2007-04-20 13:06:18 · 6 answers · asked by Steve 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
+ Ghosts +
To the best of my knowledge the Catholic Church has no official position on ghosts. The doctrine of heaven and hell would seem to negate any reason for ghosts to be the souls of dead people.
However paranormal phenomena seems to exist. These phenomena may come from sources other than the souls of people in heaven, hell, or purgatory. We simply do not know.
The Church is very suspicious of people who claim to talk to ghosts.
+ Limbo +
The Church has pondered the suggestion of Limbo for a few hundred years and has decided that it is not a good idea. Limbo was never official doctrine.
Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved." (Mark 16:15-16)
For centuries, people have wondered about children who died before they were baptized. The Bible does not explicitly state that they will go to heaven.
Limbo was suggested as the place where unbaptized babies went when they died. This idea was never official Church doctrine and has been rejected.
The Church now says that it is not sure what happens to unbaptized babies when they die but she entrusts them to the mercy of God.
http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2.htm#1261
+ Purgatory +
Are you perfect now? Most people would say no.
Will you be perfect in heaven? Most people believe yes.
Purgatory (or purgation) is the process of God's love changing our imperfect selves into perfect beings.
Depending on the amount of change needed by different people this can be an easy or slightly harder process.
Everyone in purgatory is on their way to heaven.
I don't think Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time of it.
http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art12.htm#1030
+ With love in Christ.
2007-04-21 07:07:48 · answer #1 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, I don't believe so. I think they are souls that have stayed around here on Earth for a number of reasons, such as they don't know they're dead, or they do and they just like it here, maybe they missed the opportunity to 'cross over' or possibly they are afraid to move on, either because of religious or personal beliefs. This webpage has lots of info on ghosts and spirits and the like:
http://www.moonslipper.com/ghosts.html
2007-04-21 00:04:32 · answer #2 · answered by siobhan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to Vedic philosophy ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_scriptures ) when the body ages and dies, the soul travels on to its next destination, which is determined by the state of consciousness of the soul at the time of death and the person's activities in life. It can be either the hellish planets, heavenly planets, reincarnation in another body on Earth, or going back to the spiritual world. However those who prematurely end their life by suicide stay in a subtle form of a ghost and disturb those around them, being full of desires but not having a gross body to fulfill them. Let me know if you need some more information on this :)
2007-04-20 14:22:23 · answer #3 · answered by Sadhaka 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ghosts are not human.
Theyre spirits and are of a different consistency and nature than humans.
2007-04-20 13:14:53 · answer #4 · answered by Antares 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There's no such thing as ghosts.
2007-04-20 13:11:41 · answer #5 · answered by carebear 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When people die they don't go anywhere. those are evil spirits to scare people.
2007-04-20 13:13:05 · answer #6 · answered by SEOplanNOW.com 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