science and spirits - class presentation

8/8/2019 Science and Spirits - Class Presentation

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CALVIN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

SCIENCE AND SPIRITS IN GODS REVELATION

A RESEARCH PAPER

PRESENTED TO:

PROF. MARY L. VANDENBERG

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF:

ST. 564T INTERSECTION OF THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE

BY:

DAVID S. FACHANO (9002125)

DATE: APRIL 28, 2010


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SCIENCE AND SPIRITS IN GODS REVELATION

Thesis: In as much as science cannot prove the existence of spirits, that does not mean spirits do

not exist. The existence of spirits/ghosts and demons is a reality. The knowledge of this will help

contemporary society and Christians in particular to live up to their full potential and glorify God

for His power.

INTRODUCTION

The world is often bombarded by issues about spirits, ghosts, and demons. Many cautious

people ask: are these things real? Do scientists believe in the existence of spirits and the spirit

world? National newspapers, television, radio, and movies have a lot to say about the concept of

spirits and the activities of ghosts. Television programs with mediums who claim to

communicate with the spirit world or sprits of the dead are becoming more popular.1

Many

members of African communities strongly believe in the existence and activities of ghosts,

demons and evil spirits.2

In this scientific and technological era, it is obvious that more interest

has been given to scientific subjects. However, correct information about the reality of spirits and

that of the spirit world would be helpful as another means of sparing peoples lives and securing

their well-being.

In light of the aforementioned, A.O. Kime, using metaphysics, admits the reality of the

spirit world and attempts to define or describe the spirit world as thus:

1Jim Hopkins, Spirits and the Spirit Possession Search Magazine, http://www.searchmagazine.org

(Consulted march 12th 2010).

2This is a fact that comes out of personal experience. I am an African (from Nigeria) and have had a lot of

such experiences. For More information about this, see Gerrit Brand, Witchcraft and Spirit Beliefs in African

Christian Theology Exchange 31 No.1, 2002 p.38.


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To describe the spirit world would seem an impossible task for a mortalit does notseem of earthly origin and is such a mystical place, seemingly full of ghosts, angels and

spirits. This strange place as if a world of dreams, also seems responsible for all theunexplained phenomena and miracles which occur. It is a place without substance and we

are told where God surely dwells.3

Of all the things believed to exist, belief in the spirit world is so far removed from human ability

it is difficult to make sense of it. It appears so alien that the reason for its existence is baffling.

The spirits are understandably removed from our ability to logically comprehend them. That

explains the reason why it is most often dismissed as fantasy. Most atheistic scientists disagree

with the belief in the existence of spirits, ghosts, and the spirit world.4

For such a group of

scientists, there needs to be proof or evidence that is very convincing before they can accept the

reality of the existence of the spirit world. Gary Novak, an independent scientist favors the

existence of spirits5

and presents seven proofs, which will be explored later.

From a scriptural perspective, the term ghost most commonly refers to a dead person who

haunts or simply appears before the living, sometimes with a message or a warning. The Hebrew

Scripture has references to spirits or ghosts. The prophet Isaiah condemned the consultation of

mediums and wizards who chirp and mutter (Isa.8:19). Isaiah forbids this practice, though he had

a vivid illustration in the story of the medium of Endor, who was consulted by Saul. She was

believed to have raised the dead prophet Samuel out of the earth saying An old man comes up

and he is covered with a robe (1Sam.28:14). Samuel was not a haunting ghost, even though he

brought a fatal warning for Saul.6

3 A.O. Kime, Understanding the Spirit World(Revised 2nd edition) January, 2005.

http://www.matrixbookstore.biz/spirit_world.htm (Consulted March 14th 2010).

4Gary Novak, The Truth about the Spirit World, http://nov55.com/spw.html (consulted march 12, 2010).

5 Gary Novak, The Truth about the Spirit World, http://nov55.com/spw.html


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In Psalm 88:12, the grave is called the land of forgetfulness and later Judas Maccabaeus

makes sacrifices to free the dead from their sins (2Macc.12:45). In the apocryphal Wisdom of

Solomon (17:15), lawless men are said to be troubled in their sleep by specter apparitions and

phantoms.

What about natural science? Does it have anything to offer on this subject? As mentioned

earlier, scientists maintain that if the spirit world exists, by its very nature it will not be

composed of matter or atoms. The scientific community has little or nothing to say about things

that cannot be seen under a microscope, through a telescope, or examined in a laboratory.

