Are all ghosts evil? & if not can some be "saved"?

[MistressOfTheShadows]

My fiance who was raised in a strongly religious Baptist upbringing believes that ALL "ghosts" are unclean spirits or demons trying to trick people, based on biblical teachings, and also believes that a spirit cannot posses a person who has been properly saved by belief in salvation by Christ alone and not by works or other means.

I was raised in a very weakly religious Methodist upbringing without really going to church that consistently or reading the bible regularly and have been a fan of shows like Ghost Adventures, Ghost Hunters/Ghost Hunters International & Long Island Medium as well as anime like Shaman King, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Bleach and fictional shows like "Being Human" (where a ghost, a werewolf and a vampire are room-mates) for a while and interested in nearly to the point of dabbling in the occult somewhat for a while... so I have developed different beliefs.

I tend to mince beliefs a bit about the afterlife, I believe that saved people go to heaven and those who do not believe in Jesus go to hell and that everyone who dies will eventually end up in one of those places or the other, but I believe that if a person dies a very sudden and traumatic death without realizing they died, or dies with too much attachment to the world such as unfinished business or strong attachment to a person (threw love or a grudge), or to a place or thing (which may be why the bible warns against attachment to worldly things) they can remain trapped on earth without a physical body until they are convinced that they are dead, the issue is resolved, or they are convinced that it is worth letting go of to cross over and move on.

We argue somewhat about our differences of opinion when we're watching shows like that, or horror movies about "hauntings" (like Haunting In Connecticut) and have even argued about it in a dream just last night. In my dream I was walking with him and I saw a girl sitting by the side of the road crying about being lost and looking for her mommy and daddy and siblings and when I got closer to her she was transparent and I told her maybe I could help her find mommy and daddy, but my fiance said "come along now, don't talk to spirits" and I said "but I wanna help" and he said "You can't help them" and I said "but maybe I CAN!" and he said "Don't talk to spirits, they might be evil and they could hurt you.." and I said "but I want to help!" and then he just said "No." and squeezed my hand and dragged me away crying and squirming... and when I told him about the dream he said he'd have done and said the same thing in real life.

I want to believe him enough to get along with him and dislike arguing with him on the matter, but I have had dreams in which I have seen and petted departed pets, I've woken up in a state of sleep paralysis to find ghost cats in my room, I have heard my parents tell me dreams of talking with their dead relatives and intuitively feel my instincts are right in believing there may be some ghost out there who simply need help and I think that I might have a gift that I could use that could go to waste... but I don't know if I should or if I'm likely to invite evil spirits into my home that could attack us or harm us in some way if I'm wrong and get too careless... but what do you think?

Are all ghost evil unclean spirits or demons or are some good or neutral lost souls? Why or why not? What are your personal beliefs and or experiences? And what would you do if a ghost asked you for help? Also do you believe animals have souls? I think that they do and have their own lesser version of heaven near ours where they can be visited. On another note, do you think ghosts might have a 2nd chance at "salvation" after they have died if someone who can talk to them "witnesses to them" before convincing them to move on? Cuz if so I'd be tempted to try reading the bible to a ghost to show them how to trust Jesus and say a prayer asking him to forgive them of sin and come into their heart and save them... Do you think that would be a good idea? I think it might be cuz if it's evil it will be scared off, but if it's good and just needs help maybe it would pray with me and then go right to heaven after the instant it's saved since it doesn't have a body! ^_^ + if my fiance's right about being saved being protection it couldn't jump into me for trying to exorcise it.  

[MistressOfTheShadows]

