Do You Believe in Ghosts?

Do you believe in ghosts? Not a very Christian question, but I was just wondering. While we were in Key West, we went on this Ghost Tour thing… it was fun and interesting, sort of like telling ghost stories around the campfire, but it made me start to wonder about things, things I haven’t really wondered about in years. It made me start to wonder if there really ARE ghosts. I don’t think I believe there are ghosts, but I guess I almost sort of wish there were. It’s not that I don’t believe in our being swept up to heaven with Jesus because I do believe that, but I also believe that there are things we couldn’t possibly understand and perhaps all sorts of options and alternatives that are incomprehensible to us now. And maybe there are some choices that can be made. Maybe we can chose to stay or go or come back or peek in on those we love (although being with Jesus is probably so wonderful we may not even care to pop back here). I just don’t know. And perhaps the ghost thing is just the power of our own imaginations and hope of communication with those who are gone. I just don’t know.

So while we were on this ghost tour (which I would really recommend, by the way, if you ever go to Key West) there was a young couple with us who I think were from Louisiana or someplace like that. We all took pictures in various places although I didn’t waste a lot of time with that because it was really too dark to bother as far as I was concerned. But, anyway, the guy of that couple was snapping a lot of digital pictures and at one point she said to him, “Don’t take too many, we’re running out of battery power.” My daughter glanced over and noticed that their batteries were running low on their camera. I, too, had a momentary annoyance with my camera when I thought the battery might be dying but it was brief. I shut off the camera then restarted it later. Much to the couple’s surprise, one of their digital pictures (or maybe a few) showed an “orb” when they looked into the display. Also, at the end of the tour they had full battery power again which was a little disconcerting, even for a cynic like me.

I figured the whole orb thing is sort of silly, probably a phenomenon that occurs when two people are flashing at the same time or something. I’ve read since that it can happen when there is dust or dampness in the air as well. We looked at our pictures through the digital display and didn’t see anything fun or unusual. I wasn’t surprised.

Christmas was fun and of course we took our fair share of pictures. I hooked up my digital camera and fed them into the computer and ran a little slide show for myself. As I sat enjoying the show I was startled to see several shots with one or more orbs floating in the air above our head or elsewhere. I pulled them up in Photodraw and zoomed in by 600% to get a good look. Some of them seemed to have a sort of nucleus and some were just transparent circles. It was very odd. Now maybe I’ve had orbs through all sorts of photos before and just never noticed it, who knows… but it was disconcerting to notice this in light of our recent trip. I took a second look at the rest of my Christmas pictures and noticed there were a few from my place with the orbs and one at my daughter’s in-laws place with the orbs… only one or two orbs in each picture, but very well defined.

I went back to my Key West pictures and had a second look at those because I hadn’t looked at them in slide show mode, only through my little digital camera viewer. I was stunned to see one picture taken of our guide in front of a haunted mansion that had scads of orbs all over the place. Now, I have a feeling that THAT one was probably dust in the air or lots of us taking flash photography at the same time. I mean there were so MANY orbs it’d be a whole cemetery of people flying around that guy’s head if those were ghosts!!! LOL But there were also one or two orbs in another picture I had of a different mansion, so who knows.

Anyway I don’t know if I believe in ghosts or not. It would be fun (maybe) to think that ghosts exist. I watched a show on TLC last night called A Haunting in Georgia and if it’s not a big hoax, it would make ghosts a pretty authentic reality, but it’s hard to believe that these things can happen. I just don’t want to do anything unBiblical in my curiosity.

Leviticus 19:31 NIV Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them.

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 NIV When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.”

Isaiah 8:19 NIV When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?

Well, I’m not planning on taking part in any séances or anything like that so I suppose I’m okay. I just better toe the line and not get too involved with this stuff. I keep thinking that God sent me to Key West for a reason and I just haven’t been able to figure out the reason. I really didn’t care if I went or not, to be truthful. I put it all in His hands. I wanted everybody to be happy, my mother, my brother, my daughter. I would have been happy with however it turned out as long as everybody else was, but once it was clear we were going, I felt there was something I was supposed to learn there or to get from it. I feel, however, like I didn’t get it.

When He sent me to the Everglades, I got it – loud and clear. I got the message He was sending me and I did what I felt He wanted me to do. I took into my spirit what I felt He was giving to me and I took the steps I felt He was urging me to take. Now, however, after this Key West trip, I’m stuck. I just keep coming back to a few things over and over again… first, the ghosts, then the gay people and the “sinners” (not like we ALL aren’t sinners, because we are… but I guess I mean those that are unrepentant and don’t acknowledge or care that they’re sinning). And I’m also thinking about the Keys, comparing them to the islands that were washed over in the recent tsunamis. What does this all mean to me? I don’t know. I feel a tremendous love, empathy, sadness, and maternal care for the lost. I wish I could set up a mission in Key West. I know exactly where I’d like to do it too, but I also believe it wouldn’t do a lot of good because I don’t think people go there to be “saved.” I think people go there to escape that kind of thinking and, God bless ‘em, I can understand why. When so many Christians condemn and judge and act harshly instead of display the love and acceptance of Jesus, people unite to find acceptance or to sit back in their steely-eyed rebellion someplace where they can be in the majority. Who can blame them. We all need to belong. Maybe there just ARE no answers. At least not until we get to heaven.