Scientists admit that they deal best with the physical world and are highly skeptical of anything

within the spiritual realm.7

Though science cannot prove the existence of spirits, that does not mean spirits do not

exist. The existence of ghosts and the spirit world is very real. It is the goal of this paper to

establish the existence of spirits even though it cannot be proven by scientific means. To this

point, the works of certain scholars will be examined, both religious and scientific, to find out

what they have to say about the existence of the spirit world and that of life after death. This

search will be done in light of scripture as Gods special revelation and from the aspect of

physical creation as Gods general revelation, in order to draw inferences as to the existence of

spirits and the spirit world. The sincere hope is that the knowledge of the reality of the spirit

world will help contemporary society to live up to their full potential and give God the glory for

His power. To achieve this goal, the following points will be discussed:

I. Etymology and Mythology of Spirits

6Geoffrey Parrinder, GhostEncyclopedia of Religion 2

ndedtion. (Detroit: Thompson Gale, 2005), 3475.

7 Novak, The Truth About the Spirit World, http://nov55.com/spw.html


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II. Science and the Spirit World

III. Spirit Possession and Exorcism

IV. Life after Death

ETYMOLOGY AND MYTHOLOGY OF SPIRITS

The word spirit is rooted in several Semitic languages carrying different concepts with

a similar allusion. It is the translation of the Hebrew ruach and nephesh. The Hebrew nephesh

means soul, or a living being, or life, while ruach means wind, air, breath, or spirit. Both words

are used interchangeably in the Bible and in theology.8 From Greek, the wordpneuma is

translated wind or spirit and the wordpsyche is translated as soul or personality.9

These terms are

used considerably less, but ruach carries the same weight referring to the breath of God, the wind

that blows across, or the breath of humans. Moreover, the subject of breath and other related

notions as those of spirit have been associated with the soul.10

Great thinkers see a strong connection between air, wind, and breath as a way to define

the soul. Two qualities that were identified with the soul are movement and knowledge.11

The

individual human soul is commonly designated by the term nephesh. This is in connection with

the Akkadian nafashu expand. It is more often the concrete sign of life, the breathing substance,

and the soul, or the inner being of a man or a woman. This explicitly makes the distinction

between living and nonliving things. Though both humans and animals have the breathing

8 Hermann Kleinknecht, Munster. SpiritTheological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed.

Gerhard Friedrich, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1968), 345.

9Kleinknecht, Spirit, 345.

10Ellison Banks Findly, Breath and Breathing Encyclopedia of Religion, 1042.

11 Findly,Breath and Breathing, 1042


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substance, there exists a variation to the patterns of the nephesh in those biblical passages where

humans return to the Creator, while there are uncertainties about the nephesh of animals.12

Furthermore, there are numerous occurrences of the word nephesh in the Bible with

psychical references that cover various states of consciousness; it is the seat of physical appetite,

the source of emotion, it is associated with the will and moral action. It sometimes designates an

individual or a person. It is remarkably extended to the departing at death (Gen.35:18). However,

the word is never associated with the spirit of death in the Bible.13

Based on the concept ofruach as air, wind, or spirit, it is obvious that the whole idea of

ruach is an existential term. The experience of mysterious, awesome power is highly connected

with the mighty invisible force of the wind, the mystery of vitality and the power that transforms,

and all the manifestation of divine energy.14

In later usage, human spirit, angelic or demonic spirits and the divine spirit are

predominately more distinct. The sense of an unclean spirit, evil spirit, or demonic spirit denotes

a power that humans experience as affliction (cf. Mtt. 8:16; Mk. 1:23,26f; 9:25, etc.). However,

the most frequent references in the New Testament are to the Spirit of God.15

The nature of

angels, good spirits, bad spirits, the resurrection of the dead and (or) the spirit of the dead are

ambiguously dealt with by scholars. John Cooper for instance, maintains that sometimes the term

for the soul could refer to self or life insheol. He emphatically says These considerations have

12 Findly,Breath and Breathing, 1042. Also, see John W.Cooper,Body, Soul, and Life everlasting: Biblical

Anthropology and the Monism, Dualism Debate. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 68.

13 W.J. Cameron, SoulNew Bible Dictionary, 3rd Edition (Leceister: Intervarsity Press, 1996), 1124.

14J.D.G. Dunn, Spirit NBD 1125.

