A Christian Goes Ghost hunting
Introduction: Do Christians Believe in Ghosts?
In late June 2013 I went on my first ever (official) “ghost hunt” with a friend at Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, KY – a location famed for ghost sightings. I learned a lot about the techniques and equipment involved (examples), and while we did not encounter anything too out of the ordinary, it was a cool old building and I enjoyed the Urban Exploration aspect.
On the way there we got into a discussion of what we would think if we did encounter anything, and I discovered that I was really not sure what I would think. I have found that most Christians default to disbelief in ghosts, and so will either write off ghost stories as natural phenomenon mistaken for something paranormal, or, failing an adequate natural explanation, blame the encounter on demonic activity. But are these the only two options for Christians?
As I reflected on the nature of ghosts (which I basically defined as immaterial human persons residing on Earth), I had a more difficult time accepting the “default” position than I expected. Christians certainly believe in non-material persons (God, angels, and bare human souls would all qualify), so the mere existence of disembodied persons should not be a problem. The issue, I decided, was that these persons should not be roaming around among the living. This is because the Christian view of the afterlife is that upon death the immaterial soul separates from the material body and either comes to be in the presence of God (in Heaven), or is consigned to to some non-Heavenly state (in Hades, Hell, or Purgatory) until the Final Judgment.
