God to be judged, but this text seems to refute that. If the dead are judged immediatly after death how could they then rise to be judged after the second coming? We are only judged once. So this leads me to believe that the souls of the dead are still here on Earth untill the second coming of Christ. Why we can't see them all or why some are mean and others friendly I don't yet know, but I do believe that they are real. Though many ghost stories are made up, I believe some are very real. In Christ's love, Mystee