15 J.D.G. Dunn, Spirit NBD 1125.


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led some scholars to conclude that nephesh is occasionally used to refer to a personal being

which survive physical death and remains in existence.16

So also the question of the origin and

the belief in ghosts and there possible return to the earth is left indeterminate, accepted by some

and rejected by others, while scientists typically describes such things as elementary particles.

In the same vein, the African Traditional Religion (ATR) tends to explain things with

reference to spiritual beings, including witchcraft and the like.17 This is typically a positive

consent to the existence of spirits, which many African myths portray as mystical powers

accompanying the wind from another dark kingdom to the physical that comes with supernatural

power. Though they come from the dark world they come to accomplish their mission, which in

some instances is bad while it is good at other times.18

Moreover, the belief is that spirits of dead

ancestors (ghosts) usually visit the community at night, and for that reason, many traditional

believers in Africa offer prayers to the spirits of their ancestors to visit them with peace. In a

related manner, when a community is experiencing high infant mortality, it is commonly

believed that a succession of dying children is repeated incarnation. The Yoruba people of

southwest Nigeria call such babies abiku meaning born to die.19

In some instances, babies are

marked to see if the same spirit or ghost will appear in the same family.

Evil spirits are more often associated with the ghosts of those people within the community

who died violently, are murdered, or died in disgrace. They become angry spirits who regularly

require rituals for appeasement. Even though there is little scripturally-based doctrine, and lack of

16 Cooper,Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting, 68.

17 Gerrit Brand, Witchcraft and Spirit Beliefs, 37

18Deepak Chopra, The Proofs of Life After Death, (New York: Random House, 2006), 67.

19 Parrinder, Ghost 3476


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scientific proof for these beliefs, many countries of the world, as well as African communities,

have a notion of ghosts and evil spirits as restless beings with a message to convey or a task to

fulfill.20

SCIENCE AND THE SPIRIT WORLD

The belief in the existence of a nonmaterial world was a significant matter in the history

of the human race over a thousand years ago. It exists in pagan beliefs in major religions such

as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, African Traditional Religion (ATR),

and in most ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians, Greeks, and Native Americans.21

It

is obviously clear in metaphysics that there are realms of life where nonphysical entities and

angelic beings dwell. Over the centuries, humans claim to have interacted with these

intelligent beings that have appeared in their physical nature and environment.

There are a number of questions that scientists ask with regard to the existence of spirits.

If spirits exist, why is it that not everyone experiences them through the five physical senses?

Even if it is not possible to experience them with the senses, why is it that their existence cannot

be demonstrated through scientific instrumentation? In an attempt to proffer solutions to these

questions, Gough and Shacklett contend that: initially, when questions were raised about how

our model could account for spirit entities, we replied that they might exist in that region of the

electromagnetic spectrum where science is unable to measure at this time.22

20Parrinder, Ghost 3478.

21William C. Gough and Robert L. Shacklett, What Science can and Cant say about SpiritsJournal of

Religion and Psychical Research 23 No 3 July, 2000 128.

22 Gough and Shacklett, What Science can and cant say about Spirit, 130.


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However, scholars since have found this answer to be unsatisfactory and now take a look

at further proof for the existence of the spirit world. What is the evidence that a spirit world

might exist and that there might be a continuation of life after death? These issues have been

addressed over the years and have been the subject of interdisciplinary books and conferences.

From the number of reports presented, one cannot arrive at a conclusion even though there is

much evidence of the existence of the spirit world. The accumulated evidence from several

research areas when taken into consideration provides a convincing story that supports the

viewpoint of ancient civilizations and religious traditions for the existence of the spirit world.23

Richard Olson introduces his article with a citation from the claims of Pirsig, a

protagonist scientist who rejects the existence of spirits, by stating:

They are unscientific. They contain no matter and have no energy and therefore

according to the law of science, they do not exist except in peoples mind. Of course, thelaws of science contain no matter and have no energy either and therefore do not exist

except in peoples mindIt is best to refuse to believe in either ghosts or the laws ofscience.

