Ask a Christian (even about the paranormal)

By request from a friend, I'm opening this thread to give an opportunity for anyone to ask any questions of me as a believer. The paranormal connection comes in with a person's relationship with God and the wisdom imparted from that source. A Christian has no secret knowledge, but rather practical application of existing knowledge and a variety of tools that typically go used. The forum is open, let's have some insightful discussion.

Originally posted by saint4God
By request from a friend, I'm opening this thread to give an opportunity for anyone to ask any questions of me as a believer.

I would, but unfortunately as a Christian believer, all of your answers are going to be perfectly predictable and unoriginal. A person might as well ask a question to a tree or a brick wall. No new or interesting information is likely to be exchanged, and in the end nothing will be accomplished. Thank you, but I'll pass.

Originally posted by Nohup
I would, but unfortunately as a Christian believer, all of your answers are going to be perfectly predictable and unoriginal.

Hmmm...methinks you may have a point to a great degree. There are many things however that are not found in a Book though, or are cursory towards the importance of Life, the Universe and Everything.

Originally posted by Nohup
A person might as well ask a question to a tree or a brick wall.

When you get an answer from a tree or brick wall, no doubt I'd like to hear about it.

Originally posted by Nohup
No new or interesting information is likely to be exchanged, and in the end nothing will be accomplished.

Thank you Mr./Mrs. Optimism. Must be difficult to drink out of the half-empty glass because of all the air in the way.

Originally posted by Nohup
Thank you, but I'll pass.

So then...the reason for your post is... ?

[edit on 29-2-2008 by saint4God]

Eh, Nohup is always johnny-on-the-spot.

I think this is generous of you, Saint....

OK, as a believer:

What do you think of the possibility of sentient extra terrestrial life? Since God so loved mankind that he gave us is son to kill, did he give aliens another son just for them? Are we god's 'favorite' kids because he gave us, and only us a Jesus?

If Aliens were to come to Earth and tell us a similar story about a 'savior' of theirs, would it be accepted as God giving up another son to another planet by Christians, or would it be rejected because only we are allowed to have a 'Jesus'?

Originally posted by deenamarie53
I think this is generous of you, Saint....

Thanks! I've yet to see if this will do any good but am trusting a friend on it. We've already seen pitch #1 towards the dunking booth. Hopefully it doesn't into 50 pages of that.

reply to post by saint4God


Whatever the outcome, Saint, the questions will be interesting!

Something else. You were an athiest or you were agnostic? I'm not clear on this from an earlier post.

And what about Ghosts? Is there room for ghosts in Christianity? I thought it was heaven, hell or purgatory (which at one point I heard was somewhere between Pluto and Neptune)? Does Jesus allow ghosts to just wander around willy nilly?

Originally posted by saint4God

Originally posted by Nohup
I would, but unfortunately as a Christian believer, all of your answers are going to be perfectly predictable and unoriginal.

Hmmm...methinks you may have a point to a great degree. There are many things however that are not found in a Book though, or are cursory towards the importance of Life, the Universe and Everything.

Yes, but without your Book, reference to or inference from it, then you're going to be on pretty shaky ground (or space). Of course, we all have our opinions. But taking a Christian perspective is naturally going to skew and limit your responses in very predictable and unfortunately unenlightening ways.

Can we stop talking about what 'could' happen in this thread and see what 'will' happen in this thread. All of this yakkity yak is boring me and is not why I posted my questions.

I have a question.

Science has uncovered a lot about the brain and how we function as humans, how would it affect your view on life when it becomes mainstream knowledge that religion was created by the human consciousness fear and lack of knowledge of the world they evolved into?

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
OK, as a believer:

What do you think of the possibility of sentient extra terrestrial life?

Woot! Thanks Rasobasi for taking the topic into consideration.

My own personal opinion is that there is indeed extra terrestrial life. This is gathered both from probability, the range and conditions for life to exist, and the idea that God would not just put pretty lights in the sky for mankind to go "ooooooo!". I believe one thing God wants people to do is discover, learn and explore. It's a big part of the growth process mentally, physically and spiritually.

Biblically I think there's support for this thinking as well:

"I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd." - John 10:16

A pen is a perimeter that cannot be crossed by the sheep. Perhaps he was referring to space. Ezekiel has some pretty wild descriptions as well.

Many Christians would say he meant other nations...to that I ask where are the accounts of him going to other nations?

"I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man, but each of them had four faces and four wings....

