Do Ghosts Exist?
I had the opportunity to read an advance copy of Jonathan Weyer’s upcoming book The Faithful. The book itself is a fun & compelling piece of Christian horror (an emerging genre, I’m told). It’s a ghost story written from the perspective of a young reformed Presbyterian pastor. An interesting conversation in the book deals with a passage from Deuteronomy:
“When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. (Deuteronomy 18:9-14 ESV)
A character in the book then suggests that these things are forbidden, because they are real. Necromancy is something that can be pursued, wickedly mind you, but should be left alone by the command of God. So while there’s a standing order in Scripture not to actively pursue such things, the Bible is silent about what to do if ghosts reach out to you. It’s an interesting thought, and one that works well in the book.
I think on this topic every time I read the Biblical account of the witch of En-dor communicating with what appeared to the ghost of Samuel (1 Samuel 28:6-19).
So what’s your opinion on ghosts? No such thing? Demonic manifestations? If you’re a denier, is there a biblical reason you believe this? Is the denial of ghosts a reflection of a hyper-materialistic society?