24

As Olson noted in his article, I concur by disagreeing with Pirsig on this claim. This

criterion for what it is to be an object in the world plays a trick on us. If we cannot believe in the

existence of spirits or ghosts, then we should not believe in science either. The usual expectation

among American intellectuals is that anyone who believes in science will not believe in

creatures of superstition such as ghosts, spirit phenomena or witches, but Olson argues in defense

of the existence of spirits when he says:

23Gough and Shacklett, What Science can and cant say about Spirit, 130.

24 Richard Olson, Spirits, Witches, and Science: Why the Rise of Science Encouraged Belief in the

Supernatural in the 17th C. England, Skeptic 1 No.4 1992, 34.


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Witchcraft beliefs and beliefs in other spirits phenomena underwent a remarkable revivalamong British intellectuals during the period after the restoration of James II to the throne

in1660; and this revival of demonological beliefs was directly and self consciouslyattached to the rise of modern scientific attitudes among men who were members of the

Royal Society of London.25

In the same vein, Gough and Shacklett argue in favor of Olson and maintain that there

has been more than a centurys investigation of mediumship and apparitions, especially those

experienced by several observers. This has been carried out primarily by parapsychologists who

have found that, over the years, many were able to interact with the spirit world and that their

experiences are related to each other.26

While millions of people claim to have seen visions of their departed loved ones each

year, scientists have always maintained that those apparitions occur spontaneously and cannot be

made to happen. In other words, though people claim to have seen the spirits of their departed

loved ones, scientists maintain that those appearances cannot be proven. Dr. Raymond Moody

claims that he conducted research and found that one could make contact with apparitions of the

dead under controlled clinical conditions using specifically designed chambers.27 If this is the

case then, it means that science has a means of proving the existence of ghosts. That is to say,

while visions abound science has a way of manipulating the spirits of the dead to appear through

a controlled clinical condition that I cannot explain, and so think that it is unbelievable.

In establishing the reality of the spirit world as a kingdom and as a separate entity, Robert

John Thompson, a psychic and a theologian, maintains that the astral plain was explored and,

25 Olson, Spirits, Witches, and Science, 34

26Gough and Shacklett, What science can and cant say about Spirits, 132.

27 I. Chevreuil,Proofs of the Spirit World, (New York: LLC General Books, 2009), 98.


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over a hundred years later, modern scientific researchers, using electronic instruments,

discovered some of the characteristics of the astral plane:

Individuals on the astral plane have a body composed of a finer matter and vibrations.There is no sickness, and sex exists without pregnancy. Their thoughts create their reality

and they communicate telepathically. Ones personality is unchanged from what it was onearth, yet intellectual growth continues.

28

In Thompsons point, the astral environment is described as having houses and beautiful

settings, with sandy beaches, lakes and mountains. That is a picture of the spirit world; the astral

plane is seen as an interim place where one either reincarnates back to the physical earth, moves

to another planet, or moves to a higher level or plane.29

The description of the astral plane is extremely hard for scientists to believe and even

more difficult to make known to someone so that they can believe it. Since the existence of

spirits cannot be denied, this idea should be treated as possibly being valid. Then another major

issue for science is that the entities described here appear to be of low energy and ordinary size.

This creates a vacuum that could not support microscopic forms and certainly not the

macroscopic size of the human body. Thus, to say that the entities could exist in physical space-

time beyond the cutoff of scientific instrumentation, that is, at the extremely high energy end of

the electromagnetic spectrum, is difficult to defend. So I concur with Gough and Shacklett who

maintain that a more reasonable answer for non-detection is that, these phenomena exist outside

of the electromagnetic spectrum that defines what science uses to characterize our physical

world

30

28Robert John Thompson, The Proofs of Life After Death, 132.

29 Robert John Thompson, The Proofs of Life After Death, 132.


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Thomas Hobbes is another philosophical scientist who rejects these entities and the

concept of spirits entirely. He maintains that the priests exploit people by injecting fear of the

unknown to convince them that there exist invisible powers and agents that are at work in the

world, and it is only they (the priests) that possess the power to intercede on peoples behalf to

control the spirits. So, for Hobbes, the whole idea of spirits and divinity is a mere formulation by

the priests to make their living. In this case, Olson quotes the words of Hobbes saying:

Since it was the false belief in spirits, made possible by ignorance about the causes ofevents, that gave the clergy its power the most effective way to fight the power of the

clergy was first to demonstrate that spirits or incorporeal substances do not exist; andsecond to demonstrate that all phenomena can indeed, must be explicable solely in terms

of matter in motion.31

Hobbes argument seems to be dependent upon Aristotles philosophy of the meaning of

substance and the materialistic account of what is referred to as natural philosophy.32