The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the creatures faced; the wheels did not turn about as the creatures went. Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around. " - (Ezekiel 1)

Lightning = electricity?

Wheel = spacecraft/saucer?

Glowing metal?

Last I checked, angels didn't have need of a craft to carry them. Could certainly be angels though.

Many Christians are divided on this issue.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
Since God so loved mankind that he gave us is son to kill, did he give aliens another son just for them?

There's a lot of mention of mankind's decision in Genesis and throughout the Bible. This could mean...

1.) Aliens had not made the same kind of error, thereby not requiring a saviour to save them.

2.) Aliens did make the same kind of error and have a similar history.

3.) Aliens have no knowledge of God (to which the gospels now makes and extention to go and spread the good news)

I'm in favor of God's justice where he would treat mankind as mankind needed to be treated and alienkind as alienkind being treated. We could learn a lot about God through an open dialogue on the topic.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
Are we god's 'favorite' kids because he gave us, and only us a Jesus?

There's not a lot of places where God is a big fan of what we do. Even in the old testament we were getting banish, blasted from above, flooded, thrown in prison, etc. God's compassion (grace) is that He gave us something we clearly do not deserve. If He has a favorite, I have my doubts that it is us...but yet to be seen.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
If Aliens were to come to Earth and tell us a similar story about a 'savior' of theirs, would it be accepted as God giving up another son to another planet by Christians, or would it be rejected because only we are allowed to have a 'Jesus'?

Nice meaty question here. Not another Son, but the same Son as it is written "God's one and only son" (John 3:16). Jesus would be on universe tour like a rock band it sounds like in that case. If aliens insisted theirs was clearly different, no doubt believers here would say he's the same so long as there is no conflict in message. If there is conflict, believers would likely doubt they were led by God's one and only son. I think if a Christian were to say Jesus was only sent to us and us alone, that'd be missing the point of Samaritans & Gentiles being saved as well as missing John 10:16.

Originally posted by deenamarie53
Whatever the outcome, Saint, the questions will be interesting!

I hope so ^_^

Originally posted by deenamarie53
Something else. You were an athiest or you were agnostic? I'm not clear on this from an earlier post.

I originall wrote Atheist, then changed to Aggressive Agnostic...then wrote Aggressive Agnostic (Atheist in many ways). This would be because I believed that one of two scenarios existed:

1.) What you see is what you get. When you die, you cease to exist. Life then is meaningless because 70 + - years mean nothing in terms of infinity. There is no God.

or

2.) If something DID exist beyond the human realm, it was messing with me by not revealing itself.

So it was Atheism with a cavaet...or Agnostic with great doubt. Not sure what catagory fits best as sometimes I would go from one to the other at that time.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
And what about Ghosts? Is there room for ghosts in Christianity?

Of course! At least one.

Regarding others than that one, it seems there are two different kinds of ghost encounters:

+ Ghosts that are not aware of our existance. They seem to be in 're-play' mode of a history (usually tragic). For these, I'd like the reader to look up and see photos/videos of Heat Signatures. Interesting thing about a heat signature camera, after someone leaves the room, there image is still there. Why is this? Perhaps physics has a similar anomaly for people who have lived in the past.

+ Ghosts that are actively trying to interact with people. These ghosts seem polarized either very positive or very negative. One might even say angels or demons. Although it may be confusing at times, I haven't heard any 'neutral' experiences with them (or experiences that turned out to be neutral)

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
I thought it was heaven, hell or purgatory (which at one point I heard was somewhere between Pluto and Neptune)?

That's where a soul goes...but heat signatures? Maybe light signatures? We know demons and angels aren't confined to heaven and hell.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
Does Jesus allow ghosts to just wander around willy nilly?

Big doubts on the willy nilly. I haven't find anything on creation that fits the description of purposeless.

Originally posted by Nohup
Yes, but without your Book, reference to or inference from it, then you're going to be on pretty shaky ground (or space).

Shakey only if I claim God says something He didn't. God didn't say anything about what color to paint my room...yet it has a color. He let me work that out on my own.

Originally posted by Nohup
Of course, we all have our opinions. But taking a Christian perspective is naturally going to skew and limit your responses in very predictable and unfortunately unenlightening ways.

Biased without a doubt, but I challenge anyone to answer any question that involves anything personal without bias. If not beliefs, biases come from what we're taught, how we perceive, assumptions we make, how we piece together logic, etc.

Originally posted by Rasobasi420
Can we stop talking about what 'could' happen in this thread and see what 'will' happen in this thread. All of this yakkity yak is boring me and is not why I posted my questions.

