Kevin's Watch

If through some method, legitimate research concludes without a shadow of a doubt that ghosts exist, would it alter your perception of God?

I watched an interesting television segment recently that did a pretty convincing job of establishing, to a certain extent, the existence of ghosts. Of course anything you see on television or film could be faked therefore genuine proof needs to come in the form of an announcement from Tom Brokaw on the 6 p.m. news.
Lets suppose such an announcement occurred. The proof of the reality of ghosts would certainly demonstrate another plane of existence and one that is linked to that of the current living. If that were true how would it change your perceptions of a belief or disbelief in God? Would such news sway an agnostic to make a decision? Or shake the fundamental core of an atheist’s un-belief? These are questions that came to mind while considering that if current technology is able to detect unexplainable cold spots, electromagnetic disturbances and eerie photographic anomalies then, if ghosts do exist, sooner or later a legitimate detection device might be invented. Hmmmmmm…

I like the list... yeah... I've seen programs like this too... I think there might be something out there...

I dont know if it would change my beliefs about God or not.... For me it would just prove, on a scientific level, that there is the existance of some kind of life after death.

Infelice wrote:I dont know if it would change my beliefs about God or not.... For me it would just prove, on a scientific level, that there is the existance of some kind of life after death.

Yes, but such an existence on this plain of life would mean there's no heaven to go to... maybe... *shrug*

Darth Revan wrote:

Infelice wrote:I dont know if it would change my beliefs about God or not.... For me it would just prove, on a scientific level, that there is the existance of some kind of life after death.

Yes, but such an existence on this plain of life would mean there's no heaven to go to... maybe... *shrug*

Perhaps but Heaven is only a unattainable concept to some. If it could be proved there is other planes of existence then it opens a once closed door to the possibility of Heaven when there was no such thing before. Hey. Keep the glass half full, Bub.

TOM C wrote:Perhaps but Heaven is only a unattainable concept to some. If it could be proved there is other planes of existence then it opens a once closed door to the possibility of Heaven when there was no such thing before. Hey. Keep the glass half full, Bub.

I'm sorry.. but the glass isn't half full with me... It's half empty, chipped, scratched, smeared with toxic waste...

Darth Revan wrote: I'm sorry.. but the glass isn't half full with me... It's half empty, chipped, scratched, smeared with toxic waste...

"You make me sad." As much fun as you have posting to Kevin's Watch how can you possibly think so negatively? As long as you have an internet connection life is good!

Heaven is a Christian concept, and as far as I understand, ghosts other than the holy variety are not. Dead until Doomsday.

As it is, I'd accept the existence of ghosts if given sufficient proof. I don't know that it would prove anything other than the fact that they exist, however.

Are we talking about 'ghosts' as in the paranormal phenomena, or actual proof that there are human spirits haunting the earth? If it was the second, it would certainly force us to reconsider our view of the universe and life (an interesting idea really - does the existence of human spirits prove religion or not? I've read sci-fi books where souls and a kind of afterlife were explained without any need for god).

My opinion about an after-life and Heaven has
always been the same, even after I had seen
a few apperations myself.
(I lived in a haunted house for about a year or so
in an area called High Point.)

Do tell us your experiences, Cheval.

Ref - kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1049

Thanks, Syl!

Yes, if it could be proved to my satisfaction that ghosts--actual human spirits haunting the earth, as Murrin said--are real, then that would change my opinion of the afterlife.

But how do you go about proving the existence of human spirits? How do you quantify them in a lab? How different is this than trying to scientifically prove the existence of God? I'm all for it, but I just wonder what criteria can be used to determine whether a ghost is really a human spirit or...something else. (Same goes for God.)

I can interpret TOM's question to say something else: how deeply can the human mind discern reality? Are ghosts part of an ultimate reality, and how can we know?

Ok. Suppose (as I mentioned in my opening statement) that a device is invented that is so sensitive it is able to not only detect the presence / existence of ghosts but is also able to verify beyond question that said ghost was formerly a physical human being. The point I'm getting at is that if such proof (which I'm not ruling out as impossible) could be established, then the current concept of an afterlife would have to be considered as a real possibility. God is however a separate issue unless the ghosts themselves provided an insight to God that would perhaps alter all of our fundamental perceptions.

Don’t be too surprised if the subject of this thread ends up in one of my future novels.

Okey-dokey.

I think such proof would be bound to affect my view of myself and humanity at large. Since I explicitly trust the rigorous methodology of science, if science were to "verify beyond question" the existence of ghosts and that they are in fact human spirits, then I would adjust my thinking accordingly. I don't see myself as a dogmatic person. I like to think I'm open-minded (on most things, anyway).

Right now, I don't accept the existence of ghosts or the afterlife scientifically. But if these two things turn out to be fact, then, um...all bets are off!

Ur-Vile wrote:Do tell us your experiences, Cheval.

Check out Riders in the sky in General Discussion Forum.
Share a story or two and read a story or two.
I know that I can add and/or detail some items.

I tried to find that thread... I went through all of them... Maybe I missed it.

Me too...

Whoa! Sorry there people...
Riders In The Sky is in
The Multifariam, General Fantasy/Sci-Fi Discussion.

I messed up and thought it was in General Discussion.


My apologies to Ur-Vile, Leper Fairy, and Covenant Jr. for making
you folks search in the wrong forum.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion...
(Remember, this is Tom C.'s thread.)