This act of

Hobbes is said to be contrary to ancient atomism, which turns out to link witchcraft and the

experimental philosophy. The ancient atomism maintains that the existence of atoms and void

space are posited, and that atoms move freely through the void. Then if followed that there can

be no void, no matter how small, it leads to the question of whether empty space exists, similar

to the question of whether immaterial spirits exist, which cannot be answered empirically.33

I see Hobbes claim regarding spirits as a significant attack on all fundamental Christian

beliefs. Hobbes not only denies the existence of spirits, demons, and witches, but he also denies

30

Gough and Shacklett, What Science can and cant say about Spirits, (Journal of Religion and PsychicalResearch 24 No. 1 Jan. 2001), 50.

31 Olson, Spirit, Witches and Science, 39.

32 Alfred Russel Wallace, On miracles and Modern Spiritualism, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2009), 96. It is unfortunate that I cannot lay my hands on Hobbes book. But I found his argument in Wallace to be

very interesting.

33 Wallace, On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism, 98.


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the immateriality and the immortality of the human soul. In contrast to this, Olson further cites

the words of Joseph Glanvill who contends that the belief in spirits and witches should not be

abandoned. According to Glanvill as recorded by Olson, he who thinks there is no spirit or witch

but believes there is a devil or at least upon inducements has failed. The existence of angels, or

spirits, the resurrection of the body, as well the immortality of souls is interwoven together.34

Human beings have no right to impose their own ideas and cannot claim to have a

solution to everything materially, but scientists in particular must be mindful of their

imperfection with regard to knowledge and apprehensions. In establishing the fact that spirits

exist, Olson also writes the story of Glanvills investigation of one Mom person who was said to

be haunted by a drumming spirit that made noises and tossed about the house. Glanvill and his

team investigated the servants in the house and the local ministers. They all confirmed that they

experienced the noises that the spirit produced and had tried to discover if there was any trick,

contrivance or lack of common sense in it. However, they could not find any of such claims.

Glanvill was persuaded that the noise was made by some demons or evil spirits so he offered

prayers of deliverance and cast them out then normalcy was restored.35

34 Olson, Spirits, Witches and Science, 41

35

Olson, Spirit, Witches and Science, 42. Also, I witnessed a similar occurrence in American TelevisionProgram on channel 11 (cw 7) Tyra Show on March 18th 2010.Between 3:00-4:00pm. A lady (name unfamiliar)

asked a question about an unknown strange noisy wind in her room that causes fear. That made her to change her

apartment three times. Yet she is still passing through the experience. So she asked, what is the reason for this kind

of noise? On that Show, there were twin sisters name: Terry and Linder, who were the guest of that show and wereaddressed as the Psychic Twins. They (Psychic twins) responded that, the strange wind usually affect the

electricity in the house. It also force some windows opened mysteriously. The questioner affirmed amazingly. And

they concluded by saying, that was the ghost of her late mother, and they advice her to speak to the wind when itblows again. Then Tyra Banks the producer asked the audience if they believe in the existence of ghosts? About

45% of the audience affirmed they do.


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SPIRIT POSSESSION AND EXORCISM

Spirit possession is an unusual state of consciousness and an allied behavior that is

indigenously understood to be the influence of an alien spirit, demon or deity. The possessed

person acts as if another personality - a spirit or soul - has entered his or her body and taken

control.36

In this situation, dramatic changes in physical appearance, voice, and manner usually

occur, usually leading to blasphemous behavior. Some of these possessed persons remember

nothing of their possession, while others experience a more lucid form and remember it. The

possessed persons are said to be inhabited simultaneously or sequentially by several spirits, and

their behavior varies according to the different possessing spirits. Even though spirit possession

is desirable in spirit mediumship, more often it is considered undesirable, an affliction requiring

treatment. The treatment may be a simple affair involving only the spiritual healer (the exorcist)

and his patient.37

Contrary to the hypothesis of western scientists, spirit possessions occur in almost every

part of the world; the highest number notable was reported in North and South American Indian

cultures.38

The belief in spirit possession is widespread among peoples of Eurasia, Africa and the

circum-Mediterranean region, and among descendants of Africans in the United States. This

experience is more common in farming communities, and women and children are seen to be

36 Malachi Martin, Hostage to the Devil, (New York: Harper and Row, 1987), 413.

37Patricia Treece,Nothing Short of a Miracle, (New York: Image Books, 1988), 178.