On a related note, how would you react if you found yourself wandering around lost, confused and unable to touch anything, passing threw walls and solid objects, unable to find a person who could see or hear you and you finally found someone who could and they said "Hey don't be scared, I can see you. This may come as a shock to you, but you no longer have a physical body because you died somehow, but I can help you cross over and make sure you go to the right place if you listen to me and do as I say. Would you like me to help you get out of this place and go somewhere better?" and then when you said "yes" they pulled out a bible and said "There's a man named Jesus Christ who is the Son of God who was sent here to walk among us in human form and save us from our sins. To do this, He took all our sins upon himself and died on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice to save us all from all sins, past, present and future. For we are all sinners who deserve to go to hell including you, and no amount of good works can undo our sins so there's no point in you staying here, only faith in God can save you. After dying Jesus rose from the dead and went to heaven to prepare a place for you, and if you believe that He died to save you and except His salvation you can leave this world and go to a beautiful place called heaven where he has that place for you where you will have a new body better then the one you had when you were alive and live in a mansion made of gold with everything you ever wanted if you just say this prayer and believe in it: 'God, thank you for loving me, I confess that I have sinned against you and deserve to be in hell right now instead of here, I believe that Your Son Jesus died on a cross to pay for my sins, and that You raised Jesus from the dead. I now put my faith only in Jesus to forgive me and save me from my sins and take me to heaven instead. I confess that Jesus is Lord. I thank you for Your gift of eternal life which I am now ready to receive. Come and save my soul now, I pray in Jesus name amen.'"? Would you be overjoyed and grateful and figure what the heck it's worth a try and pray with them in your disembodied voice and then get angry if you didn't get whisked off to heaven, or would you be reluctant and think this person's a religious nut-job and decide to do something like disappear, pretend you couldn't hear them, haunt their house, attack them or try to posses them?  

[rmcdra]

Sorry for my delayed response to address your questions, I will be sharing my point of view.

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Are all ghost evil unclean spirits or demons or are some good or neutral lost souls? Why or why not?

I'd say that some spirits are good and some are evil. It depends on testing. 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Technically in from a Hebrew understanding any spirit of a person who died would be unclean. That doesn't mean they are evil, just that they are ritually unclean and those who come in contact with them become unclean as well.

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What are your personal beliefs and or experiences?

I believe that ghosts are basically remnants of our mind after we pass away. They may or may not contain a spirit in them but for the most part they probably don't. It's like if you put a CD in a faulty player and it left a scar on the CD. The scar would be a ghost and the CD would be where the ghost resided at one point. Granted I've never seen a ghost or spirit so do take my understanding with a grain of salt. I could very well be wrong on this opinion.

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And what would you do if a ghost asked you for help?

Depends on what was being asked.

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Also do you believe animals have souls?

Why not?

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On another note, do you think ghosts might have a 2nd chance at "salvation" after they have died if someone who can talk to them "witnesses to them" before convincing them to move on? Cuz if so I'd be tempted to try reading the bible to a ghost to show them how to trust Jesus and say a prayer asking him to forgive them of sin and come into their heart and save them... Do you think that would be a good idea?

Our plan of salvation was made for us who were living. There could be a plan for salvation for ghosts but we aren't aware of it. Though this assumes that ghosts actually have a spirit that can be saved and not just some sort of left over "last thought" of the person who died.

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I think it might be cuz if it's evil it will be scared off, but if it's good and just needs help maybe it would pray with me and then go right to heaven after the instant it's saved since it doesn't have a body! ^_^ + if my fiance's right about being saved being protection it couldn't jump into me for trying to exorcise it.

I hate to be that person, but "being saved" doesn't grant you supernatural protection. Being saved is not a one time deal but a continuous process that goes on in a person's life that eventually reunites you with our heavenly Mother-Father. When you have seen the light you do get imparted with special gifts but they are different and not everyone gets the same gifts. One of those gifts include the discerning of spirits but again not everyone gets this gift. There's a reason you hear about charms and other sorts of things of that sort because dealing with spirits can be messy especially if you do not know where they come from. I'm not going to tell you not to do it because you are your own person but do some critical research on this subject if you are going to pursue this. Do not go with information just because it's something that you agree with or because someone claims authority and provides no way to demonstrate this alleged authority. Be reasonable. If it sounds like it's a load of crap, then it probably is.

As to your last question. If I was a ghost and someone asked me to accept Christ to move on, I'd give a shot. I don't think I'd have anything better to do. Being dead frees up a lot of time.  

[Eltanin Sadachbia]

I have seen some stuff. Allot actually, and so have other members of my family. I don't know why, and none of us dare to really explain any of it, but we do discuss it.

I always see shadow cats. That is something that has stayed with me no matter where I have moved or lived. I see them more often in the home that I grew up in though.

I have seen an apparition, that would travel the same path, down the same hill, about the same time of day. Never a deviation, no interaction. It was like watching a video, or something. I would say that it would be a residual impression of someone who had really done that at some point, if I had to venture a guess at what it was.

