ghosts, spirits, demons etc. what do you believe?

[1littlebit]

i was just wondering if people believed in these things. i have always sort of believed in ghosts or spirits but i am not sure about demons.. and i am sure there are other things i havent thought of

we are watching supernatural which made me think of this... but it is something i have always been interested.

what does your religion say about this kind of thing? which religions have beliefs about these things?

how much of what you believe about this type of thing is influenced by your religion and how much is just a personal thing?

possession. is it possible? are exorcisms possible?

i have a very good friend who is also a priest and feels strongly that there are demons and possessions and exorcisms that are effective. he is a very smart and reasonable man and i do trust his judgement... so i was sort of wondering what everyone else thinks.

i'm not catholic..i'm agnostic so while i feel there is probably a higher power i don't know for sure and i am good with that. i think it is just as possible that there are demons, ghosts etc...

hopefully you all don't think i'm nuts

[1littlebit]

nobody has any thoughts? i hope im not the only one who thinks about this stuff.

[MayBaby2007]

Most of what I believe is adopted from Greek Orthadox. (Though I must say, everything I believe, dd's dad has told me....so if this is all wrong concerning Greek Orthadox, it's only what I've been told).

I believe they all exsist--ghosts,spirits,demons. They are everywhere all the time.

I also believe possessions are possible.....because I'm convinced my mother is possessed by the devil. No joke. I have holy water at my house and I'm so tempted to throw it on her because I'm almost sure she'd burst into flames. Again...no joke, although it is funny

I believe that demons will haunt you if you invite them into your life. If you mess around with a wigi (sp?) board, if you do evil things, etc. I've had several eerie things happen to me. Each have scared the crap out of me. Most of them have been at my job in the wee hours of the night. I believe that the eerie-things were brought to my job, following someone. I had a couple of eerie things at my house when I was a teenager. I clinch my bible and pray....about the only thing I know to do. I let the evil spirits know that they are NOT welcome and to leave me alone.

I believe that demons haunt people, not places. An old house where someone died cannot be haunted. But a person who meddles with evil doings can. That one magician--Chris someone--he's always on the street showing off his magic, floating in the air, etc. I believe he is evil. I believe the demons are holding him in the air like he's "floating". Bad vibes suround me when I watch that show---like I'm inviting them into my life by watching. I don't watch that crap anymore.

And even though I don't "invite" demons into my life, I get them sometimes. I get that "feeling" late at night, lying in bed. Demons will never stop trying to bring you to the dark side. It's up to you (in general) to tell them they're NOT invited. When I get that bad feeling, I hold my bible and repeat a certain bible verse. I also have Holy Water I keep in my bedroom for if i get another bad feeling. I haven't had one of those bad feelings in a long time....but when they come I'm prepared. (When St. Louis had the earthquake last year, I thought my house was possessed. I was so scared I couldn't get out of bed! I just prayed and prayed until I went back to sleep, ha ha ha).

I also don't believe in psyhics (sorry...I know there are a lot of psychic mama's here). I believe in evil. Any demon can tell you what your past is. Nobody can tell you your future. A demon could tell any "psychic" mother on this board about my past....but they can't tell you what I'll do tomorrow. When I was a kid, I called a 900 psychic number. The lady had me astonished with all that she knew.....all the things I had already done. She was very vague when I asked about future things. (That's what I believe, no offense to others' beliefs).

I also believe that good spirits don't linger around. Good people go to heaven. Period. They don't hang around trying to solve the mystery of who killed them (or whatever)....and they don't haunt people. Demons can make themselves look like a deceased love one and fool you with trickery though.

I've had one specific incident of an angel I can remember. (Many more, I'm sure...but this was undoubtedly an angel). I actually felt a hand on my shoulder (and this probably sounds crazy ), but this feeling of warmth and "it's going to be okay" consumed my body. It was really something...and I have to believe it was an angel....or God himself. It was a time when I really needed help. A dark time. And a hand really did touch my shoulder. If nothing else, it gave me hope....and proved to me that angels/God does exsist.