38 Vincent Crapanzano, Spirit Possession: An Overview ER, 8687.


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possessed more often than men. Scholars see the concept of spirit possession as a phenomenon

that impacts traditional people, the poor, the uneducated, and women.39

This experience can be referred to as a spectrum in which the person involved negotiates

with, or is overcome by a force such as an ancestor, deity, or spirit that employs the human body

to be its vehicle for communicating to human communities. Keller quotes a natural scientist, Ann

Grodzins Golf, who believes in the existence of spirits and the reality of spirit possession, when

she defines spirit possession: any complete but temporary domination of a persons body and

the blotting of that persons consciousness by a distinct alien power of known or unknown

origin.40 S. Sered maintains that women do not just get possessed because of deprivation but

their possession could be related to their roles in nonautonomous experiences such as child birth

and their receptive role in heterosexual intercourse. In this case, Keller corroborates that, the

subjectivity of the possessed woman is radically nonautonomous, but rather than seeing this as

an aberration, it can be viewed as an example of religious subjectivity.41

So, what makes spirit

possession unique is the degree to which the person has become an instrument for the will of the

intervening agency.

Demon possession is explicitly shown in the Bible. We read that the Spirit of God

deserted King Saul and an evil spirit possessed and tormented him (1Sam. 16:14; 19:9). The

spirit was driven away by Davids music, which were probably psalms of praise to God. The

New Testament records many cases of demon possession. It is commonly believed that Satan

concentrated his power to fight against Christ and His followers. We also see Jesus Christ and

39 Mary L. Keller, Women and Possession, ER, 8694.

40Keller, Women and Possession, 8694.

41 Keller, Women and Possession, 8694.


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His disciples laying their hands on inflicted people and casting out spirits (Mtt. 10:8; Mk. 6:13;

Lk.13:32; Acts 8:7; 19:12).

Most psychologists disagree with the idea of demon possession; a clear example of such

is T.K. Oestereich who writes that the whole idea is just a mirage and that the equivalent of

possession today is a particular extensive complex of compulsive phenomena.42

While

psychologists and scientists alike disagree with spirit possession on account of the non-bodily

substance and lack of ability to detect such in any scientific manner, some natural scientists and

psychical scholars see the contrary. Jim Hopkins, for instance, recommends that most often the

spirits are neither defined by scientific rules nor responsive to scientific equipment. That explains

why spirit possessed persons could be examined medically and found to be normal, but such a

person would continue to suffer and have abnormal behavior. Therefore he recommends that the

best approach for those possessed with a spirit is exorcism.43

Exorcism expressly denotes the expulsion of malevolent spirits or demons from a

possessed person by the utterance of an adjuration or exorcism, whereby aid is sought from a

more powerful spirit or deity and is usually invoked by name. A possessed person exorcised in

this way is presumed to be free from abnormal behavior, sickness, sin, uncleanness, death, or

some other evil caused by the presence of these malevolent spirits.44

The Bible does not mention what conditions predispose a demon-possession, though

Jesus instruction in Matthew 12:44-45 depicts that an empty house can be reoccupied. The early

42J.D. Douglass, New Bible Dictionary, 3rd edition, (Leicester: Intervarsity Press, 1996), 689.

43Hopkins, Spirits and the Spirits Possession, Search Magazine, http://www.searchmagazine.org

(Consulted March, 16th 2010.

44 Douglass, New Bible Dictionary, 691.


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church notably cast out demons in the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 16:18). Though it seems also

that some non-Christian exorcists were successful (Lk. 11:19). However, total commitment to

Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is necessary in order to exorcise in the name of Jesus (cf. Acts

19:13-19).