In the house I grew up in, my brothers and I could tell a door to open or close, and it would do so. In our bedroom, we had a touchlamp that we could tell to turn on and off and it would. We would even show our friends and they would be able to do it too. Whatever explanation that was, I couldn't tell you. I just know that we interacted with it, and it never was malevolent with us.

At night, I would see a glowing figure. I remember the first time I saw it. I thought my big brother was playing a trick on me. He had gotten some glow cream from Halloween, and he showed it to me a couple weeks before. I thought he had smeared the stuff all over him and his clothes, but when I called on him that night, he was in bed, and the figure I saw was no where near his bed. He got up to turn on the light, and nothing was where I saw the figure. When he turned the light off, I could see the figure moving around in the area I first saw it in. My brother sat on the bed trying to see it, but he couldn't. But when he asked it to move something, it knocked stuff off of the table that it was hanging out by. It freaked my brother out, and the next day he was outside burning all of his heavy metal cassette tapes (That was a big deal back then). LOL

I never felt threatened by the glowing figure, and I saw it several times growing up.

There are several other experiences that I have had, but almost all of them have happened on the hills immediately around my childhood home (which I have just moved back into with my parents). My parents built this house, and nothing traumatic has ever happened here. My parents are very Christian. I can't say with certainty that my experiences are cause by ghosts.

I do know that the hills here were the site of an Indian graveyard, and also a Civil War battle happened here and a mass grave from that battle is on the East side of the hill my parents built on top of. This hill is also a single large limestone rock, which for some reason seems to be a big deal for the paranormal hobbyists around here. Maybe there is something to it. IDK

I also know the presence of a demon, and I don't say this lightly by any means. Normally when someone says demon, I stand the part of skeptic. Not because I don't believe, but because too many people want to shirk their own responsibility and claim they have no free will... But I saw a woman taken over in Mexico. She was a small woman who had recovered wrong from a broken back. She was a chaperone for our trip, and I knew her well enough to know what she was capable of. When you see a woman who is not capable of lifting more than 10 pounds pick up another grown woman, and push her across the room you know something is wrong. When she starts defecating on herself and threatening things against her own daughter that a serial criminal wouldn't come up with, when they prayer warriors moved in, you start considering that you might be seeing the real deal. And although the electricity leaves a bit to be desired in the interior of Mexico, some things you realize, might be a little more than coincidence.

I also had an experience where I believe that a couple of angels helped me. I was broken down on the side of the road, nowhere near anything. No houses for miles even- At sunset- in a very sketchy area I had to drive through. Nearly an hour from home. Straight stretch of road, in a very flat plain... No cars... Before cell phones were affordable for most people (aka I didn't have one and most people didn't)...

I was standing outside my truck contemplating which direction I should start walking, I looked down one direction, then I look down the next, and when I turned back the first direction, there was an SUV with a near-retirement aged couple pulling up. I didn't take 20 seconds between looks, and this was a very straight stretch of road, there is no possible way I could have missed a vehicle approaching in the distance, let alone one close enough to stop. I would have even heard it...
Anyways, this couple stopped, asked me where I was going. I told them they wouldn't even know the name of the place. They then said they had a bit of a drive yet, they then proceeded to tell me they were headed to the small town just past where I lived...
I told them I was amazed that they even knew where that was, and then they proceeded to tell me that they were actually going the small village that I actually lived in... they said that they were going to catalog some tombstones from the couple of cemeteries that are around there, and then they named the old slave cemetery/civil war mass grave that is on the hill my house is on...
I was amazed and let them know that was where I lived, but I couldn't just leave my truck, but if the could call my parents when they got to the town, and let them know where I was so they could get me, I would appreciate it. That was when they pulled out the cell phone!
They stayed and visited with me for awhile, the man was pretty concerned when two trucks passed by loaded down with rednecks. He waited for them to get out of site, and when the woman told him that they weren't coming back he started the SUV back up. They asked me once more if I felt that I was alright, and when I said that it might not be readily apparent, but I had better protection than the shotgun behind my seat, the old man laughed and winked at me, and said good bye. I got back in my truck, but they had disappeared before I had closed the door...

I know that there is more to the spirit world than we are taught in Christianity. From my own experience, I have to say that I don't believe that all of it is evil.I don't think all of what we see even has a will or intelligence, but I know that some of it does. I know there are more spirits than just angels and demons. How they play in the whole scheme of things is only anyone's guess because it isn't really laid out for us.