Totally right, sorry about that. It was wrong of me to have a preconceived notion.

Originally posted by xion329alpha
I have a question.

Science has uncovered a lot about the brain and how we function as humans, how would it affect your view on life when it becomes mainstream knowledge that religion was created by the human consciousness fear and lack of knowledge of the world they evolved into?

My degree is in biology and am currently employed as a biochemist, so I have a great liking for science. In that course of study and my work, I'm finding the smaller a person looks through the microscope, the greater the complexity of the structure is. Even the math starts getting dodgey when trying to predict the movement of quarks. Science is built around structure and order...the universe fails without it. So I turn to entropy and question it as well...whereas it is a greatly misunderstood concept. Entropy isn't the tendency toward disorder but rather the tendency towards lowest energy usage. I'm no physicist so I'm not going there, but a person can predict movements of chemicals and biological structures by that which requires the least energy spend from the smalles molecule to what you'd rather do on a Saturday morning...sit on the couch and watch TV or mow the lawn on a hot sunny day? Science for me is understanding how God works and the structures he put together. There have been many times when science has been wrong. The theory is pitched and something else is tried. The claim above would cause more questions than answers...for example: If my belief in God was my own construct, why did God get involved when I was not looking for Him? There are many, many more that would follow. The communications and tools that I have received from this relationship are undeniable even with the proofs of science which has been known to contain faults. Proofs in science are abstract, whereas the proofs I'd received are absolute.

Originally posted by saint4God
Regarding others than that one, it seems there are two different kinds of ghost encounters:

+ Ghosts that are not aware of our existance. They seem to be in 're-play' mode of a history (usually tragic). For these, I'd like the reader to look up and see photos/videos of Heat Signatures. Interesting thing about a heat signature camera, after someone leaves the room, there image is still there. Why is this? Perhaps physics has a similar anomaly for people who have lived in the past.

+ Ghosts that are actively trying to interact with people. These ghosts seem polarized either very positive or very negative. One might even say angels or demons. Although it may be confusing at times, I haven't heard any 'neutral' experiences with them (or experiences that turned out to be neutral)

Yep, you're right. The first is referred to as "Residual" energies - energy that isn't spiritual, but that exists and replays itself over and over again. And spiritual energy - which is energy that interacts. The reason is that energy doesn't just go away. When a leaf from a tree is cut in half, the signature of it's other half is left behind. Energy is recycled but doesn't disappear completely.

You're also absolutely RIGHT on the positive and negative polarity! Demons are pure negative energy and Angels are pure positive energy. In fact, when you see (with your second sight) a demon's energy, it rotates counter-clockwise and an angel's rotates clockwise. This is how you're able to tell the difference (if you're psychic).

Now Ghosts (people who have passed over) are also either positive and negative. If they've accepted the Truth and Christ as their savior, they are good/positive. If not, they are bad/negative. It also works in to how the Spiritual War is fought - that's a lot more information than I have time to go into right now though.

Ghosts ARE spoken of in the Scriptures. They're a part of the spirit realm in the same way that demons and angels are. Unfortunately, misinterpretation of the scriptures has caused most fundamentalist Christians to believe that any contact with that realm is bad - and it's not. It's just all about who you're contacting and why.

Originally posted by Nohup

Originally posted by saint4God
By request from a friend, I'm opening this thread to give an opportunity for anyone to ask any questions of me as a believer.

I would, but unfortunately as a Christian believer, all of your answers are going to be perfectly predictable and unoriginal. A person might as well ask a question to a tree or a brick wall. No new or interesting information is likely to be exchanged, and in the end nothing will be accomplished. Thank you, but I'll pass.

Heh! I couldn't have said it better myself. How incredibly patronizing to assume that just because you're a christian you somehow know more than other people here. I would kindly suggest that if anything, it's probably the other way around; you people need to start peeling the blinders off your eyes and give the sermonizing a rest. No-one is really that interested.

J.

Originally posted by jimbo999
How incredibly patronizing to assume that just because you're a christian you somehow know more than other people here. I would kindly suggest that if anything, it's probably the other way around; you people need to start peeling the blinders off your eyes and give the sermonizing a rest. No-one is really that interested.

J.

I don't find it patronizing at all. There ARE people out there who may be lost, searching or curious who have honest questions about Christianity.

I commend Saint4God for putting himself out there and opening himself up to probable persecution. May our heavenly Father guide him and bless him. Amen.