LIFE AFTER DEATH

Life after death is also referred to as the afterlife, or the hereafter. This is the idea that life

continues after death. In another way, it means that consciousness or the mind of a being

continues after physical death takes place. This continual existence often takes place in an

immaterial or a spiritual realm. Major views about life after death derive from religion,

esotericism and metaphysics.45

From this perspective, deceased persons are usually believed to go

to a specific plane of existence after death; this is typically believed to be determined by a god,

based on the deceased persons actions during their physical lives. In contrast, the term

afterlife refers only to another life in which only the essence of the being is preserved; whereas

reincarnation is another life on earth or possibly within the same universe.46

There exist two

different views on the life after death. The first one is the empirical view that is based on

psychical research and observation, and the second one is the religious view that is based on

faith. The empirical view is based on conjectural observations made by humans or instruments

such as a radio, or a voice recorder, which are known as electronic voice phenomena (EVP). The

45Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afterlife#the_afterlife_in_metaphysical_models

46 Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia


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religious views are based on faith, usually faith in the legends and myths from the ancestors, or

faith in religious books such as the Bible, the Quran, the Talmud, etc.47

In metaphysical models, theists generally believe some sort of afterlife awaits people

when they die. But the atheists and the humanists, in the contrary, disagree and maintain that

there is insufficient evidence to assert the reality of the afterlife. Members of some generally

non-theistic religions such as Buddhism tend to believe in an afterlife, but without reference to a

god. The Sadducees, an ancient Jewish sect that generally believed there is a God, but also that

there is no afterlife.48

So, I suggest that, even though there is no empirical proof for the existence

of God, truth, and some other metaphysical phenomena, the lack of scientific proof should not

necessarily discard the existence of God, neither should it discard the reality of the afterlife.

For many religions, ones status in the afterlife is either a reward or a punishment for the

conduct of life while on earth. There is a common belief that there is an existence of the soul in

another world. This belief is maintained by Christianity and Islam, and many pagan belief

systems accommodate this same belief. Others maintain that life after death is the state at which

the soul of the deceased reincarnates into the earth. This is more common in Hinduism,

Buddhism and the African Traditional Religions (ATR), as they all base their article of faith on

morality and good conduct of life while on earth.49

47 Kime, Understanding the Spirit World, np.

48Chopra, The Proofs of Life After Death, 69.

49 Chopra, The Proofs of Life After Death, 71.


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In Christian theology as well as in the Bible, the only afterlife mentioned in the Old

Testament issheol.50

This term is synonymous with pit and destruction. It depicts a realm of

sleepy, shadowy existence in the depths of the earth. Some scholars such as P.S. Johnstone

contend that the Old Testament reveals little information on the state of life after death. For

Israel, THE LORD () was the God of the living, and so faith was for this life, and what

follows when this life ends is not important.51

Cooper argues the other way:

This idea was derived neither from reading the Old Testament nor from following thediscussions of biblical scholars. For to the best of my knowledge, no recognized Old

Testament scholar has ever made that claim. In fact there is virtual consensus that theIsraelites did believe in some sort of ethereal existence after death in a place called

Sheol.52

I think Jonestone and Cooper are not far from each other in that they state almost the

same opinion but with different emphasis. Both agree that this belief has always been in the

Jewish theological thought; the personal translation of Enoch and Elijah was familiar as was the

Mosaic account of the creation of human kind. H. D. McDonald quotes the famous Jewish

historian, Josephus, who corroborates that it was widely accepted in Judaism that souls have an

immortal vigor.53

This asserts that life never ends but rather continues even when death has

occurred.54

50 P.S. Johnstone, Death (NDBT: Edited by T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, Leicester;

Intervarsity Press, 2000), 446.

51 Johnstone, Death 446.

52 Cooper, Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting, 58.

53H.D. McDonald Life (EDT: Edited by Walter A. Elwell, Grand Rapids; Baker, 2001), 692.

54 For more detail about this see Cooper,Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting, 59.


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In the New Testament, Jesus teaches the concept of eternal life (Mtt. 19:29; 25:46, etc).

This kind of life is one that does not end when death occurs. Life exits beyond this earth and

continues with Him who made it. Moreover, eternal life from Jesus perspective is more than the

everlastingness of life. It is a life of new quality the God type of life, which is best understood

in contrast to death, to that which is perishing (Cf. Jn.3:16; 5:24; 10:28).55

Life apart from God is

the ethical destruction of the soul. The eternal life that comes from God in which Christ is the

embodiment and the giver is one of fellowship with God, which transcends the limits of space

and time.56

For both Apostles John and Paul, the expression of salvation in Christ in terms of life on

earth depends on Christ (Rom. 6:23). Jesus Christ and life are virtually identical (Gal. 2; 10; Phil.