I think it is a neat subject to speculate on; I have all kinds of theories myself, but I can't say that I KNOW anything.

I think that if, by some strange instance, a spirit asked me for help, and I was under the conviction that it was the essence is some shape or fashion of a human being, I would trust God to protect me, and I would try to help, because isn't our Spirit and our Soul more important than our flesh? Our flesh is the least of us, or at least that was how I was taught. If a disembodied person, asked me for help, I would do what I could through the love of Christ. I am not sure what it would be, but if a prayer would work, I would be more than willing to offer it.

I believe animals have spirits... I remember the the passage that referrs to even the trees giving God praise... The Soul, as I was taught, is the culmination of emotions, will, and spirit... and according to that teaching a spirit is only part of the soul... I know some animals have emotions, and wants... I am not sure that their wants are really a totality of free will, but I still believe that they have spirit... Maybe it is the totality that completes the soul that sets us apart from animals. Yet, we are given examples of animals in Heaven, so I think that there is a very good possibility that animals do go to heaven.

I have had enough experiences to earn me a very healthy respect for the occult, but I don't practice seances, or anything that might invite spiritual activity into my life. I believe in the Holy Spirit and I trust God to allow and disallow activity as He sees fit. Have I been tempted to experiment... I would be lying if I said no. I have enough to keep up with, without complications and consequences made by actions taken through half/mis-understood concepts.

I have some beliefs that are heretical by mainstream church standards, but when it comes down to it, all Christians' calling is to love, and Jesus' teaching of how to love is what defines our Christian walk. You and your boyfriend are different people with different perspectives, and there will always be things that you don't see eye-to-eye on, and that goes beyond faith.

I am not going to go into Hell, and chances at salvation... For me that is a totally different thread, and also because of my non-mainstream faith, I would have too much to explain here, and I think I have already TLDR'ed.

There is a difference between discussion and argument, and discussion is healthy, but argument is hurtful. When you enter a discussion, you should do so with the knowledge that you aren't going to change anyone's mind. It is okay to disagree. Your knowledge or ignorance of the afterlife is not going to damn you. No Christian is saved by fear of the afterlife, and belief in Heaven and Hell isn't why we follow Jesus' teaching. So, with that understanding, you enter any discussion (even religious or political) with the intent to understand where others are coming from, not to make them see where you are coming from... If you keep that in mind, you should be able to talk to anyone about anything, and eventually, they may learn to talk to you for the purpose of seeing where you come from instead of trying to make you see where they come from.

Anyways, Sorry for such a long post, but since I only have opportunity to get on here once or twice a week, I may have overcompensated. LOL
(Maybe I should make chapters) rolleyes  

[Victoria of Gallifrey]

heart With God, all things are possible. We are not the authority to say whether someone can or cannot be saved. The most righteous and faithful of believers have been berated by the church to later becomes saints, and the most revered of followers can later be revealed to evil deceivers. We can only see so much with our own hearts and eyes.

Any with a will of its own may yield to the message of love and Christ and be freed from the bonds od damnation.

This is also why it drives me crazy that people think anyone is going to hell because of any number of sins. The sins are irrelevant in this case, as we all sin. It is solely a matter of whether we accept that love in our hearts that enables us to transcend.  

[Matt Pniewski]

First off- I don't believe in Ghosts. Many years ago, I did, but years of Ghost hunting has left me all to aware that every haunting I've encountered has a logical explanation, and that the methods used to determine whether or not a place is haunted is extremely unscientific. People give names and identities to things they don't quite understand. I mean, last time I was on Gaia Online I'd probably be saying something completely different.

But I won't criticize people for believing in such things. I did, once, and I still understand why I reached the conclusions that I did. But, we still can't be sure that ghosts exist, so how can we even begin to speculate on their nature? It would be problematic, at least for me, to say they are beyond any sort of salvation, because we know so little about their nature anyway.

Many theories that came up in my Ghost Hunting days referred to Ghosts as being psychic imprints rather than thinking entities. Or perhaps left over energy. This isn't exactly the same as a doomed person wandering for all eternity. So, to be even able to claim whether or not they can achieve Salvation, we should first wonder if it is even applicable.