[1littlebit]

thats really interesting. i always love hearing about this side of religious beliefs. we talk about god and such all the time but most religions have demons and such too!

i don't know how i feel about Ouija boards ... when i was in middle school we messed around with them a couple times. we tried to do seances and such. which seems like an incredibly stupid idea in retrospect. if we don't know for sure why ask for trouble. ugh. hindsight and all.

[Aeress]

Evil is such a difficult idea, belief and thing to me.

I believe there are beings, spirits and ghosts that walk the earth.

I don't believe in the devil though.

I should mention that I am pagan.

[1littlebit]

the devil is more of a christian thing isn't it? so not part of your belief system i imagine. i do not believe in the devil either.

spirits and such i believe i think... maybe evil spirits or demons... not sure how i feel about something being pure evil.

lol i am not sure of anything am i?

[cappuccinosmom]

I believe there is a spiritual world, one that we don't normally see but that does affect us.

Since I believe the Bible is the word of God, I believe demon possession is possible. Jesus cast some out himself.

I do not, however, see a goblin in every corner. I know some people who were like that, constantly "casting out" demons of all sorts and to me it kind of takes away human responsibility and just a basic understanding that this world is flawed. I don't have a "demon of gluttony". I eat to much, therefore I'm fat. No amount of "casting out" will make me skinny.

One of my favorite stories is of a dear, dear friend of our family. When he was a Mennonite pastor back in the early 80's, he rejected the notion of demon possession being a reality today. But he was counseling a woman who wondered if some of her problems were due to demon possession. He told her he didn't believe so. But after much insistence, he finally said "Well, you know I don't believe this is demonic. But if it would help you feel better, I will pray in Jesus' name that you be released from whatever is oppressing you". And he did. Wouldn't you know, she fell off the chair and it became extremely scary and Exorcist like. It wasn't like a mentally ill person *thinking* she was possessed and acting on it. This pastor was a thoughtful man of reason, and a well seasoned pastor as well. He is not prone to fads and flights of fancy.
She wasn't just acting demon possessed, he was *experiencing* something incredibly dark himself. He never experienced anything like that before, or after. It convinced him that demon possession can happen, and it's a scary thing, though he still doesn't think it's ubiquitous.

[Bluegoat]

I think that there are angels, and demons. I am not sure about ghosts. I would say Satan and other demons are simply angels who chose to reject God. So both are an immaterial creature, of unceasing mental activity.

I think they can get involved in people's lives, but I don't know how. I don't feel like I have ever experienced this in an obvious way, but perhaps they might be sneaky. I've never seen a possessed person, and I don't know that it is common.

I tend to agree with C.S. Lewis, who says it is equally a mistake for Christians to discount demons entirely, or to think too much about them.

[mamabadger]

According to my church, demons are fallen angels. We believe other intelligent beings "in the image and likeness of God" (having a soul) were created besides humans, and those are the many types or orders of angels. An angel which has rejected God and chosen evil is called a demon; they are not a separate category of creature.

not sure how i feel about something being pure evil.

Demons are not "pure evil" but they are greater, know more, and can do more than human beings; therefore once they choose evil, their capacity for evil is less limited. An example I once read said that the idea of an evil mosquito is meaningless; an evil dog, we can imagine to some extent, but it can never attain anything we would seriously call "evil"; a human being is capable of being truly evil; and an evil angel, almost without limits on its strength and intelligence, immortal and therefore able to let its evil tendencies grow indefinitely, can reach a level of malevolence beyond anything people can imagine.

[Ditto]

I don't know what I believe personally, but my girlfriend sees spirits sometimes. Her grandmother (passed) used to visit her occasionally. On 3 occasions I felt her there also, I know that it happened. I'm a skeptic, but I can't deny that. Last night though my GF saw a scary/evil spirit, which she's never encountered before. She was scared and didn't know what to do, I held her and tried to stay calm. Eventually she asked her grandma to make him go away and he did. By talking through it today and thinking about it we think we know who it might have been. I would be fine with him never coming back! I don't "get" all of this though, I would prefer to live in ignorance of the whole spirit realm.

[battymama]

I am pagan and i think all are possible, demons hmmm i am not sure i would call them demons though, although not sure what i would call them there are definatly some negative or bad spirits and beings around.