Believe in the Holy Ghost, but not ghosts?

Question

I live in the bible belt. I believe in ghosts, including the Holy Ghost. What is strange is that most, not all mind you, but most, of the religious people here do not believe in common ghosts and hauntings. These people that I speak of believe that the stories in the bible happened exactly as they are written, and take everything within the pages literally (like the parting of the sea, pillars of salt, etc). So I asked, how can you believe in the Holy Ghost, that a man parted the sea, and that people turned into pillars of salt, but not believe that ghosts walk among us? They never know what to say after that. Anyone here believe in God, but not ghosts and haunting? If yes, tell me why you believe in one, but not the other.

Let me be clear...In this instance Ghost and Spirit mean the same thing.

To Alex S: I was just trying to be clear, in order to get a coherent answer. No need to be a dick about it. My husband appreciates my ability to communicate clearly and he actually feels sorry for your inability to recognize it.

Answer 1

Several people have made the distinction between Ghosts, and Spirits, so I won’t rehash that. You’ve mentioned you believe in the Holy Ghost, so please don’t take what I say here as inflammatory or in a negative manner, I’ve taken the time to write this because I’ve seen your questions and I believe you to be a woman of high intellect.

“but most, of the religious people here do not believe in common ghosts and hauntings” it is traditionally believed that hauntings happen by ‘ghosts’ that are in limbo, neither in heaven nor hell. There are many interpretations of the Christian faith, as I understand it one of them provides a place for the spirits that happen to be in the area, they call it purgatory. Other Christians believe that upon death nothing happens you simply cease to exist, however, on Judgement day the Holy Spirit will resurrect everybody and take the 144,000 souls were already selected by the time the Bible was written to Heaven, the rest (however many billions that might be by then) will live in Paradise on Earth (assuming of course the great spirit in the sky judges this prudent). There are many other interpretations of the Bible that lead to as many different explanations why ghost, spirits and hauntings are not part of the Christian faith. So in order to make your question answerable you would have to narrow it down and state to which interpretation of the Bible are you referring to and according to those that believe in this interpretation why not believe in ghosts, hauntings etc.

Now, I am not a superstitious man hence I don’t believe in supernatural creatures. But if I was to attempt to explain the belief of primitive people in supernatural creatures, their belief in one type and not the other, it would likely go like this:

The belief in the supernatural, the concept of an afterlife, is a way for people to reconcile two distinctly contradictory facets of being human. First, being animals (albeit intelligent) we are in a very large part governed by our first instinct, that of self preservation. Second, since we are intelligent we realize that all animals die, so, we must too. The belief in an afterlife for us and all of it's ramifications, a god, a place for that god to live -heaven- a counter god and his dwelling etc (all together a religion) is simply a way to reconcile by explanation this two opposing traits of our humanity, you see, we die but not really.

The concept of religion was the greatest leap forward for mankind ever. It was a valiant attempt at explaining our surroundings, ourselves and reconciling our intellect with our instincts, the best
our primitive ancestors could came up with. It has an incredible mental leap for them, considering they were animals not too long before they started believing in an afterlife. Today we have explained most of our surroundings and we are educated, yet some of us choose to believe in an afterlife via their religion because it is something they are comfortable with and most are simply not willing to face reality. However in time our society will be educated enough and most
importantly mature enough to be willing to face reality and relegate the belief in the supernatural to that of their primitive ancestors (us). I imagine they will view us and our beliefs in an afterlife much in the same way we view our ancestors who believed the wind, fire and lightning were all manifestations of Gods, or the ones that were a little more educated and believed that the Sun and the planets were Gods, or the ones that were a little more educated and believed that God is an invisible Flying Spaghetti Monster... ohh no wait that is us... ;-)

Anyways, if they were to believe in ghosts and hauntings it would imply that they themselves could somehow become ‘trapped’ in this horrible situation were they could become the ghost doing the haunting. Since religion provides them an escape from finality of their existence, making that eternal existence a damnation would be contrary to their interests, and so they conveniently discard the possibility. After all it exists in their mind for their benefit here and now.

I believe that if we continue our technological pace forward, someday all religions will be mythological history. If instead we move backwards and teach our children to believe in supernatural creatures then religions such as Voodoo, Christianity, Wican and many more will be around in one form or another. Although among us we now have enlightened people the vast majority of us are still primitive humans that believe in these supernatural creatures, so ‘we’ are a primitive species still.

Answer 2

"Holy Ghost" is a King James era translation for what we now refer to as the "Holy Spirit". Is the same reason "thou" was used to refer to what we know today as "you".

So it is a matter of symantics. In French, the word "heaven" is the same term as the one used for "sky" - their language simply does not make a distinction between the two.

In American culture, we tend to associate "ghost" with Halloween more than the richer definitions it was originally associated with. So the issue seems to be not so much whether we believe in "ghosts" per se, but whether we believe in the existance of the Spiritual world - living things that do not posess physical bodies. And I believe most people who believe in God will acknowledge their existance.

Answer 3

I believe in the Holy Ghost - so I guess I do believe in Ghosts - i don't fully understand all the Ghost stories, excluding the Bible, but on television, the Ghost stories are creepy. I guess everyone will know if Ghosts are real or not when the time comes to know... -- in Heaven

Answer 4

Luk 8:12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. Luk 8:13 They on the rock [are they], which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. Luk 8:14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of [this] life, and bring no fruit to perfection. Luk 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep [it], and bring forth fruit with patience.

Answer 5

When the Holy Spirit is used in the scripture, it is a reference to the Spirit that you receive when you believe that The Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins. When you see the Holy Ghost it is a reference to the person of God the Holy Spirit the third part of the God head. and example of this is when the Holy Ghost is the one that kills Ananias and the Holy Ghost is God. Acts 5: 3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Acts 5: 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. Sorry that you believe in ghost but they are no ghost on the Holy Ghost.

Answer 6

If there's a Holy Ghost, then there should be unholy or 'regular' ghosts, don't you think so? I believe we are different to other animals because we have a 'spirit' or 'soul' or 'ghost'. When someone dies, his/her soul goes to heaven or... yes, hell. However, some souls may get lost, just like we get lost in our city.
I believe in God, however I don't live by the Bible. I learn from the Bible to live in harmony with everybody else.
Many religions don't offer answers to ouyr questions, that's why I think that the best religion lies always within yourself.

Answer 7

Nope. The only ghost I believe in is The Ghost of Christmas Past. You really do ramble on alot. I feel sorry for your husband.

Answer 8

I believe spirits do exist and they are often known as ghost. But not all ghost haunt or are evil.

Answer 9

Blaspheming the Holy Ghost is the only un forgiven sin.

Answer 10

I believe in both, though it is the shed blood of Jesus over one's life that makes the difference between cursing and blessing.

We are saved by Grace through faith.

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Answer 11

Because "ghost" is a mistranslation. The proper word is "spirit".