1:21; Col. 3:3-4). Sometimes Paul uses the word life as that which contains all the implication

of eternal life (Rom. 5:17; 2Cor.5:4; Phil. 2:16). However, this life is not imposed on anyone; it

has to be taken hold of (1Tim. 1:16), while inward and outward evidences of its possessions are

outlined in Romans 6 and 2 Corinthians 4. Eternal life is not only a present possession; it carries

the hope of the future realization. Paul gives prominence to the future aspect of life and

coordinates it with immorality (Rom. 2:7; cf. 2Cor. 5:4; 2Tim.1:10) while contrasting it with

death and destruction (Rom. 6:23; Gal. 6:8). Jesus is the resurrection and the life (Jn. 11:25). The

essence of life is to synthesize to the point of being with Christ either through resurrection or

through the rapture.

55McDonald, Life 692.

56 McDonald, Life 692.


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CONCLUSION

It is plausible to deduce from this body of evidence that spirits exist in this world. The

origins of such spirits can be traced to the fallen angels or the ghosts of the deceased ones who

were murdered or died mysteriously. The activities of spirits and demons are noticeable in

almost every part of the world.

It is also true that there is no substantive scientific proof for the existence of such spirits.

This is because they are invisible and have no substance. The limitation of scientists (for not

being able to prove the existence of spirits) should not be a reason to deny the reality of the spirit

world. Those people who have had an encounter with ghosts or some sort of spirit tend to believe

in the existence of the spirit world, while those who have never had an encounter with any sort of

spirit doubt or disbelieve in their existence. The fact that someone has not met a ghost or has not

had any experience with ghostly activities, does not mean they do not exist. The atheists believe

there is no God because they have never seen Him, but it is not a convincing reason to deny the

existence of God because no one has seen Him. The creation testifies to His existence and

majesty. In Gods revelation, the activities of spirits are apparent. Therefore, it is only the

atheists that completely reject the existence of anything divine or supernatural.

Having become aware of the evidence that bears witness to the existence of the spirit

world, irrespective of scientific proof, Christians ought to be alert and find out more about the

activities of spirits. Moreover, Christians ought to live with confidence that the power at work in

a Christian is greater than the power of a ghost or spirit. For this reason, always use the powerful

name of Jesus to whom all other names must bow.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brand, Gerrit. Witchcraft and Spirit Beliefs in African Christian Theology, Exchange 31 No 12002, P. 36-50

Chevreuil, I. Proofs of the Spirit World, LLC General Books, 2009.

Chopra, Deepak. The proofs of Life After Death, New York: Random House, 2006.

Cooper, John W. Body, Soul, and Life Everlasting: Biblical Anthropology and the Monism-Dualism Debate, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989.

Friedrich, Gerhard, ed., Theological Dictionary of New Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,

1968.

Gough, William C. and Robert C. Shacklett. What Science Can and Cant say about Spirits,Journal of Religion and Psychical Research 23 No 3 July, 2000 P.124-132.

Gough, William C. and Robert C. Shacklett. What Science Can and Cant say about Spirits,Journal of Religion and Psychical Research 24 No.1 Jan.2001 P.48-57.

Hopkins, Jim. Spirits and the Spirit Possession Search Magazine, http://www.searchmagazine.org

Johnstone, P.S. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Leicester: Intervarsity Press, 2000.

Jones, Linsey ed. Encyclopedia of Religions, Detroit: Thompson Gale, 2005.

Kime, A.O. Understanding the Spirit World(Revised 2nd edition) January, 2005.

http://www.matrixbookstore.biz/spirit_world.htm

Martin, Malachi. Hostage to the Devil, Sanfrancisco: Harper, 1992

McDonald, H.D. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001.

Novak, Gary. The Truth About Spirit World, http://nov55.com/spw.html

Olson, Richard. Spirits, Witches, and Science: Why the Rise of Science Encouraged Belief in theSupernatural in the 17

thCentury England. Skeptic 1 No.4 1992, P.34-43

Thompson, Robert John. The Proofs of Life After Death: A Collation of opinions as of future life

------ Bibliobazaar, 2009.

Treece, Patricia.Nothing Short of Miracle: The Healing Power of the Saints, New York: Image

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Wallace, Alfred Russel On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism, Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2009.

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/Afterlife#the_afterlife_in_metaphysics_models

science and spirits - class presentation

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